What did anyone who installed there own Rancho or for that matter any lift or front strut use to compress there springs. Getting ready to install my Rancho kit and want to make sure I have the right tools.

 

I used a spring compressor that I bought years ago for my car. It did the trick. One warning; if you got the Rancho 9000 shocks, you may need to bore out the hole in the cap of the strut assembly, like I did. It was not easy.

 

Yeah I saw in the directions it said you may have to drill it out to 7/16 I think. I guess the shaft on top of the 9000's is bigger than stock.

 

You have to go through about 3/4" of hardened steel. It wore my bit out in seconds. I had to take them to a shop and have them do it on a press. I wasn't expecting the added difficulty, but it added time to my install.

 

How long did the install take you by the way. Did you have a lift or just jackstands.

 

It took me the better part of a weekend. I was by myself and only had jack stands, good tools and a creeper. I also swapped out the ball joints, upper control arms and an IWE that was looking crusty. I used and recommend a sawz-all for the frame cutting part.

 

Luckily for me, my coils were already installed on my Rancho 9000's so I did not need to hassle with that. I was prepared to have a local shop do the spring swap though and it could help speed things up if you can find yourself a spare set of coils and have them preinstalled prior to installing the lift.

I did my lift on the side of my house using jack stands and two floor jacks and air tools. My cousin did one side and I did the other and it still took us about 10 hours of total work time over two and a half days. I am sure it can be done faster but we were pretty causal about it and we replaced ball joints and upper control arms. We cut the frame using a compressed air angled grinder with cutoff wheel. I think a larger 4" grinder could've done the cutting in half the time...

So my recommendation is having a good wrenching buddy and lots of tools at your disposal. Air tools are a must although one of the compressors took a crap at the start, I had an electric impact gun that worked like a champ. Long handled wrenches are a good idea as well as having the ball joint press on hand if you plan on doing that swap. You will also replace your front brake lines so prepare for bleeding them. Finally, I'd give yourself a full 3-days to complete the install and to get it to a shop for the front wheel alignment...my shop is closed on Sundays so I did it Monday morning but plan for that.

Good luck!





New upper control arm:

 

Hey Stovetop, Check your private messages, Ive sent you a couple. I tell everyone that Im going for the look of your truck by the way. I thought about the spare springs, but I think you need more than just the springs. I think you need the bottom piece and the top caps which I think need to be drilled out for the new 9000's. Did you do the 1" spacer and lift shackles at the same time too.

 

Alfack, Call me dumb but what is the IWE your talking about.

 

Hey Stovetop, What did you set your shocks at by the way.

 

The IWE is the Independent Wheel End, which is the cheaply designed part that engages your 4x4 at the hubs. It's the part that a lot of people complain about making a grinding noise. I used all hand tools btw, so I wouldn't say air tools are a must. There is one bolt (lower shock) that is supposed to be torqued to 350 ft. lbs.. I couldn't get a good angle at it and get it that tight w/o a lift, so had the alignment shop torque that bolt down on each side.

 

OK its the part with the vacuum line attached to it. They usually grind when the vacuum line leaks because they engage with lack of vacuum and stay unengaged with vacuum. Kind of a backwards design in my eyes. I think he meant air tools a must just to make life easier. Most torque wrenches don't even go as high as the torque they want.

 

First off, no PMs from you but you're better off emailing me.
As for the shock caps and other items, you're probably right, you need to reuse the OEM ones but not sure about drilling out the bore. Again, mine were already installed so maybe someone else can chime in re: that.

I set my R9000's with 7 on the fronts, 5 on the rears. I just installed air bags so I may soften up the rear by setting them at 3.

I'd be happy to help out any way I can so feel free to contact me.