Well, its been a LONG freakin' weekend, started the Trailmaster 4" lift
Friday early evening and started work on the front end suspension...a royal
pain in the ass!!!!!
My buddy who's helping me out is now a sworn enemy of Trailmaster products,
as almost EVERY other piece in the kit does NOT fit as shown in the
instructions!!!
Meaning, drilled holes will not line up as they are supposed to, pieces that
are supposed to sit flush against each other have gaps...some bolts and
washers were missing...the list goes on....
basically, we had to re-engineer, grind, drill, ream, bend... a good number
of parts to make them fit...or fabricate pieces to eliminate
gaps...AAAAARGHHH!!
It's been a huge drain on time having to redo every other part...did not
finish the front supension until last night! Thats over 25 hours! But, it's
looking good now, the whole front diff has been lowered, new crossmember,
steering links and upper control arm (note to all planning on installing this
lift: PURCHASE NEW UPPER BALL JOINTS! We wasted a lot of time messing with
the stock joints (which were worn anyways), trying to get them out of the old
control arm and into the new one, and we got one after a lot of prying but
could not get the other one to work. Went out and bought a new ball joint
from Pep Boys (21.95) and it went in with no hassle. With new ball joints
from the start we coulda easily saved a couple hours.)
The back end is a piece of cake, basically a 3" block under the springs and
new bump stops. I was hoping it would be something more substantial in back,
but maybe I can get a new spring pack to replace it down the road...
The suspension lift is now almost done, save for some bolt torquing, front
alignment, and torsion bar tweak. Need to pick up some bolts and washers that
were strangely absent from the kit to finish tonite. Also put the steering
stabilizer in last nite.
Then to phase two, the 2" body lift. Our goal is to finish that by tomorrow
night, cause I'm sick of driving a freakin' Hyundai rental car!!!!
I'm still waiting on the wheels to come in, I ordered them from CA last
thursday with 3-day express shipping, hopefully they'll be in today or
tomorrow, 'cause I've still gotta get the 33's mounted to 'em...
So, words of wisdom? Hire a shop to do the install, or make sure you have a
whole shop full of tools and equipment to re-engineer these parts like we
luckily yet grudgingly did. Also have a parts store within easy access!
It's starting to come together! I've been taking pictures of much of the
installation so hopefully when I get this done someone can post 'em to a web
page if they want (I don't have a webpage yet, sigh...)
Can't wait! This thing is gonna be a beast!!
____________________
Dave Kilian -- Clayton, NC
'96 Dakota CC Sport 4x4...TRAILMASTER LIFT IN PROGRESS!!!
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