Safety check on my suspension lift...

[Sodium Duck]

This is my first truck, and I bought it with the lift already installed. It has a 6" rough country lift, as far as I can tell. I'm currently replacing my balljoints, and figured since I had the front pretty much blown apart it'd be a good time to check everything else out. I'm seeing a lot of red flags and I want to make sure the lift was done properly/safely and correct anything if necessary.

I'm concerned about the steering arm, I'm not sure if it has a lifted arm. I'm trying to get the cone washers off right now and they feel like they've been there for 26 years... It kind of looks like the picture in my Chilton manual. I need a lifted arm or a bent drag link, correct?

The brake lines need to be lengthened as well, correct? They appear stock.

The sway bar looks butchered. There is about a 1" x 5" square tubing spacer on the frame, with greaseable fittings bolted to it. Not sure if it's a stock sway bar or what. But I think I should just get the ORD quick disconnect/correction kit. Ditch the hack job.

There also appears to be a 1" spacer/drop on the transfer case crossmember, if I recall correctly. Should I ditch that or not worry about it?

Pics tomorrow if anyone needs clarification. Am I missing anything? I was most concerned about the steering arm. When I was driving around, I noticed the steering felt was very loose and the truck wandered around the road a lot. I figured new balljoints, tierods, and a good alignment would fix that. But could it be the steering geometry is screwed up?

[Blazin]

The drag link should be fairly flat. Shouldn't run up hill from the axle to the box. Also not having the lifted steering arm can sometimes make it so it turn sharper to the left than the right.

Are you repacking your wheel bearings, doing axle joints, cleaning, and lubing up your hubs too?

The brake lines need to be replaced with longer ones. Many lift companies sell a kit with all three lines in braided stainless steel.

You want to check out your pinion angles too, make sure the u joints are not binding.

The transfer case needs the spacer, just check for the correct lenght bolts, that they have washers on both ends, and are tight.

The sway bar sounds like it has poly bushings with the grease fittings. As long as the tube is secured correctly this is an acceptable way to do it.

Should inspect the frame around the steering box for cracks as well. Common issue with big tires. There is a frame brace you can buy that bolts, or welds in to stiffen this area.

As far as getting the cone washers outsoak them down with weasel pee, put some presure up under the arm, and whack the end of the arm like you have a pair. If that doesn't work you might need to get the blue wrench out and heat it up.

[scorpion]

Cones can be removed with impact.  Don't try to beat the arm off, it doesn't work that way.  Hit the arm on the top and side but only hit the arm not the knuckle.  You're gonna have to hit it freakin' hard.  Best bet is to leave the knuckle on the vehicle.  For how hard you're gonna hit it, it will be next to impossible to hang on to even with a vise.  The impact/vibe from the blows actually vibrates out the cones.  If I did one in front of you, and you'd never seen it in person before, you wouldn't believe it.  I didn't.  If you have a big boy Long Stroke Air Hammer, give that a shot first. 

Try not to hit the knuckle itself or the studs.  Swinging a BFH as hard as you're gonna swing it will wreck some $hit.

[Sodium Duck]

Okay, yea. The draglink wasn't flat. So I'm going to assume I don't have a lifted steering arm. If I got a 4" lifted one, it'd be flat.

Will be doing new bearings, races, u-joints, seals, and locking hubs. Possibly new spindles, they don't look to be in that good of condition. Everything is going to be cleaned and POR15'd.

Pinion angle will be checked as everything comes back together.

I'm not sure they used the proper hardware to do the swaybar. After the drive home (70 miles) one of the bolts had almost worked it's way completely out. Yikes.

For now, the truck is on 31's. If I get a set of 35's in the future, I'll probably do a crossover steering setup and put the brace in with the 2WD box.

The freakin' cone washers are sitting overnight. I hit them with PB blaster about 347 times today. I managed to pop one out earlier, but the technique I used on it didn't work on the others.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully will be done before winter comes... it's getting cold up here at night.

[beastie_3]

loose sway bar hardware really isnt a concern. i have a 6" lift with all the options. post pics, they definitely help.

to get the cone washers out, just keep hitting it. it will eventually come out.

[thirsty]

If you post a pic of your steering arm we can tell you if it stock or not. Either that or find a stock truck and look at it to compare to yours.

[firefighter]

Well I guess since I'm in the middle of installing a 4" suspension lift kit on my truck, I'd better chime in here. My truck is a 1976 chassis so I'm not sure if there is many suspension differences or not.
I thought I'd have a problem with the removal of my 35 year old steering arm, but had it off in about 15 minutes. I removed all 3 retaining nuts but couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the washers to come loose. It wasn't until one came loose that I realized they were cone washers. I soaked the area with WD40 (or any type of panther piss) and began beating up and down on the arm with a persuading tool. I could see it separating from the surface below but it was stubborn. I kept at it and it just kept getting looser. I finally got two washers to come off but the third was stubborn. I ended up tapping sideways on the exposed lip with a chisel and it came right loose. Maybe you can try that? It worked for me anyways. Here is a pic of what I am talking about.


Now here is a comparison of my original steering arm and one from my 4" lift kit. It's hard to get a good accurate measurement but it appears the original arm had about a 1" drop to it, and the new arm has about a 3" lift to it. That would make sense since my lift kit is 4" and they're putting the drag link back into a factory position. Here is a comparison.


Hope this helps you.
By the way, my kit came with two brackets that will extend the original sway bar mounting position down a little bit. They are just 3 sided "U" shaped brackets made of 1/4" thick steel.
Let me know if you need pics of anything else on my truck. God knows it's easy to take pictures when there ain't much on the frame right now. 

[beastie_3]

make sure you get NEW nuts for the steering arm, they are only to be used once.

[thirsty]

make sure you get NEW nuts for the steering arm, they are only to be used once.

X2
Don't use just any nut either, get the right ones.

[Sodium Duck]

pics

[Sodium Duck]

more pics

[beastie_3]

looks like the raised steering arm to me.

[bake74]

     The easiest way to get the cones out of the steering arm is with a air hammer with a flat chisel tip in, turn down the air and vibrate it and they will walk themselves right up.

[Blazin]

Just a side note. Chassis Saver is just as good as POR 15, and half the price.