Notes from my install
First, thanks to Birdman for putting this up. His comments and pictures were helpful and Id like to add my comments/notes from installing on my 2013 and hopefully it will help others with a bit of confusion.
For the record, I am pretty comfortable with DIY projects and consider myself mechanically-abled. While not overly complicated this kit does require some patients and some general understanding. Birdmans rating of 4 was about right although I could argue a little higher rating would be in order.
A few tips before starting...
Print off the color coded diagram provided in the online instructions (first post), just easier to read and provides more detail than the black and white instructions included.
Have someone available to provide occasional assistance, this is a one man job but the occasional hand made things much easier (lining up the frame nut plate from inside the frame rail and starting the bolts from the exterior frame rail. Same with the upper rear bolt and nut. Its a tight fit.)
Although it specifies in the instructions (Step #2), make sure that you support the truck on the frame rails as you will need the axle to droop to make maneuvering the brackets onto the frame possible. I overlooked the frame part and had the jack stands under the axle. Just annoying when I realized and had to move them. I paid my stupid tax here.
Also while not necessary, have an extendable magnet tool. This saved me a ton of crawling around under the truck to pick up bolts and washers that fell off or for sockets that rolled away, etc.
Wear a hat! If your follicly challenged like myself it will protect your nugget from the little sharp things like the damn fender liner corner!
INSTALL
Birdman and the instructions do a pretty good job of explaining 90% of everything so I will only detail where I had issues.
STEP #6 - Insert the supplied retainer nut clip in passenger side frame rail (Hardware Bag 1).
My passenger frame rail did not match the pic at all, nor could I see a point in adding the clip as there was nothing to reattach. I chose to ignore this step but did waste some time reviewing everything and trying to figure out what I was missing. Since this clip would go under the frame brackets, I wanted to ensure that I would not be taking this apart to add the clip later.
My guess is that something changed in the 2013's frame or this was a typo in the instructions and they meant the driver side as the brake line distribution block attaches back to the frame after the install via the retainer nut clip. I left the factory clip and bolt and was relieved when it was still long enough after the installation of the drivers frame plates.
STEPS 9-13. Basically the plates mounting steps with the hardware installed and the remarks "Do not tighten" on every step.
While I did not tighten any bolts I did snug the nylon nuts by hand (not much) to keep them from coming off. These brackets were a bit of a bear to get to properly seat. I even had to take the bottom bolts half out to get the top holes to line up to start the nuts. It was a bit of a challenge to get all 4 bolts through both plates. An extra hand and some patience really paid off here as well.
Before tightening anything, I was looking at the vertical holes that tie the inner and outer plate together and hold the tension plate, they were easily a 1/4" inch off and I could not get bolts through. Big yellow flag for me but I proceeded.
I think the extra thickness of the 13 frame caused these issues.
Step #15 Tightening procedure.
After some time and review,I chose a different procedure due the misalignment of the vertical holes mentioned above. As the instructions stated I secured the bottom of frame bolt and the two side bolts that secured to the nut plate inside the frame. I then had to tighten the top and bottom horizontal bolts equally to get the tension plate holes to line up to even mount the tension plates. Luckily they did come into alignment.
Not a huge deal but my experience differed from the instructions enough to point it out.
Tips for Steps 19 & 20.
This all went pretty well but I did switch around the strut bars basically putting the passenger rod end in the front mounting position within the center plate. This allowed for a hair more clearance of the exhaust on the clevis end of the strut bar. I did have to bend my exhaust hanger mounts down to help with clearance issues. I may have 1/16 to 1/8" clearance now. Its tight!
An additional comment, no torque spec exists or timing of tightening for the bottom bolt of the cross member center plate. I just chose to do this after mounting the clevis end and before setting tension.
Step 21 - installing the bumpstop in the mount.
Some clarification would have been helpful on how snug to make the clamps, I chose to follow Birdmans suggestion but went a little further than "cant pull with hand". It didnt take much to tighten at all and I see this being very easy to crush the bumpstop housing. I will mark with some white lithium grease on the pistons to ensure that I am getting the bumpstop piston travel.
Summary
Seems to be a great kit, only time will tell with regards to performance. It would be interesting to see if anyone had similar issues with a 13 and the frame brackets.
