RPG Stage 3 Installation Write up from a Non Mechanical Dude

[RPG]

By now he's probably thrown his hammer through the garage wall a couple times and has that glazed over look in his eyes while pounding whiskey straight out of the bottle.

I don't know, I haven't had any phone calls yet so I hope our man is pulling it off.

 

[Madcowranch]

I don't know, I haven't had any phone calls yet so I hope our man is pulling it off.

That's because he ripped out his phone line when he threw that too!

Just havin fun. I'm sure he's got it.

 

[Rookie]

By now he's probably thrown his hammer through the garage wall a couple times and has that glazed over look in his eyes while pounding whiskey straight out of the bottle.

We've all been there. Lol

 

[Madcowranch]

We've all been there. Lol

Ha. Just this afternoon for me. Wrench slipped, took all the skin off knuckles on my right hand...

 

[Stepside]

In this thread I've read:

> 'blue painters tape' .. = *****
> 'neutral position' .. = boring
> 'wompass' .. = depends on who's the womper or wompee
> 'our man pulling it off' .. = not a visual image I want to see
> 'skin off the knuckles' .. = i'm not even goin' there

Be afraid . . my friends - be very afraid

 

[onesickpuppy]

Maybe they are still polisishing off the beer..... I know I made it through with the help of silver bullets!!!!! Hard part is the lifting of the new leaf pack, damn thing is heavy....

 

[Madcowranch]

Should we send help? Maybe he's stuck underneath his truck.

 

[Killjohnathan]

Well Damn... Sorry for the late replay, I have been trying to recover from the install.

So I started at 2 pm on Sat thinking that I would be able to finish in time for a late dinner. I ended up finishing at 4:30 AM. Took a shower and went to bed at 5 am sunday morning. I was tired



Like a said before, I sprayed everything down with Amsoil HDMP so everything has a yellow tint to it.

I jacked up the back and took the tires off, man they are heavy.

I then proceeded to watch the video and follow the video step by step on how to take everything off. I wasn't getting the axle low enough and the shocks still had a little bit of pressure on them so it was a beating getting the bolts off until I finally lowered the axle and then they slipped right off.

The biggest piece of advice I would give someone is make sure your rear end it up high enough and the axle is low. Installing the new springs proved to be a headache because I couldn't get the rear up any higher and so I had to drop the axle all the way to the ground.


Cutting the bolt off the spring next to the gas tank proved to be difficult... I tried with a dremel and couldn't get the right angle, I tried with a saws-all and went through 3 metal blades with only 1/3 cut through (by the way, saws-all next to a gas tank was a really stupid idea and I am lucky I didn't punch a hole in it! ) I went to Home Depot and bought a cut off wheel and that finally did the job.





Dropping the exhaust wasn't so bad.

So I called my brother in law to help me lift the new leaf springs into place because it is not possible for one person to do it themselves! If you were able to do it by yourself I would like to shake your hand. DAMN.

I ended up having to adjust the lift constantly and would of gone a lot quicker if I wasn't by myself. Torquing everything down was a bitch and by that time it was 3 in the morning and I was really tired. I did the best I could, but there is no way I got the leafs torqued to 250 LB. I am going to drive it for a Hundred miles and then re torque it while I am fresh and still have some strength left.



The rear end really sits up high now! It is sitting a good 3 inches higher than my front at mid perch. They say it will settle down, but I can definitely see a difference.

 

[Killjohnathan]

Here is a before and after pic

Before




After

 

[Killjohnathan]

So all and all, I am really happy I did this mod, and I am really happy I did it myself. Even though it took me 12 + hours to do it, I now feel like I "know" my truck. I am now confident enough to tackle other mods and have a huge sense of accomplishment. For a guy that spends all day behind a desk, this was really cool.

As for the ride

Initial reaction is awesome. It does feel alot smoother on road, I am not going to take it offroad until I re torque all the bolts and have only driven about 20 miles so I will let you know after I get a few more miles on it. Or you can ask me about it at TRR (so excited!! )