Now, go back and tighten the brackets on the frame to 20 lb-ft. | 
With that, the front bar is ready for action. | 
Now to get started on the rear, apply a liberal coat of the provided anti-seize to the U-bolts that will hold on the brackets to the rear end. |
More grease on the poly, lube the inner area just like the front. | 
On the dog bones, make sure to grease up the face where the washers will contact them. | 
Per the instruction, pre-assemble the dog bones and the brackets for the rear bar. Two of the brackets require you to drill holes, and every truck is a little different, so by assembling it all helps you determine where the holes will be. |
The kit comes with big and little washers, so make sure you put the big ones over the bushings. | 
Tighten all the hardware till it takes out all the slack, but don't tighten it all the way just yet. | 
Slip the U-bolts over the axle tube in the middle of the factory shock mounts. |
Hoist the bar up into place, and loosely install the nut on the U-bolts. This will hold the bar in place, so you can find where to drill the holes. | 
Lift the dog-bone ends up toward the frame and mark the holes. A few things to watch for here: Make sure the bar is parallel to the ground, align the bracket so it sits flat on the frame not on top of any rivets and that you will be able to put the nut on the bolt and still get a wrench in there. | 
Swing the bar out of the way and drill the four 7/16-inch holes. |
Remove the bracket off of the dog-bone and mount it to the frame. | 
Torque the hardware to 20 lb-ft or just let the impact hammer pound away for a bit. | 
Slide the dog-bone back into the bracket, but don't tighten it just yet. |
Go back to the axle tube and adjust the bracket so the bar is parallel to the ground and now tighten it down to 35 lb-ft. | 
Now you can tighten the dog-bones to 35 lb-ft. With that, the truck is ready to go. We pulled it off the rack and took it for a test spin. The lazy waterbed-style handling it had before was gone and replaced with a nice solid truck that is almost ready to test. One thing that showed up was the fact that we need to install a better steering box. Since all of the suspension is now crisp, it is more noticeable that the steering is not up to par. Check back next month, because we will address that issue. | |