Do’s and Don’ts
1. If you are going to weld in the notch don’t buy the bolts, it will save you $25 bucks.
2. Don’t expect a sheet of instructions telling you that the shackle perch will need to be trimmed or what all the parts are.
3. If welding let them know that you need them uncoated, $20 savings.
4. Don’t expect any kind of a guide that can be used as a template for cutting your frame or instructions on point of measurement references.
Ordering
I ordered the kit via phone on a Monday and it arrived on Friday. I had asked that they send the uncoated version because I was welding these in and they kindly sent me $25 worth of bolts. They asked if I would like the shocks to go with and sent me shocks that have upper stems, mine have eyes. Be sure to tell them which you need.
They didn’t screw around with the manufacturing of this product. These are precision heavy components that will hold up.
Prep work
If you are about to tackle this project, I recommend you consider what you are about to do. You will be removing the bed of your truck, taking all of the tension off your leaf springs giving you the opportunity to replace other things that may be worth doing to save you time later. Things you should consider are:
1. Shackle Bushings
2. Shackle Bolts
3. Brake lines
4. Differential gasket and seals
5. Damaged wiring
6. Paint or undercoat
Installation
Using a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF in an oil can, squirt down all bolts to be removed the night before (great stuff!). Remove the bed and disconnect the emergency brake and brake hose at the frame. Stand up on jack stands with the jacks just behind the cab. Leave the tires on and raise the frame just high enough for the tires to just touch the ground with the leaf springs fully released. Remove all bolts and nuts on the shackles and U-Bolts. You should be able to roll the axle out from underneath the frame.
Replace the shackle bushings – this is no easy task and will take some time. I won’t get into detail on this but it took me 4 hours.
Fit the new shackle perch to the old one. I did this by making a template and tracing a pattern on to the new perch. To fit use a hammer to rap on the shackle while against the axle. You will see the touch points and it will be easy to grind down the high points. It takes time to get this right so don’t get in a hurry.
Bolt on leafs with axle on top. Probably 20 ways to do this but being a one man show I attached the back of the leaf to the frame and let the front hang. After the axle was attached to the springs I used the jack to raise everything into position and put the rear bolts in.
I preferred setting up everything and checking alignment, you may not choose to do this but I bolted everything together to mark the frame for cutting and then took it back apart to work on it.
The C-Notch is a left and right unit with a large hole in it. That hole kindly matched the position of one in my frame. I found some round stock, drove it into the C-Notch’s hole to match it up with the hole on the frame and it lined up very well. Mark the area that needs to be cut on both sides. Keep in mind that I have all the weight off the rear of the frame, NO, leaf springs or axles and the jack stands are just behind the cab. Cut one side, fit and weld, THEN move to the other side. This is to prevent any warping that could occur.
Then just put it back together. Sorry that I didn’t include step by step pictures but if you are considering this mod you are enterprising enough to fill in the blanks.
Hope this helps!
Pinche
