Hours of fighting with this and I gave up

Tried every trick to get lower control And upper as close together but it wasn't even close

I had to grind part of the lower control arm because the strut was touching and bolt hole wasn't even close

New struts we're to stiff
Wouldn't compress much with a spring compressor

Was a pain ended up only installing 1 new strut on passager side

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Any ideas?

 

That leveling kit is too big for a 4wd.

Try putting the jack pad on the lower bj stud and run a ratchet strap under the jack and attach to holes in the fender support. The weight of the truck acting against the jack will let you compress. It gets scary though so watch yourself. Youll also need to drop that upper arm all the way down so its hitting the springs. That should get you a couple threads started.

 

I had the same issue when I did my 05. I tried ratchet straps and bent the crap out of the handle setup on the straps, rendering them useless. Then I used some pry bars, that you can by at the parts store. Cheap for a set of three in various lengths.

Anyways use the pry bar at the top of the stru just underneath the top spring coil, pushing down on the UCA. This will help you bring it closer to position when lifting the LCA up into the ball joint.

Use the prybars when tightening the nylon backed nuts on both the ball joint and steering bar. I know this sounds counter intuitive....but use a pry bar pushing down in the opposite direction you are tightening on the nut. Otherwise the ball joint will spin once you hit the nylon part of the nut.

I have to go to work now, but can try to expand on this more later if needed!

 

That spacer is way too big. Ecen if you do finally get it installed, you will destroy the CV joints, ball joints and tie rods in short order. 2" recommended for 4x4, 2.5" is pushing it.

 

completely agree about the "Too big" statement above. I just did the 2" lift on my 06 DAK and ran into similar issues even with that lift. I had to jack up the entire truck by the lower control arm to get the spring to compress enough to get the upper control arm bolted in.

Even now, I have a knock on the suspension when hitting a bump and the truck "bounces" up to get full extension of the strut. The geometry of the front suspension just won't work over a 2" lift with stock Upper/Lower control arms.

 

Tried that , didn't get close upper arm was touching spring

 

What leveling kit do you guys recommend?

I bought this one off kijiji (never installed )

Instruction book says it 2.0" for dakotas and rams

 

The one I did was made by Supreme Suspensions

 

oh you are being stubborn, your gonna jack up your brake line

 

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It only measures 2"

Does the measurement of the space not correlate with the amount of lift?