Day 1:
My helpers for today bailed on me, so I decided to tackle the rear of the truck first. Here's a little pictorial of the progress...

Stock height





Here's my lift parts


and my rotors





Started by painting the spindles





Then tore off the driver's side rear wheel and went to work





















And after all that work, this is what I ended up with, about 1.25" LoL



A word of advice for anyone looking to do this: don't do it alone. Took me all damn day just to do the rear. An extra set of hands would have been invaluable, and I could have finished in less than half the time. Didn't help any that the heat index was ~105 though. Ridiculous.

 

Day 2:

So not so many pics from day 2, which was actually half a day Saturday and another half on Sunday. Ran into a bunch of issues, like having the wrong tools, and I was far too aggravated to worry about taking pics. We couldn't get the coil compressed enough to insert the 2" spacers, so only the spindles were installed. Worked out dead level in the end though, so I'm not stressing. I may have a shop install the spacers down the road, but I'm not too heartbroken over it. I have enough lift to clear 35's, so I think I'll leave it how it is for a while.

Here is the before measurement




Starting disassembly








Old and new spindles




Took the driver's side coil out to try and compress for the spacer




This is what happens when someone from IT tries to decompress a coil the wrong way. Decided from now on I will stick to the easier stuff and have a shop do the things I am obviously not capable of LoL I'll spare you the blood and just say the bolt on the compression tool whacked my finger pretty damn hard when it popped. Boneheaded move on my part, I know.




Scrapped the spacer idea, and put everything back together. Swapped the brake lines and installed the new rotors and pads. Also removed the sway bar and end links.




Tomorrow I have to go back and bleed the brakes and take some after pics before going for the alignment. Only thing I'm currently worried about is the new front shocks. I bought them on the premise of having a 2" spacer installed, so they are a little long. I don't think they are long enough to top out when compressed, but I guess only time will tell. Fortunately, replacing the shocks isn't that big of a deal if it becomes an issue.



**edit [added after pics]**
Lost some lift in the front after the alignment, but I used a different measuring device, so I don't think it's as bad as the measurements make it seem.
Here's a profile pic:




Here's a close-up of the front:




And here's the measurements [front and rear]:

 

While working under the truck, I noticed there was a hydraulic line, attached to the rear brake line splitter, that was routed up to the top of the driver's side shock mount and plugged. Anyone know what this is for?

 

That is the breather tube for the axle, the little plastic cap is a vent. It is to allow pressure to escape the axle housing from the heat built up when driving.

 

Nice pics and work Brandon. What brand rotors are those?

 

the work that went into it looks well worth it. Hows the stopping power now with the new rotors?

 

Like the brake upgrade.
Never understood lifting a 2wd though. But, that's just me.

 

Looks good what size spindle are you putting on?

 

Well that makes much more sense LoL I guess I just assumed it was hydraulic since it was attached to the brake line splitter.



Those are Powerslot zinc-plated rotors and ceramic pads from brakemotive. $217 shipped for all four wheels. If you're doing JUST the brakes, you could probably finish by yourself in about 2hrs. +2hrs or so if you paint the calipers as well.



Just the rear is done so far, so I can't really speak to that. Plus, my old rotors and pads were perfectly fine, so there really wasn't anything wrong with my brakes to begin with. However, you can't see it in the pics, but the rotors were worn-in a pretty good amount. It was more a preemptive upgrade for when I get the 35" tires.



Thank you. I understand the lift isn't for everyone, but I personally dislike the "nose-down" stance from the factory. I went with a full lift instead of just a level for two reasons. 1) I go to the beach a lot, and it's just more fun when you're higher off the ground, and 2) It flash-floods here (usually two or three times a year, when it actually rains like normal LoL), and I don't like being stuck anywhere if I don't have to be.



3" from chassistech / airbagit

 

Nice job!
The 3" lift...isn't that suppose to lift the front 3" and level the back to the front, thus giving you only 1.5" or so out back? I think the back will lift up another .25" when you do the front. Atleast it seems like it would anyway?

The temp has been low-mid 90's all week long here in upstate NY with heat index's ranging from 100-110(dew points 65-80..unheard of around here). Absolutely ridiculous. I'm 20lbs lighter in this heat since I'm so active. I'm having a hard time keeping fluids in my body and I'm already stick thin!(6'3"/180lbs)