You are going to have to pry the lower control arm down a bit to get it to line up IIRC.

 

I had the lower control arm pushed down and the strut was in the upper tower and across the lower mount, I just could get the lower holes to line up so that I could get the bolt through it.

 

thats wierd, the one on my drivers side took about 15 mintues, but the passenger side took almost 40 minutes lol

 

thank god for having torsion bars it is easy just 20 min and an alignment and its done hope you get it in man

 

Well, I tried again today and this time I couldn't even get the tie rod end off. I beat the knuckle until it's out of shape and tried to use a pickle fork but the boot started to tear. I'm in the process of trying to find an outer tie rod now. The stealer qouted me a $139. I'm trying to find out which Moog ones are the right number for my truck. I've got a 1500 quad cab 4x4 with the 5.7 Hemi, does anyone have the right part number?

 

maybe a level kit is not in your future, that sucks.

 

It's only just begun. If I have to replace everything its either going on or I'll be rebuilding the front suspension (lol).

 

Well....

Ive done 2 Leveling kits, my dakota, and an F-150. There are a few tricks to getting the strut back in. But before I even mention them, (and now you probably know because you couldn't get the strut back in) the kits really screw up your front ends geometry. Since the strut is longer with the kit mounted on top of it, its hard to get the lower strut bolt through the struts lower bolt eye. You need to bow it in with one hand, and do your best to get that bolt in. Then you gotta think to yourself, "sh*t, this is how my strut is at full suspension flex?".

The upper control arm is over extended under flex, the rack's tie rods are angled too much at ride height and especially under flex, and your CVs are running angles at ride height, and over extended at flex. Fun...

So to get my strut back in, this is what i did. Insert the strut, with the kit installed on it, back up into the frame mount ( or strut seat, or bucket, or whatever you want to call it) and thread the bolt closest to you, 1/4th of the way. Now you should be able to move the strut forward and backwards when you grab it from the bottom. This extra play is about all you need to be able to push the lower struts eye into alignment to slide the lower strut bolt through. After you do, then tighten up the top bolt, and place and tighten the remaining ones up top.

Now you jack that lower control arm up as much as you can without taking the truck off the jack stands, and then pry that upper control arm down with a pry bar until you can get the bolt started on it. Tighten that down and your golden.

I never had to disconnect the tie rods from the knuckle on any install Ive done. Why are you trying to do that? The instructions tell you too?

I recommend you don't do the install, cut your loses, and enjoy your truck. The negatives of a leveling kit wont end with you having to replace broken suspension parts during the install.

Good Luck.

 

Yeah, the instructions told me to remove the tie rod. Thanks for the explanation, but I don't see how it would work without removing the tie rod. I just don't think the tie rod on my truck should have been such a pain in the ***.