mjsandt

I am thinking about getting a 2" leveling kit, and was wondering how difficult they are to install. I read the directions for the Hell Bent Steel Kit and it sounded pretty simple, but of course they recommended a professional mechanic to install, probably just to cover there own butts. Anyways, let me know if any of yall done it yourselves. Thanks guys.

MJ Sandt

mcohen

I just went through the same decision. I read all about it on Hell Bent then called 4 Wheel Parts Wholesale and found out what Hell Bent doesn't tell you. You'll only have 1" of play left in your stock shocks so you "should" get a new pair for the front. Not only that, but do you have a coil spring compressor? It's a lot more work than Hell Bent leads you to believe. Another BIG decision I made was to get the Pro Comp due to Hell Bent using steel. Something about 2 different metals rubbing made me decide to get the poly kit instead (no rust issues). I went with the Pro Comp leveling kit and Rancho RS 9000 shocks.

bbhzx12

Get a good spring compressor set that works from the outside and be carefull. A spring can kill you if it comes out when it shouldn't.

runamuk

mj,

I've installed them my self get a good set of spring compressors and crank them down. Not a big deal!! Be careful and take your time, and no problems!

Rick

djgaston

If you can take off your own tires, you can put on a levelling kit. It's very easy.

Jack up truck where the tires are about 6 to 8 inches off the ground, and put jackstands under frame behind control arms. Remove wheels. Remove shocks by popping hood, loosening the top nut first and then the 3 nuts holding the tower in place, then the lower bolts at the axle. Go ahead and undo the sway bar links, it takes like 2 minutes and will help a lot. Then you simply lower the jack down (it would still have been supporting the weight of the axle at this point) until the coils are about ready to fall out. What I do is put the floor jack on one side of the axle, under the lower control arm mount, and jack that side up. The other side will drop even more and you can then put your spacers in. If the axle won't drop far enough to get the spacers in, you simply undo the drag link from the pitman arm and knock the TRE out of the arm - you are going to have to recenter your steering wheel anyway. It's very easy to do and you will have a sense of pride knowing that you did not pay some shop to put these in for you. Coil spring compressors are not required and they only slow you down. I have a set that I used one time until I realized they actually took twice as much time to use, and they are dangerous. Just drop the axle down.

Longer shocks are a good idea.

If you get metal spacers, you will not have metal rubbing metal. There are rubber coil isolators that go in between the spacers and coil... they come stock on the truck and squeeze between the coil and upper coil bucket.

BigBlue

The hell bent leveling kit is easy as heck to install. Took me maybe 2 hours working slow to install it. Do what DJ said and you'll have no problems. And while longer shocks aren't necessary, I do recommend that you get them.

TexasCTD

DJ gave a great description on the install.

I used the stock shocks after install, and they seemed to work fine (same as before install). However, if I had it to do over again I would have installed the Rancho 9000s I installed later........just to make it easier since the shock towers were already off at that time. It just made it more work going back and changing the shocks. But, the stockers will work.......for a while anyway......if they were before.

PimpRohr

I just did mine myself last week. I used a www.revtek.com kit and used some Rancho 9000's to replace the stock shocks. The truck rides excellent and I am very pleased with the looks. Check out my gallery

dwhite

You will need to have jack stands that will reach the frame....I didnt feel comfortable with a bunch of blocks so I started calling around to alignment shops and found one that did the job AND lined it up(it was off quite a bit he said) for 125.00 total. They even took off the stock muffler and put on my delete pipe for another 35.00....so I am happy.

mjsandt

Thanks for all the help and input. It looks like I am going to tackle this job myself. I havent yet ordered a kit, but will probably do so in the near future. I really appreciate all the help and I love this site, you guys are great.

MJ Sandt

triplenickel

I did mine just like djgaston said except I didn't remove the lower shock bolts, and I pulled the track bar lower bolt. It took about 2 hrs but it was -17deg and I took my time. My instructions said to undo the bottom sway bar link bolt but I found it easier to undo the top one. Go for it, it's an easy job and doesn't take any special tools.

LCH

After dropping everything loose to do this do you have to have the front end alighned? Sorry if this is a dumb question. LCH

nriver

you should

the tires will be in a different position.

I say this and have not done mine yet, bad me

Reel Native

I did my Hell Bent Steel one's in about an hour, it was pretty simple to do as we have a lift and full shop to play in, checked the alignment before and after just for fun and "YES" you need to realign after the install.

djgaston

Your toe in will be fine, you just need to recenter your steering wheel. You are not changing the distance between the two knuckles. You can align the steering wheel yourself if you have a 15mm socket and about 5 minutes of time.