Well now that the weather is clearing, I am finally going to install the CST lift on my 2500 2wd Megacab this weekend.

Along with the lift, I am replacing ball joints and tie rod ends. I bought the kit used and it did not come with instructions. I already have the 3" daystar doughnut and a 3" body lift on there and have done lifts previously, just want to make sure I haven't missed anything.

Anyone who has previously done this care to give me some pointers? Or have the instructions from CST?

Specifically, I need to know if there is anything special about removing the ball joints - I am going to rent a kit from Hi-Lo O'Reiley or Auto Zone but didn't know if I needed anything else.

Also can anyone provide me with the torque specs for the ball joint nuts and the tie rod nuts? How about the torque on the rear u-bolts?

Finally, the rear spacer blocks have a taper to them (one side is thicker than the other). Which way do they go? I assume the thinner portion goes to the back to angle the rearend upward to reduce the drive shaft angle but I am guessing.

Many thanks!

 

Some companies let you download them from their website but CST does not. Have you tried to just contact them for the instructions?

 

I did contact them via email but I am going to call tomorrow.

 

Here is a pic of how the truck looks now - Body lift, 3" DayStar spacer and 315/70/17 tires.



Once I get the CST spindles, that will give me another 3.5" of lift for a total of 9.5"! Then we will see what size tire fits!

 

As far as the rear blocks....the taper goes towards the front. As for the b-joints and tie rod ends I just snug them down relatively tight...more so for the tie rod ends.

 

Truck looks great already... I have almost the same truck and was told anything over. 5" would keep the front end from being aligned correctly. Have you had any issues with that before the CST lift" Because any more height is going to exacerbate that issue. Hopefully not.... I git a quite if $2500 for the kit plus install.... All I want is a little more height .... I'm interested in seeing how this turns out.

 

I have ran the 3" CST spacer for at least the last 3 years and have never had an issue with alignment. I added the 3" body lift in 2009 and that obviously doesn't impact the suspension/alignment.

I am taking it to get aligned on Wednesday but don't anticipate any issues. The 3.5" CST spindle is the same overall height as the OEM spindle and simply moves the hub assembly down 3.5" effectively raising the truck 3.5". So I don't see how it will impact alignment - it never did when I used lowering spindles to lower mini trucks in the 80's.

I can see if you used coil springs greater than 5" or the combination of coil/spacer to get above 5" would impact alignment but can't see how the spindle and 3" spacer would be any different than what I have now.

 

Well that's good news to me. Where'd you find the 3" spacer? I'm fixin ti replace the coils springs and that'd be the perfect time to add a bigger spacer in there...

 

I originally had a DayStar 1.5" spacer that I bought from AutoAnything or JC Whitney. I found a CST 3" spacer on eBay so I bought it and swapped it out several years ago.

You can probably get the CST spacer from one of their distributors. It will make the ride a little harsh.

 

Cool, thanks for the info. How'd the new spindle install go? Everything bolt up good? What's the truck look like now with the blocks and spindles added? Can you tell a difference with the spindles added? I ask Cuz I've been wanting to do this exact thing to my truck...

 

Everything bolted up fine with the exception of the extended brake lines - I had to drill out the frame brackets to a larger size. The spindle itself is a direct bolt on. While I was in there I replaced upper and lower ball joints, tie rods and brake pads...that is where the bulk of the work came in - especially pressing out the lower ball joints!!

It looks awesome but I need some bigger tires now - the 315/70/17 look too small in there now!





Notice that the frame rails can clear a 5 gallon bucket! Everything but the rear end would clear the bucket!!

 

Had the alignment done today. The tech said he had no issues and the only thing that was out was the TOE - which makes sense due to the fact that I replaced the tie rod ends. Was a little surprised that the caster/camber wasn't out but that is good.

I bought the Firestone Lifetime alignment several years back for $139 (one time alignment was $69) - it has paid for itself as I get it checked everytime I put new tires on and whenever I do stuff like this! I see now that it is $179 and a one time alignment is $79! They have a nice computer print out of what it was before alignment and what is is after alignment with the numbers in a color coded box - green is within tolerance, yellow is marginal and red is way out of line. I really like this printout as I at least know that they checked it and what the specs are. Plus they were one of the few places in town that could handle my Megacab - some places with shorter alignment racks couldn't do it.

 

My birthday is next week and today I got an early birthday present - new wheels for the truck.

I originally wanted the Dick Cepek Torque wheels but since they are on back order until May/June, I got some others instead. I ended up with Phino 158 in Black Machine Finished in 17X9 with positive 10mm offset. This puts the backspacing at 5.36" which is very close to the Hummer H2 offset. The original wheels are 6.25" to 6.38" so with the 1/2 spacer that I had in there I was at about 5.75" backspacing. The stock wheel with the spacer had the tire clearing the spindle but was a little close for my tastes. I wanted the wheels tucked in as much as possible so the 10mm offset was my only choice other than 0 offset which would have been 5" backpacing and that would have pushed the tire out a bit more.

When I replaced these 315/70/17 BFG in about 40K more miles, I want to go with 37x12.50x17 but I don't think those are going to fit without some trimming. With this current setup, I had to trim the black airdam on the front about 1/2 inch on the inside edge - it rubbed ever so slightly when turning. Maybe an 8" or 8.5" wheel would have prevented that.

Any way, here is a picture of the wheels:



Here is how far they stick out the sides of the wheel well (front and back):





Here is the space between the spindle and the wheel - it is about 1/2 inch.



And finally pics of the truck itself:

 

Dadgum nice right there... ill be in Mesquite this weekend fir the Mesquite Championship Rodeo Parade. If you needing some place e to show off the truck tomorrow, that would be a great place to do it. And I can check the height of my truck next to yours and see exactly how high I want to go with mine.

 

Yeah I will be on the lake on Saturday - got to give the boat it's first shake down run of the season. But if you want to come over to the Rockwall side of the lake, I will be glad to compare ride heights.