Well starting tomorrow morning I begin the endeavor to do my spindle lift FINALLY lol. I've had the spindles painted up and ready to in since like January. I'm getting tired of scrapping my fender flares and inner fender on bumps so it's time. I have some other small projects on my plate as well. Lower lip of tailgate needs painted again, bubbling on the driver fender near the bottom needs fixed, need to lift bed and cut off rusted broken bed bolt clips and install new ones. We will see how much time this takes up. I have the whole week off so I'll get it all done eventually.

I have the lift spindles, bearing grease, a ball joint separator, new dust caps, PB Blaster, cotter pins, and a bunch of other random hardware items. I also picked up a Camber/Caster Alignment kit just in case. I'll get an alignment check on Monday.

Only thing I know I will have issues with is the caliper bracket bolts. Those things are friking impossible lol. Any suggestion besides an impact wrench or a body builder?

What's the spindle nut socket size? Anything over like 13MM I need to go get.

Also is there any random things I should know? ie) Weird torque procedure for spindle nut, special place to hit the spindle with a BFH, keep pressure on the LCA with jack, lock-tight and 85 lbs-trq on the caliper bracket bolts, and notching the LCA. Anything like that.

I'll take before and after pics.

 

just get a breaker bar and you should be good with the caliper bracket bolts, ive never had problems with them...if that doesnt work put a longer pipe over the breaker bar. shouldnt have to do that though. in all honsty i would replace your upper and lower ball joints along with tie rod ends since you are going to have the entire spindle assembly off. save you some maintenence in the future. when i did my 4x4 knuckle swap i replaced everything and havent had a problem with it. good luck

 

All my ties and ball joints have been replaced already. I would though if they had not been.

Thanks for the tip on the caliper bracket bolts. The biggest issue I has is the head of the bolt is so short my socket didn't want to stay on it while I got behind the breaker bar the crank them off. The socket kept slipping off.

 

Your tires will be too small.

 

^ no they wont, i have 31s with a 3 inch lift and they look fine. If it was an extended cab it would look funny...but the 31s arent so bad

 

33's or bust!

 

Thank you for your input, now GTFO.

If you have any real information for me please feel free to post it up.

A spindle lift puts me at roughly the same height as a stock 4x4 and considering 31s look great on those (and even come stock on Level IIs) I think I'm alright. I'll get 33s when I get a Fabtech 2.5in UCA/Spring lift down the road. 33s would be a tight fit with just spindles.

 

 

Slightly lol

Here's StrangerRanger on 31s with just 3 inch spindles, he has 16inch wheels but it's the same size overall.
https://www.ranger-forums.com/album....pictureid=5774


Anybody know if I need to do anything with the brake lines?

 

Guys, I'm stuck!!

What size is the spindle nut? I don't have a socket that fits and I need to go buy one for it.

 

 

but if you have big enough channel locks or mexican fiddle you can use it. Those things aren't torqued down a whole lot

 

jesus grant, that pic is huge.

anyway i got past that part and i'm stuck on the inner wheel bearing. it won't come out. do i need a puller or am i missing something?

 

haha

no, I've never needed a puller for the inner wheel bearing. Maybe need to pop it off gently with a screwdriver or something. You're getting new bearings right?

 

Yep and it seems really really stuck on there. I mean really. Me and my dad both put full force behind it to remove it and I got nothing. it just shifts back and forth about 2 centimeters.

 

You did pull the inner seal off right?

 

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...Disc_Brake.pdf

 

yeah I'm at #5 and #6 the inner wheel bearing and the grease seal. they are just on the spindle. nothing in front of them

 

why not just get a full set of sockets? you'll need them down the road anyway.

 

Weird, it should just pop off. Maybe there is grease caked on that is holding the seal. The bearing should slide off. Maybe gently pry it off. But who cares because you're getting new wheel bearings??

 

Got it! Got the UCA disconnected and now I'm on the lower ball joint. Stuck again haha. I have a ball joint seperator but I don't see how the spindle will slide off over the threads of the lower ball joint.

 

leave the nut on the bottom so you don't damage the threads of the ball joint when you hit it with a BFH to knock it out. Then the spindle should just slide out.

 

Thanks! Got it.

Now I'm putting the lift spindle in. Whats the trick to bolt the LBJ back in without the threads spinning as you tighten the castle nut?

 

I don't know. i've never had that problem before....

 

well you do have the jack under it with the spring and upper arm in right? The ball joint has to seat down into the spindle. then it shouldn't spin.