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coil spacer instalation difficulty

1953 Views 9 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  BigBad360, 
BigBad360
Ok, I am looking to add some meats to my 98 ram 2500 ext cab and I keep hearing that coil spacers work fine, are cheap, but are really expensive to install. How hard would it be to put in coil spacers in the front and an add-a-leaf in the rear? If I can do this myself, I will. If you could explain the process, it would help a lot too. I am so tired of the little rubber bands it has on it now, and I am not about to pay a grand for 295s. If I am going to pay that much for tires/wheels I want to put some good ol 35s on her, but I am also not about to pay for 8 hours work to put in the spacer/add a leaf.

Isaac
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Smokey
Do you knw what a coil sprig compressor looks like ? A heavy bolt with hooks on each end... put one on each side of the coil spring, and apply the air wrench, alternating sides until you've squeezed the coils together. You should then be able to slip the coil spring "donut" style spacer right in.

The add a leaf installation is a no brainer. I don't know what kind of rise you'll get from these measures tho.... small body lift might be cleaner way to go...
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BigBad360
I heard a bottle jack is another way to get the springs apart.

I have thought about the body lift, but I have no idea what that would entail either. In a perfect world I would have the money to just put a lift on and go. In a near perfect world, I would have the money to have the spacers and body lift installed. In this world, I might have enough money to do it myself but have no clue how and I am sure I don't have the tools. Thus, I am on this board wishing someone would just say, "go under the truck and turn the lift bolt to the height you want and go. All you need is a ratchet wrench and a .5 inch socket" hehe

Isaac
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Smokey
Well, back in the good ole days, when MOPARs had torsion bars, you did just crawl under and turn a bolt...

The bottle jack is a really bad idea, no matter who says "I did it that way!" It's just plain dangerous. A rental center or parts house should have the spring ompressot tool I mentioned. It really is pretty simple.
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G
I have put 2 lifts on the new trucks They are simple to do it took me about four hours total for each one. The bottle jack method requires you to place the bottle jack between the frame and radius arm and that method works real good but you will need to disconnect the sway bar links to get enough drop. On the second truck I used a spring compresser. when you are useing the spring compressor pay particular attention to how the spring goes in or you won't be able to get to the bolts to release the compressor.
taking the old springs out is a piece of cake. put jackstands under the frame leave 2 floor jacks under the axel remove the shock and shock tower lower the jacks a viola' the factory springs just fall out. On the rear the leafs are just like any other set of leaf springs undo the bolts and put you add aleaf or blocks and bolt it back up.
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tv_larsen
Maybe there are cast spacers, but I've only heard of the molded Daystars like Mohammad has, and the plate built steel pieces that Tuff Country sells. The steel ones sell for about $130. I'm getting a set for my truck, I hope they don't rattle like Mohammad mentioned. If they do, I guess I can pull them rubber coat them.


From what I've heard, spring compressors are never needed to do the job (remember, I haven't done mine yet). I believe that the prescribed method says to disconnect the shocks (duh), sway bar, and trac bar. I helped a buddy do a 2" spacer lift on a '00 Jeep TJ that is basically the same thing, just smaller. We pulled the shocks, sway bar, and track bar. Other than the trac bar being a pain to reconnect, it wasn't hard. I've talked to Mohammad about this and I'll probably just use the bottle jack method.
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G
You can rent a coil spring compressor from Autozone for about a 50 dollar bill and you get all your money back when you return it. So why risk injury using the bottle jack method?
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Smokey
OK, I'll let up on the bottle jack warning,... Be advised, it is dangerous, but using due caution you may not lose any body parts...

I'm old ya know. The older one gets, the more dangerous some things appear. When I was 17 I lifted the whole rear end of a 1946 Ford with nothing but a barb wire fence stretcher and a maple tree... Truly a shade tree mechanic ! Then I stacked firewood under the frame for "jackstands" and proceeded to change the rear end and driveshaft. And, lived to tell about. Sometimes I scare me.
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BigBad360
What are the risks with the bottle jack method? I know that if I don't know what they are before I start, I will just let the truck claim parts of my body as her's. Also, are there kits sold that have the whole shebang to do a 2" spacer/add a leaf lift that won't cost me an arm and a leg? You guys mentioned a lot of things that need to be replaced after the 2" are added.

Isaac
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BigBad360
so what tires do you think I will be able to clear with this setup? I was very disapointed in what I can fit now and really want something bigger. I will just junk the whole battle plan and just work on my RC if I can't get tires that are worth it.

Isaac
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