Spohn upgrade and mini-lift

[jeremiahm]

As I get older the concrete in my driveway becomes less forgiving...

Updated the rear end with 1" spacers and all the shiny red from Spohn, what a huge difference. No bounce, clanking, clunking, the new shocks actually feel much smoother. Factory parts were tired at 150k!

If you go this route stop by ACE Hardware and get washers for the new bolts. Crowfoot wrenches are your friend, 21mm and 22mm.

I got the Spohn tool and cranked del-sphere ends a quarter turn on the trailing arms and a half turn on the pan hard bar (there is a set screw on each I did not notice at first). Just did this based on reading other folks experiences.

I re-purposed the auto-ride brackets on the upper arms and matched my initial marks on the sensors. No lights and air ride works like normal.

Here are some pics.

 

[jeremiahm]

Here is my initial attempt on the bracket:

 

[jeremiahm]

And the new stance (1.5" spacers up front and 1" in the rear).

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@jeremiahm Good stuff man looks good, were the control arms tricky to replace?

 

[jeremiahm]

@Dustin Jackson they were actually really easy. Took about 6 hours on the driveway (with a trip to ace and a couple of breaks), but I took my time, only lost a little blood and didn't break anything! Did my sway bar bushings as well, need to do the links. Crowfeet wrenches will be your friend.

I left the shocks connected while I did them so the axle didn't fall, when I did the spacers I did one shock at a time, watch the wheel speed sensor lines, I pulled the sensors and let them hang and removed the wire from the lower holder, otherwise when you drop the axle you will break them.

 

[jeremiahm]

Pulled it apart last weekend and cranked down all the joints, made a huge difference. Once you put the truck on them they move!

Pulled them off, greased them good, then tightened with a breaker bar until they stopped and then backed them to the nearest set screw indent (dont forget that set screw, its tiny, but holds tight!). I just snugged them, didn't crank.

I also knurled the outside edges of the spacers in the kit, this helped with movement too, cranked to 150 ft lbs on panhard and lowers, 140 ft lbs on uppers.



I did a few hundred miles on them as they are set up from Spohn and it was real clunky, after tightening it is smooth as butter, still smooth after a 1000 mile trip.

Super happy with these. Here is Flo on her new wheels:

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@jeremiahm I agree man, at first I was not happy with them because of the clunking. After tightening them up I am in love, I will be getting the spohn control arms when it becomes time.

 

[KidWgn]

Pulled it apart last weekend and cranked down all the joints, made a huge difference. Once you put the truck on them they move!

Pulled them off, greased them good, then tightened with a breaker bar until they stopped and then backed them to the nearest set screw indent (dont forget that set screw, its tiny, but holds tight!). I just snugged them, didn't crank.

I also knurled the outside edges of the spacers in the kit, this helped with movement too, cranked to 150 ft lbs on panhard and lowers, 140 ft lbs on uppers.


I did a few hundred miles on them as they are set up from Spohn and it was real clunky, after tightening it is smooth as butter, still smooth after a 1000 mile trip.

Super happy with these. Here is Flo on her new wheels:

So, you cranked the DelSphere's ALL the way down, then backed off to the nearest indent, then installed? Am I reading that right?

If we get back above zero any time soon, I need to crank mine down. They've worn the shiite out of my rear tires from wobbling.

 

[jeremiahm]

@KidWgn I cranked them all the way down and tried to hit the next indent, only backed off if I had to.