Finally Ordered that Lift Kit

I'm not a big fan of FABTECH lift kits. I've seen so many and they look like junk. Alignment ends up being way off and getting it even close may not be possible. Front Axles are in a Huge bad Angle. I haven't seen a Colorado FabTech lift kit yet. They are cheaper then others. I like the Rancho Lift kits. They use a fully welded Solid Subframe for the front to drop everything down. Bolts up into the lower control arm pockets and the lower control arm bolt into the new Pockets on the new subframe. Very solid and strong. Works great. Fabtech uses a bunch of brackets you have to assemble together. It's not as strong, and other problems I said above. Sometimes I seen that someone has welded up the brackets after bolting them on to make it more solid. Looking bad is the least of the problems though.

Since your only lifting it 3" and it's only 2WD, and it just seems to be Spindles in the front, not sure what in the back, Axle flip kit maybe. So in your case fabtech should be ok. For a Full Size Truck, I'd stay far away. Skyjacker also have good lift kits. 4", 6", 8" Suspension lift, stay away from Fabtech. You get what you pay for! I've just seen to many and the trucks are JUNK. Don't tell the customer that though when they bring them in with Alignment problems and broken axles.

Where the heck where you when I was looking for a lift for this truck a year ago?

P.S. 3" is all I really need for this application by the way. More would just look stupid and wouldn't do anything more for the truck.

This is something I've seen with just about all of them. Make damn sure the ball joints are tight, and check them regularly. I've seen the ball joint taper wollered out to where getting the nut off the ball joint was almost impossible because the whole thing was turning in the spindle, or even worse there was 1/2 inch of lateral movement because the tapered hole was now an elongated egg shape. The same goes for the tie rod ends.

Whitelightning

When I'm installing a lift kit, most EVERYTHING gets Red lock-tite on them, some I use Green. Otherwise over time things will loosen up, and sorry to say, telling the customer to get it checked once in a while to make sure everything stays tight is useless. Especially these cheaper Lift kits like the FABTECH ones. A million brackets and bolts. These cheap kits have junk parts, badly designed garbage and people install them on their Good Trucks and turn them into rolling piles of garbage. Ball joints Brake, Axles bust, lots of steering slop, and or hitting when turning the wheel, and getting them into Alignment Specs is virtually Impossible. If you can just get it so the tires will last and not pull, that's about the best you'll get it. If your lucky.

A year later, you want to still be happy with it and not start having problems. End up having to sell your pile of junk to some sucker, or hell be that sucker to buy it because it looked good to you.

A 3" Spindle lift on the front, Not a big deal, fabtech is fine for that. Shouldn't have any problems on that type of lift. Not really changing any of the Suspension or steering other then the Spindle. Everything else is left alone. Can't really screw that up. It should ride and handle about the same as before.

P.S. Ball joints coming loose is pretty rare. As long as the Cotter pin is installed, and most ball joints have them, though some have locking nuts. If they're not Originally tight to begin with you'll have problems.

I have worked on Harleys quite a bit. I believe in red Lock-Tite. Green though? That is sleeve and bushing locker. Your usually have to heat it to get anything loose that's been installed with green.

What about the back. The kit looks like it comes with a shackle and a longer shock for the back. I have put shackles on other trucks in the past to get a couple extra inches in the back for one reason or another and never had any problems with them. In fact since so many lifts position the front higher than the rear (which may be fine for off road racing) I was thinking about using another shackle that is a little longer as I use this truck for hauling and trailering, and a higher rear is more desirable for me.

I'll make sure their tight anyway.

-- Bob La Londe - Webmaster

Tornament Director

There are 2 different Green Threadlockers. One is for Sleeves like you said, but there is also Green that's a Penetrating Grade. It's a low viscosity liquid that wicks along the threads of preassembled fasteners to secure them in place. It's applied after assembly!