Lift kit install nightmare

[Silverado Brethern]

First, I now HATE IFS. It is all good and well until you go to work on it. I'll take a lil rougher riding straight axle over anything else. I bought a 2" rear 3" front suspension lift kit from TFES Performace, $150 to my door, no complaints there. Until I began to put it on....

Started at around 2 sunday afternoon with me a one friend. First problem was trying to get a jack to work, but that was minimal. Loostened the shocks and all the U-bolt nuts, they came off fine. So then, didnt think ahead enough to remove the tires before hand so the axle could drop off the springs. Then it was discovered that one of the lug nuts was over tighten, as in tight to the point where it would not come off with a 18" breaker bar. So i made a quick trip up to the plumbing shop i work at and grabbed an impact wrench, which upon return was discovered to be pointless when it wouldnt budge the nut either. Finally being a plumber and all, I got a 2ft. pipe wrench off my service truck and got the nut off with that and an extended socket. Time to remove one lug nut, 45mins. Completly destroyed the lug threads and the threads in the nut. Anyways we then dropped dropped the axle off and took the pressure off the springs. Next it was time to put the blocks on. This wasn't bad other than the spring twisted in slightly so it took two guys yankin on the axle and one guy workin the jack to get the spring pins inline. After that the rest of the rear end went smooth. At this point it was around 6:30

So then we took a lil break and jacked the front up. Now the instructions said to use a torsion bar tool or ball joint press to work on the bar keys. I failed to reasearch what these tools were and assumed a gear puller would get the job done. Problem here being i only have 3 jaw pullers and there was no good way to get it to stay centered to get pressure on the keys. But after about an hour or so we had the key stops removed. Tryin to knock the torsion bars out went alright other than years of mud and rust holdin them back. Got those out and then slid the new keys up in place and put the bars back thru them. At this point its prolly around 8 at night. And shortly after this is where i began to loose my mind in anger. We tried all sorts of afro engeneering to get this key up to put the stop back in. For the remainder of the evening we tried to use a 3 jaw puller but just couldnt get to go up with out coming off the crossmember. Then the stupidity driven by anger began. We stuck anything and everything on the floorjack to try to get the key up, screw drivers, all-thread, wrechs, etc. All of which went flying somewhere after the pressure got to be too much to stay on the jack. We even made a fixture with a 2x6 and some half inch all-thread but that didnt work either when the washers cracked the 2x6. then I decided to put a floor jack on the bottom of the gear puller to get the last half inch or so out of the keys, BAD BAD BAD idea. It didnt fly off at all but it raised the truck completely off the ground including the rear tire and the key was still too low. Took that off and noticed the threaded part of the gear puller was bent and now destroyed. So we got pissed off and quit around 10 and night.

Next day I rented a two jaw puller thinking it would grip the cross member and stay centered. So i got myself off work early, got home and started workin on it around 3 in the afternoon. First problem being the puller was a completely piece of shit and the arms wouldnt tighten enough to stay in place. So i farted around for awhile and then put the arms on top of the crossmember and cranked that tight. At some point i noticed all sorts of steel shavings coming down from the puller grinding on the key. It began to get very tight we started using the breaker bar to turn it, and it did. It broke yet anought gear puller, this time it twisted the stabilizing arms along with demolishing the tip. At around 5 or so my friend decided to scan over the directions and saw about where it said torsion bar tool or ball joint press. So then we came in and got on the computer to see what these things looked like. NOTHING at all similar to a gear puller, more like a giant C-clamp. Then Drove around for awhile and couldnt find AutoZone did after about an hour we got there and rented the tool, $99 BTW. Now if you dont know what a ball joint press looks like just imagine a basic C-clamp with-out the flat spot on the thread oh and also it prolly weighed about 30lbs. Got this thing back to the garage and it was apparent somethin was wrong when the thread got tight just after it started. Then the handy dandy 2ft. pipe wrench was used to crank on it, figuring since it was a brand new tool the paint just hadda come off and thats why is was tight. No sir, that thing wouldnt even turn with that big wrench. Once it was that tight there was no way to hold it down to get it loose. So then here is somethin im proud of, to get it to stay down I backed my dad's service van over top of it, oh yeh you better believe I dont need to go to college. So after it was out we took the now useless and stripped tool back to the store. Actually the threads were put on backwards, so not my fault. So by now im so mad you could spit on my forehead and it would sizzle. Ran to another AutoZone and got anohter press. This time it worked and in the end (well after 9) it took about 10 hours to get something done that ended up only taking 15mins with the right tool that worked properly. Total time, 14 hours.....and also three destroyed tools.

End result is a truck that sits at 37.5" at the front (w/o new tires) and 38.75" in the rear (also w/o new tires). So i am pleased with the height. The front is A LOT stiffer, which means rough over bumps but suprisingly better through the turns. I would recommend this lift to anyone, provided you wont mind a rougher ride, rides about like my 96 ford f-250 work truck. Lesson learned being, DO SOME RESEARCH on what it takes to complete a job!! Ill try to get some pics with the tires on it.

[98SilvyKid]

Only $150 for the whole kit? Doesn't sound like much for a suspension lift, even if it's just new blocks and keys. But if it works, what the heck. How is the quality of the kit as far as parts go?

[Silverado Brethern]

Blocks are high tensle aluminum and the keys are made out of the same as stock, im assuming cast steel. Everything appears to be of a good quality. But I still say the whole IFS and torsion bar deal is retarded, i'd kill for a straight axle.

[98SilvyKid]

To be truthful, I love IFS for the way it performs, but it is a pain to work on. Some coil-overs on the shocks would be eaiser to work with than the dumb torsion bars. Love IFS in general, hate bars.

[wilwith1l]

I've seenth straight axle conversions done, and they look so badass on a newer silverado. especially when you have a 12 bolt high pinion sittin right up front.

[Silverado Brethern]

Yeh i saw one at the beach in June with 39 inch swampers on it. But i priced it before and it would end up being around $4500-5000 to get it done right. But im satisfied for now, until these tires need changed and then ill get a body lift too. Now with new tires my front fender trim is 38.5" and 39.5" in the back.

[Snowgoer05]

The staright axle kit cost about 1000 from any catalog and the front end well you decide