xp8103

What a difference!!! Like night and day.

Phox, dont fret about installation. I did mine yesterday afternoon, in my driveway (it's dark and down in the low 30's by then). Took me less than two beers and although I had a couple of buddies standing around, I didn't need any help. The biggest problem I had was getting the old pitman arm nut off. One of my friends was bringing over his 1/2" drive impact set but I tried with a pipe wrench and about 12 inches of pipe and couldn't budge it. The impact wrench had it off in about 10 seconds. I slid the brace in place BEFORE putting the new nut on. Made it easier and I didn't have to pry my sway bar down all that far.

The difference was apparent immediately! Between the DSS, a new track bar and an alignment, it's like a whole new truck compared to my first drive home when I picked it up.

phox_mulder

My pitman nut shouldn't be too frozen on, as it was off just over 1 1/2 years ago when my lift was put on.
Only thing I'm worried about is my lack of a front sway bar.

I checked yesterday, and the nuts are still in the frame, but I'm worried about the length of the replacment bolts.
If they are made to hold both the DSS brace and the sway bar, they might be too long for just the DSS brace.

I guess if I have to put the sway bar back on I can, it's sitting on the side of the garage,
don't know where the original bolts went, but I'm sure I kept them somewhere.


phox

Lil Dog

The sway bar brackets aren't that thick.. I think the bolts that come with the kit will be fine. There is lots of thread recess in the frame for the bolts.

xp8103

Jerry,
A couple of thick fender washers ought to take up any slack.

No sway bar?? that's a new one.

BigBlue

Lil dog, the brackets for the lift are thicker than the factory brackets.

xp8103, I ran without my rear sway bar for a while and I really liked the way it rode. If I'm correct, phox took his off for a little additional flex off road. The suspension on these trucks is so stiff that you really don't need a sway bar.

xp8103

huh. Never would a thunk it.

phox_mulder

Me either, thought I was an idiot for even trying it.

I took it nice and slow around corners for a while.

Amazing how little body roll you have with the nice stiff Diesel coils.


phox

Lil Dog

I haven't seen the setup for the lift. It sounded to me that the swaybar was just up and gone.

If the swaybar is missing and there is nothing in that position, the bolts with the kit will fit easily to hold the DSS. I bet the OEM swaybar bracket is less than 1/4" thick.

I have seen quick connect sway bars on Jeeps but thats about it.

phox_mulder

This pic shows the sway bar extension brackets for the lift.
I had removed the ball joint ends and tied the bar up out of the way trying it out for a couple weeks before I removed it totally.



This one shows the bar totally gone.





Click on the pics for a much larger picture.


phox

phox_mulder

Put the DSS on today.

Went on pretty easily.
Pitman nut was on tight, but didn't need a cheater bar to get it off.
Since my sway bar has been off for just about a year, the nuts were a bit rusty,
took some armstrong elbow grease to get the new ones in there,
almost thought I cross threaded them, but I didn't.

Drove it around the block just to make sure nothing was binding up,
steering feels stiffer now, but that could all be in my head.
(forgot about my coffee cup on the bumper, spilled all over but stayed on)

I'll do a road trip later today and make sure I go on some familiar roads where before I was fighting to keep it between the dotted lines.

While I was under there with the torque wrench, figured I'd check the control arms.
Passenger side lower was loose again, tightened it down to spec.
Upper's were all right on.
Threw some grease in the zerks, took quite a bit.
99% sure the dealership hadn't greased them for the last two lube and oils, even though I pointed them out as being there.

Will report on the road test results.


phox

BigBlue

phox, how do you grease the upper arms? I put some grease in them before I installed them but I can't figure out how to get to them now that they are on the truck. Do you have a flexible hose on your grease gun?

RickCJ

The worse your steering box the bigger the improvment.

phox_mulder

Yes on the flexible hose.
Even so, it's a chore to get it in there, even harder to get it disengaged from the zerk.


phox

phox_mulder

Only 38,880 on my truck, so my steering box must not have been that bad.
I did notice an improvement, but not as much as I was expecting.

I do expect it to prolong the life of the steering box though,
moreso since I installed it before I started having problems.

Most of my squirrelyness is from the big tires, only fix for that is geting big bucks "E" rated big tires,
but the DSS definitely helps.

I'd say to all, get it before you start having steering problems.


phox