yes another question about installing AAL+5100s

Ok so i have my 4 5100's and my AAL sitting in my house since like july...i want to install them, but i'm still alittle leary...now as far as the fronts, those i do not want to mess with ( i want to take them to a shop to do)..basically on a scale of 1-10 how hard is it to swap out the rear shocks and install the AAL?...i'm pretty much a noob, only ever changed oil, manny tranny fluid and installed a stereo on this truck, but nothing extreme...i'm not dumb, but again i have no experience really...meineke quoted me like 150.00 to install all four shocks, but they themselves aren't crazy about doing the AAL...some specialty shop qouted me like 400 bucks just to install the AAL (yeah that's beyond resonable)...honestly i'd rather save the money and do it myself...i guess i'm asking how possible is it for me to really "mess" things up being a noob....or does anyone have anyone they can recommend for an install in NE PA (bout an hour north of philly)...thanks guys...

 

hey man...good to hear you wanna do it yourself. it'll keep you intouch with the truck. as for the 5100's...they are cake dude. you can do this.......take the front coil assemblies off the truck, then take them to a shop and get them to swap the billy's in for ya....just remember which coil came off the driverside, as it'll need to go back on. then the rears, they are really easy. just remove the stock shocks, and install the rears, and if it makes it easier for ya, have a floor jack under there(though its not really needed) to help you out. as for the aal's......relatively easy. gotta put the truck on some jack stands on the frame, then use another set of stands under the rear axle. unbolt the u-bolts(do one side at a time....it may be alot easier), then you gotta remove the centering pin i do believe. then you'll slide the aal in place and bolt it back on with longer center pins. then, bolt everything back up. im pretty sure thats how it goes......someone correct me or add if i left anything out.
afterwards, you'll want an alignment since you'll have new shocks on.

 

well my question is too, is if i do say complete the rears and the AAL myself, but dont want to touch the fronts, would it hurt the truck to drive it the 2 miles to the shop with the rear end higher? cause i was planning on maybe doing this, just letting meineke do the complete front removel and install with the truck there, instead of me taking the shocks off and taking the shocks to them...

so as far as the aal is concerned, do i really need to drop the rear end very low to fit in the leaf?...i think that's what i'm afraid of, the rear end falling...i do have jack stands i can rest it on...and the rear shocks, are they pretty much unbolt stock and rebolt the 5100s right?

 

nah man, that aint gonna hurt it a bit buddy. if that makes it easier for you, by all means, do it that way then. do be sure to get an alignment soon afterwards though, or your tires may start wearing uneven.

 

one more thing...does anyone know if i should use a torque wrench and torque the rears at a certain lb, or can i just use a regular wrench hand tightened...

 

using a regular wrench is fine as long as you get the nuts/bolts real good and tight, but it may be a good idea to torque them to a certain spec if you have a torque wrench available. always pay to be safe.

 

i'm planning on buying a torque wrench...do you know what lb is recommended for the shocks?

 

actually....for the shocks, i would just tighten them by hand until you got them real good and tight.........i would use the torque wrench for the rear spring bolts and u-bolts when you are installing the aal. im not real sure of the torque specs for those bolts though.

 

one more thing if you do the aal your self: once you put it all back together, drive it a little bit (maybe 10 miles or so) and then crawl back under and re-torque the u-bolts as they'll settle in after a few miles and bumps. you definitely dont want these coming loose.

 

good call man!! i knew i was leaving something out!!

 

lol, no problem. i got yer back

 

yeah that one i kinda figured one my own...always good to recheck things again and again...now i just have to figure out what setting for the torque...i'm actually in the process of trying to buy a wrench off CT if he accepts my offer......now i bought some new leaf pins, since my AALs i bought used and didn't come with em...the smallest size they had were 6inches long, so i know i'm gunna need to cut em down, how much thread to you guys think i should leave under the stop for safetys sake? and can i just cut it with a simple hacksaw, since that all i have at the moment?

 

I don't know about how much thread, but I do know that it's much easier for you to have a nut threaded down (much lower than the cut) so that you can "unscrew" through the cut. Just helps preserve the threads and ensures you can get the nut back on when it's ready to go. Hope that made sense, a couple of beers will do that to me...

Rob

 

yeah same to me...seriously these guys are usually cool there, you know let me bring in my own parts and such...but when i brought in the shocks and pics of the aal (didn't have it with me) they looked at me like i had brought parts from some alien spacecraft...they hemmed and hawed for a few minutes on even installing the 5100's...they said it would be bout two hours of labor for the shocks...now i'm not professional, but for a place that does shocks all the time, would it really take em' 2 hours to put em on?... that's fine tho, i'm gunna attempt to do the rears and AAL next weekend, then just have them do the fronts....

 

yeah so i'm back again...going to be finally installing my 5100s and AAL (weather permiting) tomorrow...one more quick question...i'm gunna be doing the rears first...now should i say just measure the height of the rear after the AAL and then figure out what height to adjust my front shocks at? or should i still just go for the full 2.5" in hopes that the rear won't sag too much after being used? i just don't want to have to rip apart the fronts to re-adjust them later on because the rear sagged too much and the truck will not be level anymore...also i didn't want to really mess with the fronts, but how hard is it really to use a spring compressor that you rent from say autozone...i'm more worried of a danger issue, more then me messing something up...again thanks guys