Installing Rancho Quick Lift struts...

mikeyk101 · August 30, 2022

So the day has finally come where I am ditching my RC leveling kit and installing new struts. I know many have gone the Bilstein 5100 route but I decided I wanted to give the Rancho RS999949 a try. I got them at a great price so I figured why not. But I have also been dreading this day because by putting the Rough Country leveling kit, I just created more work for myself. I know that some recommended to install the bolts on the leveling kit from underneath but I didn't do that. I installed them from top down like the RC installation instructions call for because I didn't want to screw around with cutting the front bolt. So now I have to figure out the easiest way to get those front bolts out. Usually though, when I try to find the "easy" way, it ends up being way more difficult than it has to be. I am going to see if there's a way to get a saw in there and just cut the bolt. I'm probably going to end up undoing all the parts and components I had to do to get the RC spacers installed. We shall see...

But, one question I cannot seem to find an answer to. I ended up saving the original stock lower strut bolts along with those clip nuts. The Rancho Quick Lift setup comes with new bolts and individual nuts. The Rancho bolts are just a tad shorter than the stock ones. Would I be better off reusing the stock ones or using the new Rancho ones? I kind of like the OEM setup as you only have to tighten the bolt from the bottom as opposed to the new that require tightening from the bottom as well as get a wrench on the top nut to hold it. I know it's only one more step, just curious how others would handle this.

mikeyk101 · August 31, 2022

Well I answered my own question... New bolts are going to be used. I can't believe how rusted things got under the front end since I did the level kit. The rear shocks were a breeze to do but I'm bogged down on the front end.

I jacked up the front end, put jack stands under there, pulled both tires and loosened just about everything to make it easier. On the left side, after removing the nut for the steering arm, it refused to pop out. It took many, many whacks with mini sledge to get it off. Stabilizer end links were almost impossible. I finally got it off after a liberal dose of penetrating fluid along with a socket wrench using a very long bar. Even the impact wrench wouldn't budge it. The stabilizer bolts ended up being completely rusted from top to bottom. The nuts for the lower shock mount came off fairly easily with impact wrench but the bolts refuse to move or come out.

I finally had enough and decided to tackle the right side. I found same problems there as well with stabilizer end links and lower shock bolts. Surprisingly the steering arm popped out easily with just removing the nut. I got nut off holding knuckle to upper control arm ball joint and was able to maneuver the knuckle out of the way to get bolts pulled from lower shock mounts. Again I had to use the socket wrench with long bar attached to persuade those bolts to get moving. Once they did, they still didn't want to come out so a hammer to the bottom of the bolts got them to finally pop up. I finally got old strut out and that looked pretty bad. Lower body completely rusted up as well as the springs. So now the new Rancho Quick Lift got put into position, new bolts and nuts on lower mount as well as new nuts for top. I got the steering arm back in and nut mostly tightened. Then using a pry bar, I got the upper ball joint stud back into the knuckle and began tightening it. This is where I'm stuck. I was using a 7/32" Allen key and got it almost done but got side tracked. When I got back to it, the 7/32" now seemed a bit loose and I couldn't hold it enough to tighten the nut. I tried to see if a metric Allen key would work but the 5mm was way too loose and the 6mm wouldn't fit in. Next up was torx bit Allen wrench. The T40 fit in there very well and I was able to tighten the nut all the way. But... then I couldn't get the Allen key out because it was tight against the CV joint. So I had to loosen the nut again, whack the knuckle with the mini sledge and then there was enough room to be able to remove the Allen key. It was time to call it a night.

Tomorrow's another day and I have a better idea on how to get that nut to tighten. I should have that side finished pretty quick in the morning. Hopefully the left side goes a little easier. Most of the stuff is already loose so I should be able to get that done rather quickly. Famous last words...

CamGTP · August 31, 2022

Why did you remove the ball joint nuts to get the strut out?

I've done lowering struts on like 3 trucks now and never did that.

mikeyk101 · August 31, 2022

2 hours ago, CamGTP said:

Why did you remove the ball joint nuts to get the strut out?

I've done lowering struts on like 3 trucks now and never did that.

Normally you would be right and there would be no reason to even mess with the upper ball joint. But I followed the instructions from RC when I installed the level kit. It called for installing both of their bolts from the top down because the bolts were quite a bit longer and going from the bottom up would have possibly caused interference with the CV shaft. And in order to get that long bolt in, the upper ball joint needed to be removed so the knuckle and shaft could be moved over a bit for clearance. The "fix" that some have done is to ignore the official RC instructions, cut or find and use a slightly shorter bolt, and install bolts from the bottom up. I blindly followed the official instructions. I didn't think ahead when I installed the level and didn't take into consideration that one day I would be changing out the struts. If I had gone the other route with at least one shorter bolt and from bottom up, I wouldn't be in this predicament right now. But then I wouldn't be having this "awesome" time dealing with all these rusty components and pulling my hair out.

This is par for the course. I just got done dealing with a leaky pinion seal and drive shaft issue on my trike that had been one headache after another. Then this came along. At least it gives me something to occupy my time...‍

mikeyk101 · August 31, 2022

Oh joy! Now I have 2 snapped off bolts to deal with. I was able to get everything back together on right side but haven't put wheel back on yet. I moved back over to left side and began to tackle lower strut bolts. They still were in there good. Out comes the 15mm socket on the 1/2" socket wrench along with the 3 foot persuaded bar. Finally got 1 bolt to move and then a loud crack. I moved over to the 2nd one and got that one to move slightly and another loud crack. I pull out first one only to find the bolt actually broke. Same with 2nd. Now I gotta figure out how to get the rest out. I was under the impression that these bolts just slid into those lower holes and weren't threaded. I sprayed top and bottom down real good with some penetrating stuff. I did try a BFH both from top and bottom but they aren't budging. I also tried locking a set of vice grips to the bottom of the bolt and same thing, won't turn. I'm just going to let it sit for a couple hours and see if that doesn't help. I'm not really interested in trying to drill these out but it may come down to that. Not real impressed with the Rough Country hardware right now...

mikeyk101 · August 31, 2022

Well 1 down, 1 to go. I started drilling starting small going larger until I snapped part of the 4th drill bit off in the hole. Well this sucks! So I went back to the BFH and began wracking from bottom and then on top. It finally started moving. I finally got it far enough up that I put a pair if vice grips on it, wiggled it back and forth a bunch of times and got it out. Not sure if trying to drill it out was the key but I'm sure it helped.

Now the other one is mushrooming on the bottom and I'm sure that's going to be a problem. And I am having a very difficult time trying to get the drill in there. Still working on it.