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wildhawk
GenIII
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2/19/2003
21:39:10

Subject: RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Forexfour,

I have a feeling that E-mail you received is just a generic reply. Keep in mind Rancho can't come out and publicly name any secondary company that failed to supply a product to them on time, due to liability reasons, etc.

If my kit arrives in the next few days as promised, then we will all know that it's not engineering holding things up, but rather component supply (read supplier) problems...

Also, a positive side note for you in particular... I was told that 4 wheel parts had ordered almost all of the first group of kits that are being shipped out. Hopefully your order will be among those.



forexfour
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2/19/2003
22:01:11

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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That is what I keep being told from 4 wheel parts.

I have also been in e-mail contact with Rancho for a while and calling them.

Just would like to know what the deal is that is all. You know what I mean...

I am supposed to get a call from 4 wheel parts in the morning with the story they get/give. I hope it is good news for a change!

Thanks for the positive note! I should have been a little more patient and went with the group buy!

Chris

Never late for a Tee time or wheelin with my buddies! Always ready for both!!!

Forexfour's home



Chad
Dodge Dakota
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2/20/2003
09:14:09

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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You all do know that you can't turn your tires at all when going slow on trails or stopped right? At least I can't and I was told that was because of teh rack and pinion steering, and they don't make any heavy duty steering for it, So for now I can't turn my 34" tires. I have a new power steering pump on the way. O yea and to the guy that wanted to know where I got my lift is was installed at Sam's Offroad here in Tulsa, OK. They are a very respectbal shop here in Tulsa. Go to www.samsoffroad.com



ian1872
Dodge Dakota
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2/20/2003
15:30:51

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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so your lift works great but you can't turn your tires? that's laughable! i currently have 33's on my truck and it seems to stear just fine, how much difference could there be between them and 34's? you crack me up chad.


ian



forexfour
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2/20/2003
15:49:16

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Well I still really do not know what the deal is here but I will have my lift Monday and I hope to have it installed Wednesday.

I called 4 Wheel parts to find out WTF and at first it was that Rancho was not shipping mine out til 3-21-03, So I said Cancel He did not want me to do this of course but I told WTF you have had a lift in you warehouse for I do not know how many days, and he told me this, and you are sending it to HI according to this guy. So he puts me on hold for a while then the MGR comes on and says it will be here Monday. I said Whatever.

He said schedule the mech time it will be here. So I will schedule it for Weds and hope for the best.

So if Rancho has been shipping these, Who has them???

Wildhawk you look to be getting it sooner so are you gonna install it yourself and when?

Chris

Never late for a Tee time or wheelin with my buddies! Always ready for both!!!

Forexfour's home



wildhawk
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2/20/2003
15:55:05

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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I havent received the shipment tracking info, but if it arrives tomorrow as is possible, I will be installing it myself this weekend. If it arrives on Monday, then it may be two weeks before I can get to it.

Hopefully Rancho will send me the tracking info sometime today.



forexfour
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2/20/2003
16:01:54

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Man if you get it on by Monday I would sure like to hook up and check it out! Since we are pretty much the same execpt I am not a Quad.

I hope you get it by tomorrow!

Chris

Never late for a Tee time or wheelin with my buddies! Always ready for both!!!

Forexfour's home



wildhawk66
Dodge Dakota
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2/20/2003
16:07:28

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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No Problem,

E-mail me your phone number and I'll give you a call if everything works out.



wildhawk
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2/22/2003
11:52:02

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Well, my kit arrived yesterday and I have already stripped my front end and attached the new crossmembers.

Kit looks to be well made and of good quality materials.

Ill keep you all posted as the install progresses.



forexfour
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2/22/2003
12:03:43

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Killer bud! I sent you my number incase you needed some help or something.

Cant wait to hear how the progress goes!

Chris

Never late for a Tee time or wheelin with my buddies! Always ready for both!!!

Forexfour's home



2THEXTRM
GenIII
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2/23/2003
17:29:02

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Congrats on being the first to get the lift!! Definately keep us up to date and take LOTSA pictures to assist us that will be installing it after you if you could, thx.

Flowmaster cat back w/15 inch chrome tip, Volant Intake, Poweraid TB Spacer, Splitfire Plugs, full synthetic fluids
3 inch body/1.5 inch Block Lift, 305 70-16 X-Terrains on AR Terons, Pro Comp ES9000's
Grizzly double/single rollbar with (6) Hella's, Manik Nerfs, Line-X, Hard Work & $$$$$$$$$$

EBOLAVIRS
Dodge Dakota
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2/24/2003
00:59:02

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Progress report please wildhawk....and pics we need pics



wildhawk
GenIII
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2/24/2003
13:28:50

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Sorry about the delay... the install has been quite a marathon. Sorry, I don't own a digital camera or a scanner. (my profile pic came from the online dealer add that I found my truck through - you can see a window sticker if you look hard enough)

The front was finished late last night. (took about 20 hrs of work by two people. (my buddy that helped me is a professional mechanic) I will hopefully have the back installed by the end of today. Since the torsion bars had been cranked up 2+ full inches prior to install, my truck is now only sitting about 1.5-2 inches taller than it had been. It honestly doesn't look much different, but at least my torsion bars arent maxed out.

Some general thoughts on doing the install.
A) Do not do your own install if you do not have air tools, an extensive wrench and socket collection, a breaker bar, a crow bar, various cutting and grinding tools, a GOOD drill, a set of cobalt drill bits, and a lot of experience working on vehicles.

B) Plan on having a mechanically inclined friend present. There were quite a few areas where having a second set of hands and some additional inginuity was really a necessity.

C) A lot of free time. The 12 hour time frame identified by rancho would, I think would be difficult to hit even in a shop with a lift.

The kit seems to be well made, but a can't as yet tell you about drivability as I am waiting to finish the rear lift before I have it aligned.

Bottom line, I think I would probably have a shop do the install if I had it to do over again.

I'll post more later, once I have the rear done. I'll also sit down with the instructions and post any tips, tricks, thoughs I had or found for each step. If you have any questions feel free to ask them.



2THEXTRM
GenIII
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2/24/2003
13:56:16

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Did you find why the lowering of transmission was necessary? and was that a big PITA? Did you install new ball joints or re-use the stock ones, how did you seperate BJ from control arms without ripping boots? I'm sure I'll have more questions later:) Thx. Bob.

I fortunately have access to a lift and every air/hand tool I could ever need along with at least one extra set of hands.

Flowmaster cat back w/15 inch chrome tip, Volant Intake, Poweraid TB Spacer, Splitfire Plugs, full synthetic fluids
3 inch body/1.5 inch Block Lift, 305 70-16 X-Terrains on AR Terons, Pro Comp ES9000's
Grizzly double/single rollbar with (6) Hella's, Manik Nerfs, Line-X, Hard Work & $$$$$$$$$$

wildhawk
GenIII
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2/24/2003
17:15:37

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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You actually do not lower the tranny. What you do is lower the transmission crossbrace which the tranny sits on. To do this, you have to add a spacer, so that the tranny will stay in the same place. You will drop the front diff and the torsion bar brackets.

My mechanic friend has a trick for seperating the ball joints with a hammer and a crow bar. I know it scared me when I saw what he was going to do, but it worked. Ill ask him to explain it next time I talk to him.



wildhawk
GenIII
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2/24/2003
19:47:40

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Ok, some more thougts on the install.

The first few steps for disassembly are straight forward as is the install for the new crossmembers.

The relocation of the front differential was also straight forward, but very time consuming. Be prepared to use a floor rack to continually raise and lower the diff to align new bolt holes. I didn't find any real tricks for this, just used a lot of trial and error and a couple of extra hands. You will need (on a 5.9 at least) to cut out the 1 foot section of exhaust pipe that runs under the back end of the front diff when you do this step. Pro's, youll now be able to run the exhaust over the diff and youll be really loud until you get to an exhaust shop...Cons, youll need to spend about 40 bucks to have this work done.

I did find that the bump stop spacer install found on page 9 should have been listed earlier in the instructions. (sometime while the lower control arm was still of the truck) This would have been easier and made things more acurate.

The tranny spacer and drop brack install was much more time consuming than I expected. Be prepared to do a lot of cutting, grinding and drilling. Having quality tools here will be indispensable. (im still pulling metal shavings out of my skin)

When doing the torsion bar drop brackets you will need to be creative when drilling the 13/32" hole on the drivers side. You will find that a fuel line and some electrical conduit will be in the way. Take your time and be prepared to do some minor hole enlarging to get things to fit.

For the rear install, I already had a block (same size as that supplied by Rancho) installed to balance my raised torsion bars, so I skipped the block install and kept the one I had. The U-bolts supplied by Rancho are quite long, so I might see if I can find a larger block to install and then use the new U-bolts later. The rest of the rear install is very easy and shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

More to come...






greenmachine
Dodge Dakota
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5/14/2003
14:05:35

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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anypics yet?




forexfour
GenIII
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5/14/2003
14:26:10

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Click on my link I have photo's from Wildhawk and my install and testing. Video to.

Never late for a Tee time or wheelin with my buddies! Always ready for both!!!

Forexfour's home



greenmachine
Dodge Dakota
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5/14/2003
15:58:39

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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ummm... all i see are red x's



greenmachine
Dodge Dakota
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5/14/2003
16:05:49

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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red x's are under james' install



forexfour
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5/14/2003
16:50:19

RE: 2000 and up Rancho Lift
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Oh yeah I took down james pis since they were at night and nto the greatest. They were posted a few days before they started mine.

All I have is my lift install and testing. I never had good photo's of Wildhawks truck sorry.

Never late for a Tee time or wheelin with my buddies! Always ready for both!!!

Forexfour's home



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