06 H3
a.k.a. "The Jackal"
- Messages
- 9,502
- Location
- Meridian, ID
I have received a ton of spring over questions in PMs over the past few months. Between continuing conversations over of the past 6 months I probably have 50-75 PMs and emails combined. I am glad, these trucks are getting older and people are more willing to mod them but there seems to be confusion on what parts to use. I have heard of people use 14 bolt swap kits from ruffstuff, Dana 44 parts etc. You can use those parts but I am trying to keep it simple. These are the parts I used and I got the parts list from bebe and 4speedfunk.
Here is the list, the only parts you need.
This is your spring perch that will be welded to the axle.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...gperchantiwrap
OR
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/14PERCH.html
I used the first link with no trouble but 4speed recommends the 2nd link
This is your u bolt plate that sandwhiches the leaf springs to the axle.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...ry_Code=ubolts
These are your shock mounts that weld to the axle
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...ckbracketstabs
These are are spring hangers that get welded to your framerails.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/3-HANG.html
And for U bolts you can either use these
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/UB375.html
OR
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/UB3625.html
Both will work...
Order these parts and your good to go.
As for the installation, you can remove your gas tank but dont have to. Bebe did and so did I. We did this to weld the spring hanger to the inner framerail 4speed did not and his has been fine. The difference was that ours is welded on the inside of the framerail on the driver side where his isnt. Just be careful and dont blow up the truck and kill yourself with sparks and fuel.
When the axle is removed cut off the OEM bumpstop pads. There are two OEM "ears" put your spring perch in between there.
Thank you to 4speedfunk for these pics way back when!
Shock mounts are easy, just weld up the mounts and leave a few in of uptravel.
Longer brakelines CALL crown performance brakelines, tell em you need H3 lines. I used 6in longer then stock.
Spring hangers, I used a piece of tape.
This was a test pic, I cut off the rest of the hanger but I used the edge of the tape lined it up with the OEM hole on the frame hanger, cut it off then lined up the new hole on the new hanger up with the edge of the tape and welded it in.
Other then that there isnt much left to it.
I want to thank Bebe for starting this mod and the advice I got from bebe, speedy, and 4speedfunk. I learned alot here and want to share this info. Instead of keeping it all in PMs and on 8 million threads I figured I would just refer people to this then discuss here. The more the merrier in terms of sharing knowledge.
Lastly, using the OEM hangers is an option but I dont recommend it unless you want a bigger front lift then the rancho (i.e. custom IFS or SAS) With the new hangers I am 27 in the back and 26.5 in the front with the rancho/ spring over w/ stock springs. TAPD3T is at 30 hub to fender. That means you would have to do a 3in t bar crank on top of the rancho kit. Also the short hangers help a ton off road.
Here is the list, the only parts you need.
This is your spring perch that will be welded to the axle.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...gperchantiwrap
OR
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/14PERCH.html
I used the first link with no trouble but 4speed recommends the 2nd link
This is your u bolt plate that sandwhiches the leaf springs to the axle.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...ry_Code=ubolts
These are your shock mounts that weld to the axle
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...ckbracketstabs
These are are spring hangers that get welded to your framerails.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/3-HANG.html
And for U bolts you can either use these
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/UB375.html
OR
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/UB3625.html
Both will work...
Order these parts and your good to go.
As for the installation, you can remove your gas tank but dont have to. Bebe did and so did I. We did this to weld the spring hanger to the inner framerail 4speed did not and his has been fine. The difference was that ours is welded on the inside of the framerail on the driver side where his isnt. Just be careful and dont blow up the truck and kill yourself with sparks and fuel.
When the axle is removed cut off the OEM bumpstop pads. There are two OEM "ears" put your spring perch in between there.
Thank you to 4speedfunk for these pics way back when!
Shock mounts are easy, just weld up the mounts and leave a few in of uptravel.
Longer brakelines CALL crown performance brakelines, tell em you need H3 lines. I used 6in longer then stock.
Spring hangers, I used a piece of tape.
This was a test pic, I cut off the rest of the hanger but I used the edge of the tape lined it up with the OEM hole on the frame hanger, cut it off then lined up the new hole on the new hanger up with the edge of the tape and welded it in.
Other then that there isnt much left to it.
I want to thank Bebe for starting this mod and the advice I got from bebe, speedy, and 4speedfunk. I learned alot here and want to share this info. Instead of keeping it all in PMs and on 8 million threads I figured I would just refer people to this then discuss here. The more the merrier in terms of sharing knowledge.
Lastly, using the OEM hangers is an option but I dont recommend it unless you want a bigger front lift then the rancho (i.e. custom IFS or SAS) With the new hangers I am 27 in the back and 26.5 in the front with the rancho/ spring over w/ stock springs. TAPD3T is at 30 hub to fender. That means you would have to do a 3in t bar crank on top of the rancho kit. Also the short hangers help a ton off road.
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