Post by bmilla on Nov 23, 2008 4:14:59 GMT -5
After adding a suspenion lift and 33" tires on my tacoma I was running into a big rubbing problem at the back of the front fenders. I decided to add a 2" body lift to help get some clearance. I didn't find much info on write up's of people's experiences with body lifts. So here are a few pics of the instalation of the lift.
The instalation was pretty much straight forward. Unhook the battery and some of the clips on the wiring harness. Removed the bumper and grill assembly. Unbolted the radiator and shroud and let them sit on the fan. I just loosened all the body mounts but didn't take them out completely. I removed the passenger side bolts first and lifted the passenger side cab only with a high lift jack until the pucks would slip in. I pushed the bolts through and didn't tighten them down yet. As I lifted the cab it started to pinch the a/c lines that the instructions said to remove. But I didn't want to go through the trouble of draining the a/c so I just carefuly bent the line with my hands. I then lifted the drivers side of the cab up and slipped the pucks in. The steering shaft that performance accesories sent with the kit was the next step.
I don't like the design in the steering extension they use in the kit. If I had to do it again I would go with Roger Browns extension, but my buddy had the performance accesories kit he never had used. The steering extension would not slip on like the instructions said it would. I still can't get it to fit right so I am going to order the one from Roger Browns. The steering extension slips on but bottoms out and does not let the steering shaft sit at the original location. This caused my steering to stiffen up a little bit which bothers me. I don't know if anyone ran into this problem but it took about two hours to get the steering shaft to sit in a position where it allows the steering to turn without binding at the upper joint. After that headache I bolted down the cab and moved onto the bed. The bed was easy. The hardest part was removing the fuel filler neck and cutting it to add the extension. The bracket provided to support the fuel filler neck did not work either. It just wouldn't fit the way it was designed to so I fabbed up my own bracket.
Here are a few pics of before and after the lift.
This was the clearance between the tire and back of the front fender before the lift.
Here is the clearance after.
from top of the tire to top of the fender before.
afer the lift.
picture of the steering shaft without extension
and a picture of the extension provided in the kit.
I have decided to order the Roger Brown's steering extenion which uses a spacer at the rag joint. I think it will work better than the one from the performance accesories kit. After the lift I am still rubbing when the suspension is compressed so cutting the fenders is the next step. The rub is not bad anymore I just want full clearance while off road.
The instalation was pretty much straight forward. Unhook the battery and some of the clips on the wiring harness. Removed the bumper and grill assembly. Unbolted the radiator and shroud and let them sit on the fan. I just loosened all the body mounts but didn't take them out completely. I removed the passenger side bolts first and lifted the passenger side cab only with a high lift jack until the pucks would slip in. I pushed the bolts through and didn't tighten them down yet. As I lifted the cab it started to pinch the a/c lines that the instructions said to remove. But I didn't want to go through the trouble of draining the a/c so I just carefuly bent the line with my hands. I then lifted the drivers side of the cab up and slipped the pucks in. The steering shaft that performance accesories sent with the kit was the next step.
I don't like the design in the steering extension they use in the kit. If I had to do it again I would go with Roger Browns extension, but my buddy had the performance accesories kit he never had used. The steering extension would not slip on like the instructions said it would. I still can't get it to fit right so I am going to order the one from Roger Browns. The steering extension slips on but bottoms out and does not let the steering shaft sit at the original location. This caused my steering to stiffen up a little bit which bothers me. I don't know if anyone ran into this problem but it took about two hours to get the steering shaft to sit in a position where it allows the steering to turn without binding at the upper joint. After that headache I bolted down the cab and moved onto the bed. The bed was easy. The hardest part was removing the fuel filler neck and cutting it to add the extension. The bracket provided to support the fuel filler neck did not work either. It just wouldn't fit the way it was designed to so I fabbed up my own bracket.
Here are a few pics of before and after the lift.
This was the clearance between the tire and back of the front fender before the lift.
Here is the clearance after.
from top of the tire to top of the fender before.
afer the lift.
picture of the steering shaft without extension
and a picture of the extension provided in the kit.
I have decided to order the Roger Brown's steering extenion which uses a spacer at the rag joint. I think it will work better than the one from the performance accesories kit. After the lift I am still rubbing when the suspension is compressed so cutting the fenders is the next step. The rub is not bad anymore I just want full clearance while off road.
