Dodge Ram 3" Lift Installation

By The Boss

My stock ram. BTW, I am 6'3" and am just as tall as the truck. Although it didn't come out too well, you can compare the stock rubber to the new ones I will be putting on after the lift is done.

The front end...

After reading the instructions in the house and then again outside in front of the truck with the new parts laid out near their respective places, we started the installation. We jacked up the front end and placed the jack stands on the frame directly below the side mirrors so they would be out of the way. However, we realized that since we needed to drop the axle as far as we could, the rotors would hit the ground before we could really get started. We ended up having 4-4x4's laid square to make a 7" wide, 7" tall base for the stands. Worked great.

We pulled the wheels and followed the instructions exactly. However, what the instructions don't tell you is to remove the trackbar and sway bar. Since we didn't, the axle swung towards the driver's side and made the installation of the new lower control arms difficult because they would not align themselves. The sway bar kept the axle from completely swinging rearward in order to more easily rotate up to meet the new arms. After a bunch of pushing, pulling and prodding, we got the arms in. The new bushings in the arms are really stiff and did not allow much play left-to-right. One of the biggest pains was to make sure that the special washer on the bolts was seated correctly to be adjusted when the final torque is set.

Also, be sure to try to thread all of the bolts into the spring spacers before installation. I found one hole filled with gunk that needed to be removed and another that had some damaged threads near the top. A few minutes with the tap and everything went together easily.

The front end took 6 hours to complete without cleanup time. Although we are both mechanically inclined, the axle swing issue and the fact that neither of us had done anything like this before and wanted to make it perfect added to the time. We could probably complete the front end in about 3 hours now. It was just the control arms that took the longest. We only used an air ratchet to install the spring spacers because those things can get heavy.

Be sure to buy or rent a large 200-300 ft. Lb. Torque wrench because the bolts that connect the arms to the axles are spec'd to 180 ft. Lb. (most wrenches max at 150 ft. Lb.)

This is after we got the front end put back together and the new tires mounted.

The rear...

As you can see in the pic above, things aren't quite done yet. The truck is still sitting a wee-bit low in the rear. Well, the kits includes a 1/2" spacer block to go on top of the factory 3" block. There is also a new add-a-leaf spring to install in the spring pack. This end was very simple, except that a c-clamp broke while holding the pack together. Found another one and kept working (after cleaning up the blood from my forehead where the top of the clamp landed after ricocheting off the inner fender well). Be sure to use some grease on the ends of the springs to help them slide instead of bind as you compress them.

Lining up the rear axle and stuff was a snap. It may take a while to get the new spring pack bolt tightened up, just because it is so long that a deep socket won't work for the last bit and you need to use an open or box end wrench. Also, remember to cut off the u-bolts after everything is torqued to spec. I cut off nearly 3" of thread using a carbon-cutting blade on a circular saw.

The shocks mount up really high near the frame rails and that tends to make mounting them a pain. You have to reach up between the exhaust hanger and the frame rail to bolt them in on the passenger side. Driver side was not too bad.

Here we are, my wife Tracy and I, standing by the newly "up"graded rig. Notice how I am standing on the sidewalk in the one shot and the truck still looks taller than me (remember the first pic).

There is a total increase of about 4" (3" lift plus 1/2 the change in tire height). The truck currently sits at 6'7" with 45 psi in the front and rear as measured from the back of the cab down between the bed. I have been able to use garages marked 6' 8" without incident.