Lifted 6", want to go back to stock, options?

Markbone · Mar 7, 2014

Hey all, looking into going back to stock height from a 6" suspension lift.
PO installed fabtech UCA's, Springs, lift knuckles and blocks in the back but didnt keep a single god darn OEM part. Rear is the easy part, remove blocks and get new u bolts. the front end is where my problem is, no one seems to have OEM knuckles locally and ones i have found are basically going to break the bank. im stuck on an island with one decent junk yard so used ones are pretty hard to get a hold of. UCA's and springs ive found on a few websites are reasonably priced so those are locked down come tax return time.
any ideas or leads you folks may know of for decent used knuckles? Anyone want to trade a 6" lift for stock parts? if it werent for my dogs getting old (gotta lift a 100lb lab every time haha) or the severe toe in from the kit i'd just keep her as is.
TIA!

White Beauty · Mar 7, 2014

100 pound Lab keeps you in shape.

As for the toe in.. have you gotten an alignment done?

Markbone · Mar 7, 2014

White Beauty said:
100 pound Lab keeps you in shape.

As for the toe in.. have you gotten an alignment done?

damnit i hate that you're right lol.

PO had it done about a year ago. Correction: not toe in, Camber is what i meant. looking at the design of the kit its got that desert prerunner look. the angle of the UCA's is pretty steep and i doubt it can be corrected anywhere close to what it should be.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, they help explain better than i do haha

Markbone · Mar 11, 2014

So here is a pic from the front showing the camber. Honestly the design of the upper control arms doesn't leave room for alignment better than it is.

Merc225hp · Mar 11, 2014

Thats bad very bad hope you are not driving it like that. Can you post up some pix of the up arms or just overall pix of the front suspension. Something tells me the crossmember under the motor had/has to modded to make this work right, can you tell if that has been modded?

Here is the link to the pdf install sheet you might check it over and make sure all the steps have been done right.

http://www.fabtechmotorsports.com/files/FT3200-6i.pdf

Bully's Performance · Mar 11, 2014

ummm....That does not look right to me, I have seen a lot of fabtech lifts and none of them look like that

leadrofthepak · Mar 11, 2014

No legitimate lift properly installed will have an end result camber like that. I think Merc is right, there should be something bringing the lower control arms closer to the center line of the truck. At any rate you would probably be better off putting stock suspension back under this truck. I do not see any low cost way to get used parts to the islands. Your best bet may be contacting salvage yards in southern California and see if they would be willing to ship the parts. Good luck bro.

Merc225hp · Mar 11, 2014

Op if you can't find used parts and are willing to pay for shipping I will hunt up used parts for you. Someone must want to lift there 2wd truck that would like to trade parts.

Markbone · Mar 11, 2014

Merc225hp said:
Thats bad very bad hope you are not driving it like that. Can you post up some pix of the up arms or just overall pix of the front suspension. Something tells me the crossmember under the motor had/has to modded to make this work right, can you tell if that has been modded?

Here is the link to the pdf install sheet you might check it over and make sure all the steps have been done right.

http://www.fabtechmotorsports.com/files/FT3200-6i.pdf

Merc it is bad (inside edge of tires is almost bald) and i am driving it very limited distances. i'll grab some more pics after work so you can see what i mean as far as no room to adjust the alignment.
no crossmember additions/modifications. checked the parts list, work order, and the instructions from kit the PO gave me and no mention of crossmember. PO had all the work done at 4 Wheel Parts locally. he said it was a 'prerunner' kit hence the camber, now i know 100% its a load of bull...

Bully's Performance said:
ummm....That does not look right to me, I have seen a lot of fabtech lifts and none of them look like that

neither have i, maybe i can contact them and see what they say.

leadrofthepak said:
No legitimate lift properly installed will have an end result camber like that. I think Merc is right, there should be something bringing the lower control arms closer to the center line of the truck. At any rate you would probably be better off putting stock suspension back under this truck. I do not see any low cost way to get used parts to the islands. Your best bet may be contacting salvage yards in southern California and see if they would be willing to ship the parts. Good luck bro.

werd. ive been calling the local yards every week but no luck. wish the PO had kept all the OEM stuff.

Merc225hp said:
Op if you can't find used parts and are willing to pay for shipping I will hunt up used parts for you. Someone must want to lift there 2wd truck that would like to trade parts.

i wouldnt mind if it werent so high. $100 springs that cost $100 to ship is just outrageous!

i've got a CL ad up locally too but not even a peep within the last few weeks...heck i joined RF mostly to see if anyone here wanted the lift kit parts, figured at the least i would split the shipping

Merc225hp · Mar 11, 2014

I look forward to seeing those pix and I hope the people here on RF can help you figure out just what is going on under the truck.

Fabtech in my op has good kits I have spoken to them once and they seem very helpful. I am sure you could find it but I will post this for you, Fabtech phone number is 800-521-4908

Markbone · Mar 11, 2014

Merc225hp said:
I look forward to seeing those pix and I hope the people here on RF can help you figure out just what is going on under the truck.

Fabtech in my op has good kits I have spoken to them once and they seem very helpful. I am sure you could find it but I will post this for you, Fabtech phone number is 800-521-4908

Thanks merc soon as I get out of work I'll post some up.
Kudos! I'll give them a ring tomorrow when they're open. I'm sure it was more of an install problem than a part issue. I know fabtechs rep is great. 4 wheel parts techs is not haha!

CStank89 · Mar 11, 2014

Do you still have all the parts from the 6'', if you do pm me if you're trying to sell them.

NYCruiser · Mar 11, 2014

Talk to fabtech first, but also talk to the shop that did the work. Maybe they will make a deal to fix it or perhaps still have the stock parts they took out.

Markbone · Mar 11, 2014

CStank89 said:
Do you still have all the parts from the 6'', if you do pm me if you're trying to sell them.

I will as soon as I can get mine back to stock. I don't have a place to store it for more than a weekend otherwise I would just sell the lift kit to fund the stock parts.

Markbone · Mar 11, 2014

NYCruiser said:
Talk to fabtech first, but also talk to the shop that did the work. Maybe they will make a deal to fix it or perhaps still have the stock parts they took out.

I doubt they would as they are notorious for 1.not giving a crap and 2. The lift was installed at least 2 years ago before I owned it.
Still I might give it a shot

CStank89 · Mar 11, 2014

Ok well what are you thinking price wise? Or I have stock parts from my truck we could swap lol only my trucks real low on miles everything is in good condition lol I might because to trade you some of my stock stuff

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Markbone · Mar 14, 2014

CStank89 said:
Ok well what are you thinking price wise? Or I have stock parts from my truck we could swap lol only my trucks real low on miles everything is in good condition lol I might because to trade you some of my stock stuff

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Sorry for the delay got a little busy. Maybe 200 for all the lift kit stuff, but honestly I'd be more open to a straight trade cuz I know shipping is gonna kill. Let me know what you think.

Markbone · Mar 14, 2014

Fiiiiiinally got some usable pics! It looks like there might be some room to adjust the camber, hopefully take it into the shop this weekend and see what they say. Drivers side looks ok, passengers side is close...

Markbone · Mar 26, 2014

UPDATE TIME!
finally had some free time to take her back into 4 wheel parts and see what they had to say about their work and whether or not it was able to be aligned. turns out I need all new ball joints, tie rod ends and hubs. cue sad trombone

they quoted me about $2k all said and done, so i went home and got online. Rockauto and amazon had the best prices but amazon had free shipping. so there goes $528...
still hoping to lower it but finding spindles for a reasonable price is much harder than I thought it would be. if anything i could just slap those on and lower it halfway...
thanks RF! if i remember i'll do a build thread, i know its nothing crazy but i learned alot of what i know from random forum builds haha!

Lifted 6", want to go back to stock, options?

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