Installing lift kit on 2004 Dodge Ram for the first time... any tips?

[HeyAwesomePeople]

My girlfriend's dad has a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4dr Quad Cab 2WD and wants to install a 3-inch lift kit. He ordered the 3-inch lift kit from Rough Country.

It seems like a fairly straightforward installation... block lift and new leaf spring u-bolts with shocks in the back and 2 new coil springs and shocks in the front. The only thing I'm worried is the replacement of the front coil springs. Do I need to use a spring compressor to get the coil spring in or is there another way? What would be the general procedure for removal of from coil springs and shocks?

I've done much work on jeeps but never a dodge. With my jeep, I am able to easily nearly remove the entire front axle, slide the old coil out, slide the new coil in, and jack back up the axle. Obviously, without a front axle, things are different!

Thanks!

 

[Sun_Devil375]

2wd 04 ram is actually really easy to replace the front coils and shocks. You can remove the shocks with two small bolts on bottom of shock and one on top and the shock will just fall out the bottom (its in the middle of coil). For the coils, jack the wheel up you want to do first, and then remove the tire. After tire is removed slowly lower the jack down and eventually the pressure will be taken off the coil and you can just grab it out. I was worried too about the pressure and using coil compressors, but the ones at auto zone were way to small for the coil in the 04 ram and if you lower it slowly there will be no tension and the coil wont go flying or anything like that it will literally be sitting there for you to grab. Replace with the new coil and then jack it back up which will put pressure back on the coil. Add the shock through the middle of the coil (from bottom up) and bolt on top and two on bottom and done. Super easy and nothing to worry about. I would also recommend PB blasting or putting WD 40 on the bolts of old shocks for a few days leading up so that you dont have any issues. Adding the rough country lift to my truck was easy the hard part was getting the old bolts off.

 

[HeyAwesomePeople]

2wd 04 ram is actually really easy to replace the front coils and shocks. You can remove the shocks with two small bolts on bottom of shock and one on top and the shock will just fall out the bottom (its in the middle of coil). For the coils, jack the wheel up you want to do first, and then remove the tire. After tire is removed slowly lower the jack down and eventually the pressure will be taken off the coil and you can just grab it out. I was worried too about the pressure and using coil compressors, but the ones at auto zone were way to small for the coil in the 04 ram and if you lower it slowly there will be no tension and the coil wont go flying or anything like that it will literally be sitting there for you to grab. Replace with the new coil and then jack it back up which will put pressure back on the coil. Add the shock through the middle of the coil (from bottom up) and bolt on top and two on bottom and done. Super easy and nothing to worry about. I would also recommend PB blasting or putting WD 40 on the bolts of old shocks for a few days leading up so that you dont have any issues. Adding the rough country lift to my truck was easy the hard part was getting the old bolts off.

Thank you for the reply. I have installed it. The whole thing took upwards of 20 hours, mostly of banging old ball joints out. Damn rust.

Anyways, I ended up replaced the wheel hubs, upper control arms, and lower control arms for both sides while I was at it. Old shocks had literally snapped in half and the old ball joints were absolutely trashed. They aren't replaceable so we had to buy the control arms. And yeah since I was replaced the control arms it was extra easy to snap a coil in there before I jacked up the lower control arm to install the knuckle. Easy peasy.

The only issue is now.... is that things don't seem to be right with wheel placement and steering. Steering is extremely loose now and any bump in the road throws the steering wheel one direction or the other. Here is what the tires look like: https://imgur.com/a/s8755yX

Notice how the actual tires are sitting? Also, the picture of the front end of the truck makes it looks like it has camber! Any ideas what's going on here? There is a pretty heavy toe-in alignment issue (I told him the next time he drives it should be straight to an alignment shop).