Installing Zone 6"/5" Kit

[Revo]

Looking to see if any of you guys who have self-installed your kits on your trucks ran into any issues during the install? Or maybe were told something by the shop/person who installed yours? I'm planning on doing mine with my cousin next weekend (GM mechanic) and just wanted to see how you guys found it.

I guess this goes for both the 4" and 6" kits, as they seem to be pretty similar.

 

[Dantheman]

The hardest part for me was cutting the cross member, which wasn't even that bad. The only issue I had was putting the new front crossmember in. I tried putting one side in then bringing the other side up but for some reason it wouldn't fit. The only way I could get it was to get both tabs in at the same time.

 

[homebrew]

Just did mine about a month ago. Hardest part for me was the rear control arm brackets, they didn't match up with the existing holes like they should have so I had to get creative with a few. Called tech support a few times. Did it by myself, an extra hand would have sped it up but I wanted to do it myself

 

[robbob]

Drilling the holes in the rearend upper control arm mount. The holes on the outside bottom of the mount you need either a short bit or a right angle drill.

 

[Revo]

The hardest part for me was cutting the cross member, which wasn't even that bad. The only issue I had was putting the new front crossmember in. I tried putting one side in then bringing the other side up but for some reason it wouldn't fit. The only way I could get it was to get both tabs in at the same time.

When did you need to cut the crossmember?

 

[Revo]

Just did mine about a month ago. Hardest part for me was the rear control arm brackets, they didn't match up with the existing holes like they should have so I had to get creative with a few. Called tech support a few times. Did it by myself, an extra hand would have sped it up but I wanted to do it myself

How long did it take you to do it entirely on your own?

 

[Dantheman]

When did you need to cut the crossmember?

I'm guessing you haven't read the instructions. On page 10 of the zone instructions is shows were you have to cut the rear cross member to allow the diff to drop down correctly.

 

[Dantheman]

Sorry, they call it "The driver’s side rear lower control arm pocket"

 

[homebrew]

Two days probably 15 hours between the two

 

[Revo]

For the sake of being cautious, I am cutting straight through this red line?


I'm just confused as to why they have 3 lines drawn on the picture.

 

[homebrew]

Preferated line

 

[Dantheman]

Not quite, the far left line is the one you need to cut, with the bold dashes. I don't know why they have the other 2 lines. I see that you live in Canada, you may want to pick up something a little stronger than average spray paint to coat the bare metal so you don't have to worry about rust.

 

[Dantheman]

Oh and if you run into trouble drilling the holes for the rear control arms, you can print the very last page of this off, http://bds-suspension.com/instructions/022309-022509.pdf and it may help.

 

[Revo]

Not quite, the far left line is the one you need to cut, with the bold dashes. I don't know why they have the other 2 lines. I see that you live in Canada, you may want to pick up something a little stronger than average spray paint to coat the bare metal so you don't have to worry about rust.

Ah, I understand now. Thanks.

I was thinking of priming and then using high heat spray paint and topping it off with a quick coat of spray bed liner. (Just to be safe)

 

[RamWrayzor]

Gotta gut the tie rod ends down too. I believe 3/8" or so.

 

[Dantheman]

^^^I commented on another thread about that too. I didn't trim mine down and everything worked out fine, maybe it was just me though. Let me know how the bed liner works, I want to repaint mine.

 

[Revo]

^^^I commented on another thread about that too. I didn't trim mine down and everything worked out fine, maybe it was just me though. Let me know how the bed liner works, I want to repaint mine.

Will do. I sprayed my hitch with it and it's very durable.

Do any of you happen to know if the picture displaying the parts is accurate to the 6" kit? I can't seem to find the following 3 pieces.



EDIT: Nevermind. I guess I'm missing some parts. For some reason I had remembered the 4"/6" kits having the same picture.

 

[Dantheman]

Oh and two more quick things, the original front diff brackets are a pita to get out, I found that an open ended offset wrench worked the best. The other is that I cut a wrench in half to get to the rear upper shock mounts easier.

 

[homebrew]

The black thing is the bump stop extension hard to see what the other things are

 

[robbob]

Go to the BDS website and print out their instructions as well, same instructions with a few different pics. They use a longer brake line in the front zone uses a relocation bracket.