Im trying to squeeze in new control arms in. My new 4.5 inch coils are in so all I need to do is finish getting my new arms in. The frame is supported with jack stands at their tallest setting. Axle is just sitting on scissor jacks ...basically full droop. The axle isn't far enough forward for the arms to get in. Would jacking the frame up amd lowering the stands help push it forward when the frame comes down? I know you can pull the axle out with a come a long or a ratchet strap but i'm trying to avoid that as it didn't work. Will lowering the body work???

 

I put an engine stand with an engine mounted to it, against a block of wood against my bumper. then got a pretty beefy ratchet strap and went to town cranking it till the control arms fit. I did that after sitting there for an hour wondering what to do lol.

 

See I have a.wimpy strap and nothing to ratchet to. I thought it would be possible to install em without any straps..I still feel like lowering the body will push the axle forward. But idk

 

I turned my steering wheel to move the axle to the needed spot. Get someone to turn if for you while watching it and it should move right into spot.

 

Even with the trac bar off? It will move that much?

 

I used the bottle jack from under the rear seat to move the axle into place and line up the bolt holes for the control arms. Placed it between the CA mount on the frame and the axle to push it forward slowly. Worked like a charm and I have used that trick multiple times when swapping front axles.

I also took a spare handle from a bottle jack and modified it a little for ease of use. Cut it down to only 12 inches long, used a grinder to make three flat spots on it, slipped it in the cordless drill and saved myself a lot of time and effort by not having to hand crank it.

 

Im not seeing in my head where your talking about placing the bottle jack. Here is what I have right now... 2 floor jacks, neither are being used right now, 2 scissor jacks....they are holding the axle off the ground, and 2 jack stands, just in front of the cross member. The jack stands are at their highest setting and the scissor jacks are almost all the way down so the axle is sitting super low. Would lowering the jack stands help or would it just make it worse. When I hold the arms up they are about 2 inches from going in, I have them both bolted to the frame side just hanging down right now. When I tried pulling the axle with a ratchet strap i was only able to pull one side making the axle crooked, i lined up one of the holes but because the axle was pulled from one side the arm was crooked in the mount. Im trying to think in my head if using the floor jacks to lower the frame would push that axle forward.

 

Ive been thinking about how to do this without using straps all day. Im thinking If I put floor jacks under the frame and slowly lower the body it will push that axle forward and allow me enough room to get the arms in. Then I can just jack them up/lower them as needed to line em up.. Is that logical? Or will lowering the body not have any affect on the axle moving forward?

 

the way i seee it...

forget the straps...lift the truck more and lower the axle more, this will give you more length between the axle and frame so you can instal the control arms, then after arms are installed lower truck and raise axles to where they should be, instal springs if you need to(i would install springs after control arms, i would do the control arms first

 

Coils are already in, thing is the more I lift the frame the more it pulls the axle in. I had the axle on the ground basically and the frame way up and the arms wouldnt go in, the arm would hit on part of the axle cause of the angle. So you think i should pull the coils then install the arms?

 

reason i said i would install the arms first..if you have a free axle and nothing attached to it, you can freely move it to where you like to install the arms, once arms are installed the rest should be pretty simple

 

I sure hope. Got one coil out tonight. Ill work on the other tomorrow.