[InDeepWaterBlue]

For anyone who's either in the middle of doing a drop and wants some better pictures than what the kit comes with,or your a newbie curious about all the work that's involved here you go. Even though there are numerous kits on the market for these trucks, the process of removing springs and shocks is pretty much the same. Lastly, I'm not uploading pics of the rear end. Partially because I forgot, and partially because it's very, very easy to do. I will still walk through the steps just so you have an idea, but there's no pictures except of it completely installed on the rear of the truck. Other than needing a saws-all, ball joint puller (pickle fork), and (some people don't have them) jack stands, you really don't need any special tools to get this done.


So, with the truck up in the air and supported by a jack stand(s) by the frame rail, place the jack under the lower control arm and jack it up to apply pressure to the shock and spring raising it up about 4-6 inches.
Start by removing the bolt on the top side of the sway bar with a 16mm socket. You may have to use a 10mm wrench on the middle bar to keep the ball joint from rotating while you loosen it. If you don't have a 16mm socket you can also use a 5/8th's.

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

Once removed go to the bottom of the shock where you will find 2 bolts, remove these with a 13mm socket. Now go to the top of the shock and you will find a nut, all you need to remove this is a 18mm socket. Once it's nearly off remove the socket and hand loosen with one hand while the other supports the shock from the bottom so it doesn't just fall out. Once the nut is off you can slide the shock out through the bottom control arm. Note that there is a sleeve on it, so you won't have to remove the sleeve on the new shocks to get them into place.

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

next up is the steering rod. Use a 22mm wrench on the nut and use a 10mm wrench on the ball joint to keep it from rotating. If you don't have a 22mm wrench a 13/16th's works just as well. :smileup:

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

Next we move over to the brake caliper, on the back of the caliper you'll find 2 large black bolts. These are taken out utilizing that same 22mm (13/16th's) wrench. Once those are out just slide the caliper off, from here you can either hang it from the frame with a zip tie, or I personally just placed it on the upper control arm. There's enough slack in the brake line. with the rotor off you'll notice a black cord thats running along your brake line as well. This is the speed sensor and you'll want to remove this with a 5mm Allen wrench. If it won't pop out easily carefully use a flat tip screw driver to pry up on the surrounding gasket. Place this up and out of the way as well. Now just slide off the rotor. You may have a couple of locking nuts, if this is the case all you need to remove these is a pair of needle nose pliers and a flat tip screw driver. Use the needle nose to pull on the tabs to get it away from the rotor utilizing the screw driver in conjunction. Once it's about 1/4" away from the rotor surface you can just rotate it off of the lug bolt.

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

Now use a 22mm wrench to loosen the ball joint nut at the top of the spindle, and use a 10mm wrench to keep the ball joint from rotating. After the nut has been removed it's time for the fun part. Place your ball joint puller (pickle fork) at the base of the ball joint and hammer the crap out of it until the ball joint pops. Once it pops you'll notice the suspension move a bit. It's ok, it's normal :smileup:. Also do the same for the steering rod, seriously don't forget to remove the nut first. Not going to lie, I started to do that before I had a mini "Oh Shit" moment lol Not sure what I was thinking but it all worked out in the end.

:doh:

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

Now that you have all of this undone, lower the lower control slowly with the jack. It will go REALLY low but don't worry it's still not low enough lol Now that your control arm is as low as it can go it's time to get that pesky spring out, and it's not exactly simple, but you need to use a pry bar to get that lower control arm to articulate a bit more and shimmy the spring out. Re-use the spring cup on the old spring and reverse this process to put it all back together. No pic's on this one sorry, I was to busy trying to get that damn thing out lol

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

Now finally onto the rear end. Once you have the truck up in the air and the tire off it's fairly easy. Just like on the front support the rear suspension with a floor jack and crank it up a bit.

Disconnect the rear sway bar first with a 18mm socket and a wrench to keep the ball joint from spinning. In this case I couldn't find a damn wrench or socket smaller than 10mm so I used a pair of Vise-grips instead. Worked like a charm.

From here you'll want to go ahead and remove the bottom bolt holding in the spring with a 21mm wrench on either side. While your sitting there go ahead and pull off that rear bump stop and pop in the new one if your kit supplied one. They just pop right out, too easy.

Now that the shock bolt is out and so is the rear sway bar, lower the rear suspension as far as it will allow and you'll have easy access to the spring which comes out really easily compared to the front.

Where the rear end differs though is that PITA shock. It's not very easy to get to the bolt that's on the top of the shock, and you can't use a socket on the back since the bolt is to close to the frame there's not a big enough gap to slide it in. You can get a wrench back there to hold it in place, but it will only grab onto the sides(wrench faces you) as there isn't enough room to work it back there thanks to the deep cup it resides in. So, hang onto that wrench and use a 21mm socket to work that bolt loose. It will take time but that's really the hardest part. Once your done it'll be all worth it :smileup:

You can see pics of the truck here: http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?p=746387#post746387

 

[jlibert]

Thanks for the write up!

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

No problem jlibert!

 

[rscwboy]

ok very nice writeup, i have the xact same truck and drop kit. installed it myself as well however my rt front sits lower to the point that the bump stop is already touching sitting still and i have actually scraped the fenderwell a few times...ive taken the kit off, well the back half and had a place inspect and charge 100 bucks to add a spacer to the front. readded the rear drop kit a few mins ago and the right front still hits and i cant find this spacer they added. how did your alignment turn out, mine is a fraction of degrees off, they say ill go thru tires quicker until dodge makes different control arms or i cut the tie rod ends??? no where near as happy as i thought i would be after reading the forums before buying the kit, even worse, the wife is not happy

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

ok very nice writeup, i have the xact same truck and drop kit. installed it myself as well however my rt front sits lower to the point that the bump stop is already touching sitting still and i have actually scraped the fenderwell a few times...ive taken the kit off, well the back half and had a place inspect and charge 100 bucks to add a spacer to the front. readded the rear drop kit a few mins ago and the right front still hits and i cant find this spacer they added. how did your alignment turn out, mine is a fraction of degrees off, they say ill go thru tires quicker until dodge makes different control arms or i cut the tie rod ends??? no where near as happy as i thought i would be after reading the forums before buying the kit, even worse, the wife is not happy

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the kit. So far it's still sitting fine, the front and rear ride height measures even (side to side) and the stock bump stops aren't touching the A-Arms, though that might be why they suggest cutting the cups and installing theirs. Another member is actually only utilizing the springs and left the stock shocks. From the pictures I've seen his truck sits up a little bit higher but no issues as far as cutting tie rods and alignment are concerned. I had an alignment done and the rear was able to get within -.2 degrees of Camber off center while the fronts were -0.5 degrees of camber. So I'll just have to rotate the fronts a little earlier than normal but it's not that big of a deal really. If you "lost" the spacer, you should go back and ask where they installed it, spacers really don't just fall out. :SHOCKED: Not to bad mouth the shop you went to but I'd be double checking their work.

 

[rscwboy]

well were headed there tomorrow again to find out what spacer they added, from the sounds of it, it was an xtra spacer that they were gonna add to make it sit right. i cut the factory stops out and am using beltechs. beltech says that the 963sp kit isnt for a 2011 or 12, only for 2009&2010? jegs is planning to reimburse shipping and so i may still end up removing the kit and going to stock yet again. had stock, added kit over two days, saw rubbing, removed rear half back to stock, took it to shop for them to do their thing bc i couldnt get stock front springs back in, shop did their stuff and i just redid rear, way to easy on the rear, not sure i like how easy the bumpstops are on the rear, may glue them in or bolt them in the future, thanks for help

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

No problem, best of luck to you on your kit. I'll be keeping an eye on mine. I agree with you on those rear bump stops, factory and Belltech slip out a little too easily.

 

[916Timmy]

I have the 963 sp as well and mine aligned to 0.3 degrees of front camber and every other number was factory spec. I have over 10K on mine now with no problems, just a slight rub on the left front tire and the sway bar at almost full lock

 

[dodgert]

Do you have to relocate the front or rear sway bar i thought if you lowered them you had to

 

[InDeepWaterBlue]

So far mine have remained in the same position without any problems

 

[RC DuDe]

Do you have to relocate the front or rear sway bar i thought if you lowered them you had to

I had my rear sway bar end links shortened. I read of people breaking the end links if this is not addressed but never saw or actually knew anyone who had that problem.

I have this same kit installed on my 11 CC and have about 1 deg. of neg. camber that can't be adjusted out. Not too bad but I'm not racing around corners. I'll get a camber kit one day.

 

[moparornocar72]

Nice write up, to save time u dont have to remove the brake parts but it does give u more room to work. Reps to ya bud when I can again!

 

[rscwboy]

Nice write up, to save time u dont have to remove the brake parts but it does give u more room to work. Reps to ya bud when I can again!

while it is true, you dont have to remove them, it would prolly be better to do it. i forgot to do it when i was trying to remove the drop kit ot go back to factory and the brake line gets really tight when you press down on the spindle for that last little bit of room to remove the springs, think the speed sensor was just as tight.

 

[moparornocar72]

Do you have to relocate the front or rear sway bar i thought if you lowered them you had to

i have the 2/3 drop on springtech springs and didn't relocate my sway bar as it still sits fine and does not rub as of now. I will keep u updated if I have any issues!:smileup: