muddfildvaynes

It's easy, just jack your pathy up and and place some jack stands on the frame before the 4 link not on the axle to let it hang. Let your axle drop and loosen the nuts that hold your shocks to the axle and it should drop even more and your springs should come out, then put your new ones in and jack up the axle and reconnect your shocks.

please keep us updated

Well it doesn't look like there is any damage to my truck but my buddies trailer is pretty tweaked, waiting to hear back from my insurance to see if it would be covered since it was attached to my truck and I have full coverage. Most likely they would do what happened last time when I got rear ended, pay me and go after the lady. Just taking it easy because my back is hurting and my neck is sore.

So I was taking my pathy on my buddies trailer to one of my other buddies house who is going to let me use his shop to install my rocker guards and put my new bushings in; hauling it with my 1998 Chevy 2500 HD. I drop off my pathfinder and go to take my buddy his trailer back and got to his house and put my flashers on and was backing it into his driveway when some lady came speeding around the corner in a 97 Suburu outback and she hit the trailer head on and pushed it back 9 feet and moved my truck 2 ft. She just hit the trailer and not my truck which would of probably pissed me off more, but she tweaked the hell out of my buddies trailer and totalled her car; put the bumper in the dash. It turns out she didn't have insurance, because you do not have to have vehicle insurance in NH..... stupid law. Thankfully I have full coverage, there is no damage to my truck that I know of, I need to look at the reciever in the daylight and make sure it is ok, and will see what I can do about my buddies trailer. What a night, just glad nobody was hurt too bad and we all walked away; and that my pathy wasn't on the trailer. What a night.

Well let me know what you come up with, I will be a test dummy.

I do not have the number off hand, I just went to Advanced Auto Parts store which is local here in NH and order a set of Ranchos's for a 2000 Ford F250 with 2" lift. You could also go to their website, google it.

These are the lights I went with, 6k HID's and they are BRIGHT. not bad for the price. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220588270861&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT I also have three 9" offroad lights for sale for $100.

Well when I initially got my SFD the F250 shocks were recomended to me by Shift220 who builds the SFD's as that is what he runs I believe. He originally recommended a brand like Gabriel but I did not think it was a good enough shock and liked how my Rancho's performed with my 2" lift so I did some research and found out how low my axle will drop and how long the shocks are fully extended and the shocks for a 2000 F250 with a 2" lift in Rancho was a perfect match for my 6" of lift in the rear with custom coils; plus it is a heavy duty shock if it is meant for a F250. They had ones for the same vehicle with 4" lift and they were too long. Then I just had to modify the bushing in the shock to be able to bolt on, as they came with bushings with metal sleeves in them. I cut the old bushing out and put a new one back in and it has worked perfect for me for awhile now. The shock length you will need depends on the ammount of lift you put in the rear, and how much flex you want it to have; the longer the shock the more flex but you don't want them too long.

I think that they were loose just because of the wear and tear from all the abuse I have put them through. I would tighten them up and then they would loosen and have a little play eventually so instead of having to keep tightening them after every couple runs I just welded them. When I had my truck in the air I could grab my tire and shake it and watch the block shake because I had gotten mud between the block and frame so it was kind of pivoting on the caked mud from being loose a couple times; and I power washed it really good before I welded it to makse sure I got all the mud out. Plus alot of the wobble is coming from my lower control arm bushings being shot but I think it was all contributing to the problem.

I run Rancho RS5000's that were for a 2000 F250 2wd with 2" of lift. I had to cut the rubber bushing wit the metal sleeve out of one side and push in a regular bushing and they fit like a charm. Haven't had any trouble with them other than one time I over torqued them and busted the mount so I had to get a new one.

So I finally have the brackets welded in, I had to turn the heat real low because it kept wanting to burn through but I got them welded on all 4 sides; I figure once this breaks it will be time to SAS. I test drove it and it feels much tighter in the front end, the Jackson Autosports "missing link" ahould help stiffin it up quite a bit also. Then new bushings for the passenger lower control arm and the top two links in my 4link and time for the 34s to go back on and the trails again.

bump still up for grabs

So where on the spindle could you put it and still have it a bolt on kit?

What about taking a nut and screwing it on the inner tie rod past the outer tie rod that has a bolt welded to it to fasten the stabilizer so it is more secure in one spot and if you ever needed to change tie rods you could just put the nut on your new one....? You could make it a thick nut to be able to withstand the pressures being applied.... And as for the bracket you made, would it need some gusseting for people who do extreme offroading like myself?

I havent drove it yet, still waitig on my bushings from 4x4parts.... I imagine it should be "kind of" quite, because my stereo usually baffles out all the noises with my subs.... But I am wondering what it will sound like when I have my 34 swampers on lol, the tires are loud enough. As for the winch it was a deal on Ebay for $290 from a company truckaddons.com but the $290 deal is only on ebay. My buddy is actually looking into building some bumpers for R50s, we are just going over cost right now and seeing what can be done; I also have to see who would be interested.

So we got my HIDs in, HID offroad lights on, winch installed, optima battery installed and just waiting on the other goodies. Oh and I liked the idea of a bottle opener so I put one of those on.

So parts are starting to show up; my Smittybilt XRC8 winch showed up, HID's showed up, HID offroad lights showed up, and I bought a optima yellow top dual terminal battery. Still waiting for the inclinometer, bushings, my rear bumper, and "the missing link".

I have had my resonator fall off on the freeway one time and didn't notice until the exhaust got really loud. I ordered a new one from Robbins auto parts up here in the northeast for $65 and it has a lifetime warrenty. I put it on and no less than 6 months later it broke off again and i ran over it. I took it back and they gave me another. This one has lasted me about 1 year now with no problems (knock on wood) but as soon as it gives me problems I am going to just cut it out and put some straight pipe in unless they warrenty it again. My whole engine/transmission/exhaust is stock, I haven't really put too many mods into them but am thinking I should.

There is surface rust on the mounts but no the brush guard, the bottom cross piece is bent in a little, not too much as you can see in the pics above. And where in OH/zipcode? BUMP still available

Welcome to the SFD family, and just let some air out of yoyur tires and it might help to fit in lol.

Or you could order newer coils for the rear that are made to take a heavy load like OME coils, get the heavy ones as they take the most weight and are stock height.

I am interested in this answer also, I do some pretty hardcore wheeling and so far it hasn't gone off; but not saying it won't one of these days.

Bump; now $100 for all 3 plus you pay shipping

Any updates?

So not only am I welding the SFD brackets and replacing the bushings in my passenger side lower control arm and in the two upper links in my 4 link but I just bought the Jackson Autosports "missing link". Figured it would help stiffin up the front and it was really cheap, and I have heard good reviews on it; plus with my 34's is should definitly help.