I ordered Dobinson IMS for front and rear, the rears came first so I installed this weekend. Was not hard, sounds hard but once you do it. It does help to have two floor jacks, stands and two people. The passenger side is all the work, drivers side is 20 minute job with KDSS. I spent many hours reading and watching youtube videos and was scared but it wasn't that difficult as made out by some people.
Rear spring and shock install with KDSS:
Start with the hard side (passenger)
Lift the truck by the frame until wheel is off the ground (passenger side only) and secure with jack stand.
Remove wheel, place under truck for safety.
Remove the shock totally
Remove bolt from clip that secures emergency brake cable to the lateral rod (the retainer clip will stay on the brake cable and probably slide down behind the brake rotor, I spent 2 hours looking for that clip during reinstall).
Remove bolt from clip that holds the rubber brake lines on the under side of the truck, do not remove any from the axle. Just the one the holds the lines to the body of the truck so you have extra slack in those rubber lines.
Put a jack under the axle close to the passenger side rotor and put a little tension on it.
Loosen both bolts for the upper control arm, then remove the bolt farthest from the axle and let it hang.
Put another jack under the sway bar close to the fixed KDSS bracket and apply a little upward pressure.
Slowly and evenly remove the two bolts at the bottom of that bracket. You want to make sure you have enough pressure on that sway bar, I loosened the bolts until I had a gap then squeezed the bracket with channel locks to see how much pressure was there. You just dont want it to pop when you reach the final part of the threads.
Once the bolts are out of the bottom of the bracket you can begin lowering the axle. start with the one under the axle then the sway bar. When the one on the axle becomes loose pull it out an keep lowering the sway bar until you have enough room to pull the spring out. It drops pretty low, I just pulled out by hand and I had a spacer on top of my spring.
Then just reinstall in reverse order and torque to spec. Be sure to leave the final tightening of the upper control arm until you have the weight of the truck on the ground. You can reassemble while in the air but torque only when the truck has the full weight on the ground.
Ok now the easy side....
Lift the truck by the frame until wheel is off the ground (Drivers side only) and secure with jack stand.
Remove wheel, place under truck for safety.
You will NOT have to remove brake clips or bolts from the control arms from this side. Very simple side
Place jack under axle on that side close to rotor and apply slight tension then Remove shock totally.
Lower jack slowly, the KDSS piston should decompress and drop the axle low enough to remove the spring (I used a pry bar just a little at the bottom of the spring to get it over the hump) but you will see the drivers side so much easier.
Reassemble and torque to spec.
I had no trouble with the KDSS after and drives like a dream.
Rear spring and shock install with KDSS:
Start with the hard side (passenger)
Lift the truck by the frame until wheel is off the ground (passenger side only) and secure with jack stand.
Remove wheel, place under truck for safety.
Remove the shock totally
Remove bolt from clip that secures emergency brake cable to the lateral rod (the retainer clip will stay on the brake cable and probably slide down behind the brake rotor, I spent 2 hours looking for that clip during reinstall).
Remove bolt from clip that holds the rubber brake lines on the under side of the truck, do not remove any from the axle. Just the one the holds the lines to the body of the truck so you have extra slack in those rubber lines.
Put a jack under the axle close to the passenger side rotor and put a little tension on it.
Loosen both bolts for the upper control arm, then remove the bolt farthest from the axle and let it hang.
Put another jack under the sway bar close to the fixed KDSS bracket and apply a little upward pressure.
Slowly and evenly remove the two bolts at the bottom of that bracket. You want to make sure you have enough pressure on that sway bar, I loosened the bolts until I had a gap then squeezed the bracket with channel locks to see how much pressure was there. You just dont want it to pop when you reach the final part of the threads.
Once the bolts are out of the bottom of the bracket you can begin lowering the axle. start with the one under the axle then the sway bar. When the one on the axle becomes loose pull it out an keep lowering the sway bar until you have enough room to pull the spring out. It drops pretty low, I just pulled out by hand and I had a spacer on top of my spring.
Then just reinstall in reverse order and torque to spec. Be sure to leave the final tightening of the upper control arm until you have the weight of the truck on the ground. You can reassemble while in the air but torque only when the truck has the full weight on the ground.
Ok now the easy side....
Lift the truck by the frame until wheel is off the ground (Drivers side only) and secure with jack stand.
Remove wheel, place under truck for safety.
You will NOT have to remove brake clips or bolts from the control arms from this side. Very simple side
Place jack under axle on that side close to rotor and apply slight tension then Remove shock totally.
Lower jack slowly, the KDSS piston should decompress and drop the axle low enough to remove the spring (I used a pry bar just a little at the bottom of the spring to get it over the hump) but you will see the drivers side so much easier.
Reassemble and torque to spec.
I had no trouble with the KDSS after and drives like a dream.
