To begin, jack up the truck and place
it securely on jack stands. Never work on a truck supported only by a
hydraulic jack. This installation will take some time, so we put the
truck up on 4 jack stands.
Remove the front wheels. Get
ready to start taking the suspension apart. We found it is best to work
in stages, starting with one side then moving to the other, one stage at
a time.
Remove brake line support from
the upper control arm.
Remove sway bar end links from
the lower control arms.
Here are the stock sway bar end links.
The rubber is showing signs of age and deformation.
Remove sway bar from frame.
Set the bar aside, we won't need it again until the rest of the
suspension has been rebuilt.
Remove brake caliper. Be sure
to set it aside so that caliper does not hang from
brake line. Now you can remove the tie rods using the proper tool or
pickle fork.
To remove the spindle, remove
the cotter pins and loosen the castle nuts. Don't take them all the way
off yet. Using a ball joint removal tool or pickle fork, pop the ball
joints loose. They will be replaced so do not worry about damaging them.
Note: this truck has airbags, if your
truck has coil springs you will need to take precautions so that the
spring does not suddenly decompress. You can use a coil spring
compressor or place a jack under the lower control arm to prevent the spring
from ejecting from the truck.