Great write up stone.

 

Nice Zach! Good work! Good to show people the hurst works with and without the BL and the different bracket sizes!

 

Hitch + Rear Bumper Brackets


If you've got a hitch that mounts to the side of the frame, you'll need to do one of the following...


1. Beat the living **** out of the bumper brackets with a BFH to make the distance between the bumper brackets wider.

or..

2. Add washers or a 1/4" spacer plate between the bumper itself and the bumper brackets.



Reason being that PA and Summit rear bumper lift brackets come with not enough of a 'notch' or bend in order to have the hitch between the frame and the bumper brackets. Both kits comes with spacers and the instructions tell you to install those spacers if you dont have a hitch, but no BL i've installed needed that spacer because the bumper mounted to the frame very tightly without it.

It's a real PITA even with two people. Both the hitch and bumper brackets mount to the same set of holes. And both pieces are not light items.

Here's a pic of how DisturbedESV's is...

 

Nice Post wish i would have found b4 my bl i sliced the ac line with belt and i cut the console with a jigsaw so it would go in gear better but oh well great post

 

this thread is filled with win and dipped in truth sauce

 

For those with a manual transfert case heres the solution. Remove the carpet then unscrew the plate with the rubber isolator. Remove the isolator from the plate has it will block the tc shifter from going in 2wd and 4l, its a pain to remove has it one piece of rubber molded on both side of the plate. Then get a 16inch tire tube cut it in half on the ply then open it up. Place it over the hole and make a hole for the transmission shifter then one for the transfert case with the shifter in 4h push on it until it about one inch from the linkage on the transmission place a tie rap on the linkage so the rubber wont come up then bolt the plate over whats left in the truck and cut the excess. For the bracket i used a flat bar with four holes in it, two on the bottom so i could bolt it to the linkage with the bracket on the side of the transmission shifter and two on the top that you bolt the oem tc shifter with the shifter on the outside. The only part left is to find two shifter boots for the inside look, i found a couple on summit but the one for the tc shifter needs to be at least 6 inch long by 3 inch large to get in all the range, all post up the boots when i install them

Here the undersite boots installed

and what it looks like before install

be carefull not to put it to low has the linkage will brake it when going in 2wd had to do another one sitting higher after the first try

At last no more air coming from under the truck, it was kind of cold this winter but the heat is even more annoying

 

1-man rear bumper install w/ hitch

I've FINALLY found the easiest way to do the BL rear bumper brackets with the side mounted hitch...only took me 4 BL's to figure that BS out. HAHA.

Anyway....before, it was a pain in the butt, because the bumper would have it's brackets bolted to it, then you have to mount BOTH hitch and bumper up at the same time because they both utilize the same frame holes. This typically is a two person job or even 3.

BUT....when you do your bodylift, LEAVE THE HITCH ON THE TRUCK. Bolt the brackets to the hitch bolts, THEN bolt your bumper to them. Flip the direction of the studs which hold the bumper to the bumper brackets. This allows you full access to all nuts instead of having those bumper bolts hidden behind the lift bracket w/o any access to them. Of course...leave all loose while adjusting then tighten! There ya go...1 man hitch + BL bumper install.

Like so:




Should have a 02-03 Fx4 twinstick w/ BL how-to in a few days.

 

what if your hitch mounts to the bolts that hold the bumper on...by the spare tire carrier

 

Then there's nothing to worry about since the BL brackets go to the side of the frame and the hitch bolts to the bottom of the frame...

 

more and more i am working up the stones to buy this kit.. i want it.. i have a friend who BL'd a 03 and he has power/air tools..

 

Got any tips for a 4wd shift extension for Manual Level II's???

Mine still wont go into 4LO....Even with the whole shifter off, and me pulling the piece in the floor its still hard to get into 4lo....The rubber seems to be holding it back. I need a curved piece of steel but cant find one, nor have the tools to make one...Anybody with 01-03 Level II's have a pic of theirs??

 

Look up 4 posts

 

Confused about lift? Will putting a pa 3 inch body lift on my truck let me run 33's?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just turned 16 and got my license and got a 01 ranger 4x4 extended cab step side bed with the 4.0l v6. Im lookin to lift my truck but i dont have a boat load of money. After reading alot i think that im gonna go with the pa 3 inch body lift. If i do this can i still get the interco super swamper Trxus radials 33x12.5x18 and the kmc gtx 18x10 black rims. Would the tires rub? how bad would the tires ride on the road? and what size backspace would i need to get on the rims? the 6.09 backspace with 15mm offset or the 7 inch backspace with 38mm offset? Please help me out here. Thanks

 

yes getting a 3inch body lift will let you run 33's fine but make sure you have the right gearing, 4.10 gearing will be perfect and 3.73 will do fine (if im wrong sorry just going by what ive read about gearing on here) as for the tires rubbing just make sure the back spacing on the rim is right, i dont know enough about back spacing to tell you what you need and if it dose rub it would be at full turn of the wheels,

 

i dont even have a body lift but i dunno if you have torsion bars or not but all i did was crank them up and im running 33s

 

Thanks man for the help, i wanna run the 33's but alot of people around columbus told me i could only run 31x10.50's. I new i could run 33's but i didnt no if i would have to cut out the wheel wells so the wouldn't rub.

 

Welcome to the site James..there is a lot of these things you can find with a simple search. I believe there is a sticky showing what size tires with fit with what trucks and lift setups. There is also tons on exhaust.

You can fit 33's no prob. with a body lift.


Now...back to the body lift thread..great post Zach

 

yeah i would only run 31's stock but you might have to trim your valance a little but you might might now all depends

 

30.5's and 31x10.50's come STOCK on these 98+ torsion bar trucks. There is no trim needed at all anywhere. I find them to be just far too small anyhow...even on a stock truck.

Try and stay on topic with the thread at hand. Welcome to the site.

 

n/p thats why i am here

 

Did anyone mention roughly the time needed?? I've heard some estimations before but dont remember......am dropping the truck off to get shift linkage done, so mine as well have them do the BL with the proper tools.....just looking for a time frame so I know the doe needed on BL...
4x4 auto, ext cab.... without the trailer hitch lol.

 

places usually charge somewhere around $300-$700 for install depending on how capible they are

 

great rightup im going to print and take with me when i do mine

make sure you make sure every nut and bolt is in the kit i got my kit intonight and went though it im missing
(1) 5/16" X 1" bolt (1) 5/16" nylock nut and one 3" long stud radiator bracket im going to call PA in the morning and get them sent out if it was just the nut and bolt i would hit up the hardware store but since i gotta call about the radiator bracket ill have them send them out with it

 

How long does the install usually take? I've got an 02 v6 3.0 2wd

 

It varies hugely. Depending on expeience and tools and comfortability with working on your rig, can be done in as little as 5 hours if you know the short cuts. Or as long as 3 weeks if you've got a busy schedule. lol. You should plan for a weekend project.