Amaruq
Well-Known Member
Good stuff. I would have, but I don’t have any of these. A good neighbor passing by had a ratchet strap in his truck though.Instead of using a ratchet strap to line up the new arms with the mounts, use a floor jack under the axle on the side you're working on. Usually it takes a little bit of lowering the jack to get the holes to align. I start the LCA removal process by having the axle on jack stands (for tire/wheel removal) and then removing the stand on the side I'm working on and replace it with my floor jack so I can manipulate the axle for LCA installation.
Since the upper arms are still attached, the axle will move in an arc (up and down) and the movement of the floor jack allows the axle to move naturally for easy hole alignment. Typically, as you let the jack down so the (axle moves downward), this lengthens the distance between the control arm and axle mount, which is what you want when installing longer LCA's. When you use a ratchet strap, you're fighting against the bushings and track bar in a linear fashion and the axle doesn't want to move like that since the TB is still attached.
Now when you do track bar replacements, a ratchet strap is the perfect device to use to get the TB aligned with the axle mount (assuming you attach the TB at the frame end first). This is due the TB being use to locate the axle laterally (side to side) and you aren't fighting against the suspension.
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