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Lift Kit installation cost question
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whizzif
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:38 am    Post subject: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

How much have people paid to get the lift kit from gowesty installed? I am getting a quote for $935 before tax for the installation. Seems high. 97 Eurovan Winnebago camper.
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TDCTDI
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:39 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

That's a pretty straight forward install, it might be a good time to get familiar with how to work on your van.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Does seem high. Even with all four shocks replaced, should be only about four hours labor.

I hope you find a shop that has done this before. I noticed a few things while installing:
- the Bilstein shocks I ordered did not come with new rubber bushings, need two per shock. I got eight from europarts-sd.com cheap and fast shipping.
- there is a rubber spring isolator for the bottom of the rear coils. If they're chewed up it's probably a good idea to replace them.
- the bottom of the rear coil has to fit into a groove machined into the lower mount.
- the spacer for the top of the coil spring should be mounted on top of the stock rubber puck. And the coil should be properly fitted into the molded groove in said stock rubber puck.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 6:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

An eight hour estimate on a 4 hour shop job on a twenty year old car means the shop knows how to estimate well.
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markcm2
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:12 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

whizzif wrote:
How much have people paid to get the lift kit from gowesty installed? I am getting a quote for $935 before tax for the installation. Seems high. 97 Eurovan Winnebago camper.


YIKES! $935 is a LOT of money for labor to lift a eurovan. I just installed new shocks and lifted my van 1.25" without reading any tips/tricks, DIY's or anything. No special tools required either, it was incredibly easy. I'd guess it was 2 hours tops, and like I said, that was just guessing my way through it. Next lift install will probably take an hour or less.

We are going to be lifting my buddies van soon, I'll try to snap some pictures and do a DIY write up. If anyone wants some tips before I get around to the DIY, hit me up.

Here's a 1.25" lift on our 2001. And... I thought our van handled 'fine' before, but once I put on the new bilsteins, WOW! what an improvement!

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
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Broseph Stalin
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 11:59 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

markcm2 wrote:
whizzif wrote:
How much have people paid to get the lift kit from gowesty installed? I am getting a quote for $935 before tax for the installation. Seems high. 97 Eurovan Winnebago camper.


YIKES! $935 is a LOT of money for labor to lift a eurovan. I just installed new shocks and lifted my van 1.25" without reading any tips/tricks, DIY's or anything. No special tools required either, it was incredibly easy. I'd guess it was 2 hours tops, and like I said, that was just guessing my way through it. Next lift install will probably take an hour or less.

We are going to be lifting my buddies van soon, I'll try to snap some pictures and do a DIY write up. If anyone wants some tips before I get around to the DIY, hit me up.

Here's a 1.25" lift on our 2001. And... I thought our van handled 'fine' before, but once I put on the new bilsteins, WOW! what an improvement!

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Bilstein HD 4600's??? If so, where did you get the front shocks? Bilstein PN 24-019118 I've been waiting for a backorder shipment, being told they're on national backorder.
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markcm2
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:20 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Broseph Stalin wrote:


Bilstein HD 4600's??? If so, where did you get the front shocks? Bilstein PN 24-019118 I've been waiting for a backorder shipment, being told they're on national backorder.

Shock Warehouse. We bought two full sets and they arrived quickly.

Bilstein 24-019118 B6 (FRONT)
Bilstein 24-214230 B6 (REAR)
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Broseph Stalin
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 6:12 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

markcm2 wrote:
Broseph Stalin wrote:


Bilstein HD 4600's??? If so, where did you get the front shocks? Bilstein PN 24-019118 I've been waiting for a backorder shipment, being told they're on national backorder.

Shock Warehouse. We bought two full sets and they arrived quickly.

Bilstein 24-019118 B6 (FRONT)
Bilstein 24-214230 B6 (REAR)


Congrats. CarId can't get the fronts to me. The OEM's are still pretty good but I'm a fan of the B6 4600's.
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markcm2
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 6:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Broseph Stalin wrote:


Congrats. CarId can't get the fronts to me. The OEM's are still pretty good but I'm a fan of the B6 4600's.

I thought my OEM shocks were good..., until I replaced them
with the Bilstein.
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Zeitgeist 13
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:38 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

The shock and spring spacer replacements should be super easy, but I can see the tinkering with the torsion bar height as taking some time. I recently turned mine up 1/4" to level the height. Is there a ratio folks are using to determine how much torsion height translates to ride height? I assume it's not 1:1
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markcm2
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:58 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
The shock and spring spacer replacements should be super easy, but I can see the tinkering with the torsion bar height as taking some time. I recently turned mine up 1/4" to level the height. Is there a ratio folks are using to determine how much torsion height translates to ride height? I assume it's not 1:1


The torsion bar bolt to ride height is not equivalent. For 1-1/4" (about 30mm) lift I think I did either 11 or 12 threads. As I recall they are a 1mm thread pitch. I guess you could say it's about 1:3; for every 1mm (1 full turn) that you raise the torsion bar nut you will get about 3mm lift. Remember you probably need to drive a bit for things to settle out as well.
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Zeitgeist 13
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:54 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Yeah, the jack-adjust-drive-measure (rinse-repeat) procedure is exactly what I was imagining would be the most time consuming aspect.
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markcm2
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 11:13 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
Yeah, the jack-adjust-drive-measure (rinse-repeat) procedure is exactly what I was imagining would be the most time consuming aspect.


My first attempt at raising the front was 10 turns, that got me really close. I added one more turn and good to go.

Tips:

*Raise both sides of the front letting the wheel ends hang freely so you are not fighting any load on the torsion bars; I disconnected my torsion bars from the control arms on both sides but that was really most helpful for me because I had to remove one of the bolts to clean the thread(see in my next note).

*If the torsion bar nut doesn't turn easily, back it all the way off and clean the threads. One of mine had a little grime on it and it was nearly impossible to turn, even with a big impact. Once I cleaned it, it turned by hand.

*Note that the torsion bar bolts will come free of the chassis and off the torsion bar ends. When this happened to me I freaked out for a moment thinking it was going to be impossible to get back on. This isn't a big deal and made it much easier to clean the threads. When putting it back on, I used a wood block to hold the wheel end in full extension position so I could fit the torsion adjusting bolt back into place easily.

Now that I have it in the right zone, It would take about 5 minutes max to drive into the garage, jack up both sides and make a minor adjustment to both torsion bar adjusters.
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Zeitgeist 13
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 11:50 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

I found that my right and left torsion nuts were set at different positions on each respective threaded rod. So, I took a baseline measurement for each side--I had to slack them off completely in order to pull the steering knuckles away for a CV joint install. I used vernier calipers to measure how much the threaded rods protruded past the nuts. I had to wire brush and lube up the threads quite a bit.
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markcm2
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:14 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
I found that my right and left torsion nuts were set at different positions on each respective threaded rod. So, I took a baseline measurement for each side--I had to slack them off completely in order to pull the steering knuckles away for a CV joint install. I used vernier calipers to measure how much the threaded rods protruded past the nuts. I had to wire brush and lube up the threads quite a bit.


Good points,

Cleaning and lubricating these threads makes this job much easier.

I started by putting a piece of masking tape on the crease of each fender lip and marking the height, before I started any suspension height work.

For reference, my original measurement on the torsion bar bolts was around 35-40mm. One thing I noted was that my right rear (passenger side) was about 1/4" higher than the left, which was a quarter higher than the front.

Fender heights (measured at the outward pointing crease about 1/4" inboard of the fender edge) before I started were:

Front-R 28.25"
Front-L 28.25"
Rear-R 28.5"
Rear-L 28.75"

I forget to check if this right rear is still 1/4" higher when I was done. Maybe a little lean in the front translates to the rear? Or maybe my RR spring wasn't seated properly in the upper or lower rubber bushing (or whatever you call the spring seat/hat).
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:37 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Just as another cost data point on this: we got one of our vans lifted very recently, using our local mechanic and the CaveVan spacers (which were even nicer I expected them to be). Mechanic charged for two hours of time, which was a little less than he estimated (2.5) because the front torsion bar adjustments went easier than expected. The two hours included running it over to the alignment shop and back afterward as well.

This lift plus the BFG KO2s we recently put on should make for quite an improvement on our "pretending we have a Syncro" unmaintained-road camping/exploration trips. A brief jaunt off-road yesterday was encouraging on both counts. Smile (The K02s are definitely not quiet on asphalt though!)
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TheDangerZone
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 10:01 am    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Just to be sure, did you use 24-214230 on the rear and 24-019118 on the front?
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

If you have a full camper why not go the XHD that GoWesty collaborated on with Bilstein?

https://www.gowesty.com/product/shock-absorbers-bu...sorber-set

I was quoted 6.5 hours labor so decided to do it myself.

Took less than two hours for me to install the 4 shocks and rear spacers. Now that I've done it I could do it again in less than an hour.

I had the alignment shop adjust the torsion bars while they did the alignment. That was $250 total.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:36 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

Quote:
If you have a full camper why not go the XHD that GoWesty collaborated on with Bilstein?


Because I'm cheap? I know that's a poor excuse. Our EVC is something we use occasionally around town and for probably four to six camping trips a year. Would we use it more if it were more comfortable to drive? Probably. I'm trying to balance out the money I put into it with the use I get out of it.

If I were considering the XHD, should I just go with the Fox (https://www.gowesty.com/product/shock-absorbers-bushings/24395/fox-shock-kit-for-eurovan)? They're the same price and I live in the mountain west where washboard roads are common. Then again, there's a lot of highway between those washboard roads...
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Lift Kit installation cost question Reply with quote

After finding this article on GoWesty's site it sounds like I'd be better off with the Fox.
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