rough country lift install troubles

[blue83ranger]

i recently bought a brand new in the box rough country lift off ebay for about 1/2 the price, from a guy who didn't know what exactly he had. He said it was for a 2wd but it's for a 4x4 (mine's a 4x4) and said it fit something like '96-'01. But anyway i'm to the part where i install that horrible lift plate and it looks like i didn't get the one that's redesigned. but the problem is that i lay the lift plate on the inside of the crossmember the way they say too and it doesn't lay flat on the crossmember. If i lay one side flat the other side sticks out about an inch. It's like the bracket isn't curved the same as the crossmember. i email rough country about this about 4 days ago and haven't heard anything. Should i just crank 'er down and hope i don't mess something up? if, say, a tuff country bracket would be cheaper than they are i would just buy one of those. any suggestions?

 

[Snurfer]

congrats

ha you bought an RC lift "kit".

if you havent noticed already, none of the brackets fit correctly. actually no part of that lift kit fits the way it should. when i did mine, i used the passenger drop plate that came with the kit and so far, almost 2 years later, ive had no problems with it. i just tightened it down to lay flush with the stock bracket.


goodluck with your lift

 

[samsonitesamsonite]

don't offroad it too heacy or you'll punch a hole in the front dif.

 

[pimtool]

I trimmed the edge of mine with a torch and cycled the driverside beam, it misses by just enough.

 

[Gabe8810]

i got the same lift you did and it was a night mare to install from start to finish. you will most definatly have to do some mods to make it fit right but once you torque the plate down maybe a little heat to help not too much the plate should settle down just keep an eye on it. and once you clear your front diff cause it will punch a hole in it, it did mine had t spend 600 bucks to replace it and shave the bracket , then it an aliright lift with mods to it of coarse.


good luck man

 

[ZSK]

My kit must have been a fluke, granted mine is a two wheel drive, but all of the brackets lined up fine. I had to enlarge one hole about a 1/16 but it went together quite well.

 

[blue83ranger]

For now i just skipped that step and I've been drilling out the other rivets. I guess I'll just try to tighten the 4 bolts evenly and watch everything and see what happens. So, even with the bump stop brackets on the diff still gets whacked? I guess I'll have to do some trimming to then, but i don't wheel to insane and this will be my DD, i just can't stand driving only a 2wd truck with everything stock. and for some reason i can't get the original pivot bracket off the beam. there's no bolt in it and i tried prying on it and hitting it pretty good with a hammer, it's just won't come off. I'll figure it out though. thanks for the replies.

 

[Hardwareman]

It's a lot easier to grind off the rivets and punch them out then to drill them out. My RC lift went in easy as well but it's a 2wd so I'm not sure what the differences are.



Allen

 

[blue83ranger]

I finally got the lift on, it only took me 2 weeks. (I work very slow) Everything worked out except now i need some extended brake lines, any thoughts where the cheapest place to get them? and for some reason i have left over parts. Does anyone know what the 9/16 bolts were for, they're about 3 inches long w/washers and nuts. And i need to get some shock boots, the kit didn't have any. I'm just glad it's over now. I need to get back to working on my '67 fastback.