Fabtech Suspension Lift System 4" F-150 Raptor 2017-2020

Today on CJ Off Road we're going to make our 2017 Raptor look a lot more aggressive and give it better off road capabilities. Earlier this year we installed a leveling kit on our 2017 Raptor, but for us here at CJ's that's just not enough. So, today we're going to be installing this Fabtech four inch suspension lift kit.

This Fabtech lift kit comes with everything you need to lift our Raptor four inches to give it a killer look and make it perform even better off road. It features heavy duty steering knuckles, cross members, shock extensions, rear blocks, and all the brackets and hardware you'll need. Today we're going to install it on our 2017 F-150 Raptor.

Okay, we have the truck up in the air. We have both wheels off. The first thing we're going to do now is remove this factory skid plate. There's two more 10 millimeter bolts on the back. Then this skid plate can be completely removed. You will not be reinstalling it. The sway bar has to be completely removed using an 18 millimeter wrench and an 8 millimeter socket. Remove this nut on both sides.

The skid plate also has to be removed. There's two 13 millimeter nuts on both sides holding it up. Remove the four nuts holding on the sway bar and it can come right out. Now we're going to disassemble everything in the rear well area. We're going to start out with the brake lines and brake hose. Grab a trim panel removal tool and remove this clip here for the brake line. Locate the brake line connector behind the air box on the driver's side and disconnect it and remove the brake line.

Remove the two 21 millimeter bolts holding on the brake caliber. Once you get the second bolt out hang up the caliber so you don't stretch the brake hose. The brake rotor can come off. Then this four-wheel drive actuator hose. Grab yourself a pair of vice grips and clamp them on to this dust cap. Then just wiggle the dust cap off. Remove the 13 millimeter axil nut. Remove the three 8 millimeter bolts that hold on the dust shield. This next part can be done on or off the truck.

There's four 18 millimeter bolts that hold the hub onto the knuckle. I like to remove it with it on the truck because you have all the ball joints and everything holding it in place for you. Once you crack them loose they easily come out. Give it a couple love taps and it should come right off. You can now remove the three 8 millimeter bolts that hold the four-wheel drive actuator on. Loosen up the upper ball joint with an 18 millimeter wrench and an 8 millimeter socket.

Now, don't remove the nut just yet. We have to hit right here with a hammer to disconnect them, and then the nut can come off. Now that it's separated you can remove the nut. Moving to the tire rod now with a 21 millimeter wrench and a 10 millimeter socket. Remove the four-wheel drive actuator. The last thing we have to remove to take this knuckle off is this bottom ball joint. It's a 21 millimeter nut with a 6 millimeter hex key. And out she comes.

The lower strut bolt needs to be removed. We're going to use a 27 millimeter socket and a 30 millimeter socket. Next we're going to remove the lower control arm with a 21 millimeter socket and a 27 millimeter socket. The strut can now be removed. There's three 18 millimeter nuts up top. They're kind of hard to see, but I promise they're there. We're going to be using an 18 millimeter wrench to get these off.

Before we remove the strut we put a mark on the strut tower and the strut just so we know how it goes back in. Okay, we have the driver's side completely torn apart. Now we can repeat the same process on the passenger's side, and then we're going to drop this rear cross member. We're going to use a 15 millimeter wrench and an 18 millimeter socket to remove the two bolts on each side of the cross member.

Now, when removing these, depending on your application you might actually have to cut the bolts on the driver's side because they might hit the differential. And out comes the cross member. We're going to be working with the differential now. We have to remove the bolts that hold the front drive shaft to the differential. To remove them we're going to use a 10 millimeter socket. We're going to be using a 10 millimeter wrench on the rear of the drive shaft to hold it so we can remove the front bolts.

We're going to remove the three mounts for the differential. Before we remove any mounts though we're going to support both sides of it with pole jacks just to make it secure. The first mount that we're going to remove is pretty difficult to get to. It's on top of the differential, but you can get to it if you go from the front of the engine. The second bolt is on the backside of the differential, and it's a 21 millimeter bolt.

The third bolt is on the passenger's side of the axil and you'll need an 18 millimeter wrench for it. Okay, I've grabbed some help. All mounts are disconnected now and we're going to pull the differential out. Okay. A couple cuts need to be made to the rear driver's side cross member brace. I have everything marked out and I'm going to explain them to you. The first cut you're going to measure an inch and 3/8 from this hole over to here, and you're going to pretty much cut all the way up and straight through this entire bracket.

I have this line all the way through. You're pretty much removing this entire section from this bracket. The next cut you're going to do once you cut off this main piece is on the front side. Measure 1/2 an inch in from where you just made that cut and sand a radius right there. This will help to clear the differential. And then on the bottom you need to trim 1/2 on inch. Now, let's go to the backside of this bracket.

On the backside of this bracket you're going to do the same inch and 3/8 line right here to completely remove this section of the bracket. Then you're going to measure from the outside of the bracket 2.15 inches in and then cut another radius right here to clear the differential. You also need to measure a full inch on the bottom of the front end rear bracket and cut that off too. Once you get finished modifying the driver's side bracket you need to come over to the passenger's side and remove 1 inch from the front on the bottom of this bracket.

You don't need to modify the rear. Just cut 1 inch off the front. Okay, we have all of our cuts complete. This is about what your bracket should look like, and now we're going to hit it with some spray paint to prevent it from rusting. Now that we modified this bracket we can saw the differential drop brackets. There's two brackets that come with the kit. One's going to go right now, and the other will go right here. These brackets will get installed with the factory hardware.

We're not going to tighten these just yet. We're just going to leave them loose and then we'll tighten everything else later. We have both differential drop brackets installed. Now, we're going to reinstall the factory differential. Then you're going to install the differential into the mounts with the provided 1/2 inch bolts. Get your second bolt installed, and now your differential is in place. To install this rear cross member we need to install this differential mounting bracket right here on the cross member using the provided hardware.

Then install your washer and lock nut on the backside. Don't tighten these fully just yet. Leave them loose for now. We're going to install the rear cross member, and we're first going to install a 1/2 inch bolt into the differential. We're going to install the passenger's side of this cross member using the factory bolt to secure it in place. But on the driver's side we're going to use the provided 18 millimeter bolt. Then install the washer and nut.

Leave all these bolts loose. Do not fully tighten them just yet. We can now reinstall the drive shaft with the factory hardware. We're going to put a little bit of LOCTITE on these bolts just to be safe. Once you get all the bolts installed torque them to 35 foot pounds. We're now going to install the differential hose extension. Remove the factory hose and then push this one into place. Go back to the differential drop brackets and now you can tighten the upper hardware.

Then torque it to 160 foot pounds. Use a 3/4 inch socket and wrench to tighten the lower differential bolt. This bolt then gets torque to 127 foot pounds. Once you've finished the passenger's side you can torque the differential bolt on the driver's side. Once you've tightened the front two differential brackets you can tighten the middle one. The Fabtech front cross member can now be installed with the factory hardware. We're now going to attach the front and rear cross member with the provided hardware.

With the skid plate attached we're going to tighten the two rear bolts but leave the front one loose. Then you can torque the bolts to 127 foot pounds. With both cross members in place locate the cam bolt kit and install the lower control arm into the cross members. Lift your control arm into place and install the bolts. Then your cam washer, regular washer, and nut. Torque this cross member bolt as well. Don't forgot to torque the cross member bolts on the other side.

Now, we're going to tighten the lower control arm bolts. We're not going to fully torque them just yet. We're going to do that after the alignment. This kit comes with the shock extension brackets that we have to install onto the factory strut. Before we install them, we have to remove the factory bushing on the bottom of the strut. We're first going to remove the outer pieces of this bushing. Grab yourself a pry bar and line it up with the ridge inside. Just like that. And then hammer it out.

Flip it around and do the same thing to the other side. The factory bushing will be replaced with these aluminum bushings, and we need to press these out with a press. We're going to be using our own press for this, and chances are you don't have your own press. But your local auto shop can probably do it for you. With the factory bushing removed we can install the aluminum bushings. With the aluminum bushings in place we can install our extension brackets.

Slide this bracket right here. That bracket through that side. Install this bracket on the other side. Then your washer and nut. Install the remaining hardware into these brackets. We have all the hardware snug. Now it's time to torque it. These two go to 29 foot pounds. This one goes to 52, and these two go to 127. We can now install our bushing for the bottom of the strut. Use the provided grease and put it over the sleeve. Once you get it started give it a couple taps to send it in.

Once everything's torqued and assembled repeat the process for the other strut. Before you install the strut back into the truck you need to align it because this drop bracket does rotate the bottom effectively 90 degrees. We have this mark right here on the strut, and this faces outward. What we need to do is turn the top hat here to where this line lines up perpendicular with the bottom mount. A spring compressor will really help out with this because it will compress the spring and make it easier to turn.

It might not be entirely necessary to use one, but it will make it easier. To install the strut we're going to install it into the lower control arm first. Lubricate the bushing on both sides because it is a tight fit, and then tap it into place. Then install the factory bolt. Raise up the lower control arm, support it with a floor jack, and then line up the studs on the strut. Then install the three top nuts. Then tighten the three nuts and the bottom bolt.

Locate the driver's side spindle, it is marked with a D right here, and install your factory hub onto the spindle. We're going to be using the factory hardware. These bolts then get torqued to 160 foot pounds, but to make it easier we're going to do this with it installed on the vehicle. The spindle can now be installed onto the truck. We're going to start with the lower control arm. Get the axil in. Then the tie rod. Then push down on the upper control arm really hard and you'll get some threads to come out.

Then we're going to tighten the upper control arm. Tighten the lower control arm. At this point we're going to torque these hub bolts to 160 foot pounds. Connect the vacuum hose for the four-wheel drive actuator. Tighten the tie rod nut. Install the axil nut. Then torque it to 35 foot pounds. Install the dust cap. We're going to be using an inch and 1/8 socket to tap it on. The dust shield can now be installed. Fabtech provides a brake line drop bracket that we're going to install with the factory bolt.

Then install the factory brake line bracket into the drop bracket with the provided hardware. The brakes can now be reinstalled. Install these bolts with some thread locker and then torque them to factory spec. Install the provided sway bar bracket with the factory hardware. Make sure you install the right now because they are side specific. Everything that we just did you can repeat on the passenger side and then we'll install the sway bar.

Once you get the passenger side assembled you can install the sway bar. Get your end link in place. Then you can tighten down the sway bar hardware. Run the AVS wire up. Reattach it to the spindle. Tighten up the sway bar end links and then we're finished with the front. All right, we're finished with the front and now we're on to lifting the rear. The first thing we're going to do is disconnect some of the brake line brackets. Pop this clip off the differential.

Pop these brake lines off just to give it a little bit more travel. Remove the bolt for the brake line bracket on top of the differential. Make sure your differential's properly supported. We have two pole jacks. Now we're going to disconnect the lower shock mounts. For this we're using a 15 and 18 millimeter wrench. Use a 21 millimeter socket and remove all the U-bolts. And remove the block. Lower the axil and install your new blocks. Slide them into their tabs.

Now we can lift the axil back up. The extended U-bolts can now be installed. Then install the factory perch with the provided hardware. You can now tighten the nuts with a 7/8 socket. Once you get all eight U-bolts nuts snugged up torque them to 184 foot pounds. Install the lower shock extension with the 12 millimeter bolt that's provided. Then the washer and nut. Then install the factory bolt on the bottom of the extension bracket. Get these snugged up and then torque them to spec.

Install the extension bracket onto the center brake line bracket. Install the bracket to the differential with the factory bolt. Tighten up the bolt on this bracket, and then all we have to do is clean up some wiring. The kit comes with a couple zip ties. We're going to relocate this ABS wire to right here on the brake line. Okay, this lift kit is complete. Now we just have to go back and double check every single bolt and make sure it's torqued properly and then we'll get this thing properly aligned.

All right, our Fabtech four inch lift is installed. Our truck looks so much more aggressive, and we finished it off right with a set of nice 37 inch tires. I couldn't be happier with the way this truck looks. I absolutely love it. Installation's probably going to take you the whole weekend, and before you know it you'll be heading off road.