Install Guide: 2004-2008 F150 4WD Zone 4" Lift Kit on our 2005 F150 XLT Project Truck

Posted by Jason Locke on 7/24/2014 to Install guides

Fresh off of our Zone 6" Lift Kit Install, we have another full suspension lift for your fine folks. This time in the form a Zone 4" lift kit that was lovingly put on our 2005 F150 4WD XLT Project Truck. This truck is going for a more subtle and refined look than our much more aggressive and menacing 2007 F150 Project Truck, so instead of jacking it up a full six inches in the air, we settled for four and grabbed a full set of Fuel 20x9" Hostage wheels and Fuel 35x12.50" Gripper M/T tires. While still pretty awesome, the slightly lower lift will keep this truck a little more tame, while still giving it enough room for its big off-road tires to do some serious work on those desert trail runs. In any case, we were pretty impressed with the level of quality with this kit, especially considering its price point. The only real issues we had were a few nit-picks with Zone's instructions that could've shaved some time off the install, but those are some minor quibbles among an excellent overall package.

2004-2008 F150 4WD Zone Off-Road 4-Inch Lift Kit

To get the ball rolling on our installation, we headed over to our friends at Dyno-Comp out in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Clay, Matt, and the other Matt were ready and waiting to help us out. We rolled in, and after shuffling some cars around, they got our truck up on a lift and got right to work.

2004-2008 F150 4WD Zone 4-Inch Lift Kit Install

With the truck in the air, Clay and Matt removed all four of its wheels and tires.

While this truck definitely had less rust than our 2007 F150, the guys sprayed down some of the more troublesome looking bolts before removing the bolts holding the calipers to the stock knuckles.

With the bolts off, the guys removed the calipers, hung them from the UCAs with bungie cords, and then removed the rotors. In hindsight, the guys should've gone ahead and and popped the brake lines from the calipers and completely removed them from the truck, given that Zone requires the installation of braided extended brake lines later on. It would've save maneuvering the calipers around while the guys were working, but it was hardly a huge tragedy.

With the calipers out of the way, the guys unbolted the sway bar from its stem mounts on the LCAs. Clay simply removed the top nut. Matt removed the whole stem from the LCA. Either way works, though removing the stem completely does provide some extra room to work.

Clay and Matt then popped the vacuum lines from the hub before unscrewing the ABS sensor mounts and pulling out the sensors.

The guys then removed the nuts that held the tie rods to the spindles. They needed a bit of hammering at the spindle mounting, but came out relatively easy.

After removing the tie rods from the spindles, the guys popped off the caps for the driveshaft nuts and then removed the nuts themselves.

With the tie rod ends taking care of, Matt and Clay removed the nuts holding the upper control arm ball joints and removed them from the steering knuckle's spindle.

With most of everything attached to the knuckles loosened or removed, the guys unbolted the struts for the upper strut mounts.

The guys then loosened the nut holding the lower control arm's ball joint to the stock knuckles

The guys carefully removed the LCA ball joint nuts and then lifted the entire stock knuckle and bearing assemblies off of the truck.

The guys then removed the lower strut mount bolts.

Clay and Matt finished removing the sway bar from the truck by unbolting it from its frame mounts.

With the sway bar and just about everything else out of the way, Clay and Matt removed the front struts and then unbolted the lower control arms from their mounts.

Before doing some of the heavier lifting that this install required, the guys removed the wheel hubs and bearings from the stock knuckles for transfer over to Zone's lifted knuckles. Clay started by removing the large bolts for the hub assembly before removing the smaller bolts for the vacuum hub.

After the bolts were out, Clay used a a small screwdriver and hammer top pop the hub out of the knuckle.

With the hub removed, Clay unbolted the brake dust shield from the stock knuckle.

He then transferred the dust shield over to Zone's new knuckle.

He followed up with the hub assembly which he bolts down to the knuckle.

Last, but not least, he dropped the vacuum hub into place and bolted it down.

While Clay worked on one of the knuckles, Matt was going through the exact same process for the other.

The guys then moved on to the CV axles which they unbolted from the differential after hitting their bolts with some penetrating oil. Once all the bolts were out, Clay and Matt pulled them from the truck.

Next, the guys unbolted the rear crossmember and removed it from the truck.

Matt then went underneath the truck and unbolted the differential driveshaft from the front diff. Ours already had alignment marks, but make sure to make some yourself if you're doing this as a DIY.

The guys then removed the bolts holding the differential in place. The upper bolt on the driver's side is a pain to reach, and the guys had to turn the steering wheel left to get the steering shaft out of the way.

With the mounting bolts gone, the guys dropped the differential out of the truck by very carefully muscling it down to the floor. If you're doing this yourself, we strongly recommend using a transmission jack or floor jack.

Once the differential was out of the way, Matt marked the rear crossmember brackets following Zone's instructions for the cuts that needed to be made.

Matt double-checked his markings, grabbed his sawzall and a heavy-duty blade, and then started cutting. While the sawzall wasn't quite as effective (or pretty) as the plasma cutter they used on our last kit, it was more than enough to get the job done.

Once Matt finished up cutting, Clay came through with a grinding wheel and deburred all the finished cuts.

The guys then test-fit Zone's new rear crossmember to ensure the cuts looked right.

Next, the guys bolted on Zone's sway bar drop brackets using the OEM bolts for the sway bar itself.

The guys were having trouble fitting the crossmember bolts past the stock swaybar bolts, and ended up needing to cut them down slightly in order to squeeze a wrench over the head of the crossmember bolts.

Now that the guys had clearance for the bolts, they installed the rear crossmember, but left its nuts loose.

The guys tightened down the bolts after they got everything aligned and then drilled a hole for the second mounting stud for the driver's side of the differential.

With the crossmember in place, the guys installed Zone's differential drop brackets into the factory differential mounts.

The guys then muscled the front differential back into the truck and slipped its mounting bolts on to hold it in place.

Next, Matt fit on the hex stud for the driver's side differential mount.

Meanwhile, Clay installed Zone's differential breather extension between the stock breather line and the differential itself.

The guys then moved on to the struts and installed Zone's strut spacers onto their mounts.

Matt then aligned the marks on the front differential driveshaft and then bolted it back onto the front differential.

Clay grabbed Zone's differential support brace and installed it on the passenger's side rear crossmember bolt and differential drop bracket.

With the differential now secured in its new position, the guys reinstalled the CV axles back onto the front differential.

In preparation for installing the front crossmember and lower control arms, the guys threw the struts with their strut spacers back on the truck and bolted them to upper mount using Zone's provided nuts.

Clay and Matt ran into some clearance issues with the front crossmember and the stock mounts. Matt had to grind down some of the material in order to get the crossmember to fit on properly.

Once the grinding was finished up, the guys were able to bolt the front crossmember on without any problems.

With both crossmembers in place, Clay and Matt reinstalled our truck's lower control arms and bolted them into place.

Zone's instructions for reinstalling the knuckle back onto the truck aren't the greatest or easiest way to get everything bolted back up and ready to go. Matt's method was much easier, especially if you're doing it alone as a DIY. First, Matt fit the strut through the LCA mount and slipped its bolt through.

He then tightened down the LCA bolts on the crossmembers to keep the LCA from moving around too much while he installed the knuckle.

Next, Matt fit on Zone's lifted knuckle and loosely installed the nut for the LCA's lower ball joint.

He was then able to maneuver the CV axle into the hub assembly by slightly twisting the knuckle and shifting everything into place.

Next, Matt lifted up on the knuckle slightly and then tightened the lower ball joint nut with his impact wrench.

To finish getting the knuckle situated, Matt used a pry bar to hold down the upper control arm while he bolted it ball joint into place in the knuckle's taller spindle mount.

Matt then installed the CV axle nut and the cap.

Matt then dropped the tie rod into knuckle and tightened down the nut. Keep it mind, the tie rod will now install from the top of mount versus bottom.

Next, Matt reinstalled the ABS sensor and screwed it back down.

While Matt was working on the driver's side, Clay was taking care of the passenger's side of the truck.

Matt then put the brake rotor back on the hub and used a single lug nut to hold it in place while he reinstalled the caliper.

Matt had a bit of trouble removing the caliper and caliper bracket from the rotor as a single assembly, so he installed the bracket on its own and bolted it to Zone's knuckle.

He then unclipped the ABS sensor wiring from the hub's vacuum hose and routed them over the upper control arm, as Zone's instructions dictated.

Next, Matt loosened the nut for the brake lines and then removed the retaining clip with a pair of pliers.

With the brake line free, Matt removed the line and caliper from the truck and let them drain out into a waste container.

Matt then installed Zone's extended rake line onto the truck and refit the stock retaining clip.

Next, Matt removed the stock brake line by unbolting it from the caliper.

With the line out and the caliper drained, Matt dropped it back onto the bracket and pads and then bolted it down.

Matt then installed Zone's brake line onto the caliper and tightened it down.

With the brake lines fully installed, Matt zip-tied the ABS wiring and vacuum tubes together for better routing.

The guys then removed the bleeder caps in preparation for bleeding the brakes.

Next, Matt bolted on Zone's differential skid plate to the front and rear crossmembers.

While Matt was working, Clay was getting the passenger side of the truck sorted out and reassembled.

Now, Zone includes a clip for holding the ABS wire the knuckle. However, the hole in the knuckle is too small for the screw for the clip. The guys had to bore it out slightly with a drill in order to get it to fit. Clay managed to get his installed without issue. However, Matt's bolt sheared off right at the knuckle. Matt used a large zip-tie to hold the ABS wire instead of Zone's clip.

The guys moved on to the sway bar and dropped it back onto its stem mounts on the LCAs before bolting it onto Zone's sway bar drop brackets with Zone supplied bolts.

With basically the whole front end of the lift finished up, the guys went around and tightented down every single solitary bolt to Zone's torque specs.

The guys moved on to the rear of our truck, and after supporting the rear axle with an axle stand, they unbolted the rear shocks from their upper and lower mounts before removing them from the truck.

Wtih the shocks removed, Clay unbolted the nuts holding the driver's side U-bolt bracket to the axle.

The bracket fell away on its own and Clay removed the stock U-bolts from the truck before lowering his axle stand down to move the factory block away from the leaf springs.

Once there was enough room between the stock block and the leaf springs, Clay wiggled Zone's new block into place on top of the factory block.

With Zone's block in place and properly seated, Clay dropped on Zone's longer U-bolts and then bolted the stock U-bolt bracket back on using Zone's provided washers and nuts.

Now here's my third nit-pick about Zone's instructions. They tell you to pull on the parking brake cable slightly, use a pair of vise grips to hold it in place near the middle cable mount on the frame, and then loosen it from the rear shackle mount. Matt ended up doing all of this, only to find out that it was entirely uneccessary. Zone's parking brake relocation bracket actually installs up on the frame over the axle, and you really don't need any extra slack, assuming you're supporting the driver's side of the axle with a jack stand, axle stand, or floor jack.

In any case, Matt unbolted the stock brake cable bracket from the frame, and then installed Zone's.

While Matt was fighting with the parking brake cable, Clay bolted on Zone's shock to the upper and lower mounts using the stock bolts.

Once the parking brake cable situation was handled, Matt took care of the driver's side block and U-bolts.

After the driver's side block was finished up, Clay installed the shock.

The guys did one latg round of torquing everything down to spec, before installing our truck's new wheels and tires and wrapping up our lift kit install.

Check out the images below for a before and after of our Zone 4" Lift Kit Installation. Boig thanks to Matt, Clay, and Matt over at Dyno-Comp for the help!

Install Guide: 2004-2008 F150 4WD Zone 4" Lift Kit on our 2005 F150 XLT Project Truck

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