After reading all the comments on cognito leveling kits, I had to try it myself. I have to say its a great product and an easy install. Thanks to Nor-Cal Nick for the quick ship all the way to AL.

And now after I got the kit on I realized that I had some more work to do.... idler arm, pitman arm, and one tie rod end were all toast. Ouch. The new parts are on order (got Moog), but Im contemplating the cognito supports.

The bigger question is whether to do the work myself. Im worryed about the pitman arm/ removal of the sterring box issue. Any thoughs?

If you plan on doing the Cognito yourself I would say the rest is not a problem. You will need a pitman arm puller but other wise I don't see anyother big issue's other than time to do it all.

Yea, I put the leveling kit on myself (went on great, without any trouble). I think I'm going to try and tackle all the rest myself as well. I do have a ptman arm puller, pickle fork, etc. The local garage wanted $160 to do the pitman, idler and a tie rod end.

I've heard you can just rotate the steering box to get a puller on it???

I've been busy but will try to get some pics up this weekend if my parts come in. Once again thanks goes out to Nor-Cal, and all the guys here at the diesel place... I search, alot.

im with agree with nor cal, since u did the leveling kit, and as long as u got the pullers, do it urself i work at a chevy dealership, it aint worth what they charge.

Be sure and do an alighnment after doing tie rod ends

Be sure and do an alighnment after doing tie rod ends

i agree, u can usually get pretty close if u count how many turns the tie rod makes when takin it off and put on the same amount of rotations, atleast it wont be to screwed on ur way to get it alighned

Thanks for the input guys. Does anyone know if you can loosen/ rotate the steering box down to get a puller on it? Or do you have to take it all off and vice it?

Just remove the three mounting bolts after you have separated the centerlink from the pittman arm. The box will move around enough to get the puller on, dont worry it will not fall out of the truck. Then use a 1/2" impact gun on the puller. Put the new arm on and hand tighten the nut then pust the box back into place and install the mounting bolts. (do not use an impact to tighten the pittman arm nut Ive damaged boxes this way) For the idler arm separate it from the centerlink loosen the nut on the bottom of the idler pivot and whack the idler arm with a bfh till it pops loose.

Navvy, thanks alot for the post, ill give er a try once the dag nab parts come in, its like waiting for Christmas but worst.... i need to fix my truck!!!

Finally got it all together this afternoon. Pitman arm was a PITA but they always are.... Everything else went together good. I'm loving the Rare Parts xtreme duty tie rods I got from the Dmax store. Hope the alignment shop does too, cause thats where I'm headed next.