Suspension Lift Q's *Please Read*
 

I'm hoping to attract all the guys that have been in this area before. I'm looking at buying the used lift over at Off-road rangers but have a lot of questions about it and tires and what not.

The lift is used... This could be good and bad, from the looks of it nothing looks busted up and it seems like I could take a sandblaster and some rattle cans to fix everything up to look new. Would this be ok to do or would it hurt something? Also, since some parts have to be welded on and have now been taken off, is that going to be bad or are those all disposable parts that I can get for cheap? Overall I want to know if I can get the full thing, including all the extras I'll need to order for under 1300.

Next, tires. I like the stock rims. I'll probably get flamed for that but I just like the way that they look. So would it be possible to get something like 265/75/16's on them? I can do the balancing and everything at school. Or would it be possible to do 285/75/16 and would that be a big price change?

Lastly, gas mileage and performance. I have 4.10's right now. Would it be a big pain in the butt if I got this in the ways of gas mileage. I get about 14 city from school, 16 driving around and not just doing 2 mile trips and 20 some on the highway. All of you with lifts, please be honest on what you get. If it's under 10 mpg please tell me. I need to factor it into my budget.

The final budget is 1800. That is all I will be able to spend. I need to pay for 1400 of it. My parents said they will put in 400 as a christmas present, mainly for tires as my michelins are just barely over mr. lincoln's head.

So can it be done for under that price? Will I need to get an upgraded front driveshaft or any other components to make it finished? Anything else please list.

Then the long lasting effect. Will any other parts go out quicker or will it hurt anything. And what kind of maintenance needs to be done to keep it up to par. My GF's dad had a lift put on his silverado and now has had to replace almost the full thing because of parts breaking. His front driveshaft included.

And for installation. I have a auto service class I can work on it in. Then I have two class periods off, where I can work on it to. so for about 2.5 hours a day with 2-3 others helping me. I have cutting torches, welders and pretty much anything else I need at my disposal. I can let it sit on a lift over night and can leave it there until it is finished.

So finally, can it be done?

just buy it and put it on. maybe repowder coat the parts?

285/75/16 will fit, alot of people have done it. im going to.

yes superlift driveshaft is recommended from members ($400)

anything you change from stock it will change the maintence.

i have 3 inches of lift and 33s i get 16mpg consistantly

i say u can do it with 1800 and that doesnt include tires.

the parts do not need to be painted they come with a real tuff almost bed liner type paint.

I sold my RCD kit jsut recently and have the gussets you need. They are brand new. 15 dollars plus shipping can get you those gussets(BRAND NEW). PM me if you end up getting the kit.

seans kit is a really nice one since it has extended CV's and the better rear shocks.

my front driveshaft **** the bed with the lift and i bought the superlift but you can easly get a couple thousand miles out of the stock front driveshaft so its not needed right away. Mine went so fast cause it was already making noises and on its way out when i got the lift on but i got 1500 miles out of a effed up front shaft so if your shaft is still good and solid it should be fine.

for tires get as close as you can to a 33" tire, any smaller is going to look weird and stupid with the RCD lift.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...8-0887_IMG.jpg

33x12.5x15 xterrains on my truck with the RCD installed

so your not going to go any smaller than a 33 cause its going to look rediculous

as far as gas milage, I am running 35x12.5x15 and I am getting 16 MPG

Sanblast away, as long as you don't do it on anything rubber/softer material/and even be careful on thinner metals. It's safe though, and once you paint it it'll look nice. That kit has been put to it's use (I know the guy from DR as well), and he has wheeled it pretty hard, but RCD is pretty good about making tough kits, so I say it's in good enough shape. The tabs and guessets that need to be welded on are really simple, you could pick them up from RCD directly (or even a dealer of RCD parts), or if worse comes to worse, have someone make some. Either way, they aren't a lot of money to obtain. About the $1,300, I am not sure of that, because he's asking $1,200, and you'd need a $200-$300 safety I'd think, just for the parts and whatnot (and not even including a new driveshaft like what Superlift offers).

Stock rims are fine unless you want to run really wide tires. I know the offset on stockers won't work with 2wd lifts so someone that has the RCD kit (Jason, Jared, Jared, etc.) can better answer that question for you. If you are able to run the stock rims, anything over a 11.5" wide tire is considered unsafe on a 7" wide rim, so perhaps getting new rims to get bigger tires would be a smart choice, unless you were to order an odd size like 35x11.5R16 (which costs more money because it is a less common size). Like others have stated above, don't get anything below like a 32" tire, it'd look too small IMO. Of the sizes you have listed, I'd get the larger if you were going to use those.

I have 4.10's with my 33's right now, and I can honestly say I get pretty bad gas mileage (you don't want to know, but it is safely over 10). In some cases, if I were to run a 35, I might actually see improvement, as there are ranges in our gears that work better with certain sized tires, and 33's with 4.10s is not one of them, :tired: . You might have better luck with 35's, or you might have to live with until/if you decide to re-gear later on.

I would say that is pretty safe. You MIGHT be a bit over that after tires and everything (including shipping on the parts you'd need and the gas to run around to pick them up), but I think you could get most of this completely done with that amount. The kit is pretty much complete, only minor (and inexpensive) things left out.

I'd get a new driveshaft sooner rather than later. You don't want to have the stock one fail on you driving down the road. So, put that on your list of immediate to-do's after you put on the lift. You can run the stock one for a while, but the sooner you replace it the less risk there is of it failing. Also be aware that with the larger tires, your speedometer will be off, and the only way to truly align it would be to get a speedo-corrector like what Superlift offers, or a chip/programmer. If you can live with it being off (I have) and as long as you can take the difference into account (about 10% with 33's, maybe about 15% with 35's) then you don't necessarily need it, but it is a good thing to have fixed later on (I know I'm getting a chip sometime for not only the more power, but to fix my speedo as well).

If maintained properly, nothing will fail (unless acted upon by something else, i.e. off-road abuse/tampering/etc.), and that goes for about anything. Keep everything well lubricated, and check every so often to make sure it all looks okay, if there is a problem, fix it asap and don't postpone it. This includes cleaning the truck, and the lift itself, keeping fluids topped off, especially brake fluid running larger tires, keeping all parts well greased/lubricated, cleaning your shocks and preventing too much dirt to get into them (which will cause seal failure in extreme cases), etc., but as long as you stay on top of it, you'll be fine.

Install might take you under a week - a full week depending on if you have everything right there and can work at a good pace.

YES! b :smirk: d