MUDDOG said:
Hello everyone. I am looking to get a 5 or 6'' lift for my dodge ram 1500. I was wondering if there are some weak points that I need to be a aware of after I make the modification. I'd like to run 37'' tires. Do I need bigger brakes? Do I need a beefier differential? Also, I noticed a post where the rough country lift had a block stacked on another block......definitely don't want to do that. Anyone been having good luck with another kit? I have been checking out the fab tech lift kits. I'm looking for some more input before I make a purchase. Any help would be apprecited.
Currently I'm running 2500 cargo springs on the front and added a leaf to the back. I have been able to clear Goodyear MT/R's (305's) no problem............I just want to go bigger.
I'm going to back up Cruz and just about everything he said. He's dead on. 37's are pretty much the limit on the D44 front. Plan on busting some ujoints if you wheel moderatly to hard. Pavement pounding - no problem. I think you're going to have more of a problem stuffing 37's under your rig than anything else with 'only' a 5" or 6" lift. You may need to look into a body lift to stuff the 37's, or maybe even go with some 38's.
Definetly going to want to regear unless you've got the factory Off Road package and the 4.10 gears that came with it. I've still got the 4.10's and with the 37's I'm running right now, it's not a bad set up. With that said, it's not something I would PAY to go out and have installed. If I'm paying for gears, I'm going to pay for a substantial difference in gearing (in other words it doesn't make $$$$ sense for me to go from 4.10's to 4.56's). There are even 4.88's available for our truck now should you want a little more gear.
On to the lift:
Like Cruz said, the Rough Country kit isn't a bad kit. And for the price its VERY hard to beat. There's a few things about the RC kit that keep me recommending to people. First and foremost, is the simplicity of the kit. Everything is bolt off, bolt on. No cutting, no grinding, no welding. The other thing - and for me this was more important - was the adjustable arms. I was able to add 3" coil spacers on top of the 5" lift and still have plenty of room in the arms to adjust my pinion angle and center the front axle.
STACKED BLOCKS SUCK. No two ways about it. Of all the rear lift options that are out there, stacking blocks is by far and wide my least favorite. With that being said, RC's stacked block is one of the best I've seen (is the best of the worst a good thing?). It's a tapered STEEL block (not cheasy aluminum), and the center pin actually goes through the block. It would take some SERIOUS force to FUBAR it.
The other thing is this... You don't HAVE to do the stacked block in the rear. I had to do it because I did the coil spacers in the front and didn't want the truck to point at the sky. There's also a TON of aftermarket options such as a shackle flip, new springs, or even coil overs if you've got bank.
Now that I'm off RC's bandwagon, any of those other kits are great kits. Fabtech was one I really looked at long and hard. I can tell you that the Long Arm (LA) kits are going to ride a LOT better than any short arm, bolt in kit. But if you go with the LA kits, there's no going back to stock (not that you'd want to....).
Do yourself a favor and check out RCD Suspension while your looking around. In my opinion, the RCD kit is one of the most complete kits on the market for our trucks. Comes with everything, including custom valved Bilsteen shocks for only a couple hundred more than most of the other kits (about $1700). And they also offer several different rear lift options.
SkyJacker's probably the most expensive out there when you start looking into the different options they offer. And for what ever reason, there's a LOT of people that don't like the SkyJacker trac bar. Don't know why... they just don't. SJ offers a billion different options for their control arms... and rear lift as well.
I don't like SuperLifts set up for our trucks. It uses a radius arm design instead of traditional arms / link set up. I've heard of cracking issues with the SL arms. Not from experience, just what I've heard.
Tuff Country is crap. They worship the coil spacer. I like coil spacers, but 5" worth of spacer is a BIT too much. Stay away.
