3" lift confusion - what do I truly need?

I am no expert on car repair and all the lingo on these lifts. I want a 3" lift to fit some different 16 " rims and slightly bigger DuraTracs. I go camping a few times a year and want the truck to look beefier and better. Realistically I am a daily driver and will not be doing off-roading, just the occasional dirt trail. I do not want the lift to have any negative side effects from the lift so does that mean a suspension lift is the best? Only saying that because they are the most expensive on the Toytec website.

There are so many lifts and differences in price I am confused more than you know. I hear all this talk about OME, spacers, add a leafs, coil overs, body lift and not sure what to think. I had a lifted Jeep and went through 3 u-joints because of the lift and I do not want any issues like that. Not sure what type of lift it was. Any specific model to go with? I don't want any strain on parts a cheap lift might do. Specifically, what is my best type of lift for my needs?

Truly appreciate the help.

 

Basic leveling kit should suit you fine, but if you truly want a 3", a spacer lift would be cost effective. Best ride will be some adjustable coilovers.

 

What's your price point?

Assuming cheapest with enough (minimal) lift to fit bigger tires, I would advise:

Front:5100s or OME sport shocks and 884s/ or 5100s at 1.75

This will leave you with enough lift to go up a couple tire sizes while leaving you in the range to get a good alignment without having to spend another 400+ dollars on UCAs

Rear: toytec progressive aal or wheelers aal

Softer ride than a single aal and not too pricy

To answer your question, "what do I truly need," I've come to the personal conclusion that unless you really want to stuff large tires, you can go up a couple of tire sizes on these trucks with only 1.75-2'' of lift. If you want 285s or bigger, you obviously need to lift more. But based on your post it sounds like you want something more moderate and daily driver friendly, so that's what I advised.

 

A basic leveling kit will give you the desired look but, it will have negative side effects on your ride quality (i.e. coil spacers) In my opinion you would be better off getting some bilstein 5100 and an add a leaf. The ride quality will be the same if not better and you can adjust them for your desired lift height. if your are trying to lift to around 3 inches you will need aftermarket coil springs (i.e. ome 884 or ebiach) also if you go closer to a 3 inch lift you will most likely need to get new upper control arms to adjust your alignment (light racing UCAs will be perfect) when it comes to the rear you need to decide how much weight you will be hauling an add a leaf will give you the lift but not the load capacity of a full leaf pack. then you will also want to get new rear shocks.

 

I don't think I need 285's but just want a little beefier. My current 18" limited wheels won't take DuraTrac or any Bfg A/T's which is prompting all this. I will have to find me some 16's..

Does going the OME route + aal give any negative side effects like wear on u-joints etc like body lifts do? I do not need Rancho 9000 super stiff shocks. I am buying this for the ability to add beefier tires and looks alone.

I'm flexible on the budget. If doing a lift causes me potential issues down the road, I'd rather save up and do it right. If that means $2k suspension lift, so be it. Of course I don't want to throw money away of I don't need it either..

Thanks for your help.

 

to have the truck level would you just have 5100 in the front set at 1.75 and 1.5 inch lift aal in the rear.

 

actually i could only find that the 5100 can be set at stock,1.25, and 2.5

 

If you are set on a 3" lift and if ride quality is important to you for daily driving, save up and go with coilovers and a soft riding leaf pack. Not the cheapest route but much better than Bilsteins 5100 and a rear aal. Keep the CO's at 2.5" and you can avoid needing UCA's and ride quality is quite smooth.

 

Depends on how much money you want to spend really.

If you want to do it right, get some nice coilovers, upper control arms, and a nice spring pack and shocks for the rear. Follow that up with some nice rims and some 285's and you'll have just what you're looking for but it will cost you somewhere around four or five thousand bucks.

Of course you could be cheap and get a set of spacers for your stock coilovers and just put some cheap 285's on your stock rims, which could all be done for under a grand.

 

Im wanting the same thing as bbagget. Im liking this idea because ya ride quality is important. So the heaviest ill have is a fourwheeler in the back. So will a soft riding leaf pack be ok?
Yes this is my first post lol
this site is awsome!!

 

i would do a progress (3 leaf) AAL in the back, either wheelers or icon. i have the icon progressive 3 leaf and ride is fantastic plus it upped my hauling ability a lot. i have bilstein 5100's set at 1.75 right now and the ride is great.

However with this set up i did have to put in a 1 piece drive shaft to get rid of vibrations and also an east coast gear supply bushing to replace a bearing in the drivers side of the front differential.

with that being said in the near future i'll be resetting my 5100's to 0 and adding Old Man Emu 885 coils with a top plate spacer and Light racing upper control arms to get 3 inches of lift and clear 285 tires.


so my advice to you would be to get Old Man Emu shocks for the front and rear... Old Man emu 885 coils in the front. Icon progress 1.5 AAL in the rear.. and Light Racing upper control arms. Check with wheelersoffroad.com and downsouthmotorsports.com for good package deals on all of that.

 

How much lift does this give our trucks?

 

As you said yourself you aren't going to be offroading with it, so why bother with a lift designed to perform offroad?

Regardless of how you lift it you will be altering cv angles and the general geometry of the truck which causes the premature wear of CVs and ball joints. It's a function of height and geometry, not quality of components.

I would look towards a top plate spacer for lift as they're dirt cheap and you won't change the ride as much as some other options. No extra pre-load from a top plate spacer, just reduced down travel which you will feel over bumps but unless you get an extended travel coilover you'll run into this issue as well.

As for the back, most things you do will stiffen up the rear aside from getting a new leaf pack. For street use and the occasional dirt road I doubt you'd notice much of a difference with an AAL. I don't really notice mine, but my truck rides like a bear right now, I need to get my front bumper to offset my stiff springs.

I'm just letting you know my thoughts, if it were me $1500 would be a hard pill to swallow for somewhat better on road manners when you can be very close for $200. When you want to take her on some trails it's a different story.

 

And that would be about 3. 2.5-3 inches all around.

 

There ya go OP...not quite 4-5k but I bet it rides fine with that setup.

 

I was thinking of doing a Boss 3" kit with Dakars in the back. It'll be expensive, but everyone who has one says it's worth the money.

 

If you want to stick too your 18" wheels you can go for Bridgestone Duelers A/T 255X70X18 = 32X10X18. I run 255x75x17 = 32x10x17 with my 3" Pro Comp lift.

 

I really would prefer to have some 16" wheels over the 18" look. That's more of the look I am going for.

After reading all of the posts, it sounds like any lift is going to put more wear/stress on the components, which I am not really cool with. I do not want to compromise reliability in order to get some 285s on there. I *really* want the look of the lift though.

So confused on what is best for my scenario. LOL

 

Just lift it, the type of use you are describing is very easy on vehicles. Yes, you will have parts wear out before they would have stock, but they will still last a very long time. You have to pay to play right? Lifting it will sacrifice some longevity in pursuit of aesthetics in your case. Whether or not it's worth it is up to you, I think that once you lift it you won't look back...

 

If you had a 2in or 1.5 in lift in the front would is it need to do a diff drop?