3" front/rear lift or 3" front & 1" rear lift?

I'm about to install a small lift on my truck to give it a better look. I don't take it off road much or have big tires so I don't need a lot of height. I just want it to look cool! The question I have is whether I should get a 3" lift (front & rear) or a 3" (front) & 1" (rear) lift? I know the 3/1 setup will level out the truck but are there any other benefits? Is a 3" lift (front & rear) a popular install as well? Thoughts? Opinions? Thanks!

 

actually 3 in the front and 2 in the back will level it out. I had exactly that on my old lift and it was perfect. you could fit 285/70/17 too

 

It depends how you lift it. If you use the billies that would be good with an AAL. I think thats your best option

 

Yeah 3" in the front and 1" in the back will leave you a bit nose high, which I think looks terrible but some dig it. If you do 3" in the front you will probably need new upper control arms, which you may want to avoid if on a budget. If you are set on a 3" lift, look into the OME kit or Bilstein kit with new coils. You could do spacers/blocks, but that's not a very popular option around here.

If you just want a cool look and aren't totally set on 3" (which sounds like the case) I would go with Bilstein 5100 shocks. You can set them at 1.75" for a tougher looking stance, maybe throw in an AAL. It will be cheap, you wont need UCAs and it wont look funny with smaller tires.

 

It'd be a lot nose high.

5100s and/or coils and rear 3 leaf AAL, either Wheeler's or Icon IMO. $500 or so.

 

If you lift your truck, you will want to put better/bigger tires on there, especially if you go a full 3". If not, you will have that goofy lifted truck look with small tires. I would just suggest getting Bilstein 5100's for the front and set them at 1.75 and call it a day. This way you can keep your rims/tires, be lifted/leveled and still look good. Just my opinion.

 

This is the setup i'm running, it already looked a bit high when I had the stock tires on. Definitely wouldn't recommend lifting any higher without bigger tires.

 

Depends. I'm on 265/75/16 and it looks perfect. 245/75/16s would look horrendous.

 

265/75/16's are about an inch bigger than any of the stock sizes. I'm running them too and I agree they look perfect.

 

My truck is stock now with 265/75/16s and they look great. I think at a full 3 inch lift they might look a tad small, but some beefy 265 MTs would probably look just fine. Kinda depends on the tires. With a 2 inch lift, I think most 265s would look perfect.

OP, I would strongly suggest browsing the forum to find pictures of different setups. Wouldn't want to be disappointed with a $500+ purchase.

 

1.5" front 2" rear 265/75/16 Hankook Dynapro ATM

 

After my fiancé gives birth and recuperates I'll be lifting the front to the next setting (1.75) and it should level out. I have achieved 1.5" of lift at .85 setting, if anybody is wondering where my 1.5 came from.

 

Thanks for the input. I want to go with a simple & inexpensive install with as close to factory ride as possible. My tires are BFG KO2 265/70/17 on OEM wheels. I want to avoid the nose high look but a 3" lift doesn't sound too high of lift with my set up. Bilsteins are a good option too. Decisions, decisions!

 

3" in the front is too high if you only do 1" in the rear.

A tape measure on your front/rear hubs measuring distances to the fender will show you what your height difference is currently, if you add 3" to the front, and 1" to the rear, you'll see that it's too much up front for that rear lift.

I had a similar rake before my rear AALs were installed, I blinded everybody with my headlights, it looked like shit, and I ended up lifting the rear properly anyway. Whatever you do, proper lift proportion or not, make sure your headlights are aimed properly and avoid doing what I was doing.

 

Mine are P metric.

I had zero complaints or issues with them over the little rain we had. First rain road slick to standing water on the freeway, no issues! We had flooding and tons of rain in short amounts of time, but bear in mind I live in Northern CA and we had minimal rainfall. I can't say the performance will be the same where you live, and your wet weather. But, I did have as many varied rainy conditions as rain allows and was very pleased.

 

Good to see another Tennessean. From my experience, a lift with simple & inexpensive install does not lead to a good ride. I've rode in tacos with spacer lifts. While they are cheap and easy to install, they ride like hell. Plain and simple. Even using 5100's set at anything other than 0 will lead to a harsher than factory ride. You get what you pay for. I would decide what is more important to you and make your decision based on that. Cheap/easy or ride quality. Again, this is just my $.02. I will tell you that I went with the not so cheap or easy route and would up with a truck that rides like a dream. Good luck

 

This is 5100's front and back with OME 885 coils and deaver AAL. Even with this lift 285's would not fit. They rubbed multiple places. The picture shows 265/65's and I have since moved to 265/70's with no issues at all. I would have liked to have kept the 285's but I'm not going to butcher my truck to make it happen.

 

Also, this setup has a ride that is 10 times better than stock. If I didn't get any lift at all the expense would have been worth it because of how much better my truck rides.

I got the kit from Headstrong Offroad. Great prices and even better customer service.

 

Thanks for all of your posts. I ended up going with the Pro Comp Nitro 3" front/1" rear lift. My tires added about 1/2 inch of height and this kit made it perfect for what I was looking for. The truck is level. The ride is still good but feels a little heavier (if that makes sense) and it seems to downshift a little more often. The truck rides nice on the interstate. All in all I'm happy.