Regular cab lift vibes?

Just got my 5100's and 1.5" 3 leaf AAL. It will all be going in on Monday. Has anyone lifted a regular cab and no hat any vibes? I keep reading about all these vibes and wondering if it is even worth it.

 

I wouldn't say the vibes are a reason not to get the lift, just go into it preparing for it.

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It's a mental attitude thing. Once you've left the realm of "factory stock" you're now in the land of customizer-tinkerer. Your friends will say: "Wow, I'd never have the confidence to do _that_ (whatever it is you're working on) to my car!"

But every vehicle ever manufactured is a compromise, trading off a variety of things one against the other.

cost vs. comfort
power vs. fuel economy
on road vs. off road
reliability vs. performance

Every one of those tradeoffs was made by a big engineering staff after getting the input from the marketing and legal department.

Start modifying that mix and you're on your own now, baby. Well - almost alone - you get to ask for a little help here from the TW community.

But now you're the one in charge. You're optimizing for some aspects of your enjoyment, at the expense of others.

Typically, economy and reliability are now getting the short end of the stick, with performance (either on or off road) and style on the receiving end of the improvements.

Lift your truck, and you're likely exceeding the design operating angle at speed of the stock driveshaft. That almost _always_ leads to minor vibrations. (But if they're MAJOR, you've done something wrong, and you will need to keep tweaking until it's adjusted out)

Worth it? Dunno. Up to you.

You'll proably wear out driveshaft U-Joints sooner. Before, you had better than 50/50 that they'd last the life of the truck. Now those odds aren't so good. Same thing with front axle CV boots.

Every time you tweak something, you increase the chance of unintended consequences. Shortly after I put a mondo-custom-stereo into my brand-spankin-new 2001 Dodge Intrepid, the Body-Control-Module shorted out. Thing spent two weeks in the shop and I got a $1500 bill from the dealer -- Warranty Coverage Denied. Was it cause or coincidence? THEY said cause, but I sure dunno, and never will.

Closer to home, when I lifted my regular cab, I tweaked the install twice until I'd shimmed it to minimize my driveline vibe experience. It could be better - but only if I got a custom double-cardan driveshaft with a CV joint. And really, it's minor enough that I don't notice it unless I'm looking for it.

When I pulled my instrument cluster so Seth could change the LEDs, the mail was delayed and I started to fear that it had been lost in the mail. I asked the dealer about replacement cost, there was a misunderstanding and for a couple minutes I thought the replacement cost was over $2000! (turns out it's actually around 300.) Also, it was delivered soon after and not lost in the mail after all. But the uncertainty increased my stress, you know?

Where am I going with this? Only *you* know if it's worth it to mod away from stock. Every modification is a cast of the dice. Will it do what you want? Will you like it? Will there be unintended consequences?

It sometimes happens that in home remodeling, folks get what they want, but only after so much stress that they can't enjoy being in the home -- everything they look at only serves to remind them of all the hassles that were involved in getting it that way.

Your life. Your risk. Your call.

 

makes sense. It's my DD so just making me a little nervous. Going to do it anyways so we will see. Thanks!

 

Great advice.

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