Drop Bracket lifts?

Ok, so I am hearing everyone saying that drop bracket lifts are junk. Why is this? I have been looking around and the only thing I can seem to find is that the drop bracket lift doesnt give you any extra ground clearance and you dont get as much wheel travel. With the exception of a couple people it seems everyone loves their drop bracket lifts, RCD and 6". Am I missing something?

 

they are fine to me but 6" is too much lift for my taste I like my 3" looks good porportioned to the size of my tacoma and does really well off and on road.

 

I think it just makes your IFS weaker. For example if you off road it puts stress on the DB and it is liable to break. Other than that it looks good!

 

X2
My whole thing is the ground clearance. Ya, they are at 6", but it almost looks like my 3" lift has just as much clearance if not more. For the $ I want as much functionality as I can. Be that clearance or travel or both. Im not just trying to go up. For the $ of a drop bracket kit, you might as well stay stock for a while till you can afford a long travel kit. Just my two cents. Not trying to knock on the peeps with them and like them.

 

Ok, so it makes the IFS weaker. What does it weaken exactly, any ideas?

 

With a 6'' lift you can put a bigger tire, and that's where you get the best ground clearance.

to the OP, I wouldn't say they are junk, but they don't flex very well, and you have to cut out your front crossmember, which makes going back to stock a bit tricky. it's also pretty expensive, my lift was $400, which is bilstein 5100's up front, wheelers add a leaf and bilstein 5100's in the rear. I am quite happy with it, although a bit more lift would be good, but puts strain on the cv's

 

I know about the cutting, I was just curious because everytime someone wants to put a 6" lift they get flamed for it because everyone says DB lifts are junk, so I was just looking for an answer to it. Im just tryin to get a little more educated, but I guess I wont really know unless I had a DB lift.

 

Not sure sorry. It just what i've heard from people, not sure if it's true. I would just think it would add more stress to the truck while off roading, i think it would be fine on the street.

 

Got ya, I am just curious because I know some guys on here wheel their DB lifts pretty hard and I dont think they have had any problems.

 

i have seen it first hand what happens to the brackets when wheeled hard...

you don't notice it at first until you crawl under and take a closer look...

with enough stress, the brackets shift and if left unnoticed, the rear bracket can twist just a bit...

wish i had pics, but you can weld some cross braces between the two brackets for safe measure...

i have also seen one truck hit an outcropping rock dead center and it dented the front bracket pretty good...

for daily use and trail runs, you should be fine...

although can't say the same for your wallet as they are expensive, and once you lift that high, you are looking at a laundry list of upgrades to improve performance of the lift...

 

So the drop bracket is the piece that is acting as the crossmember? Or at least the peice you cut out of the cross member?

 

http://www.performancelifts.com/images/items/FTS26000.jpg

the blue part under the truck is the DB. drops the LCA away from it's original mounting position

 

Ya, thats what I was referring too, I couldnt really explain it lol. I can see why that piece is so vulnerable, wouldnt a skid plate help a lot against rocks?

 

I am one of those who aren't a huge fan of drop bracket lifts for several reasons.

1. No added clearance besides that added by tires

2. Devalues the truck by cutting cross member.

3. Raised center of gravity

4. Cost vs. Capability

5. Looks

DB lifts are more a mall crawler thing

It doesn't hurt that i like being different in a town full of drop bracket and body lifts.

Ese

 

Do lifts void the warranty?

 

No. There's a national law that states a dealer cannot void your warranty based on modifications. It will void warranty on parts you change, but by law, if something happens to your frame/engine/electrical system/etc. They can't tell you your entire warranty is void.

 

Btw here's the the difference between using a drop bracket lift and not using one, since I literally just notice it's not really all that extreme.

Fig. 1: RCD Drop bracket kit, take notice of the CV and Tie Rod angles.


Fig. 2: Coilover lift, no drop bracket. Again look at the CV and Tie Rod angles. Not all that much different.



I'm just noticing this now after being told by a shop and a friend that the only way to lift an IFS truck is with a drop bracket kit and that the suspension angles are too harsh without it. Just looking at this I really doubt it's enough to really harm the truck.

 

take a floorjack place in center front cross member raise the truck 2 then 3 inches and look at you angles . it will give u an idea how it will look.

 

Wow old thread.

I'll make my comment tho...skip the Drop bracket lift...I had one. Pain in the ass to go back to a non drop bracket lift because of the missing crossmember.

 

Drop bracket doesn't make it weaker but makes it more prone to fail, it puts more leverage on the factory parts. Look at it like this you change a tire a 12 breaker bar is easier to pop the lugs off than a 6 inch bar