Upgrading my setup

Hey guys Im looking to upgrade my lift setup. currenty have:
icon front coilovers set @ 2.5 inch lift and 2.5 inch rear blocks.

I was thinking getting new 4 inch leaf springs and matching shocks and raising the icon coilovers to 4 inches. Sound good? Anything I am missing / need to know?

 

What UCA's are you running?

 

X2 on what ucas you have. And if you go over 3 inches on your coilovers your ride is going to be really stiff and your cv angles will really begin to hate you.

 

^^2x. But get rid of the blocks. For leaf springs Icon makes a set, Dakar, All Pro, Deavers, and Alcan. There might be a few I am forgetting about.
I don't know much about the difference between them, but I do know that Alcan can make custom leaf packs. He is located in Grand Junction, CO. You can also by his stuff through Wheelers.

 

What do yall mean by UCA?

 

As for going onver 3 inches, man I really want the truck to look bigger. Just bored with the way it looks. So does that mean I need to drop the center with one of those kits? If so, how well and whats ideal way to set it up?

 

Upper Control Arm. It is the Uni ball usually that is connected to the Coilover/strut.

 

UCA= Upper control arms. Who installed your spacer blocks for you?

 

factory control arms. No spacer block installed just the coilovers.

 

O me and brother installed blocks. Im sure we can handle a leaf swap, messing with the front is prob out my league.

 

I dont really offroad with it much and when I do im a casual. I do tow my boat often so I want some hard leaf springs. Considering air bags in rear.

 

You should definitely get new UCAs then. Even if you don't off road much, just b/c you have the Icons up front. The air bags are a good choice too. But I would say definitely a new leaf pack. Look into some of the mid travel threads, they are really helpful.

 

what is the benefit from different UCAs?

 

I wouldn't crank the coilovers any more. You'll be going through CV boots every 6 months at 4", with or without a diff drop. Bring them to 3" and leave it there. It'll ride MUCH MUCH better than 4", and you wont have to worry about the drivetrain giving your problems like vibrations.

Icon states that you must have a MINIMUM of 1.5" of droop. Preloading the coilovers (cranking down the collars to get more lift) is only ok to a certain point. If you don't have enough down travel the truck is going to ride like crap even on the pavement.

Your stock upper control arms have ball joints that don't allow much range of motion compared to a uniball control arm. The uniball control arms such as Total Chaos, Camburg, Icon, etc allow the truck to be aligned correctly and also wont limit your range of motion as much as stock UCA's. I believe they are a bit differently shaped as well as to not interfere with the coilover as much when drooped.

 

More down and up travel. There is also a little more, but that I couldn't tell you.

 

Thank you the traveler, very informative. So price wise what am i looking at for reliable 6 inches of lift. Recommended brands?

 

You're not. Not with a 4x4 unless you want to open a whole new can of worms for maintenance issues. CV angles go to shit, driveline vibrations start, and your stock UCA's aren't going to be able to handle 6" of lift while maintaining reasonable travel.

Even 3" of lift is questionable with your stock UCA's. Look into a set of new UCA's (use search function) to get your alignment back into spec, and get rid of the blocks in the rear.

 

he could easily do a 6'' lift, but he'd have to go drib bracket (basically irreversible), heck, he could do a 9'' lift, 6'' DB with custom CO's for another 3''.

 

OP says "messing with the front is out of my league", so I was assuming a drop bracket wasn't really an option. Heck, he could sell the truck and buy a pre-runner if he doesn't need the 4x4 and then lift that all he wants with a bit less mess.

 

So if I get the rough country 6 inch lift kit (dif drop kit) + uniball UCA my front end should be ok? from what Ive looked at, rough country kit is around $1000 and UCA is $600

For rear I was gonna get new leafs $500, air bags $300