Lift and parts sanity check

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read through my rambling but I could use a sanity check on my decision making process as well as some advice and opinions. Long story short-ish, I am Military stationed in Germany and have to buy new tires prior to shipping my truck back to the states in 9 months. Its an awesome rule but your vehicle has to pass the German inspection before shipment. My tires are fine to get me back to the US but I will have to replace here.

Because I will be buying new tires, I am going to just suck it up and do the lift I was waiting to get back to do. I have no desire to spend money on a tire size I don't want to just be unhappy about for the next 40k miles.

I am piecing together everything I need to accomplish this in the next 8ish months and needed a quick sanity check to make sure I am not forgetting anything or overlooking something. Also to make sure some assumptions I am making about components and use are not flawed. Yes I know it would be easier to just outright buy a complete lift from one of the many awesome vendors that offer them but.... everything sent to me has to be shipped via USPS with a 50lb weight limit per box. That will get expensive and it is not worth most vendors time to try and work the USPS system enough to make it within an acceptable cost to me. It is doable but with small profit margins anyway most have been unwilling to try.

Due to items typically taking at least a week to arrive and a very limited selection of parts locally obtainable (read almost none), I will need to have everything I need as well as the ability to address the most serious contingencies that would leave my only vehicle apart once I begin.

So the basics- I want what everyone wants.... as big of tires as I can go with a 2.5-3" lift.

2014 DCSB TRD Offroad

-stock with the exception on a Truck Covers USA roll up bed cover. I am unsure of the weight but it is enough to settle the bed 1". This measurement was obtained via the average of the distance from center of hub to bottom of fender flare at 90 degrees perpendicular to the ground. I was allowed to measure on 2 other identical trucks minus the bed cover. Gas level was not taken into account so drivers side varied around half an inch.

Front Concept

- SAW 2.0 Coilovers w/ 650lb springs purchased via this forum

- SPC LR UCAs purchased via this forum

- Sway Bar relocation kit

- Diff drop kit

- Cab mount chop supplies will be on hand and more than likely just done while everything is apart.

- Mud flaps will be removed


Front questions

- purchase 0.5" spacer kit if needed for 3" of actual lift? Also I plan on adding an offroad bumper when I return stateside so would I be advised to add the spacers now and just adjust the coilovers to meet the needed height for now?

- extended brake lines?

Rear Concept- this is the great unknown. Using stock springs my truck is 1" lower so to match the front and remain level I will need 2.5-3" of total lift from where I am now.

- OME DAKAR EL095R-P and Boss 2.0 rear shocks or OME shocks- will these regain the lost inch while providing the advertised 2" lift?

• Will the OME AAL for this setup be advised?

- OME DAKAR EL096R-P HD with same shocks- will the additional load capacity regain the lost inch while providing the advertised 2" lift and not beat the crap out of me or the truck do to not being close to the 661lb additional constant load rating? If I am not at 661lbs will the rear be raised higher than 3"? Maybe I am with the roll up cover but I don’t have the knowledge to extrapolate additional weight from suspension compression.

As far as either option goes

- 7.5” u bolts

- extended bump stops... what length?

- do I need axle degree shims plus

- Driveshaft Carrier Bearing Drop Kit?

Of course other cheaper options may work…. AAL plus block kit or 3” block kit alone. Helper springs/ block kit but I don’t like the idea of sinking money into the front but half doing the rear. Also the idea of stacking unlike components together to provide lift sounds unwise to me. Maybe it would be fine but I don’t have the knowledge to assess that.

As far as tires go my options are somewhat limited here but prices are decent for a set of 4 shipped from a german version of tirerack.

255/85R16 119/116 Q BF Goodrich Mud Terrain TA KM 2- 600.16

LT255/85R16 119 P Toyo – Open Country M/T POR- 464.68

LT285/75R16 126/123 Q Cooper Discoverer STT OWL- 561.00

LT285/75R16 116 P Toyo Open Country M/T- 584.88

285/75R16 116 R BF Goodrich All-Terrain TA KO2- 646.64

285/75R16 116/113 Q BF Goodrich Mud Terrain TA KM 2- 656.00


So if you have read through my rambling and still have some brain power left please let me know thoughts and opinions. I am not looking for "call so and so vendor and ask". I know i could probably get the answers I need but would prefer to go into a conversation with vendors with more knowledge and specifics on the parts i want not just waste their time answering questions and then me wanting to research prior to possibly buying from them. Thanks a ton in advance.

 

First- thanks for your service. Looks like you're putting together a pretty nice lift. Here are a few of the things I can speak to...

1. I wouldn't put top plate spacers on an adjustable coilover - if you add an off-road bumper when you get back home, just swap the coils out for 700lb springs.

2. Dakars should suit your needs, and give you a 2-3" lift in the rear unloaded. If you want to take all the questions out of it, go ahead and throw the OME AAL in there, if you don't like it, it can always be removed. It's a pretty easy process. I needed a combination of 3 degree axle shims and a carrier bearing Drop to take the vibes out of my driveline, but it's going to be different for everyone, so I'd buy both - they're pretty cheap. There's a free app for your iPhone called TREMEC that will measure your driveline angles for you. Measure it before you start altering the suspension for a good base.

3. 7.5" ubolts should work, you could also look into the OME specific ones. Wheelers superbumps seem to be a popular option for a lot of guys, and it's next on my list to purchase.

4. Lastly, I'm running 285/75/16 Terra Grapplers and I love them. I did have to do a CMC, so I'm glad you're planning to do that. All of the tires you listed above are great, and arguably the most subjective part of your build. I don't think you can go wrong there, but I'm a big fan of the 285's.

Hope some of my ramblings make sense and help a little. Travel home safe brother.

 

thanks for the reply Brother. Confirmed what I had been thinking. Now time to start buying! I have a week or so to decide on the tires though so I need to figure that one out. I am kind of digging the 255s since I can easily run them on the set of 16" TRD Pro black rims I picked up for a steal. I really like the look of them and even though I could run 285s on the 7" wide rim it wouldn't be ideal. I know a ton of people do though.

 

255s will look good on those. Once you're finished, be sure to post pics!

 

It's going to be a bit before I get it all done but I am collecting all the parts. Last 2 things to order are a CMC bracket so I am not scrounging for plate here and shocks. I am kind of stuck between the plate style that various venders sell that just removes the front portion to clear or the one toytec sells that goes big and removes front and rear almost to the actual mount. Looks cools but keeping as much support as possible probably is the right call..... but I am impulsive hahaha. Have an opinion?

As far as shocks go I am back and forth between the Toytec Boss 2.0, the OME nitrochargers sport, Bilstein 5125 and fox 2.0. Oh choices, choices. All are around the same price and within my price cap. From a purely functional perspective I probably should go with the OMEs since they are designed for this setup but let's be honest, aesthetics count and I am not a huge fan of yellow shocks on my red/ black truck. Yeah I know it's just shocks and will barely be seen but still....
any opinions on these? If the consensus is OME I will just go that route and pull my big boy underwear up/ deal with it or coat them if it really annoys me.

 

I used BAMF plates for my CMC, worked well. I'm sure they're all similar but for like $20 couldn't beat it.