Long Travel w/ drop Bracket Lift? HELP!

My estimate is $4400 (using my existing fox coilovers). $3600 for the TC kit (heim).

 

If I had to do it over I would look into this, but I know it would be difficult because the truck is so new (few part options/unknowns out there). I'm already in a bunch for the 6" BDS lift ($3600 for the kit alone)

 

Just cut it enough, no sense to lift it more just for tires.

 

One point that has not yet been brought up.

Long travel suspension is great and is better than stock in almost all cases. If you have the $ and will use it then great. CV angles and individual wheel articulation are awesome. Where it looses out is on turning radius and maintenance. You will loose out on sharp corners. While most people never notice the difference or can avoid a situation that may cause this or simply do not care. If you wheel, you will notice it. A sharp corner may require and extra reverse over a stock or SAS vehicle. And if you don't wheel - backing into parking stalls will help. Maintenance is also important. Keep it clean and well lubricated.
With you wanting height and width you may already be feeling some of the turning issues.

I believe Allpro did a comparison a while back with their LT kit vs their SAS kit, and it was quite interesting. SAS while fitting everything really well was able to turn much sharper. They also compared to stock and gave some interesting points about each system. But again what do you need or what will you use. Not wasting money on equipment can be tough and a few people on here can attest that over time they wish they would have done it differently from the start. And don't chase bad money with good. Yes you bought a kit, but trying to make something do what it was not designed to do can be a fabricators worst nightmare. It can be done but will it work properly?
If you do go the TC LT route....please, please get them to confirm everything will work and possibly give you a write up on it. Or at the very least get an email confirming everything will fit provided you do x,x,x.

In the end what you do is up to you. Don't let others talk you into something that you don't need or will not use, just on the one off chance it might do something that you will never need. Of course there are some exceptions. Needle barring comes to mind as does the rear diff breather mod if around water. But again both are situational and you may never need them. TW community is great at recommending things and many here are very knowledgeable, but sometimes members loose sight of what is really needed. As mentioned the cheapest route in this case may end up being the best route.

What ever you decide; Spacers, LT, SAS, Rims, Tires..... don't jump in but make sure it all works first. A good shop will be up front with you and may even let you 'try' out or view a look before anything is finalized and done. If done yourself you have to be a bit more careful. And always, If it does not work, Let other know so that the same mistake is not made again. If it does work then letting other know can be great also.

Edit. Just saw your above post while I was typing. Keep a good head on your shoulders

 

This! Thank u for the advice and support!

(And thanks for telling me about the turning radius, parking is getting tighter and tighter!)

 

NO worries. When in doubt ask the question and you never know what responses you will get. Someone may have done exactly what you are trying to do and have a great deal of advice.

I did the same with a bunch of members before modifying. I talked to some directly and found out what works and why. I also found out what did not and what they would do differently. I would say that 75% changed the build mid way through or wished they did something different. Learning from other mistakes has saved me some big coin but it also may have caused me to do something that I did not need yet, but would need by the end of the build. SO thus causing increased cost over the short run. On the flip side I did miss an item or two that now need to be done that I was hopping for the cheaper route. But I did not spend anything on it initially and knew that they may come up in time.

 

Subbed for LT with DB

 

Well I ended up doing it! Should be interesting to see how it handles. It's different, for sure.

 

So I would like to reiterate to anybody that feels the need to post useless, negative comments. There is no need to. I created this post to find out info and have updated it to share info. There is no need or desire for pure negativity, it really ruins TW.

 

Fair enough. Good luck in the future.

 

Nice you were able to keep the same coilovers save you some money there

 

Yup, hopefully they work well. Used the lift's knuckles too, they were the questionable part. Well, I guess I will see how it handles in a couple days. And how it does over the long run. I regeared too, so that should be a world of difference right there!

 

Not " hating " but someone should point this out to you "doable " does not mean it is correct and the fact that the shop doing the work did not point this out to you is really shitty buddy...and I highly doubt that TC actually said that and here is why - your BDS Fox coilovers are made specifically for that BDS kit using the stock upper and lower control arms and stock ball joints which may pull 8" of travel ( just making up numbers to keep the explanation simple ). So, those coilovers are built to very specific collapsed and extended lengths just for that BDS 6" lift kit with stock control arms only. Even if you simply added stock length TC uppers and lowers with uniballs they would be capable of cycling 9-10" of travel but your coilovers were not built to extended or collapsed lengths to match that additional travel...then you added a +2 kit with uniball upper and lowers which will pull 11" of travel and your coilovers sure as hell will not support that additional travel. I guarantee you that your suspension is capable of cycling 2-3 more inches of travel than your coilovers will allow.

Think about it, if you had a stock height truck with OE replacement Fox coilovers you could never add a +2 kit and use those same coilovers right ? ...becasue those coilovers are intended for stock travel #'s. A coilover for a +2 kit generally has 1" + longer body which supports the additonal 2" of wheel travel ( it's a 2:1 ratio ).

Will your BDS Fox coilovers hold up your truck - yes, is it right - oh hell no. Your suspension is now capable of much more than your coilovers will allow. The only way to correctly have long travel with a drop bracket is to have King or Fox etc build you a custom coilover to match the exact collpased and extended travel #'s that you need. Even that blue truck above in this page does not have the right coilovers, they simply added a stupid long extended lower rod end and a stupid long rod spacer to the bottom of an OE replacement King coilover so that truck's suspension is also capable of far more wheel travel than the coilover will allow.

 

That pic was sent from TC to my shop. They definitely said keeping my coilovers was fine. I'm not saying you r wrong, but I will eventually find out if they work. I can always swap out the coilovers or take the LT kit off. But thank u for the info, seriously. If anything goes wrong it's good to listen to everybody's take.

 

Good explanation, I just re-read. Thanks!

 

hey man it's your money to burn. Just seems like a waste to have a "look" you want vs. the potential performance gain you can have with those parts set up correctly

 

The reason I know this is that I did nearly the exact same thing and learned the hard way and had to have King custom build a set of coilovers for almost $3k for them to be exactly right for LT w/ a DB. It ended up being a modifed 8" coilover with custom rod ends and spacers etc to end up with the correct collapsed and extended length's.

The way you can test it yourself to see exactly what I am talking about is to do what is called cycling the suspension = jack up the truck, pull the wheel off, pull the coilover out and lift your suspension to bump then drop it to droop and take measurements for both IE: from the ground to the same wheel stud each time. Then take the spring off of your coilover and reinstall it and cycle the suspension again and measure again and you will see that your coilover is severely limiting the travel your suspension is capable of. I really hate to say this but all you just did was install some seriously expensive wheel spacers because your suspension is not doing anything more than it was before using those coilovers. In any custom application you must take extended and collapsed measurements and order coilovers to match. Again, not trying to troll you just want to make sure you have the facts buddy, truck looks f-in sick though

 

hey, my apologies I did not read the whole thread & realize that you were a lady so please forgive the " buddy " verbiage

 

No, I never take info as "hate". I don't expect everybody to like my build. Hate are the replies that are useless and negative.

Here's a question. If I leave it like this, what happens? Just a lack of performance (as in true LT capabilities), bad ride, or damage? I'm in WI, we don't have much more than dirt trails so I don't need extreme OR capabilities. I can deal w/ a waste of money (expensive wheel spacers, lol). And I do believe my shop when they say there r other benefits to doing this (better articulation and correcting my geometry).

 

Ya' your just not getting the full potential out of those rad parts you bought :/ You just need to make sure that your bump stops are set up properly so that they bottom out before your coilover does and I would suggest running limit straps as well which takes the strain off of your coilovers at full droop. In your current situation I guarantee you that your suspension will droop well past where your CO tops out. Limit straps are a very quick and easy add on, same with bumps but they must be set up properly to be effective. It is a very common misconception that limit straps are " only for the bro's that jump their trucks " when in fact any wheeling that fully droops your suspension fully creates the same 600lbs of force ( whatever your spring rating is ) through your coilover.