Need lift advice

or should i go with bilstein struts? and what coils can u use with these? OME or bilstein?

 

first, it all depends on how much money you want to spend. if you buy junk you get junk. I lifted my truck 6" altogether. I got a Fabtech 3" adjustable coil over system and that is that way to go along with a 3" Fabtech body lift. the body lift isn't going to raise your truck any at all for offroading purposes, ONLY the body itself. But the body lift is nice when you work on your truck since parts are a lot easier to reach. You don't want to get a full 6" suspension lift because your ball joints will take a beating and so will your cv axles. This is just my opinion so guys don't jump all over me like wolves.... haha. The fabtech 3" suspension lift cost me 600 bucks which isn't bad. the body lift cost me 280 bucks. the wheels and tires I got cost me about 1100 bucks for 15x10 wheels and 33x12.50-15 buckshot mudder tires. Got these items from national tire and wheel. the stock suspension sucks compared to the aftermarket suspension. my truck handles offroading five times better (no lie) than the stock suspension. anyways, hope this helped.

 

how bout bilstein 5100s with my stock springs, or rancho quick lifts with my stock springs?

 

+100 This is a very popular option.

 

can someone give me a link to somewhere that has good deals on the adjustable bilsteins?

 

whiteknight303..........i have read the posts in this thread there are some very good advice as far as what to get and where to look. I might have missed it but I think this should be addressed before you buy a lift.

Take into thought what kind of offroading will you be doing:

1.what kinda offroading will you be doing: mudding,sand,rockcrawling
2.is your truck a DailyDriver or just trail use
3.what kinda gear will you have on the truck permanently attached (winch,sliders,bumpers,etc.)all these add weight to the suspension
4.tire size
5. what can your budget afford


I built my truck to do expedtions so with that in mind Below is a quick reference as to how I built my truck for the trails
1. Armor (sliders,skidplates-front,tranny,transfercase added weight approx. 100 pounds
2. Front Bumper with 10,000 winch added weight 220 pounds
3. traction bar (get rid of axle wrap)
4. front SAW''s 2.0 (set at 2.75)coilovers- 5" rear leaf springs
5. Cap with custom roof rack holding spare tire, air tank,hi-lift added weight to rear approx. 300 pounds.......inside the bed toolbox with tool and recovery gear,etc. 80pounds.

As you can see if your gonna be adding armor and other things to your truck as a fixed object you need to factor that into you lift or spring as far as what they can handle.......My coilovers I'll be changing out for the 2.5 SAW's and a heavier spring to handle the weight upfront.........my leaf springs in the back are 5" with the extra weight added I sit at about 3.25"

I guess what i'm saying is look at the BIG picture of what you want the truck to look like and what you plan on doing with it.........so you don't waste your money. Both the OME lifts and coilovers are great ways to go.......Wheelers sells them all I believe. Stay away from teh cheap quick fix spacers.

 

i think i might go with these bilsteins , they use stock springs right?

 

DownSouth MotorSports has the best price and Sony is a great guy to do business with but the Bilsteins he sells does not come with the lifetime Bilstein warranty. If you want the warranty you'll have to order throught another vendor like ToyTec but be prepared to pay a little more. Hope this helps.

The other advise post here is good advise.

 

wow thats a pretty sweet price for shocks and lift all in one haha

 

Yes I beleive you reuse your stock spring.............get a spring compressor and be VERY careful when taking the the springs off the old shocks.

 

+1 reuse stock spring and +1 be careful that thing is under a lot of pressure.

 

+2. If you have another vehicle to get around town, I'd take your stock springs off, take them down to an auto shop and have them swap the strut using their wall-mounted compressor. Cost me $40 and I didn't have to worry about killing myself!

 

X10-I have to agree with Jason.............if your not a seasoned wrencher.........pay the money...........I have seen those springs slip off the compressor and if you are on teh recieving end of that spring it ain't gonna be pretty.

 

I'm sure there are videos on YouTube about this...

Only let TRAINED PROFESSIONALS like Chris do really stupid shit like that!

 

should i use a diff drop with the bilsteins?

 

If your gonna tweak the front to 3" that 1/2" might help............I'm at 2.75 and dont have the diff drop installed...................did i buy it ............yes.......I wheel pretty hard and also hunt for 3 month almost straight out with my truck never have had a problem YET with my CV's

 

ToyTec offers a 1" diff drop for something like $30. Takes 5 minutes to install. So if you're going up to 3", why not?

It's what I did and now I don't have to worry about it...