suspension lift question
04-30-2014, 01:12 AM
#1
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suspension lift question
Hello All
I am a long time F150 owner and long time reader of this site. I finally decided to join since I am in the process of building my 2005 screw 4x4. I have totally redone my interior, new carpet, new leather, new suede headliner and even changed the interior color to black. I am now moving to the exterior and have added a ram air hood, wheels tires and am now going for a lift, paint, fender flares etc.
Anyway...In the next two weeks I plan on installing a 6 inch suspension lift and am really leaning on the less expensive lifts such as Rough Country, Trailmaster, Zone Offroad and I may consider Pro Comps $1700 lift. The reason I am not willing to spend more on my lift and get a BDS or Fabtech is because the most action this truck will get is me driving it down some dirt roads on my land and maybe a few drives through a pasture or two but I will not be doing any mudding , hill climbing, rock crawling etc therefore I am not looking for a top quality kit, it is strictly the look I am going for here.
I am currently running Rancho quicklift coilover shocks and I love them and want to keep them. They gave me a little bump in height on the front end, unfortunately I did not measure the height before and after the the quicklifts so I do not know how much height was gained but I am guessing a little under 2 inches, maybe 1.75 or so. It definitely did not level me out. The Rancho quicklifts give you height because the shocks are about 2 inches taller than the stock shocks but the coils that come with them must have settled enough that I didnt get the full 2 inch lift.
I need to find a 6 inch lift kit that will allow me to use my ranchos. I threw out my stock set of shocks so that is not an option and even if it was I really want to use my ranchos with my new lift.
My questions are
1. What is the best lift for me to reuse my Ranch quicklift shocks?
2.What is the best lift as far as ease of installation?
My angles look pretty good with the ranchos, not much different than stock so in my thinking the new lift should keep me the same as stock as far as my front end angles and keeping the ranchos would keep me at the angles I am currently seeing now. Is that correct?? and will all the lifts out there keep me at stock angles if I was using all the parts that come with the kit?
One lift that I do not want to go with the Zone Offroad lift because I will be installing this myself and Zone requires you to have a 10 ton press because you have to reuse your bearings from your stock knuckles. So I have already scratched that option off.
I believe with the procomp there is no cutting involved. Is that true?
I hope you guys can help me with this!! I have been searching high and low through Forums and google but I cannot find the answer to the rancho question. I have seen a bunch of threads on whether you can stack spacers etc but this is def not the same thing as stacking.
I will be posting progress pics and showing before and after pics soon, this truck is going to look awesome when I am done.
Thank you guys!!! Sorry for the long winded post!!
I am a long time F150 owner and long time reader of this site. I finally decided to join since I am in the process of building my 2005 screw 4x4. I have totally redone my interior, new carpet, new leather, new suede headliner and even changed the interior color to black. I am now moving to the exterior and have added a ram air hood, wheels tires and am now going for a lift, paint, fender flares etc.
Anyway...In the next two weeks I plan on installing a 6 inch suspension lift and am really leaning on the less expensive lifts such as Rough Country, Trailmaster, Zone Offroad and I may consider Pro Comps $1700 lift. The reason I am not willing to spend more on my lift and get a BDS or Fabtech is because the most action this truck will get is me driving it down some dirt roads on my land and maybe a few drives through a pasture or two but I will not be doing any mudding , hill climbing, rock crawling etc therefore I am not looking for a top quality kit, it is strictly the look I am going for here.
I am currently running Rancho quicklift coilover shocks and I love them and want to keep them. They gave me a little bump in height on the front end, unfortunately I did not measure the height before and after the the quicklifts so I do not know how much height was gained but I am guessing a little under 2 inches, maybe 1.75 or so. It definitely did not level me out. The Rancho quicklifts give you height because the shocks are about 2 inches taller than the stock shocks but the coils that come with them must have settled enough that I didnt get the full 2 inch lift.
I need to find a 6 inch lift kit that will allow me to use my ranchos. I threw out my stock set of shocks so that is not an option and even if it was I really want to use my ranchos with my new lift.
My questions are
1. What is the best lift for me to reuse my Ranch quicklift shocks?
2.What is the best lift as far as ease of installation?
My angles look pretty good with the ranchos, not much different than stock so in my thinking the new lift should keep me the same as stock as far as my front end angles and keeping the ranchos would keep me at the angles I am currently seeing now. Is that correct?? and will all the lifts out there keep me at stock angles if I was using all the parts that come with the kit?
One lift that I do not want to go with the Zone Offroad lift because I will be installing this myself and Zone requires you to have a 10 ton press because you have to reuse your bearings from your stock knuckles. So I have already scratched that option off.
I believe with the procomp there is no cutting involved. Is that true?
I hope you guys can help me with this!! I have been searching high and low through Forums and google but I cannot find the answer to the rancho question. I have seen a bunch of threads on whether you can stack spacers etc but this is def not the same thing as stacking.
I will be posting progress pics and showing before and after pics soon, this truck is going to look awesome when I am done.
Thank you guys!!! Sorry for the long winded post!!
04-30-2014, 06:31 AM
#2
I have had a Rough Country and a Pro Comp 6" lift on 2 different trucks. They are almost identical and are both very well designed. Both lifts require torching or sawzall cutting on one spot (It's very easy but you have to measure and use a template they give you). You will need a friend to help for sure. It's not a one man job. The first time you install it I would suggest about 8 hours. If you are familiar with all the front end parts and differential drop then maybe 6 hours. I had a "lift" at my exposure to do mine. Laying on a garage floor will not be fun.
You can re-use your Rancho struts with either kit. In fact, you could use them to help level out the front if you don't like the rake.
You can re-use your Rancho struts with either kit. In fact, you could use them to help level out the front if you don't like the rake.
04-30-2014, 11:55 AM
#3
to echo jeffbang62's comments, I don't see much of a difference in any of the 6" lifts... all the ones we can get for our years, use 2 similar drop cross members, similar steering knuckles (some allow for more back spacing (although stock wheels with bigger tires are still and issue)by increasing the front track width a little)
if you re-use the quicklifts, your geometry will still be off like it is today, which is gonna cause more wear to certain parts, but it won't be drastic... i'm assuming you'll need more lift in the rear unless you like the pre-runner look because most lifts (i actually don't know of one that doesn't do this but in case it exists, i'll keep my language less definitive) remove the factory rake. another thing, I think kingranch4life contacted rancho and they didn't recommend running a spacer on top of their coil overs; however, i don't see what problem it would really cause, some people run a level spacer and a lift spacer and don't seem to have issues with either failing.
if you re-use the quicklifts, your geometry will still be off like it is today, which is gonna cause more wear to certain parts, but it won't be drastic... i'm assuming you'll need more lift in the rear unless you like the pre-runner look because most lifts (i actually don't know of one that doesn't do this but in case it exists, i'll keep my language less definitive) remove the factory rake. another thing, I think kingranch4life contacted rancho and they didn't recommend running a spacer on top of their coil overs; however, i don't see what problem it would really cause, some people run a level spacer and a lift spacer and don't seem to have issues with either failing.