Rudyj07

So I reached out to Rough Country in regards to the CV axle and boot being prone to damage due to the severe angle without lowering the differential and this was their response:

"This unit will not take the cv angles outside of the factory tolerance. It will be just fine!"

To ease my thoughts I am going to put my truck in the garage (level) and jack the front of the truck up ~3" to get an idea of what the axle angle will represent. I fully understand this will not be exact but I think it will help me visually see the axle and if I am willing to bite the bullet on this or not.

gdom

Of course RC wouldn't tell you not to buy their product haha. If you end up installing the kit, post some pictures of the cv angles for us.
I wish there was a better way to do a 3" lift on these trucks because that is the perfect height IMO.

Rudyj07

So you're saying they would lie to me?

I'm joking... Didn't get a chance to jack the truck up to see what the angles would be. I'll post some pics when I do though.

SilverSurfer15

I'm going to be another voice of reason here: No

Jfabes

RC isn't the only player....ReadyLift's SST kit is 3.5" and only has UCA's but uses pre-load and spacers, and Halo adjustable coils also boast 3" with UCA's. The UCA's won't correct CV angles but they will prevent the coils from hitting the knuckle/UBJ and they are stronger.


FWIW, I had the 2.5" AS level and just replaced it with a 4" RC lift....it is night and day. Drives better, tighter wheel, and got all my turning radius back. plus it looks 10x better. I wish the level would have worked for me as planned but just didn't turn out that way.

gdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h03i...I#action=share

RC posted a video about how this kit leaves the suspension geometry at factory angles. It even claims the CV angles will be in factory specs. I don't see how their kit can correct that. Am I missing something?

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Looks like they angle the ball joint at roughly 45 degrees relative to stock.. it should help with ball joint wear.

gdom

Yes, that will help with the UCA. How does this prevent excess wear on the CV axles?

Rudyj07

I forgot to take pictures but I jacked the center of the truck up taking measurements from the outside center of the front wheel well to the ground. At 2", as most have commented with leveling kits, the cv angles are still good (fins not touching on the boot). However, at 3" the boot fins touch and angle of the cv axles is rather extreme.

RC did a good job in eliminating one problem point with with upper control arm bushing but I think they're missing the boat on the CV axle.

Having had a AWD BMW that was lowered and constantly having to replace boots and cv axles, I want nothing to do with this kit unless there was a solution to the cv angle.

WarSurfer

The rule of thumb for IFS F150s is to stay at or under 2.5" and IMO achieving that with coil spring preload is better than a puck. That seems to be the limit for 4wd and still being able to wheel the truck without spitting out boots or CV joints.

Only other options are an actual lift (lowering the diff) or longer arms.