uzikaduzi

hi guys... its been a while. had some kids and got a new truck, but my wife is making me keep it stock until the warranty runs out (which should be around spring unless I kick up my driving habits)


I'm trying to work this out. I'm looking at 4" lifts. I've always liked rancho since their drop bracket is one piece, but they don't make a 4" for 2014's. it looks like the 10-13 might work if I swapped some 13 LCA's and got 13 struts for the front? (correct me if I'm wrong here)


if that works, it's like $1600 for the lift, $150-300 for LCAs (cheap ones to OEM), $500-700 for shocks (if I go with either 7000 or 9000 ranchos... benefit would be no spacers, but are they much of an actual upgrade from stock?) so I'm somewhere between $2250 and $2600...doesn't seem terrible if the shocks are any good, but most other lifts I could do cheaper and get the type of shocks I want later on like king or icon (although realistically I likely don't "need")


I'm open to any advice or criticism on this plan or even the suggestion of different lifts... I do have some hang ups on a few of the other 4"ers...


fabtech has you cut a pretty substantial cast mounting point of the front diff off and replace it with a bracket that bolts to the side of the diff where the axle housing bolts up... seems like a lot of work for likely an inferior mount and while all of these make it quite difficult to go back to stock if one wanted too, this would be one of the worst there.


BDS has me welding to reinforce the cross member that you cut on the frame... my welding skills are barely passable. they swear it's safe to drive without it done to get someone to weld it, but that seems questionable.


Skyjacker don't know anyone running one on an f150. not a huge deal but in the instructions, removing the LCA is clearly for a 2013 so it makes me wonder their attention to detail. the cutting you do to the cross member mount seems more significant than most, the rear drop bracket seems cheap... instead of a spacer design like most to have a bolt in double sheer, they have just 2 bolts on what looks like slightly thicker than stamped steel in single sheer


zone seems fine but I have no experience.


rough country I've had on my '06... looks like my major complaint of them saying to stack blocks in the rear has been addressed.




overall, I get that the quality of all of these and the ride they will provide is all close... I guess I'm asking if you guys think using 13 LCA's and new 13 struts will work to get the 4" rancho on a 14 and if it's worth the extra $1k to have the one piece drop bracket and new front struts over zone or rough country. please correct me or feel free to offer other suggestions...


long term, i'll likely be going with atlas or deaver springs to do away with all blocks. so any criticism on the rear of any kits might be a moot point.

RLXXI

Pretty sure the only difference is the lower control arm and strut, the lower mount on the 13 is one large bolt/nut, the 14 has 2 small bolts.

Yes you could swap the LCA's from a 13 along with the struts as the top mount is identical. I went with 4" Rough Country my self and couldn't be happier.
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uzikaduzi

Thanks Rnlcomp... that's what I was thinking.


I only had one complaint with my rough country lift which was they wanted me to stack their lift block on top of the factory one, but it looks like they cleaned that up with the newer lifts. I never felt like mine wasn't secure, but the way the rancho is just seems to be a more solid design... although rough country does have those kicker braces for the rear drop bracket... maybe those with the way the skid plate mounts is as solid?


I'm sure I'm over thinking this.

RLXXI

I'm not using the kicker braces (2wd) and the rear leaf spring block replaces the oem block, it's actually wedge shaped to retain the proper driveshaft angle.
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WireNutz

If I had a 2014. I would just order the rough country kit for a 2014 truck. And with the money saved pick up better coilovers for a better ride. And add a one pice block if you want. All manufactures still stack blocks on some of their base kits. There is no real difference in drop bracket lifts under 6", as everything is the same but the front spacer/strut and rear block height. And if you want extra support add the kicker brace.

The Rancho has two tubes welded between the two drop brackets to make it one piece, other wise it's still a two piece drop bracket design. I guess it's a built in kicker brace design.

uzikaduzi

thanks wirenutz... the kicker braces go from the front to the rear drop brackets? for some reason I always assumed they went from the back bracket to the frame (no idea why I assumed that)


this really solves my dilemma here

WireNutz

You are correct. They go from the rear cross member to the frame on most kits. I was just saying maybe rancho might have used a different approach as they are the only kit that has two tubes welded between the two drop brackets.

smgfx4

Rancho does make a 4" kit for the 2014 & they require you to but the 4" strut spacer instead of new rancho struts that you buy with the '13 and older trucks.

uzikaduzi

smgfx4... do you have a link by chance? they don't have it on their website and i can find anyone who sells rancho stuff that carries it.

the conversion you are mentioning makes sense.

RLXXI

The 4" RC comes with strut spacers as well for all trucks this gen 09-14. They do give new longer rear shocks but not struts for the front. I used them for a while before I put air shocks on to get back the rake.

Spacers shown in front of lift knuckles. Only difference between my kit and a 4wd is the brackets for dropping the front differential. Ignore the ladder bars, those are extra.


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