Red-Ford

So I'm getting a lift kit, and I keep hearing "oh with a lift kit you will blow through ball joints and ti-rod ends like no tomorrow". I know that modifying the height of my truck will put stuff in different angles, but I was always under the impression that the (oversize) tires killed the ball joints and stuff because they are a lot heavier than what was meant for the truck.

So my question to you is how bad of an effect is a 5" suspension lift kit going to have on my front end components (ball joints etc)?

If you have a truck that has around 5" of lift with about the same tires as me (35x12.5x17), about how long (how many miles) does it take before you have to replace the ball joints and the ti-rod ends and such?

I am getting the lift regardless, I just want to know what to expect.

Jefk

4x4 or 2x4? and whats your rear diff? you got some hefty tires there so if say your running stock 3.55, ide pay attention to the rwear axles, and swap for something like a 4.10, im about t put a 3.5" spindle lift on my truck and my joints should be fine, unless your trying to put spacers in, then ide worry. but thats about all i can say, bec ause idk your drive

Red-Ford

I'm a 4x4. Later on (as in 6+ months) I'd like to get the 4.56 gears, but right now I'm still on stock gears.

Wolvee

Somewhere a prius will die.

Jefk

i was in a prius ocean the other day,one sat at a green arrow, honked my 18wheeler horn and i'm pretty sure the prius jumped a little bit lol

Jefk

thats cool, im on stock with 32's my self but i have no reason to go big beside the occasoinal tow and mudfest lol, i see more road than dirt. so im just getting 3.73 or 3.91ish size gears and a locker. and my 3.5" lift, ive heard cambering may change abit once lifted but idk forsure,what lift kit are you looking at?

Red-Ford

Ye, I'm not an offroad guy, I just like a good looking truck lol.

Jefk

lol, ok well you do that and when someone ask you to go mudding with your jacked up truck, and you say you don't do that... lol jk, its all good

allinon72

If you are buying an actual lift kit from a reputable company, most of the ball joint, tie rod, and driveline angles are kept close to stock, so that really isn't too big of a concern. What is a concern is your tires, which will put more stress on things like ball joints and tie rods. However, it's not like you're going to run through a set every 5,000 miles. It might accelerate the death of stock parts, in which you can upgrade to heavier duty parts.

Z7What

I had my 2003 Supercrew lifted on 38"s for 100K miles before I sold it. Ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm and pitman were all changed at around 50K miles with all Moog. At 75K miles I added torsion keys. And after that, just about every oil change(3K miles) I was changing the idler arm. Everything else was just fine when I sold it.

Didn't bother me much cause it was a weekend toy that didn't see many miles at that point. The Moog idler were free replacement and I bought a lifetime warranty alignment from Firestone for $180 hers before that so it only cost me a few mins to swap out the idler arm and put stock tires on then drop off to get alignment done.

As for a 5" lift, you don't have to worry. I stretched my 6" to close to 8" which is why I had issues. As long as your CV shafts and control arms are pretty straight you will be just fine!

My truck never saw off road, it was a weekend racer, cruise night/show truck. I did flex out for pics but other than that a 2WD ranger could have done everything I did with it so it wasn't abused off-road if that gives you any idea of what to look forward too.

Wayne