mtbsam

If I'm not mistaken, those Rancho's will give you even more lift (2.25" vs 1.8) and could likely ride as rough as, if not rougher than, the Bilsteins at any height. If your control arm angles steepen enough, you're bound to feel more transmitted through the suspension to the chassis. Some of that may be compensated by the fact that the valving is adjustable but I believe the initial jolt will be felt more regardless.

I'm glad you got it all installed ok! I probably wasn't clear on the description of what the issue was on mine. It wasn't an issue of stud length. What I believe happened is that they used the torque wrench to do the install of those nuts and there was enough resistance that the wrench clicked indicating the torque (37 ft-lb) was achieved even though the nut wasn't bottomed out. Basically it just made the shock rattle around in there for a few days before I was able to get it back in for them to check it out. They fixed it in a matter of minutes, but it sure was annoying before that! Since it happened on mine and on one of the shop guys truck, I figured I'd share it here in case it happens to someone else.

Just a side note for anyone.... The top nuts that are in the engine compartment on top of the fender well have a torque spec (not sure what it is, the shop installed them and I can't remember) and it was not enough to even fully install the nut. I was having a klunky noise in the front end and when I brought it back, they found the nut still had 5 or 6 turns before it seated all the way down. I'm not sure if there were just some bad threads or what, but I figured I'd share what I found out.

I gained about 3/4" from the tires that I had installed. They aren't the max that would fit by any means, but no rubbing or trimming and they are 275/70/18 (33.2"). I notice a slight difference with the heavier tires but once it's rolling it's almost where I was before according to the DIC, and that's without any compensation for larger tires. I think I figured out I'm going about 1 mph faster per 20 mph on the dash. If my cruise says 80, I'm doing roughly 84.

Looks awesome (as all of the trucks in this thread do), but I'm just curious how much aerodynamic effect that air dam has. I don't mind the look with them on and now that it's level, it doesn't drag on curbs etc, so I'll probably keep mine for now.

The spring is not any more preloaded with the load of the truck on it. The suspension angles are what makes the difference.

I do think that's a fair price, but I got lucky and because I was buying my new tires at the same time they installed the shocks (fronts only) for $40/ea and then a $79 alignment. That's probably the best price I've seen so far and definitely worth not having to rent a spring compressor and deal with that myself. I actually went with the highest notch and I like it, it's still a tad lower in the front and I really like the look and ride. It handles railroad tracks etc. SO MUCH better. The only complaints I have (and they were known going in) are that my tires are now 10ply and less compliant than stock and I've noticed a bit of a decrease in mileage/acceleration/throttle response with the larger heavier rubber installed.

I haven't dialed mine down yet, but I think there is more rise due to the lift than the angle from what I saw. I parked in my driveway and at about 8' back to the front bumper, the headlights were about 3.5 inches high, however 2.75 of that was from lift and dire diameter. That's not to say that I don't plan to adjust them down, I'm just saying it's not drastic. Also, no matter what you do, you're going to get the high beams flashed at you by the poor folks driving small cars!

Here is my truck before and after the upgrades. Unfortunately it's filthy and the photos weren't taken in the same setting for comparison. I think the difference is obvious!

I went with the max setting and have the same results that esexton described.

It's funny that you posted this last night, I just got the same tires yesterday! Pics to follow

Ok, I need to rephrase my statement....yes the preload on the unloaded shock has increased. However, since the sprung weight hasn't changed, it will still settle to the same amount of compression because spring rate hasn't changed either. This is what lifts the front and (I believe) why Bilstein adds the extra inch of shock stroke to accommodate the further negative travel. The potential harsher ride comes in where the angles are steeper. The closer to vertical the control arms get, the more force and energy is transferred into the chassis instead of into the shock.

Actually, I was slightly wrong in my prior statement, but streepening control arm angles actually DECREASES preload on the spring.

It can't increase preload on the coil unless it adds more sprung weight to the front, that is just poor wording. The spring rate of a coil spring doesn't change. It does change your control arm angles and that makes a difference in the ride quality, however. I don't have my leveling fronts installed yet so I can't speak on how the ride changes, but it's going to be interesting to see. I think the part I like the most is the extra inches of shock stroke. Time will tell as to whether I like the ride or not.