RC 3.5 swap out...

travishale84 · December 3, 2013

I have the RC 3.5" lift kit. I have had to replace my upper ball joints 2 summers in a row, and my lowers for the first time with 55K on the clock. i have about 35K with the lift. i know its mostly due to the severe angles of my (RC)UCA's(upper control arms) and (lower control arms) LCA's. I know my oversize tires and off set wheels dont help.

My question is, can I take out the upper strut spacer that gains 3.5" of lift and replace it with a 2.5" lift spacer while leaving RC's UCA's and the differential drop in place? my dream is to one day get a rancho lift so i can use my factory 17's and my DC2 17's

travishale84 · December 3, 2013

I hate to lose 1" of lift because my 34's already rub with 6.5" of lift and with 5.5" of lift i imagine they will rub HARD

LaserBlueZ71 · December 4, 2013

If you don't have the money to do it right, I wouldn't bother. You did tires and wheels first, they come last. Always lift the truck first. If you want to run 34's, you need the BDS 6 inch or the Rancho 4 inch, which is really about 5.5 inches.

travishale84 · December 4, 2013

actually, i did RC 2" leveling kit first, then added the 1.25" BL second. I then swapped the 2" leveling kit for RC 3.5" lift so i had 4.75" of lift. i then added DC2 wheels and ran stock rubber for a while before upgrading to 285 70 17's. a year or so later i wanted more lift, so i added zones 3" BL and Nitto Terra Grapplers 305 70 17's. Now im sick of spending $120-$200+ on ball joints every year and taking a day to swap them out

BDS is a little out of my price rance from all the prices i have seen.

Not to be a wise ass but dont assume it wasnt lifted first. it was lifted many times before, and i have learned go big first... but thanks for the reply.

blackout07 · December 5, 2013

Yes you can. IIRC there is a part # for Moog joints that work with RC UCA's. Have you tried this for the uppers? Not much you can do about the LCA's and TRE's with that kit though. Seems like I've read about this kit being subpar before....

travishale84 · December 5, 2013

Yes I know blackout I was in a pinch when I bought this affordable kit... I went with summit racing ball joints the first time and they lasted a year. This time around I went with moog on uppers and lowers.