Rough Country 3.5” issues?

Browtine · November 2, 2021

Anybody have this kit installed for a while now and experienced any issues? I know 3.5” is pushing the limits of the cv axle, but reviews seem to be good. However, most of those reviews I’ve seen on forums were within a month or 2 of installing.

Browtine · November 4, 2021

Bump

aggiegold · November 4, 2021

I had it installed today on my 2021 High Country after reading positive reviews. I ordered it from rough country and had it installed at a local shop, not through an off road shop that was pushing it and they had positive things to say about rough country products they have used in the past despite the usual hate they receive.

Good luck in making your decision.

Browtine · November 4, 2021

28 minutes ago, aggiegold said:

I had it installed today on my 2021 High Country after reading positive reviews. I ordered it from rough country and had it installed at a local shop, not through an off road shop that was pushing it and they had positive things to say about rough country products they have used in the past despite the usual hate they receive.

Good luck in making your decision.

Looks good! Did you go with the strut assemblies or the spacers?

aggiegold · November 4, 2021

Thank you, here is the link for my lift.

https://www.roughcountry.com/gm-suspension-lift-kit-29600.html

Browtine · November 4, 2021

13 hours ago, aggiegold said:

Thank you, here is the link for my lift.

https://www.roughcountry.com/gm-suspension-lift-kit-29600.html

Thanks. How’s the ride so far?

aggiegold · November 8, 2021

The ride is great. We took a trip in it this weekend and my wife commented on how smooth the truck is. My last truck, a 2019 F150 4x4, my 12 year old would get car sick in always, he was just fine this weekend. If you chose to do this, you’ll be happy with it!

DustSierra · November 8, 2021

DP.

Edited November 8, 2021 by DustSierra

DustSierra · November 8, 2021

It goes something like this in regards to that kit.

They give you UCA's and spacers.

Putting 3.5" spacers on stock suspension is just dumb without compensating for the changes in geometry. You are putting so much undue stress on the tie rods, sway bar end links, CV axles, lower control arms etc. that your front end components are all going to wear out extremely quick. Now if you like disassembling your entire front end every six months and going down to auto zone, pressing out ball joints and changing CV axles, putting some BS Autozone components on there, sure looks like a great kit. For everyone else, you are inevitably going to wear out your OEM components insanely quick. A proper lift would give you the necessary spacers, adapters and components to compensate for all these changes in geometry. Look at The Zone or BDS for a proper 4" lift.

Secondly, Those are crappy UCA's. Any good aftermarket UCA is going to be a uni-ball. Bet those joints wear out and start squeaking within 3 years.

All in all, looks like a $600 way to have your entire front end squealing like pig in a matter of 6-24 months. Nobody who knows what they are looking at or talking about would buy that lift, not because of how $hitty they know Rough Country to be, but moreso because of how it's designed. Notice how no other brand sells a kit with 3.5" spacers that doesn't compensate for those changes in geometry? Only Rough Country. And before anyone chimes in otherwise, UCA's only control the angle of the steering knuckle which will allow you to get it aligned close to spec, but doesn't account for the changes in CV axles, tie rod ends, sway bar end links and lower control arm ball joints. I would expect someone to have to replace every single one at least once over time with that kit.

Best of luck saving a couple hundred bucks, to properly ruin your 60k vehicle's front end real quick.

Here is a proper lift that does all of the aforementioned:

Proper 4" Lift

All lifts are POS because you are changing the engineering that these manufacturers spent Billions of dollars in R&D to perfect, but there are levels to how big of POS. FWIW I put on a 2" top mount spacer and called it a day. With 35's it looks like a million bucks, you don't have two feet of wheel well exposed, doesn't affect the ride quality and you aren't going to wear out your components like clockwork.

All my opinion, but it's also FACTS.

Edited November 8, 2021 by DustSierra

Browtine · November 8, 2021

31 minutes ago, DustSierra said:

It goes something like this in regards to that kit.

They give you UCA's and spacers.

Putting 3.5" spacers on stock suspension is just dumb without compensating for the changes in geometry. You are putting so much undue stress on the tie rods, sway bar end links, CV axles, lower control arms etc. that your front end components are all going to wear out extremely quick. Now if you like disassembling your entire front end every six months and going down to auto zone, pressing out ball joints and changing CV axles, putting some BS Autozone components on there, sure looks like a great kit. For everyone else, you are inevitably going to wear out your OEM components insanely quick. A proper lift would give you the necessary spacers, adapters and components to compensate for all these changes in geometry. Look at The Zone or BDS for a proper 4" lift.

Secondly, Those are crappy UCA's. Any good aftermarket UCA is going to be a uni-ball. Bet those joints wear out and start squeaking within 3 years.

All in all, looks like a $600 way to have your entire front end squealing like pig in a matter of 6-24 months. Nobody who knows what they are looking at or talking about would buy that lift, not because of how $hitty they know Rough Country to be, but moreso because of how it's designed. Notice how no other brand sells a kit with 3.5" spacers that doesn't compensate for those changes in geometry? Only Rough Country. And before anyone chimes in otherwise, UCA's only control the angle of the steering knuckle which will allow you to get it aligned close to spec, but doesn't account for the changes in CV axles, tie rod ends, sway bar end links and lower control arm ball joints. I would expect someone to have to replace every single one at least once over time with that kit.

Best of luck saving a couple hundred bucks, to properly ruin your 60k vehicle's front end real quick.

Here is a proper lift that does all of the aforementioned:

Proper 4" Lift

All lifts are POS because you are changing the engineering that these manufacturers spent Billions of dollars in R&D to perfect, but there are levels to how big of POS. FWIW I put on a 2" top mount spacer and called it a day. With 35's it looks like a million bucks, you don't have two feet of wheel well exposed, doesn't affect the ride quality and you aren't going to wear out your components like clockwork.

All my opinion, but it's also FACTS.

Thanks for the response. All the things you said are the concerns I have based on what I know and have read. That’s why I started this thread. I have read several good things about the lift but none were after long term use. Rough Country isn’t the only one offering this type of lift though. There are several other brands that sell kits that are 3” that essentially have the same components. If I were to do this lift I was going to do the coil over option they offer. BDS, which is spoken well of, offers a 3.5 “ coil over kit with the same components and no diff drop. Is that a bad option too? If not, what’s the difference?

Side note, which 2” level did you go with?

DustSierra · November 8, 2021

4 hours ago, Browtine said:

Thanks for the response. All the things you said are the concerns I have based on what I know and have read. That’s why I started this thread. I have read several good things about the lift but none were after long term use. Rough Country isn’t the only one offering this type of lift though. There are several other brands that sell kits that are 3” that essentially have the same components. If I were to do this lift I was going to do the coil over option they offer. BDS, which is spoken well of, offers a 3.5 “ coil over kit with the same components and no diff drop. Is that a bad option too? If not, what’s the difference?

Side note, which 2” level did you go with?

Responding to you in two different threads so I'll just leave it all here.

Any time you run over 3" of lift without CV axle adapters, differential drop, extended end links etc. you are going to run into problems. Maybe not a week later, maybe not even 6 months later but all those joints are going to be squealing in a matter of time and all those boots are going to rip eventually. They weren't made for that angle or to be put under that stress. Period. And even if you do run all of those things to compensate, you are still essentially running some bootleg angles (no pun intended) that minimal R&D went into. You think The Zone, Rough Country, etc. spent as much in R&D on each one of their kits as GM did? They make lifts for hundred's of different types of trucks lol. All those guys on here with 6" lifts, if they were keeping it 100, guarantee their suspension sounds like squeaking metal anytime they hit anything, if not at all times. They have essentially taken a Billion dollars of R&D and jerryrigged together a new suspension by bolting on a bunch of metal to the original suspension in an effort to get an extra 6" out of it. And that's with the differential drop, extended CV's, etc. Think a $hitty erector set.

Like I said earlier, if you just change the Struts/springs or Coilovers and add new UCA's you're not changing anything but the angle of the steering knuckle. The end links are going to fail, the lower ball joints, upper ball joints are going to fail, etc. You are essentially making your entire suspension Uber-fragile and installing crappily made UCA's that have a better angle. Any aftermarket UCA that is not a Heim joint Uni-ball is a POS. I paid good money for my truck not to sound like a heap. But hey, to each his own. If you have to have that extra inch and a half, which is negligible to 99.9% of people looking at your truck, that's a personal decision. But again, been around lifted vehicles for a long time and these trucks are essentially "too nice" to do that to.

You complain about the struts/coils essentially being soft. That is because 99.9% of the soccer moms that buy these vehicles, that is the ride that they prefer. Unless you rock crawl or are hitting Baja every weekend, you do too, you likely just don't know it. People that like the "truck feel" or the "planted feel" are just justifying their purchase. Don't hit a pothole, stay off roads that have bumps, etc. and you'll be much better off the other 99.9% of the time. Nothings perfect. The problem lies in the aftermarket suspension companies, Fox, Icon, Bilstein, are essentially all making stuff engineered for Off-Road use. The struts are designed to not articulate too much so that when you are off roading over rocks and bumps at higher speeds that you won't bottom out. Hence the struts/coils are all stiff as $hit. You would think there would be a happy middle ground but there really isn't. Even compression adjustable shocks are a lot stiffer than the stock Ranchos.

You gonna fugger up your truck for an inch and a half? Not me. But look at all the folks on here with 4"+ lifts. It's like the bolton Walmart starter kit. Get your bug deflector, front license plate, chrome stick on door handles, sissy steps, etc. while you're at it. To answer your question I bought the 2" Motofab leveling kit, but any 2" kit is going to do the same thing. You could drill out two hockey pucks if you wanted to. And even that is going to put some level of undue stress on your suspension but not even one iota close to anything over 3".

These are expensive vehicles, with quality components. Never understood why people would want to replace quality with crap, but I've also never understood other people. If you are interested in quality, "stance your vehicle" instead of lifting it. The difference b/w a 2" lift with 35's and a 4" lift with 35's s going to be unnoticeable to everyone but you. 2" lift looks better in a different way because the wheel wells are more filled out anyway. If you really want it to look aggressive, throw on some 1.5" spacers (which do wear out the wheel bearings over time) and tint your windows. That's about the only thing you can do to improve these trucks along with some AMP research steps (for the non-Denali owners), a supercharger, catch can and headers. The rest of this stuff is crap IMO.

Good luck.

I mean if you're gonna lift your truck with quality components here is a good kit for $4500 (with Torsion bars) +($2000) adjustable coilovers. Even then you are running blocks in the rear which is crap for what amounts to a $6500 kit. IDK man, every inch is a give and take. IMO you either go all out with something like a 7" long travel McGaughy's (which doesn't exist yet for this gen) and 37's and have a quality machine for an extra $15-20k or you keep it close to stock. Otherwise you're simply degrading the machine for a couple inches. But I guess everyone looks at it different. Just telling you the other side of the coin. TIFWIW.

6" BDS Lift Kit

Edited November 9, 2021 by DustSierra

Browtine · November 9, 2021

1 hour ago, DustSierra said:

Responding to you in two different threads so I'll just leave it all here.

Any time you run over 3" of lift without CV axle adapters, differential drop, extended end links etc. you are going to run into problems. Maybe not a week later, maybe not even 6 months later but all those joints are going to be squealing in a matter of time and all those boots are going to rip eventually. They weren't made for that angle or to be put under that stress. Period. And even if you do run all of those things to compensate, you are still essentially running some bootleg angles (no pun intended) that minimal R&D went into. You think The Zone, Rough Country, etc. spent as much in R&D on each one of their kits as GM did? They make lifts for hundred's of different types of trucks lol. All those guys on here with 6" lifts, if they were keeping it 100, guarantee their suspension sounds like squeaking metal anytime they hit anything, if not at all times. They have essentially taken a Billion dollars of R&D and jerryrigged together a new suspension by bolting on a bunch of metal to the original suspension in an effort to get an extra 6" out of it. And that's with the differential drop, extended CV's, etc. Think a $hitty erector set.

Like I said earlier, if you just change the Struts/springs or Coilovers and add new UCA's you're not changing anything but the angle of the steering knuckle. The end links are going to fail, the lower ball joints, upper ball joints are going to fail, etc. You are essentially making your entire suspension Uber-fragile and installing crappily made UCA's that have a better angle. Any aftermarket UCA that is not a Heim joint Uni-ball is a POS. I paid good money for my truck not to sound like a heap. But hey, to each his own. If you have to have that extra inch and a half, which is negligible to 99.9% of people looking at your truck, that's a personal decision. But again, been around lifted vehicles for a long time and these trucks are essentially "too nice" to do that to.

You complain about the struts/coils essentially being soft. That is because 99.9% of the soccer moms that buy these vehicles, that is the ride that they prefer. Unless you rock crawl or are hitting Baja every weekend, you do too, you likely just don't know it. People that like the "truck feel" or the "planted feel" are just justifying their purchase. Don't hit a pothole, stay off roads that have bumps, etc. and you'll be much better off the other 99.9% of the time. Nothings perfect. The problem lies in the aftermarket suspension companies, Fox, Icon, Bilstein, are essentially all making stuff engineered for Off-Road use. The struts are designed to not articulate too much so that when you are off roading over rocks and bumps at higher speeds that you won't bottom out. Hence the struts/coils are all stiff as $hit. You would think there would be a happy middle ground but there really isn't. Even compression adjustable shocks are a lot stiffer than the stock Ranchos.

You gonna fugger up your truck for an inch and a half? Not me. But look at all the folks on here with 4"+ lifts. It's like the bolton Walmart starter kit. Get your bug deflector, front license plate, chrome stick on door handles, sissy steps, etc. while you're at it. To answer your question I bought the 2" Motofab leveling kit, but any 2" kit is going to do the same thing. You could drill out two hockey pucks if you wanted to. And even that is going to put some level of undue stress on your suspension but not even one iota close to anything over 3".

These are expensive vehicles, with quality components. Never understood why people would want to replace quality with crap, but I've also never understood other people. If you are interested in quality, "stance your vehicle" instead of lifting it. The difference b/w a 2" lift with 35's and a 4" lift with 35's s going to be unnoticeable to everyone but you. 2" lift looks better in a different way because the wheel wells are more filled out anyway. If you really want it to look aggressive, throw on some 1.5" spacers (which do wear out the wheel bearings over time) and tint your windows. That's about the only thing you can do to improve these trucks along with some AMP research steps (for the non-Denali owners), a supercharger, catch can and headers. The rest of this stuff is crap IMO.

Good luck.

I mean if you're gonna lift your truck with quality components here is a good kit for $4500 (with Torsion bars) +($2000) adjustable coilovers. Even then you are running blocks in the rear which is crap for what amounts to a $6500 kit. IDK man, every inch is a give and take. IMO you either go all out with something like a 7" long travel McGaughy's (which doesn't exist yet for this gen) and 37's and have a quality machine for an extra $15-20k or you keep it close to stock. Otherwise you're simply degrading the machine for a couple inches. But I guess everyone looks at it different. Just telling you the other side of the coin. TIFWIW.

6" BDS Lift Kit

Thanks for the input. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Just so you understand where I’m coming from, I’m not set on a lift and don’t necessarily need or want it. I started down this path bc my truck came leveled with a 2.25” level kit and I notice I’m a tad nose high, which I hate. So I was looking at putting 1”blocks in the rear to help that. I also considered removing the lower portion of my level which would make it 1.5” lift in front, but I really don’t want to lower the front. I also think the ride isn’t the best, which is why I considered the bilsteins. I thought they may improve the ride and provide similar lift in the front. Bilsteins are not in stock anywhere. When I saw the 3.5” RC Lift I thought it might provide what i was looking for but had concerns about that much lift and what it would do to the front end geometries. My concerns were all the stuff you mentioned, which is why I started this thread. Im not sure what the best option is for me. I could lower the front to the 1.5” lift but that’s not preferred. I could add the 1” rear block, but that won’t help my ride. I may try a 2” leveling coil over with or without the 1” block.

fluxcapacitor11 · November 11, 2021

I’ve had mine installed for 7 months today, and about 12,000 miles. Nothing crazy wrong. Ride is definitely stiffer, but that’s to be expected. I’m also running the RC 2” spacers, so I know I’m putting stress on stuff all over the front end. It hasn’t given me any issues yet. I’ll be interested what happens in another 10-15k miles when it’s time for tires.

Browtine · November 11, 2021

13 hours ago, fluxcapacitor11 said:

I’ve had mine installed for 7 months today, and about 12,000 miles. Nothing crazy wrong. Ride is definitely stiffer, but that’s to be expected. I’m also running the RC 2” spacers, so I know I’m putting stress on stuff all over the front end. It hasn’t given me any issues yet. I’ll be interested what happens in another 10-15k miles when it’s time for tires.

Man, that looks great. Thanks for sharing. I’m still on the fence what I want to do. I like the look of the 3-3.5” lift

hectoroterot · November 17, 2021

On 11/3/2021 at 9:59 PM, aggiegold said:

I had it installed today on my 2021 High Country after reading positive reviews. I ordered it from rough country and had it installed at a local shop, not through an off road shop that was pushing it and they had positive things to say about rough country products they have used in the past despite the usual hate they receive.

Good luck in making your decision.

Looks really nice brother. Just curious, what size are those tires? I just bought the same kit but with the lifted struts. My Silverado Custom came with 275/60R20 and I just want to know how it would look like when the kit is installed. Planning on keeping those tires for a couple of months until I can get Nittos or Mickey.