Lift Kit / Leveling Kit Help

[dieselfan1]

Why are you guys chopping up your wheelwells just to fit a 35" tire on it? 

Put a real lift kit on it and be done.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

37 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

Why are you guys chopping up your wheelwells just to fit a 35" tire on it? 

Put a real lift kit on it and be done.

 

-Proper lift kits cost a lot of money

-IFS lift kits add complexity and part count

-Install may be past what some people can do on their own so more money spent at a shop

-Taller truck = may not fit in garage, parking garages, tight spaces, etc

-Taller truck = more drag so worse gas mileage

-Lower center of gravity is better on and off road

-It's their truck so who cares what they do with it?

[DustSierra]

dp

Edited February 25, 2022 by DustSierra

[DustSierra]

If you are cutting or "chopping" anything you are doing it wrong. One zip tie on each wheel well to move the wheel well liner up a ball hair. Same thing can be done with a heat gun and a stick. A body mount chop is an entirely different animal and not something I'd recommend doing to a vehicle this nice although that's not that big of a deal either. Look up a NorCal mod. Takes five minutes and gives you a fair amount more room to stuff a bigger tire. 

 

4-6"+ lift kits don't look as good on these trucks as a 2" level with ~35 inch tires. Too much wheel well and you get the golf cart tire look. Although that is what most people on these forums do. It's as simple as a stuffed wheel well looks a lot better than an exposed wheel well. Now tire offset or wheel spacers is something different altogether as that pertains to the pushing of the tire out past the fenders. 

 

The guy above also hit on some other solid points although I didn't buy a truck to worry about MPG. Also worth pointing out that putting one of these 4" plus lift kits with "off-road" springs and coils is idiotic unless you spend a bunch of time off-road. You effectively are giving your vehicle an infinitely harsher ride on city & highway roads. Those are much firmer springs and struts than are meant for pavement as they are made to travel less when flexed. 

 

If you are trying to keep your ride quality and don't want to sink 10 grand into doing it right with 37's, a 2" level is a no brainer on these vehicles. Just because a bunch of other idiots do something doesn't make it the smart way to do it. Hence why you see so many 60 grand vehicles with garbage super rigid off-road suspensions on here,  a foot of wheel well and 35's that look comparatively small on the vehicle.

 

Read my other posts. I'm not trying to make fun of folks, nor do I care about how another grown adult spends their money. I'm simply trying to save folks from making an common mistake. When I first got into off-road vehicles, I always thought bigger was better aesthetically and you got what you paid for. It's a game of inches folks. Also, not everyone is running the baja5000. 6" isn't that much bigger than 2". And when you understand that that 4" goes directly to the wheel wells, or when you understand that off-road shocks are just really rigid shocks that suck on the pavement... It's not rocket science. 

 

Learned a long time ago the idea is not to "lift" the vehicle, but rather to "stance" the vehicle. Lots of first timers on this forum IWBH. To each his own. 

Edited February 25, 2022 by DustSierra

[Matthew Freeman]

On 2/23/2022 at 9:50 AM, superhighsierra said:

That oughta work.

 

I’ve got 275/65/r20 which are a 34.1 inch tire, 11” wide on stock 20’s and they barely rubbed at full lock. Needed to zip tie the liners and now they don’t. 
 

295/55r22 are a 34.8” tire and 11.8” wide. You do the math. They are going to rub. But you should be able to get away with moving/heating the wheel well liners and not have to cut or do a body mount chop. I’ve seen plenty of people running 35’s on a stock suspension who claim they did nothing and they fit.

 

You should be fine but might have to break out the heat gun, modify the liners and/or mudflaps if you don’t want any rubbing. So worth it though as ~35” tires and a small lift on these trucks is the best thing you can aesthetically do to them. Too much lift = too much wheel well unless you put on 37’s which presents a whole host of other things you need to do to properly run them.

 

thanks for the input.