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3" Rough Country Suspension Lift Installed - With Pics!


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Posted

I installed the 3" Rough Country suspension lift on my 2008 GMC Sierra yesterday and even though it looks good Rough Country still needs to refine the kit. below is a list of problems I came accross during my installation.

 

  • No Rough Country decals were in the kit for the rear shocks as shown on website.
  • No Loctite was included in kit when the directions say to use supplied loctite on differential drop bracket studs.
  • A differential vent hose extension is needed due to the differential drop brackets being installed and there is not a vent hose extension included in the kit nor do the instructions say anything about removing the vent hose when removing the differential or anything about the vent hose needing to be extended.
  • Passenger side differential drop bracket does not fit without modification, it was necessary for me to hog out the holes in the bottom of the bracket for the studs to pass through so that the bracket could sit flush on the frame. I also had to open up the top holes just a tiny bit using a drill bit for the studs to pass through. ***Pictures are attached***
  • After passenger differential bracket is installed flush with the frame the rear stud extrudes through the drop bracket and it was necessary for me to cut off the extra portion of the stud so the differential would sit flush on drop bracket. ***Pictures are attached***
  • Stock strut hardware is reused for strut spacer installation on the strut but then they supply cheap studs along with 9/16 nuts and a lock washers for the new studs going through the frames strut mount and they don't work very good. the strut spacer needs actual splined studs for them not to rotate during installation. the nuts and lock washers do not work very well with the size of the holes in the frames strut mount. I would suggest flanged nuts and regular washers for installation.
  • After the strut spacers are installed it turns the struts around backwards causing the lower mounting locations to be turned the wrong way. It took alot of work to get the supplied bolts through the lower control arm and the lower strut mounts. It definitely wasn't a simple "install the supplied bolts" as the directions lead you to believe.
  • Instructions do not specify exact installation of the ball joint on the new upper control arm. the picture shows just the ball joint being installed without the boot/plate assembly so I called customer service and the guy told me to install the boot/plate assembly on the bottom side of the control arm after bolts are installed. I'm still not sure he was confident in his direction to me. Personally I feel the ball joints should be installed into the control arms before they are sent to the customer so that it eliminates the questions I had about installation.
  • The upper control arms did not fit correctly into their locations and it took me alot of lubricant and pressure to get them in, they did not slide right in like a control arm is supposed to.
  • The Instructions do not say to reinstall the sway bar links during the end of the install just so you know.

 

 

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Posted

Man... looks great, sorry you had some problems. I think thats the kit im goin to go with, but i guess ill wait till they work out some of the problems. Make sure you call and tell them you had problems.

 

Also how you like thoes tires, thats what I got and I love em.. For the money you cant beat em

Posted

I talked to customer service during the install on saturday so they know I was having issues, today I took the truck out for it's maiden voyage and it's got a ground out sound during acceleration. sounds like it's coming from the differential possibly touching the steering gear due to them being so close after the differential drop. I'm going to call customer service again tomarrow morning and complain. I'm happy with the way it looks but not with the way it drives. the 305/50/20 Cooper Zeon LTZ's are awesome and do not rub at all even with the steering wheel fully cranked so I should have gone with the 305/55/20 which are a little taller. I wish I would have gone balls out with the 6" BDS suspension lift and been done with it!!!

 

Below are some new pics I took with the tight clearances.

 

 

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Posted

Def looks good, and very informative thread! I might hold off on this though as I might not have all of the tools needed to modify the parts. Also, not too keen on the clearances of some of the parts.

Posted

Truck looks awesome! I have the same color truck, and it looks great with that lift. I am going to have to look into getting a lift for my truck now.

 

-al

Posted

I think I may remove the Rough Country 3" due to all the problems and Ground Outs and install the 6" BDS lift like I originally wanted to do and be done with it. It sucks because all the work that went into installing the Rough Country 3" I could have just installed the 6" and it wouldn't have taken much more work or time. I'll reply with an update after I get off the phone with Rough Country this morning to complain and let them know the kit sucks!!!

Posted

After my conversation with Rough Country this morning all of the R&D on the 3" Rough Country suspension lift was done on 2007 model trucks and he also told me that they have not done a 2008 model truck yet and that they just assumed the 07 and 08 trucks were the same. He looked at all of the pictures I sent him from during my install along with all the pics of the clearance issues and said that the 2007 trucks did not have these problems/issues, they are looking into why I am having these issues on my 2008 when the 2007's they did their R&D on were not like this. I would stay away from the 3" Rough Country lift unless you own a 2007 model year truck. I am waiting for the R&D departments response for what to do but as of now it looks like I am going to be removing my 3" RC lift and installing the 6" BDS lift.

Posted

hmmm....thats weird. I was under the impression that NOTHING changed between the two years.

Posted

I talked to Davy at Rough Country earlier and he said I had two choices which were to either remove the kit and send it back for a full refund or they could send out replacement parts to hopefully correct the problems with the kit. he was not willing to do anything for my time and hassles so I told him to send out the call tag to pick up the crappy Rough Country lift, I ordered the 6" BDS Suspension Lift today which will be here thursday so I'll start back from square one and spend the time to install a quality lift with 35/12.50/20 tires. It is more money being spent but I think I'll be happier with the 6" lift. I'll post pics as soon as I get the BDS lift on!!!

Posted

sorry to hear about your misgivings with Rough country - while looking at your pics ( thanks for the pictorial) i did note that you were letting your calipers hang via the hose - next time use a bungee cord or a simple zip-strip ( or maybe a pictorial illusion)

I wish you luck on the the BDS upgrade - i hope your next post will be as informative as the RC was

Posted

Damn sorry to hear about your misfortune with the lift.

I am very glad you posted this too i was fully intending to order that kit this week.

 

I think the truck does look perfect though, that lift is exactly what i want to go along with my 305/55/20's.

 

 

Are your wheels going to work with the 6inch lift? One of the reasons I was going with the 3" lift is because I believe most 4" and up kits wont work with my KMC wheels. (i went with a 4.5 bs and +11 offset) Your definately gonna need some new meats if you go with the 6" lift.

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