Any concerns with an aftermarket lift?

[DoctorJay]

I'm looking at a 200 with an aftermarket lift. I know it's pretty common, just wondering if there is anything that can be done incorrectly that I should be looking at. How difficult/expensive is it to return to stock height?

This is the truck. It is going to be a DD so I will probably have to source some OEM rims and tires. I like the tires it's wearing but not crazy about the rims.

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[chriscosta416]

I’m not a fan of buying modified vehicles but the suspension looks to have external reservoirs, the height in the rear would suggest they chose and incorrect spring rate or planned to load the rear down a lot

 

[Madtiger]

Looks to be FOX shocks with reservoir???

 

[bloc]

They did a pretty aggressive chop on the front bumper and rocker panel plastic to clear tires/wheels that aren’t the right offset. Possible they cut the body mount too.. I’d want to find out about that before buying.

I’d also want to know whether it has aftermarket UCAs.. not all are the same. Many cause super annoying bushing squeaks and have frequent rebuild intervals. The shocks may have the same issues.. need to know the brand.

As for going back to stock.. generally pretty easy to find low mileage take-off suspension for free (plus shipping) or close to it. But you’d still have a chopped up front bumper and rocker panel..

 

[DoctorJay]

Thanks for the replies. bloc, you're right, I hadn't noticed the chops they made. I'm not a fan of buying anything with suspension mods either, and this is a good example of why. The salesman also sent me some pics (not online) that show a jumble in the cargo area -- 3rd row seats tossed in there, paint showing, and the spare that probably doesn't fit underneath anymore.

Anyway, this explains why it's been on the market so long. I'll need to do some more digging before I think about jumping into this.

 

[TimCFJ40]

If this were a 2008 with 200,000 miles for $20k, it would probably be worth sorting out. It looks like they installed the lift and tires, then started hacking to try and clear the tires. I'd bet it still rubs somewhere pretty hard under suspension compression, and probably also rubs hard on the KDSS arm. All of this is fixable, but that truck screams "Minimal work to clear 35s when driving in a straight smooth line" to me.

Installing an aftermarket suspension isn't hard, and I wouldn't worry about any long term effects to the chassis as a whole. But, this truck to me has two options:
1) Replace the excessively chopped panels, add smaller tires and potentially different wheels, and take it back closer to stock
2) Do the work to properly clear the tires, double check all the suspension stuff, and build it out to use it.

Neither of those looks palatable on an $86k truck, at least to me.

 

[sdnative]

Pass

 

[Zill]

Pass, for that kind of coin, better to find a stock example. This could lead to a basket case scenario where someone threw up their hands and traded in the rig because they couldn’t get the handling or ride characteristics they were after.

 

[linuxgod]

Given how much I had to do to get a 34x11.5 tire to clear, I fail to see why a 35x13 tire won't clear with just a little plastic cutting. Just hit a few speed bumps at 60mph during the test drive, that'll show you and the next buyer any contact points they missed (hint: lots of fender).