It's been several months and I have mixed emotions with my purchase now.
As a reminder, I ordered the foam cell pro kit with 2" performance springs front and rear, and added SPC UCAs (what is now called Stage 1 kit from Ironman, they didn't sell 200 UCAs then). I opted for prebuilt coilovers because I wanted to do the install myself. The springs have a rating of 0-110lb in front and 0-660 lb in the rear. My truck is stock with the third row in place, but I plan to add sliders, a roof rack, and ARB drawers over time. I wanted to maintain my factory rake, and I wanted the standard 2" lift everyone puts on these trucks. I confirmed with Ironman via phone that this kit would be OK on my truck with my build plans.
Immediately post install, I gained approximately 4" in front and 3" in rear. This settled to approximately 3" in front and 2.5" in the rear after about 4,500 miles. My CV angles looked bad to me, and my DS CV started ticking after my trip to Big Bend in March. I started to realize that the truck just wasn't daily driving very well. The stance was actually level and the truck looked great with 34s, but things were just too stiff, steering felt a little off, etc. I tried driving another '13 and a '14 with basic OME kits and 33's and there was a noticeable difference between those trucks and mine.
I ended up replacing the CV and then taking the truck to a local cruiser shop to pull the front coilovers and lower them slightly, then realign the truck in early May. Now the truck sits at 1.5" in front and 2.5" in rear over my stock measurements. The suspension feels great, I lost the rubbing on KDSS and sway bar, and the truck drives fantastic now, but I'm just not very happy with my experience overall. Maybe I should have just ordered 1" comfort springs, but the advertised rating of 0-XXX# and my conversation with an Ironman rep led me to believe I would be fine with the kit I chose as I built the truck out overtime. Needless to say, gaining basically 3" all around and having bad handling, replacing a ticking CV, then paying shop labor to pull and lower coilovers that I had ordered as prebuilt to 2" is frustrating. The added cost of the prebuilt coilovers, a new CV, and shop labor to pull and lower those coilovers was actually slightly more than the shop labor would have been to install this lift for me.
My takeaways:
-Order the coilovers unassembled and have the lift installed at a shop where they know exactly where to set the coils to get 2" on your specific truck at that point in your build.
-A safe option is ordering the standard OME kit where there are many more spring choices to change out as the build progresses over time.
I'm by no means an expert, just wanting to share some more experience here. My measurements were all done with a tape in my driveway from center hub to fender line which obviously has room for error. I wish I had measured top of hub to fender but I thought of that halfway through all of this ordeal and wanted to maintain my standard. Maybe the key is in who aligns the truck, or just having all this installed at a competent shop and let them sort it out. The prebuilt coilovers are very appealing and sort of advertised towards the DIYer, and the lift is easy to install.
I'll add that if I had installed this in my driveway and gotten 2" of lift and the handling I have now, I would be recommending this kit whole heartedly to anyone. That just wasn't my experience.
