lifting rig in a couple weeks

[stlcruiser]

Hey guys,

Hope everyone had a good holiday. Need some input please. Presently I'm running the OME stock height replacement springs. (about a quarter inch lift from non worn out factory springs) and 30 mm (1-3/16") spring spacers. I've got the Slee front bumper, Warn M12000, and Hanna Sliders. No plans yet for the rear bumper.

I'm thinking the OME 2-1/2" lift Heavy fronts (861), and 860's in the rear. Does this set up change the "rake" of the truck and or driveability? What about reusing spacers and going up 3-1/2"?

Would going to 3-1/2 require any more modifications ie brake lines, castor correction, etc.

Thanks,

Steve

See ya in the spring.

 

[Miescha]

Sounds like you're trying to compensate for something ????

If you're lifting, you really should just bite the bullet and go with the 6" lift - you'll regret it if you don't (you know, just like you now regret going with the 295 tires instead of the 315 that I have )


On the more serious side, I think if you go with the 2 1/2" you will need castor correction - even more so if you kep the spacers in there and end up at 3 1/2" but if you order from Slee, he can tell you even more and he knows a lot more than any of us.

On the brake lines, if you haven't already changed your lines I think it would be foolish not to do so just based on the age of the rubber factory lines. I replaced mine this past year and was pretty surprised at how worn they were. I also think you need the extra length of Slee's extended lines if you actually plan to wheel your truck, and you get the benefit of braided SS. Plus, you can't beat the price and easy bolt-on application.

You don't need a lift to do the job, but it makes it a lot easier (so I'll check on that).

 

[wfd175]

When you get up in the 3.5" category, there's also an increased risk of needing a CV front driveshaft if you have some vibration issue, along with the brake lines etc...

I run the 850/860 setup with sliders, winch, bumper etc.. the rake isn't that noticeable. Now that things have broken in a little bit, I'd say I could stand a front end spacer to bring things back up.

I'd like to put J's on front, but can't decide right now.

 

[MoJ]

I'm running OME medium coils all around with slee's blue 1" poly spacers up front. With an empty ARB and sliders my castor needed about 3 deg to get back within the factory spec range. I had read that it was difficult to gain a full 3 deg from the yellow OME correction bushings so I went with Slee's blue bushings that offer a litte more gain. They were installed with landtank's paper templates which insure you'll maximize the amount of correction and get everything aligned correctly. The truck drives/handles fine. Over 80mph and I get a slight vibration. I haven't needed to install extended brake lines.

wfd has heavy fronts, med rears (there's gotta be a joke in there somewhere). He pointed out that the front of his truck sits a little lower than mine (.5-1" iirc). This is because I'm winch poor.

I'm guessing that with your big ass winch (and dual batteries?) up front you could get away with doing heavy fronts with spacers and not need castor correction beyond bushings. If it were me, I would install the lift, including the spacers, and then have an alignment shop measure your castor to give you an idea of which correction method you should use. If the castor measurements are beyond what bushings can correct for and you don't want to mess with welding on correction plates you can just yank the spacers (or swap in something less thick).

Either way I don't think you'll need brake line extensions. The need for them is more closely related to the type of shock you run and how far it lets the axle droop. Those running J-springs generally also run L-shocks which allow more droop and require extended brake lines.

 

[wfd175]

I'm droopy in the Front like MoJ said. I have about 30k miles on my lift. With the OME bushings my castor is +0.5.

Now here is an interesting bit that alignment machines don't account for when measuring castor.
How high the rear end is raised up.
If the rear of your truck is empty when they measure castor, and consequently is up higher in the air, the castor will be less than (less positive) than if you have the rear being squished down with some weight.

I tried to point this out before he on mud, but only a few people understood how the machines were measuring castor.

That said, when my castor was +0.5, the back end was completely empty, no spare or anything.
My truck definately drives better with some weight in the back, which would be because I have more positive castor because the rear is down a little bit.