What are the best threads on lift? (1 Viewer)

[Beej]

Hey folks,

I've done lots of searching but it seems like for every lift, there are people who like it and people who say it's trash for one reason or another.

I'm leaning towards a stock height replacement with some spacers for additional height. I don't care to mess with new gearings or castor correction because so much of my driving is on road. I want to read up on the right threads to make a good choice.

What threads helped you decide?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

-- Beej

 

[Blade 80LC]

Which thread? That's easy. All of them.

All the threads have valid opinions. All the pro and all the con share the experience of the people involved. There are pluses and minus to all the options. If I were starting over (and there is a thread about doing it over) on my suspension, I might have stayed with my 20 year old springs and the shocks that were already on my truck. I've grown to like the feel of my current suspension (OME medium front and heavy rear springs and ICON shocks), but the stock spring were smoother. If you prefer a stiffer suspension, new springs and shocks will be an improvement.

...and THAT'S where the differences in opinion begin. What do YOU like? If you want to stay low, your options are limited. Stock springs, or the OME stock height springs. If you want a super moderate lift, put a 1" spacer on top of either of those springs. If you lift at all, you can decide if you need caster correction. If you don't correct, you'll have more tendency to wander, but there are people with lift that did not install caster correction.

If you stay with 33" tires or smaller, you won't need a lift. There are people running 37" tires and stock gears (and like them). I have 35" tires and stock gears. If re-gearing was free, I would. It isn't worth enough to me, to consider doing it.

The reason all the other threads have conflicting opinions is because people want different things, and even the ones that want the same things, may not be willing to pay for them. If you get a bunch of replies to this thread, you'll get differing opinions. If you get people pointing you to specific previous threads, it will be the threads that agree with their opinions. (No better or worse than the other ones that point a different direction.)

 

[Blade 80LC]

Here's a thread I started about stock springs and small spacers. If I hadn't really wanted 35" tires, I should have gone with my original plan for a lift. Spring spacers, and stock springs? I'd also fit in more parking garages. With my current lift and tires, my truck is 7" higher at the top, than it was when I bought it. That's 4" too high to park at my local hospital. That was an issue when my mom was sick.

 

[inkpot]

It all comes down to where else BESIDES regular streets and hiways do you want to be able to drive?

 

[slow95z]

You could always bust out the sawzall

 

[onemanarmy]

why not just get new factory springs if you feel your originals are no good? toss a spacer on top fort a slight bump in height and you're good to go.

 

[Beej]

why not just get new factory springs if you feel your originals are no good? toss a spacer on top fort a slight bump in height and you're good to go.

This is actually what I'm planning to do at the moment. Wanted to read up and see if it was a dumb idea or what?

How can I test my current springs to see if they've lost height? (maybe that should have been the title of this thread)

I know I'm supposed to decide what kind of wheeling I'm doing before I lift but I'm pretty confident that some lift will be appreciated regardless of wheeling terrain. So I'd like to start with "some".

 

[inkpot]

Thats probably a good way to start out. Minimum expense and a slight improvement so you can start getting your feet wet. I was stationed in Bedford Mass. when I got my first exposure to wheeling in 1972. My buddy had a Jeep Commando, all stock other than slightly oversized tires. We used to take it up into Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Found some public lands to wheel on, but mostly logging roads. IIRC, there was an Army base in western Mass. that we used to go out and drive thru the tank traps when they were NOT having maneuvers. It was a great intro to wheeling. I have several friends that have rigs with 2.5 lift and 33's, and they are having a good time learning what wheeling is all about. They are going thru typical growing stages, but there is nothing wrong with that. One has 33's and a 2.5 lift, the other has the same lift but moved up to 35's. The good thing about the 80 series, is there is almost always someone who is looking for your handme downs. When and if you decide to get bigger tires and more lift, then there is someone else looking for the same thing. When I moved up to 37's, my old 35's sold in a week to someone else who wanted them. Kinda reduces the overall expense of progress? You don't HAVE TO regear just because you have larger tires. You CAN adjust driving style to allow for it. We have several guys that are on 37's and still run stock gears. They are mostly daily drivers and they get around just fine. We go up to the high country pretty often, and they do just fine going up the passes. They just pull it down to 2nd gear and run arout 4200 rpm over the mountain top at 60+ mph. Easy peasy. They are not race cars, but they still pass all the semi trucks and campers. John

 

[Dave 2000]

I too have been looking at spring/shock options. I have checked the ride height and mine is down a little over an inch, given the 22 YO springs it is no surprise. All details are in the FSM on how high and where to measure from. I absolutely love the way my 80 rides/corners/handles and so forth, so this leads me to perhaps look for a new but stock setup. As 'inkpot' said if you are leaving the black top then you may need something else. I do not do enough 'serious' off roading these days, and no longer compete in 4x4 comps to need more height/travel so that is not an issue, I would add that if you have lockers then the lack of suspension travel is not so much of an issue if you only keep it mild.

Measure what you have now using the FSM and this will be your baseline, you may find that a 1" lift spacer on new springs becomes a 2" +lift on stock springs?

regards

Dave