Looking at lifts for my truck, just wondering what you guys have used, costs, and how you like them/use them/how they hold up, etc etc.

I have a 3" body lift now,,,HATE it. That's coming off. Tires currently are 33X12.50's I want to got 35-37" tires. Mainly been looking at TSL Thornbirds in the 35x14.50 size or the 37x14.50(15.50? can't remember) Baja Claws, so I'll need at least a 4" I imagine for the 35's and 6" for the 37's.
Just wanted to get some reviews on some of this stuff before hand.

Thanks,

Ian

 

IMO Pro comp is Pro Crap. Street junk for show. 2 cherokee kits, 1 CJ5 kit, 2 chevy 4x4 kits. saggy poor quality, parts dont fit well. And not much support. Kinda like ford, lots of advertising hype but no real quality.

 

My truck had skyjacker 4" suspension lift installed shortly before i purchased it, with 33" bfgs. I put 35" bfgs on recently, no rubbing or trimming required. Im pleased with how it rides both in dirt and on the street.

think the 35s give me about 5mph more in my topend as you probably know every little bit helps there. Im also plotting ejecting my 727 in favor of a nv4500 just slowly collecting the parts at the moment.

 

Why thorntirds? They are not really of any use offroad, more of a highway tire if anything. Go with a TSL or TSL Trxus.

 

Leanin more towards the Claws, I just want a wider tire than 12.5 and those were the two sizes they offered.

SKyjacker and Superlift were the two I was looking at harder, I think superlift has the 4.5 and 5.5" lifts? Anyone delt with them?

 

I also have the 4" skyjacker lift. Got the complete package with springs all around, shocks, adj. drag link, dropped pitman arm. I think it is ok but have had some problems with it. At first using their 4 degree 2" block to replace my stock 4" block, I had some pinion angle shake. I have had to try a couple of wedges to straighten that out. Not bad but time consuming. The only thing that I don't like and I didn't notice this upon installing, is that the shocks that came with the package (Nittros) are not long enough for travel. Upon taking them off a couple of months after install, I noticed they only extend about 1/2" giving me only 1/2 " travel extended and about 5" compressed travel. I have noticed this on pot hole type of roads where it BANGS due to improper travel. Not a big deal for me at this time. Otherwise, it allows my 315 x 75 tires without rubbing at all, ride is pretty good but if you have any vibration or problem now, lift kits will only magnify them. No matter who's lift kit you use. Installation wasn't too bad. I would still say, get skyjacker.

 

You may need more lift to fit the tires wider than 12.5's. My bro in law had thornbirds, and the side lugs were so wide they hit both the front and rear of fender wells when he turned sharp. Plus they rode like crap. Go for the claws if those are your two choices, and consider some fender trimming if necessary.

 

what I really want is 35x14.50 anything with aggressive tread. Maybe a 36 would be alright. But I planned on the cutout flares from bushwacker and at least 4" lift, 5" would be perfect. With the 3" body lift I could fit a skinny set of 35's easy, but they'd prolly rub when compressed. I could probably live with cutting the body blocks down to 1" and using a 4" suspension lift. And I forgot to ask before, is there anything needed to be done to the front springs for the diesel? All the kits I see say "except diesel". Add a leafs maybe? And I can't imagine the ride getting any stiffer, but how do you guys with the lifts feel about the ride quality. Obviously that's not a real priority, just wondering what I should expect.
As for shocks, I can get rancho's through the store I work at, at a good price, so I'll probably just go for a lift without shocks and go for 9000's. Have em on another truck, and like em alot. Plus they have that cool remote system for em now. More switches in the cab! lol.

Ian

 

I would make sure its a diesel kit. I bought just the front springs for my 93, 350 from Skyjacker and they were different from the gassers. They rode nice, you wouldent dig add a leafs, ride like caca.

 

Super Swamper Makes A 35x14.50 Bogger!

 

I don't believe that Superlift makes front springs for the Diesel. At least when I was looking Skyjacker was the only company that made springs for trucks with the cummins. So your going to be stuck with skyjacker.

 

Skyjacker 4 inch front, 6inch replacement rear springs with 2.5 inch blocks, Bilstein 5100 shocks. The ride is better than stock. Pics in my gallery.

You start going over 4 inches, and you'll have front driveline issues. I had to build a new front driveshaft to even make it bolt up, as the stock one wouldn't work at all, and was basically worn out anyhow.

You'll want the adj draglink and the dropped pitman arm to go with it, so you don't affect your turning right.

So far the system has worked fine.

 

I think I am going to go with a skyjacker 2.5, and a 2 in body on my truck. It wont go offroad much, and that way I wont have to deal with the steering/driveline.

And btw... I had a set of claws on my jeep when they came out. I WOULD NOT run another set. They were horrible offroad unless you were in deep mud. On wet roads they did nothing but spin and were borderline unsafe. Too top it off they wore out in 6 months, and It only got drove around town. I would just get a 12.50 and put it on a 10 inch wheel if it was me.