Burgundy03

Hey guys new to the scene, I recently purchased an 03 ram 2500 cummins that is 2wd, currently runs on 265/70/17s and I got my hands on a set of 285/70/17 Trailgrapplers for next to nothing and I was wanting to raise the front or level it out which ever you prefer to call it, currently 3 inches of difference between the front fenderwell to the ground (34.5) to the rear which is (37.5) anyways I was looking on Amazon at a daystar 2 inch kit which is supposed to raise it 2.5 inches, the ad however says that it requires aftermarket control arms does anyone on here know about this? I appreciate all feedback!

Thanks!

Steve-l

My advice is NOT to do this. Raising the truck changes the front end geometry and even with the different control arms, the rest of the steering gear resides in the original location. Also the angle of the control arms changes. This results in more severe toe change during bounce and jounce of the suspension. This stresses the suspension components and wears tires faster. On the tires, I wouldn't do that either. These trucks use tires with high sidewalls that with the weight in front and the G load rating, already have sidewalls that are too flexible. This causes a loose flimsy feel much less precise than say a car. Going to that larger tire only increases this less than precise direction control. You will also notice that tire edge wear will be much more severe because of these things, as the tire tries to roll under the wheel rims during turns. In summation, is the better appearance worth the loss of handling, increased component stress and wear? Your call.

Burgundy03

I understand all of that, I was just curious as to if I used one of those "coil spacer" kits to level it out, if it did indeed require new control arms..

regert

I have a 2.5' level kit in my truck only thing I noticed id the axle sites back a little and isn't centered in the truck, I've bought a track bar 2'' lowering bracket to push the axle back to the center of the truck again just haven't installed yet. You could go with longer arms but with 285/70/17 they wont touch anything so arms might be a waste of money I have 315/70/17 and I clear the inner fenders but if I go to a 35'' tire it touches my inner fenders. Hope this helps.....make sure you get a alignment after install or your tires will get warn out fast.

Steve-l

I guess I was not clear. If you understood the situation, you would not have asked the question. As the truck rolls down the road every bump the truck encounters forces the front wheels to travel up and down through both compression and extension. This motion is directed by the control arms that are of unequal length and pivoting at different points on the chassis. This causes the wheels on compression to rise and become closer together and upon extension the wheels fall in relation to the chassis and as they travel downward the distance between the wheels gets larger as it approaches the neutral point then the wheels again get closer together as the suspension reach full extension. All this time wheel parallelism is determined by a fixed length, fixed position tie rod linked to the wheels by tie rod ends. These parts are positioned for neutrality of motion at a given chassis height above the ground. If you wish to maintain this neutrality when changing chassis height, all these components must also change height proportionally. This means control arm mounting points, steering box, idler arm and shock absorber length. If you do not, the wheels will experience excessive toe change while transitioning between bounce and jounce. Of course it isn't just toe that changes, but also camber (wheel lean from vertical), castor (wheel tilt off vertical on the longitudinal plane) and the angle of incidence. The invisible line through the center of each ball joint, which should intersect with the center of the tire patch on the ground. Changes to these relationships will not only cause excessive tire wear, but also increase component stress loading (think wear) and potentially cause vehicle instability. (think death wobble) Yes, you must also do a wheel alignment, but that only addresses the static, at rest suspension position, not the dynamic suspension travel geometric relationships. There are a lot of companies selling parts that can easily cause unsafe vehicle conditions, so unless you have the knowledge, expertise and willing to bear the cost of doing this correctly, don't do it.

tacohat

I have a 2004 2500 2wd. I added the 2" or 2-1/2" Daystar kit up front, and added blocks to the rear, made some 4" spacers for the top of the stock shocks, and 2" bolt extensions out the bottom of the control arms. Did that because I couldn't find 2" longer than standard shocks for a 2wd. This made the stroke correct so it doesn't run out of stroke in either up or down. Have about 100k miles on it, with about 280k now on the truck. You will need to look at replacing your upper & lower ball joints, control arm bushings, anti sway bar connectors, etc when you do this, so you don't waste your time taking the lower control arm down when you add the spring spacer. You will need to have an alignment done after you add these components.