trik396

I was thinking about going this route. DT pro fab arms (longer ones) with some springs ? . Add some rear leaves out back. Give me some options. I'd like to run Bilstiens 7100 series shocks... I respect any and all opinions.
Thanks

krock

I have no experience with custom lifts. Sounds like a cool route. But posibly rather expensive. Keep us up dated on progress

djgaston

What size lift are you wanting to go with?

Or, what size tires do you want to run?

Wilson

Dick Cepek long arms, DT track bar, skyjacker 7 inch coils, some shocks, a skyjacker drop pitman arm, and some decent leaf springs for the rear and or a shackle flip and addaleafs. that is what most of the guys on pavementsucks.com have done or are planning to do, and it is the cheapest lift and flexes the best with the best ride according to them.

djgaston

Unfortunately, he has a 2005 model truck... none of that will fit.

trik396

Wish I had a lifted 98-02'. Those trucks look the toughest with the right lift/tire combo imho.
I'd like to fit 35's but want 5 or 6inches, so I think the 35's might seem too small. Maybe 4" is enough.

djgaston

I like big lifted 2nd gens also.

You could put together a good custom lift for not a lot of money. If you are just wanting to run 35's, why not just buy the Skyjacker 4.5 inch lift? That is what I am running and I am happy with the quality and ease of installation. One thing I would like to do is run long arms, but I was planning on making my own. BDS has their long/short arm kit. I think what I would do is get the 4.5 inch Skyjacker coils, get their drop pitman arm, get a new track bar from ThurenFab, order the shocks you want in the appropriate length, get the Skyjacker 4 inch rear leaf pack (it rides great), and use the BDS long/short arm control arms.
You can order the Skyjacker parts through any dealer (I use 4WheelCustoms.com) and then you will need to find a BDS dealer and see if they will sell you just the arms and brackets. You could order them as "Crash parts."

Of course, you can run 35's with just a 2 inch spacer up front and some longer shocks, which is a hell of a lot cheaper and less work.

Wilson

Good point! Guess I should have checked that.

trik396

djgaston, I really like the idea of making my own arms. I've got 2" dom tubing and can run a good bead with my mig welder. Any advice as to the geometry and length of arms with those Skyjacker 4.5" springs or something similar. I was actually tossing around the idea of Kore's springs with maybe a 2" spacer then fabbing up some arms. I enjoy doing this stuff, more than the actual driving...

djgaston

Then you and I would get along great. That is why I have so many toys... always something to work on.

As far as the geometry of the arms, it's simple. Your lower arm can be any length you want it, for the most part. Most aftermarket long arms run from the axle to the transmission crossmember. Anywhere in that region would be fine. You can mount the arms on the bottom of the frame using a simple bracket. I get all of my tabs from BlueTorchFab's website.
If you just want to run short arms and make them adjustable, the biggest thing is going to be finding the right joints to use on the end so that they fit in your stock brackets. You could use heims with high misalignment spacers on both ends, but most people running dual heim'ed arms do not like them. I would run a bushing on one end and an RE joint on the other if it will fit. My RE joints are about 3 inches wide. There are probably other sizes available but that is what we used on my brother's truck when doing his 3 link suspension up front.
One guy that knows Dodge suspensions real well is Don Thuren, you might give him a call. He runs Thuren Fabrication and definitely knows his crap. www.thurenfabrication.com You could get the joints you need from him and your threaded inserts, and make the arms whatever length you want. He'll be able to tell you a lot more about the geometry of a four link suspension than I can.

trik396

Thanks for all the good info. I wish I could crawl under some custom lifted trucks to get some ideas. I will call Thuren before I do anything. I'll let you know what I've decided on once the cash and time coincide.
Thanks again.

runamuk

Add a leafs are a PITA as there is no travel involved just stiffer springs in the rear.

If you want to be able to increase travel then the whole rear spring pack is recommended.

DO NOT bother with a block system(front or rear) as they only increase axel wrap!!


There are too many engineered systems on the market to limit yourself. Fabtech makes a great system and so does KORE depending on lift.


Rick

rockittboy

check my gallery. DJ helped me out alot with ideas and stuff. i cant get you better pics if you want. FYI most ppl are sayin i need to move my axle forward a bit, just waitin on the $$$ for joints.