lift questions

[kbaird83]

i'm looking to lift my 02 1500 2wd about 3 inches and i have some questions.
1st im thinking about going with the lift shackles in the rear. anyone ever used these? i have always heard that blocks arent the safest way to go. and with kids i want the safest way possible. i also dont want to give up ride quality with add a leafs.

2nd im going with 3" lift springs for the front. will i need different shocks? will i need to change anything with a 3" lift? i have heard yes and no on the shocks and pitman.

my goal right now is 3 front and 2-2 1/2 rear. i really want to do it the cheapest safest way possible. planning on putting some 285/70 16's under it aswell. any help would be great. thanks

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by kbaird83

i'm looking to lift my 02 1500 2wd about 3 inches and i have some questions.
1st im thinking about going with the lift shackles in the rear. anyone ever used these? i have always heard that blocks arent the safest way to go. and with kids i want the safest way possible. i also dont want to give up ride quality with add a leafs.

2nd im going with 3" lift springs for the front. will i need different shocks? will i need to change anything with a 3" lift? i have heard yes and no on the shocks and pitman.

my goal right now is 3 front and 2-2 1/2 rear. i really want to do it the cheapest safest way possible. planning on putting some 285/70 16's under it aswell. any help would be great. thanks

what is your plan to address the u joint angles ?

[kbaird83]

i wasnt really sure what all needs to be done with a lift. i have never done one before. what do you do with the u joint angles?

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by kbaird83

i wasnt really sure what all needs to be done with a lift. i have never done one before. what do you do with the u joint angles?

after you lift vehicle then you must adjust the u joint angle so that it is a straight as possible at the both ends of the drive shaft...the greater the angle the faster the U joints fail...

this means adjusting the transmission mounting to do this ..and even the rear diff ..

on the shocks you must measure the added height and then decide what larger sized shock to use..since you are adding 3inches measure the installed shocks and then add 3inches approx to the rerplacement shock that you will need..

with a greater height you also run into the drive shaft being too short..possibly

I would replace the U joints with the grease fitting type so that you can get a longer life ..

the front end will require an alignment as the toe will be way off..

since you have springs [2wd] these will settle out after a thousand miles may need to align front end again..

[kbaird83]

whats a fairly safe amount of lift with out having to do much more than a allignment? i was going to stick with the 3 front since it isnt much higher than a simple leveling kit. but what if i dropped the rear to 1.5-1.75?

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by kbaird83

whats a fairly safe amount of lift with out having to do much more than a allignment? i was going to stick with the 3 front since it isnt much higher than a simple leveling kit. but what if i dropped the rear to 1.5-1.75?

jack the vehicle up with a jack to the height you want then check out all this...you will find the shocks will need to be longer...the shocks are not long enough with any height increase they will top out...

then check out the other items also forgot to mention the wiring/brake hoses..

since you lack the knowledge of all this , find a shop that has done this correctly. see what they say , with what you want to have done and the cost..