I'm sure this has been pretty well hashed out, but I can't find a concise answer to the questions I have (yes, I did look through the Lift Kit Summary...TMI).

The T-bars on my truck are cranked up to make room for the tires. The drivers's side has about 1.5 - 2 threads remaining and the passenger's side has about 4 threads remaining. The truck is within 1/8" of level side-to-side with a full tank of fuel (DS lower). The DS measures 40.25 inches from the ground to the bottom of the flare at the center of the wheel. The CV boot ridges touch at the top, but are not firmly pressed together. The truck is pretty much level all around. The majority of my miles are on the highway. I don't do any hardcore 4 wheeling. I drive ranch roads that can be pretty rutted, through washes with a foot or more of loose gravel/sand, through mud a few inches deep, and water up to maybe 3 feet deep on occasion. No rock crawling and very rarely will one side be in full compression while the other is in full droop.

With all that background, the questions I have are have I cranked the T-bars too far? Am I going to hurt component longevity? Should I back it down a bit (I think I could go back down .5" and still clear things)?

How many miles and under what conditions have others run there truck with similar changes? Any advice will be appreciated.Edited by: Kartattack

I have 75,000 miles on my truck of which I have 35,000 miles with green keys. I am on my third set of idler and pitman arms, two wheel bearings, one ball joint, and two tierods. I am still on my original cv joints/shafts. SO I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT CRANKING THE TORSION BARS OR PUTTING GREEN KEYS IN, WILL WEAR OUT PARTS FASTER. I am sure my 315 tires have something to do with the ilder and pitman arms going out, but there is a FIX for our situation. Super Diesel makes sleeves to cover the tierods so they will not break and he makes a centerlink that is supposed to stop the idler and pitman arm from wearing out so fast. His centerlink is on my "next to get items". PPE also makes aftermarket idler and pitman arms but are way far over priced. Also Bullet Proof Steering make aftermarket replacement tierods. JK also makes a bracket that reduces the rotation of the centerlink that is supposed to reduce the wear on the ilder an pitman arm too. I have not heard of many CV joints going bad. Hope this helps!!! Edited by: BassinRVer

BassinRVer:


Thanks for the info. My tires shouldn't be nearly as tough on components as those 35s are. Mine are roughly the same height as stock, just wider). I will look centerlink replacement/reinforcement for the near term. I suppose I'll do the tierod sleeves at the same time since it will require another alignment anyway.

Rubbing will occur during compression while turning near full lock. If it were me, I would turn down the t-bars one turn on each side, and drive down those rutted ranch roads trying to get it to rub. If it doesn't rub, I would go another turn down, and so on, until you get very slight rubbing. Then go back up one turn and re-align.


Every truck is different, and different people have different driving conditions. This will ensure your truck fits your driving conditions, and gives you the least wear and tear.

i have the keys installed, mine sits 41 3/4 in the front and 42 1/2 in the rear (ground to bottom lip of fender) i also have 2 inch blocks in the rear. as for the cv angles, mine seem to be in good shape, im not worried at all. iv had numerous lifted trucks and been around them a while, and seem some pretty severe cv angles. i wouldnt expect you to run in to any problems at that height,IMO. also, your tires should be much taller than stock, i think there just under 33in tall, but much wider, around 12.50 i think? hope this helps some.

Amric:

I backed off the T-bars 2 turns tonight and will drive over some curbs to test until I can get on the rutted roads this weekend. The left side was hitting when backing, so I tied back the e brake cable and fender liner. The right seems to clear.

CB_Rocket:

I'm down to 39.75" now and will test it there for awhile.
According to discount tire's site calculator (Tire calculator (http://www.discounttire.com/dtc/brochure/info/tireMathNS.jsp)), these tires are .99" taller than stock and 1.57" wider. So they are a little taller than I thought, but they are closer to 32s than 33s. I may have been thinking of the difference between 265-75/16 and 285-60/18. They are very close in height.Edited by: Kartattack

i also didnt relize you had 18in wheels, i was figuring for 16's. good choice on the tire!

Well thanks, but I bought them off a board member, so he gets the credit for that choice. I am amazed at how well such a wide tire does in the rain. They put the stock tires to shame. So far, I am sold on them.

One thing you might want to watch is if you put aftermarket shocks on is it is possible to over extend the CV joints, depending on the load on the joint you might end up braking the joint. I managed to do that in a truck pull. There are some pics if you look at some of my older post a couple months back.


http://dieselplace.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11748&KW=truck+pulling


From what I have read and heard the factory shocks act as your limiting straps, there is a bump stop under the upper A arm but by the time it reaches that point it over extended. Edited by: big_jon00