High end 4"-5" Lift Suggestions

So last week, I found some old pictures of my last 2 diesel trucks, and it made me want a lifted truck again. I'm thinking about taking the lowering kit off my 2015 crew cab 4wd now, and throwing a mild lift and 35's on it. I am trying to still maintain a decent ride, and do use this truck to tow my 7800lb car hauler. I rarely take the truck offroad, so this is more of an appearance mod that I would like to ride/handle well and still be able to pull my trailer without an issue. I think 6" is too tall for me, and a 2.5" level makes the 35's look a little too stuffed IMO. This has me wanting something in the 4-5" range.

The Icon stage 4 kit is very appealing, but I dont feel it lifts the front enough to make the 35's sit right. This has me leaning towards the BDS 6" coilover kit and just setting the front coilovers down to only 4" and use the Icon rear 1.5" springs and shocks...or set the BDS coilovers to 5" of lift, and run it with their 3" rear coils.

I will be running 17" wheels as I prefer the meaty tire look when it comes to lifted vehicles, but am still undecided on which 35" tire to go with.

What do you experienced lifted guys think about this setup...any advice?

Well high end would consist of king shocks. Just about everybody is going to agree that BDS is the high end of lifts. So maybe get the 4" BDS and swap kings front and rear. If you do a lot of towing you can swap tuftruck springs in the rear or do bags. BDS 4" clears 35x12.50 w/17 x 9 and 4.5" back spacing according to the site so anything above that is just added clearance.

I wouldn't do the 6" and lower it down. My 6" without bilsteins are almost at a negative angle (my stock springs for the struts must be sagging) and I'm having a hard time with the tie rod ends. I would definitely stick with the 4" and stretch it as needed.

I would much rather run the full Icon setup, but I just dont think its going to give me enough lift to achieve the look I'm going for. Thuren and Carli both offer a solid setup using King shocks and coilovers, but again, only a 2-2.5" front lift which is not enough for me to justify making this swap. That is why I'm considering the BDS front coilover as it seems to be the next best option as far as ride quality goes, and will give me some flexibility to achieve the amount of lift I am after.

You can always buy a 4" lift without shocks. Then throw on some kings with the 4" spacer.


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Why not do the Thuren 2.5" with a small body lift? In my opinion, that'd be a happy medium and the body lifts on these new 4th gens dont look bad at all. Maybe a 1.25" BL with the 2.5" gives you 3.75" of total lift

I would say the BDS coilover kit and lowering them down to 5" and running the 3" rear coils would be a good option to achieve what you're looking to do. That will keep your front end geometry very close to level which will keep the ride nice and the Fox coilovers will obviously provide a good ride quality as well. On the rear end I'd upgrade to Fox 2.0 shocks and then likely run a set of air bags to help with any sagging when you are towing.

As others have mentioned there is always the option running Kings or even the Icon coilovers with a BDS lift. It just comes down to how much you want to spend and what you really want out of the truck.

This is assuming that we're talking about a 1500 correct?

This is on my 2015 1500 crew cab 4wd.

I wish more guys were running the Icon setup so that I could get a better idea of the actual lift achieved. I've seen a few where the 35's looked just right, and a few where the 35's made the truck look lowered because of the lack of fender gap. I am not apposed to running a 1.25-1.5" body lift with this setup either, but was hoping to try to achieve the lift in the suspension instead. The BDS 6" coilover kit set down to 5/3 is starting to sound like a better option for me at the moment.

Also, why do these kits say you need a 4.5" backspace with 17s, but can run a 5" backspace with 18-20" wheels? I wanted to go with 17's, but dont like the wheels sticking too far out of the fender. The wheels I'm looking at are a 17x9 with a +10m offset. I would settle for an 18" wheel if I absolutely had to, but really prefer to keep a 17" wheel with a 5-5.25" BS.

Hemi450hp said:

This is on my 2015 1500 crew cab 4wd.

I wish more guys were running the Icon setup so that I could get a better idea of the actual lift achieved. I've seen a few where the 35's looked just right, and a few where the 35's made the truck look lowered because of the lack of fender gap. I am not apposed to running a 1.25-1.5" body lift with this setup either, but was hoping to try to achieve the lift in the suspension instead. The BDS 6" coilover kit set down to 5/3 is starting to sound like a better option for me at the moment.

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Agreed. I think you'll want more lift than what the Icon kit offers to make the 35's not look too stuffed.

Hemi450hp said:

Also, why do these kits say you need a 4.5" backspace with 17s, but can run a 5" backspace with 18-20" wheels? I wanted to go with 17's, but dont like the wheels sticking too far out of the fender. The wheels I'm looking at are a 17x9 with a +10m offset. I would settle for an 18" wheel if I absolutely had to, but really prefer to keep a 17" wheel with a 5-5.25" BS.

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Because of the design/shape of the steering knuckle. With how it angles back from the hub the smaller backspacing or larger diameter wheel is needed to provide the clearance between the wheel and the knuckle.

I agree with you are the look of 35" tires, with less than a 4" lift and the use of 17" rims. My truck came stock with 20's. But when i changed tire sizes, i had to go to a smaller wheel to get that right look and ride for me.
Ford, Chevy, and Toyota, all have really nice options for a mid-travel, high end lift. But there's just not much available for our trucks. I was looking at the Icon and Thuren kits like you. But both only can fit a 33" tire, or at least thats what they recommend. I wasn't sure of I'd like the Icon shocks because they're digressive and I've never used those shocks before. And I wasn't sure how long the King shocks would hold up before the $800 shock started to leak. I found one King Shocks retailer that offered a 1 year warranty. That's long for those types of shocks, but not good enough for me.

So I chose neither in hopes of a company coming out with a nice mid travel lift kit that's at a decent price that'll clear 35's. I went with the Fox 2.0 shocks to tied me over.

I've got 285/75/17 which equates to a 33.8x11.2x17. My wheels are Method and are 8.5" wide and a 4.75" backspacing. I think that rim size fits for our trucks. They tread of the tires stick out just a tiny bit when you're looking at the truck down the side of it. I forget how much lift I got from the Fox, but I believe it was close to 3". All four fenders are almost exactly at 40" high and if I remember right, stock I was at 36" front and 39" rear.

If you want high end, BDS offers the complete package as mentioned above but it list at something like $4200 unless you can find it cheaper.

FWIW, based on what you're looking for I'd go 4" Zone or Superlift and add Kings or Icons. And you'd still be less than the BDS coil-over. Food for thought

This is all you need Matt. Awesome stuff. Ram 1500 Long Travel Kit

Oh and I like that you are sticking with the 17's.

PassivAggressor said:

This is all you need Matt. Awesome stuff. Ram 1500 Long Travel Kit

Oh and I like that you are sticking with the 17's.

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I actually looked at that kit, but it pulls the front wheels out 3". Without fiberglass fenders, I think that would look awkward. Otherwise, it is very impressive.

I just cant stop looking at the Icon Stage 4 kit, so I think that is the route I'm going to go. Ride quality, stance, and load capacity all look promising with this kit. If it is a little short for the 35" tire, then I may consider adding a 1.5" body lift on top.

While I would love to be around 4-5" of suspension lift, I just dont like the tires sticking out of the fender, and all the 4-6" kits require a 4.5" backspace that are going to pull the wheels out more than I like. I'm planning to order everything this evening, so I will post an update once everything comes together.

17's make the tire selection a little difficult as there are many options for a truer 35 in regard to height with 20's. A 295/65/20 specs out to 35.1 or 35.4 depending on brand and tire type and measure right at 12" wide on a 9" rim and fit very nicely without sticking out to far, especially if you have flares. I'm running stock rims with no spacers and my current tires don't stick out past my flares, and from what I can tell the 295's I'm eyeing for my next set won't either.

I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind an 18 or 17 to get a little more sidewall, truck would definitely ride a little nicer!

Either way be sure to report back, I've looked at the Icons hard for some time and I'm contemplating throwing them on my truck in the future. The 5100's are ok but I know a nice set of coilovers would make it ride even sweeter.

I'm OK with the 35x12.50's that measure 34.5". I think any more than that is going to look too stuffed in the fender anyways. I even considered possibly running a 305/70/17 at just a hair under 34" with this setup. It would still look like a beefy tire on a 17" wheel, and probably fit the 2.5" level better than a true 35" tire would. The tire size decision is the only thing holding me back from hitting the buy button right now...haha.

Just mash the button!!!!!

Atleast that's what I'm thinking when I'm on your site!

Wheels and tires have been ordered. Went with Method Mesh 17x8.5 and Nitto Ridge Grappler 35/12.50/17 tires. Just waiting to hear back from Icon now.

This is a BDS 4" lift. Tires are 305/70/18.







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mpittman said:

This is a BDS 4" lift. Tires are 305/70/18

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I think 4" is the perfect amount of lift for 35's. I also ordered a Zone 1.5" body lift just in case the tires look too stuffed with the Icon kit by itself.