I hate my lift, what should I get instead?

[Quick_Shifter]

I dont have two jacks, so my local big-o does lift+all 4 shocks for about $250 and allignment is free.

did that free alignment come with a print out of your specs?

 

[PCT]

Well I paid for an alignment so I get free ones for a year. But they set it to factory, gunna try and convince them to put it to what ever the lift asks for.


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[Mgrimm1]

Thuren’s soft ride coils are the best bang for the buck on ride quality. I did just the fronts coils and Fox shocks, left the rear stock for now.

I ordered the Thuren front coils with Fox 2.0 for fronts and keeping the OEM coils with Fox rear shocks based off the input from this thread, other threads, and youtube. Thanks for the help. Will be several weeks before I can install, but looking forward to better ride quality and near level look.

 

[Gary Fields]

My son bought a used truck (Japanese brand- just call it brand T) with a lift and leveling kit. Could not get it to align right and bushings/tie rods wore out. Truck handled like a shopping cart on ice. We took it apart in the driveway and replaced control arms, tie rods, struts, and took out all the lift stuff. Once back to OEM it drives and rides like a dream. Sometimes I wonder if aftermarket changes help or hurt. In my son's case the end result certainly did not have much engineering to it. It was just for show and not for driving.

 

[Mgrimm1]

My son bought a used truck (Japanese brand- just call it brand T) with a lift and leveling kit. Could not get it to align right and bushings/tie rods wore out. Truck handled like a shopping cart on ice. We took it apart in the driveway and replaced control arms, tie rods, struts, and took out all the lift stuff. Once back to OEM it drives and rides like a dream. Sometimes I wonder if aftermarket changes help or hurt. In my son's case the end result certainly did not have much engineering to it. It was just for show and not for driving.

I agree with you on my previous 1/2 tons, but these HDs don't ride very well stock. At least mine does not.

 

[RandomRam]

My son bought a used truck (Japanese brand- just call it brand T) with a lift and leveling kit. Could not get it to align right and bushings/tie rods wore out. Truck handled like a shopping cart on ice. We took it apart in the driveway and replaced control arms, tie rods, struts, and took out all the lift stuff. Once back to OEM it drives and rides like a dream. Sometimes I wonder if aftermarket changes help or hurt. In my son's case the end result certainly did not have much engineering to it. It was just for show and not for driving.

Independent front suspension requires a lot more than a spacer or new coils to level. At the minimum most require upper control arms to get them to align properly. Toyota’s in particular are maxed on caster from the factory and any lift makes them handle terribly without UCAs. These radius arm 2500/3500 trucks on the other hand handle lifts just fine.

I ordered the Thuren front coils with Fox 2.0 for fronts and keeping the OEM coils with Fox rear shocks based off the input from this thread, other threads, and youtube. Thanks for the help. Will be several weeks before I can install, but looking forward to better ride quality and near level look.

You will love it. The front makes the most difference. Are you doing it yourself? It’s super easy, most important tool is some monster jack stands. Support the frame behind the radius arms with at least 22” of jack stand and you will not need to disconnect the track bar.

 

[JayLuke]

I have Thuren 1" coils and Bilstein 5100's in the front and stock in the rear, it handles much better and doesn't go pre-runner when I hook up my trailer. 2016 Ram 2500 Cummins

 

[Mgrimm1]

Independent front suspension requires a lot more than a spacer or new coils to level. At the minimum most require upper control arms to get them to align properly. Toyota’s in particular are maxed on caster from the factory and any lift makes them handle terribly without UCAs. These radius arm 2500/3500 trucks on the other hand handle lifts just fine.

You will love it. The front makes the most difference. Are you doing it yourself? It’s super easy, most important tool is some monster jack stands. Support the frame behind the radius arms with at least 22” of jack stand and you will not need to disconnect the track bar.

I do plan to install myself. I'm new to the HD 2500 platform and all my other jacks and stands fit 1/2 tons and SUVs. Sounds like I need some new tools to keep it safe. I also ordered a Thuren track bar so replacing that too. The stock ride is just really harsh and my expectations are high on this Thuren setup.

 

[PCT]

Def gunna hit nick up for this bils set. Much better than stock right?


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[ram1500rsm]

When you want to have an offroad truck than can handle offroad tasks you need to stop listening to the mall crawler shops and go with people that do offroad for a living and know a thing or two about the parts they make. Thuren, Carli,SynergyMFG etc. It's a tough spot to be when the only thing you get in your eyes when you ask is 5100 here or there. Otherwise everybody else is doing chitty spacers cause they only care for height with deep dish 22's. No offense of course if this is what you're looking at. Most issues with spacers in the live axel world is improper shock length, incorrectly set bumpstops, incorrect shock valving. Ask anybody here for shock specs or coil specs and see what you get... Lol they know couple of brands and model numbers and that's about it...

 

[ram1500rsm]

Just an example of how you set things up for offroad, cargo management etc. If you need a street oriented setup then 5100 can work just fine, but there are better things in the Fox or Icon 2.0's at an attractive price similar to 5100's. or Carli or Thuren have valved specific cheaper than 2.0 shocks that can get the job done. Seems more than important in the HD trucks because you guys have to deal with HD coil springs to begin with so their spring rates are not exactly street friendly.

 

[RandomRam]

I do plan to install myself. I'm new to the HD 2500 platform and all my other jacks and stands fit 1/2 tons and SUVs. Sounds like I need some new tools to keep it safe. I also ordered a Thuren track bar so replacing that too. The stock ride is just really harsh and my expectations are high on this Thuren setup.

The jack stands I have now sit at 20” collapsed, super stout. The whole job took me 4 hours start to finish. The track bar should be easy other than it needs like 215 ft lbs.

If you’ve DIY’d a lift on a truck with an independent front suspension you will appreciate the simplicity of the radius arm solid axle.

 

[Nick@GotExhaust]

Lots of good info in here.

What is important is to determine how the truck will actually be used. Is it a pavement pounder or crawler or baja runner.... As some of you already know when some one reaches out to me asking what suspension setup they should get my 1st question is how do you use the truck, 2nd question is what is your budget. Suspension is definitely a get what you pay for scenario. There are certain items and brands I would never recommend.

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Def gunna hit nick up for this bils set. Much better than stock right?


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you will not be disappointed, that being said it will be much better than your current rough country set up. It’s a really nice kit that’s leaves you open to do shock upgrades etc. if you are looking for drastic improvements over stock @ram1500rsm can set you up with part numbers to a killer dialed in set up

 

[ram1500rsm]

Ha you made me look at the OP. He just wanted better shocks. I hope the dude won't get scared with a little offroad action. Lol.

 

[ram1500rsm]

OP, check your front shocks and see if you have the shock extension at the bottom ? like this


you prob have the 2.5" spacer at the top of your front springs


Do you still have your factory front shocks ? if so, measure from the top (#2 in the pic) until the center eyelet at the bottom, that will give us your max extended measurement on the stock ones


Also what is the part# for the N3 shocks you bought ?

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Ha you made me look at the OP. He just wanted better shocks. I hope the dude won't get scared with a little offroad action. Lol.

I opened the valve of knowledge
Stand Back and take notes

 

[ram1500rsm]

Lol.

 

[ram1500rsm]

I think i found the front stock shock length on a 2019 2500. Should be 21.9 extended, 14.3 compressed.
The RC kit included those shock extenders at the bottom cause they assume people will keep factory shocks with those. If you got longer shocks your shop should have discarded the shock extensions. so we need to know what shocks you got from RC and whether or not you're using the RC shock extension. You just need a little longer shock and no extension at least to improve over what you have then later on you can decided what else to do.

Also If you need an adjustable trackbar (measure the distance from your frame to the edge of the tires on both sides. that'll indicate if you need to re-center your front axel.

Thuren have one
https://www.thurenfabrication.com/18mm-radius-arm-adjustable-track-bar.html

Synergy have one
https://www.synergymfg.com/synergy-13-ram-hd-adjustable-front-track-bar.html?category_id=5987

 

[PCT]

I think i found the front stock shock length on a 2019 2500. Should be 21.9 extended, 14.3 compressed.
The RC kit included those shock extenders at the bottom cause they assume people will keep factory shocks with those. If you got longer shocks your shop should have discarded the shock extensions. so we need to know what shocks you got from RC and whether or not you're using the RC shock extension. You just need a little longer shock and no extension at least to improve over what you have then later on you can decided what else to do.

Also If you need an adjustable trackbar (measure the distance from your frame to the edge of the tires on both sides. that'll indicate if you need to re-center your front axel.

Thuren have one
https://www.thurenfabrication.com/18mm-radius-arm-adjustable-track-bar.html

Synergy have one
https://www.synergymfg.com/synergy-13-ram-hd-adjustable-front-track-bar.html?category_id=5987

They don’t include extenders if you buy the shocks with the spacers. So running what ever n3 they throw in with the spacer kit. Taking it off cause it rides like a slammed cars. I had other upgrades I wanted first, so I was gunna just push off the lift until next year. But it rides so garbage I’m doing it next week or 2. I knew the rc was not a perm lift. Just an intern on.


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