3 inch strut top spacer = doomed cv and ball joints?

[heckcat9]

I'm planning on running 3 inch strut spacers (top hat, not preload) and 3 inch rear coil spacers with longer shocks for a few months.

This is just to squeeze 35s in now on this 2016 1500 mall crawler I just bought while I wait for a BDS coil over lift... seems lift kit supply chains are struggling currently

1) Researching on here I learned the 2012+ 1500s have longer CV shafts and lower front diffs, but weaker upper control arms and ball joints, yeah?

2) How toast are my CV joints and carrier housing going to be with a 3'' lift? I see some folks are running Bilsteins at 2.8'' and their angles seem to be okay?

3) How much angle can the upper arms and ball joints handle? Should I just get some RC 3'' lift UCAs for the piece of mind or am I good without them?

4) How bad of an angle will the panhard pull the rear axle with a 3'' lift? I'm expecting a little bit of angle and losing some wheel base as the arms pull the axle forward, but is it extreme with a 3'' rear lift on the these trucks?

Much appreciated in advance.

 

[ram1500rsm]

I have a set of used Zone UCA's in the 4 sale section. Much better than RC uca's. $250 shipped.

Zone UCA's

4 sale,used Zone UCA's. Good conditions. 15k miles. I upgraded to Icon DJ's so i don't have a need for these anymore. $250 Shipped within US 2021-07-02_10-27-45 by RAM RSM, on Flickr 2021-07-02_10-27-51 by RAM RSM, on Flickr 2021-07-09_03-19-12 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

www.ramforum.com

 

[heckcat9]

I have a set of used Zone UCA's in the 4 sale section. Much better than RC uca's. $250 shipped.

Zone UCA's

4 sale,used Zone UCA's. Good conditions. 15k miles. I upgraded to Icon DJ's so i don't have a need for these anymore. $250 Shipped within US 2021-07-02_10-27-45 by RAM RSM, on Flickr 2021-07-02_10-27-51 by RAM RSM, on Flickr 2021-07-09_03-19-12 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

www.ramforum.com

Thanks, I'll definitely consider these as an option. Are the castle nuts for the ball joints included? I don't see them pictured and I'm not sure if the Zone ball joints use the same thread pitch and diameter as the OEM nuts?

 

[ram1500rsm]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider these as an option. Are the castle nuts for the ball joints included? I don't see them pictured and I'm not sure if the Zone ball joints use the same thread pitch and diameter as the OEM nuts?

Yep they're, i also updated that pic. you'll need new cotter pins though. You can get them at Lowes, Home Depot etc etc.
2021-07-09_03-19-12 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

 

[heckcat9]

Update and answers to my original questions since I finished putting the truck back together and put a couple thousand miles on it ,in case anyone considers doing the same. Personally, I would not recommend it haha.

3'' spacers are a bit much on these trucks, specially for the IFS. This might be fine for a mall crawler but definitely don't want to do any real 4wheeling without limit straps and extended bump stops and with most of your down travel being sacrificed... I didn't need bump compliance for the mall anyway lol. The ride on pavement surprisingly feels close to factory with stock 33s though, I was expecting a lot worse. Feels much smoother with the 37s.

Factory upper ball joints would not have lasted long with these spacers. I didn't get photos of the stock UCAs as I was in a rush to finish installing everything before a road trip but the stock upper control arms were nearly touching the strut coils at full droop. I'm glad @ram1500rsm convinced me to buy his Zone UCAs. At rest they are perfectly flat and the truck aligned well with them.

Lower ball joints seem okay, but I'm sure they're now an annual wear and tear item with the 3'' spacers. Tie rods are okay as well but likely won't last long either.

My CV joints are not stoked on the 3 inch top hat spacers at all. Neither are the factory sway bar end links... oh well though, this is temporary to fit tires until I order a bracket lift and extended end links. Shockingly no driveline vibration though. I may have gotten lucky on that one.


The rear 3'' spacers definitely have the panhard at a gnarly angle pulling the axle toward the passenger side more than I prefer. Once I figure out which Core4x4 control arms and panhard to order (and if they work with Zone/BDS relocation brackets) this should be resolved. Gotta do some rust removal as well.


A couple photos of how it turned out and how smokey the flats have been (can't even see the mountains), thx California.
3'' front/rear lift spacers
3'' body lift
37x12.5 tires on factory 20x9 ET19 wheels... some trimming and pinch weld finessing was required in the front.
2'' wheel spacers for an effective -31.8mm (+19-(25.4*2)) offset... stance


Factory exhaust tips pointed at the sky right here to fill in the body lift gap.