Your thoughts on my lift idea

[RockyJ]

New Ram owner here. I'm interested in putting some 37" AT tires on my 2013 1500 Express 4X4 (photos in my album). Here's what my initial thoughts for the project are....

- Pro Comp 6" suspension lift

- Mickey Thompson M/T90000001941 - 37X12.50R17LT, BAJA ATZP3
or
- Nitto 37X12.50R17LT, Trail Grappler

- Fuel Anza, 17x8.5 with 5 on 5.5 Bolt Pattern - Black Matte
or
- D525 Revolver, 17x9 with 5 on 5 and 5 on 5.5 Bolt Pattern - Black with Machining


How I plan to drive it - Not a daily commuter, but will likely run some errands around town with it a few times a week. I like to hit the parks and moderate trails. I'll definitely be taking it off road in rocky sandy ground and mud going camping, fishing, exploring and generally having fun. I'll be taking some long highway road trips around the Southwestern US in the truck but would be fine with putting the factory 20" rims with the 33" street tires back on for those sort of occasional trips.


Questions:

* Any preference between the two tires or another recommendation I should consider?

* Any concerns thoughts on going with the Pro Comp lift versus another brand?

* What shock package with the Pro Comp lift?

* What do I need to know about the different offsets of the two above wheels? I understand the basics of what wheel offset is but I don't know what offset specs would be suitable for my truck/lift/tires. FWIW I like the look of a wider wheel spacing, but don't want to sacrifice performance for looks. I've never replaced the wheels on a vehicle before. I'm not married to either design and am open to suggestions.



Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[brandonjansen]

As far as lifts go I'd recommend a Zone Offroad 6" lift over the ProComp any day of the week. The ProComp essentially uses a coil spacer with the stock rear coils to provide lift. The Zone kit provides replacement rear coils for the lift height you desire (3" or 5" rear coils). Other than that the kits are very comparable. On the front end they essentially have the same components.
As far as lift size goes that's partially going to depend on how wide of a stance you want to run. If you're only looking at 17x8.5 wheels you'll be able to run 37's with just a 6" lift by itself. If you want to run a wider stance you'll need to add additional lift. Most guys do it with Bilstein adjustable front struts. A very common setup that guys will run is a Zone 6" kit with 5" rear coils and Bilstein adjustable struts set at 2.1". This will give you a total lift height of 7" on the front end.

As far as the 2 tires on your list go I'd recommend the Nitto Trail Grapplers over the Mickey Thompsons. I'm personally not a fan of Mickey Thompsons on trucks and haven't heard overly great things about them. The Nitto Trail Grapplers will perform much better for you and look a lot better IMO. I'd also recommend looking at the Toyo MT's. I've ran 3 different sets of them and have been nothing but impressed. They're on my 3500 that I commute in daily on the highway and they perform great on road and off. Highly recommended in my book.

Wheel offset and backspacing is directly related. Nowadays it's more common for manufacturers to use offset in the spec rather than a backspacing number. Offset is directly related to the wheel width as well.
A 0 offset has the mounting surface of the wheel right in the middle of the rim (centered between the two lips). A negative offset pushes the wheel out from under the truck, a postivie offset pulls the wheel under the truck. When it comes to wheel specs and tire sizing it's a combination of lift, wheel width/offset, and tire diameter/width that make up the whole puzzle. If you let me know a more solid idea of exactly what you want to run for lift size and how wide you'd like to be I can definitely help you through the details and figure out a setup that will work for you.
A 9" wide wheel with a 0 offset is probably the safest and most common wheel to run on a Ram 1500 as it provides enough clearance on the suspension side for a larger tire but isn't too wide of a stance to provide rubbing issues on the back of the inner fender/front bumper.

 

[RockyJ]

Thanks for the info. That's very helpful.

I went with the following...

Zone D40 6" Lift
Pro Runner SS Ride Height Adjustable Struts
17" Fuel Boost wheels
37" Trail Grapplers

The offset sort of worked itself out as the wheels I wanted should add a bit of a wider look/feel in addition to the tires and clear everything on the back side. That's really all I was after regarding offset/backspacing.

I'm aiming for an install of that this week and I'll try to figure out what I want to do for bumpers(s) next. I'll put up some before/after pix.

 

[Selcher]

Pics are a must! Excellent choices...

 

[RockyJ]

Still waiting on parts and a day in the garage to get this truck lifted.

I did have a Bully Dog and some new 7" door speakers show up in the meantime!

Bedliner getting sprayed Monday!



Might need one of these Kore bumpers, too, but waiting until July to get the low-hanging Express bumper off may be too difficult for me.

So much truck, so little patience.