looking into getting a frt level kit for my 98 2500 4wd. the questions i have are, there is 2" or 2.5" which one did you use? one company says new shocks and possible control arms required for alignment??? some are poly/rubber and some are metal what do you have. did yall replace the shocks or have any major alignment issues?

 

I did 2.5 steel ones on 2 trucks. Need longer shocks, and either a new track bar or a drop bracket. I did a bracket on one and an adjustable bar on the other. If you leave the stock bar on it pulls the axle out to the driver side about 1.5 inches.Control arms arent needed, but i would recomend adjusting the camber after doing the lift. My tires were wearing on the outside bad at first then i redid the camber and solved it. I would recomend the steel spacer.

 

thanks for the reply. i kinda figured on shocks and alignment, didnt think about the track bar though. when companies should sell the spacers as a kit they should include a track bar relocator or new one and maybe offer shocks or give a few options to pick from. any more input guys

 

I got a set of aluminum 2" that go above the coil. I wouldn't want any more lift. In fact i kinda think 1.5" would have been great for me. I decided to go this route instead of new coils because the new coils will settle eventually to, and the ones I already have on I figure have already settled after 160,000 miles. There are different factory coils. Some are stiffer and maby a little taller. I believe mine are the biggest ones. My truck sat a little higher than a friends did. With 2" spacers you don't need new shocks or anything else. But alignment should be done. I don't know how your camber would change because you have a solid straight axle. If you rased your trucks front end 20" it would still have the same camber it did before you lifted the truck. Imho. I am not an alignment specialist though. My truck still has the stock track bar and I did look close and it has moved the front axle to the drivers side slightly. But you gotta look real close to notice. I recomend steel or aluminum, they won't wear out like the others.

 

I just installed my 2" spacers yesterday. They were not as easy to install as some say they are and I have installed them on a gas motor before and those were alot easier. My 2" spacers are just perfect, 1.5's would maybe be good also but definately not 2.5's. I did not have to do any mods to track bar or anything and went in to the shop today and checked the alighnment and it was still right on the money, no change at all. Caster and camber will not change on this vehicle unless you curb it very badly or involved in an accident. I did not notice the axel more to the drivers side than before, but if you think about the geometry of ow the fron end is located, it would make sence that it would move slightly to the drivers side.

My springs did not just drop in like they have in gas motor trucks, I raised the truck as high off the axels as the torsion bars would alow and still could barely remove the stock spring, had to fab up a heavy duty spring compressor to compress the springs quite a bit to get the spacers in there. Definately not the install I though it was going to be. Anyone else ave this problem?

 

I dont know all the terms, but when i did my 99 and 06 the tires wore real bad on the outside. We adjusted the cam bolts on the control arms to rotate the pinion back down a bit and the tire were fine. On the 01 there was no tire wear problem with 2.5 spacers and 3 inch coils. Im just goin from my experience.