How much lift is too much

[arcticdodge]

Looking at buying an 06 Ram 3500 Mega Cab. The main concern is the 8" lift. It also has a 5" exhaust, cold air intake programmer,B&D tranny and a few other options. But mostly concerned with the lift. How high is too high? I need to tow my sled trailer which is average height, with a stabilizer,equilizer hitch. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Mark:d

 

[MACHINE]

Buddy of mine once bought a dodge 2500 diesel with a 8" lift use and within a year or so he put up 3 front drive shaft the angle was to high i guest anyway that my 2 cents:d

 

[crazy_wheeler]

Sounds like the truck was previously owned by some young oilfield worker new to the industry living like a rock star on them big pay checks. Buy the toys, dress the part with them big gay white brimmed sunglasses, get the high maintenance g.f and make outrageous payments on a dressed up diesel. What's the fuel mileage on a lifted truck w/ 33" or 34"? was the lift installed by a certified technician or some 19 yr old kid working at Raven? What's the wheel alignment like and how fast is it going to chew up tires? Life expectancy of the u-joints? Are you going to be pulling a 5th wheel holiday trailer in the future and if so will you be able to back up under the thing without having to get a lift on the holiday trailer?

Questions to think about when it comes to reliability and mileage if that's a concern.

 

[catzuki]

Sounds like the truck was previously owned by some young oilfield worker new to the industry living like a rock star on them big pay checks. Buy the toys, dress the part with them big gay white brimmed sunglasses, get the high maintenance g.f and make outrageous payments on a dressed up diesel. What's the fuel mileage on a lifted truck w/ 33" or 34"? was the lift installed by a certified technician or some 19 yr old kid working at Raven? What's the wheel alignment like and how fast is it going to chew up tires? Life expectancy of the u-joints? Are you going to be pulling a 5th wheel holiday trailer in the future and if so will you be able to back up under the thing without having to get a lift on the holiday trailer?

Questions to think about when it comes to reliability and mileage if that's a concern.

Well my 03 odge gets 24.6mpg pushing close to 550rwhp and a little over 1000 lb/ft trq. Im also running 9" of lift and 37" Pro comp tires.I was running 39.5" susper swampers before and i was still getting 23 mpg. I do all of the fuel milage by hand not the lie O meter in cab. I would be concerned if it had a 8" suspension lift. Dont expect that front driveshaft to last at all. I get about 60k to a front u joint in my shaft but i also have a manual lock out front diff. As for tires, i usually get about 60,xxxkm out of mine and i tow fairly heavy also(11-13k bumper trailer).

 

[Luke The Drifter]

Well my 03 odge gets 24.6mpg pushing close to 550rwhp and a little over 1000 lb/ft trq. Im also running 9" of lift and 37" Pro comp tires.I was running 39.5" susper swampers before and i was still getting 23 mpg. I do all of the fuel milage by hand not the lie O meter in cab. I would be concerned if it had a 8" suspension lift. Dont expect that front driveshaft to last at all. I get about 60k to a front u joint in my shaft but i also have a manual lock out front diff. As for tires, i usually get about 60,xxxkm out of mine and i tow fairly heavy also(11-13k bumper trailer).

I have a real hard time believing that you pull damn near 24mpg out of your truck spinning 37" tires and that much power. My 04 Dodge gets 18-19mpg at best and I run the same size tires and a 6" lift. Are you calculating with imperial or US gallons?

My opinion on the lifted truck: Don't do it. Its makes hauling/towing stuff more of a hassle and the truck becomes more of a pain in the ass the more you use it from my own experience. If I had to do it over again, I'd be looking at a stock height truck with a 2 or 3" leveling kit in the front and a decent sized set of Toyo MTs. Not only that but I get sick of being lumped into that "young dude oilfield rock star" crowd. So many lifted/hopped up rigs around here and maybe a fraction of them understand how the thing actually works

 

[shoppingcart111]

To the guys with the lifted trucks I was wondering if you notified your insurance companies that you modded the truck. Since you have changed the legal bumper height from the road are you liable if you hit someone in a car, since you will cause more damage then a stock bumper height truck.

 

[H2SNOW]

I can't stand boulavard princess trucks ...jacked to the moon with some snot nose lil prick behind the wheel with white framed sunglasses........

I built my truck ..which I don't have anymore for go and not for show...

ran on 39.5 Boggers with room for 44s...5:86 Gears ..Ford Dana 60s front and rear ..onboard welder and compressors....airtight cab for underwater camping trips functional ARB snorkel ...Detroit Lockers ...BUILT tranny by Thunder Ally Transmissions Penticton
12000 LB Warn..38 inches of articulation ..fully camperized ..and has gone across thed Yukon river a time or 2 ..used to go out on week long expeditions..carrying 50 gallons of spare fuel...carried spare axles,alternators,u-joints,everything to survive 100 miles from anywhere

and I pulled my sled trailer and 21 foot Chapparal boat

then my 79 ..still parked outside ..well is just plain old unpractical for anything besides bogging ..or picking up tight squeeze boxes

 

[crazy_wheeler]

Holy crap H2Snow....it would be funny to see the look on a fast and furious wanna be's face with the bottom of the front bumper staring at them. Was the engine a 6.5 turbo or did you have something else stuffed under the hood?

 

[catzuki]

I have a real hard time believing that you pull damn near 24mpg out of your truck spinning 37" tires and that much power. My 04 Dodge gets 18-19mpg at best and I run the same size tires and a 6" lift. Are you calculating with imperial or US gallons?

My opinion on the lifted truck: Don't do it. Its makes hauling/towing stuff more of a hassle and the truck becomes more of a pain in the ass the more you use it from my own experience. If I had to do it over again, I'd be looking at a stock height truck with a 2 or 3" leveling kit in the front and a decent sized set of Toyo MTs. Not only that but I get sick of being lumped into that "young dude oilfield rock star" crowd. So many lifted/hopped up rigs around here and maybe a fraction of them understand how the thing actually works

Ya im calculating with US gallons. By hand calc i was averaging that on the high side. Its not to hard to get 20+ on a 03-04 dodge as the 305/555 motor has a differnt injection pattern from the 04.5-07 dodge 325/600. Since i bought my truck i have had no problems pulling 20mpg. Trust me on a average day, im usually only 16-18mpg. I like the power and that is my down fall. The best milage i got was going out to creston to visit some friends and i drove from my place 150ishkm north of Regina to Calgary pulling my 27 foot enclosed(empty) and made it there on 105L when i filled up. Its not hard if your not driving 120-140 everywere. Im only usually doing 100-110 cause i like fuel milage and i use my truck for work alot.

To the guys with the lifted trucks I was wondering if you notified your insurance companies that you modded the truck. Since you have changed the legal bumper height from the road are you liable if you hit someone in a car, since you will cause more damage then a stock bumper height truck.

And yes i did tell my insurance company that i have a lifted modified truck. But on that not, in alberta there is no legal bumper height law. If there was there would have been alot of trucks off the road to begin with. I know here in sask that there rear bumper height is really low and that a factory dodge with a receiver hitch(no lift at all) is over that height. It would be to hard for them to enforce this law on any vehicle. And like i said i gave my insurance company a detailed list for insurance purposes so i can get replacment value back for anything that is damaged or vandelized or what ever the case is. And it dont matter what you drive, if a 1 ton hits a smart car, some aint walkin away.

 

[catzuki]

O sorry to answer your question. If i was to look at a truck again, i would probably look at something around the 4" lift at most just for towing a fifth wheel truck. I have seen guys with a 6 and 8" kit towing a 5th but it was sketchy. I would personally look for a different truck, even if the price is so right that you can pass it down.

 

[shoppingcart111]

Ya im calculating with US gallons. By hand calc i was averaging that on the high side. Its not to hard to get 20+ on a 03-04 dodge as the 305/555 motor has a differnt injection pattern from the 04.5-07



And yes i did tell my insurance company that i have a lifted modified truck. But on that not, in alberta there is no legal bumper height law. If there was there would have been alot of trucks off the road to begin with. I know here in sask that there rear bumper height is really low and that a factory dodge with a receiver hitch(no lift at all) is over that height. It would be to hard for them to enforce this law on any vehicle. And like i said i gave my insurance company a detailed list for insurance purposes so i can get replacment value back for anything that is damaged or vandelized or what ever the case is. And it dont matter what you drive, if a 1 ton hits a smart car, some aint walkin away.

Actually there is a bumper height regulation in Alberta, that's why all tanker trucks have two bumpers on them. But for some reason they turn a blind eye to jacked pickups. But your right about the smart car, if I hit one in my half ton they wouldnt walk away. What pisses me off more is they allow those on the streets but they wont let me drive a racing go cart, virtually the same size and would be a blast on the henday:d

 

[Cyle]

I've got 6" lift and 37" tires on my Dodge and wouldn't have it any other way. I can still tow a 12k bumper pull trailer if I need to for work, nothing special just a 8" drop reciever. And most likely going to be fliping the axles on the 5th wheel so I can pull that, considering a stock height 3500 puts it nose high anyway. Now, if I was going to pull like a 40' toyhauler, I wouldn't do it with a lifted rig, but mine is only about 25' and weights about 6k so not a problem. I also have a sled deck and no issues loading it, or pulling a sled trailer.

I get about 15 MPG in the city, when I was stock it was 16. Highway I can pull about 19 if I keep it at 110. Even at 140 I still get about 15. My MT tires are wearing just fine, about 15,000km on this lift and no issues at all. Going to need axle shaft U-joints soon, but the truck has 126k on it. My front driveshaft has no issues. 8" is a big jump again though.

The problem with buying a truck like that is 90%+ of people with lifted trucks drive the crap out of them. And yes, i'm one of the few that don't, I just baby it :d

Yea I find it sad people think everyone with lifted rigs is some punk kid doing oilfield. It's just like when I was in high school with my 01 dodge diesel with 37" tires, everyone that didn't know me though I was a drug dealer to afford a rig like that.

They don't understand some of us just work hard doing regular things to get a nice rig.


Honestly, I wouldn't touch a truck with that many mods done. Not that stock trucks aren't driven hard to, but usually not as abused. I think one of the best bets is to find a truck someone used themselves for something like hotshot, I am pretty sure that's what mine was. Pretty much all highway miles, and a decent load so the engine runs great. And should be in showroom condition if the rig is making them their living

Programmer, and no gauges is a huge concern. You tow with it on, and you can cook your engine VERY easy if you cannot monitor EGT's.

 

[catzuki]

Actually there is a bumper height regulation in Alberta, that's why all tanker trucks have two bumpers on them. But for some reason they turn a blind eye to jacked pickups. But your right about the smart car, if I hit one in my half ton they wouldnt walk away. What pisses me off more is they allow those on the streets but they wont let me drive a racing go cart, virtually the same size and would be a blast on the henday:d

Ya man it must be a newer law. I remember when they tried to introduce it and it didnt fly. But they did it in sask and had no public feed back from it and thats why it never got tossed out. There is alot of groups/forums that have been emailing SGI out here to have a public inquiry about the bill but i havent herd squat in 8 months from anyone. But ya man they might as well let a guy drive a shifter cart down the hiway instead of a smart car. I think if i got hit on a shifter cart i would live.:d

 

[arcticdodge]

As of right now the only trailer I will be pulling is and enclosed homemade sled trailer. So it is an average height. No holiday trailer, but the one I like is a bumper pull. I don't go mean offroading, just driving up and down lease roads. And no I'm not one of these punk rig hands with too much money, just somebody who needs a new(er) truck as I broke mine about a month ago. It needs about 5g worth of work to make it a 2g truck. Not worth it in my eyes. This is also a daily driver truck for me so don't want to jume in with both feet. I have never owned anything lifted or modded, but would also like to be able to kill a buddy of the line with the same truck as this one is. I have driven Dodge since 1990 and do like the mega cabs even stock height on the 2500-3500 is not that bad. I run an equilizerer/stabiler hitch now on my trailer (sled) so I also need to be able to adapt it to work on whatever truck I buy. Thanks all for the help, please keep it coming I need a truck soon. :d

 

[magnet]

Ya man it must be a newer law. I remember when they tried to introduce it and it didnt fly. But they did it in sask and had no public feed back from it and thats why it never got tossed out. There is alot of groups/forums that have been emailing SGI out here to have a public inquiry about the bill but i havent herd squat in 8 months from anyone. But ya man they might as well let a guy drive a shifter cart down the hiway instead of a smart car. I think if i got hit on a shifter cart i would live.:d

found it max bumper height for a truck weighing less than 4500kg is 750mm from the ground to the lowest part of the bumpr and it must also provide the same protectionj as a factory bumper. Also the max height for headlights is 54" from the ground to the center. Not a factor for you but it is on the guys who lift them as high as they can. measured a brand new ford in rd deer at the lot dealer installed lift and was way over height. mentioned it to the salesman, how can you sell a brand new unit that is not street legal. all he could say is thats the customers prob. not ours.

 

[Cyle]

That's interesting to know. Going to measure my truck tomorrow, but i'm sure both things are higher then that, o well. The chance of cops knowing or caring is so small, heck city cops don't even care that my front windows have 5% tint on them, and the dozens of other illegal things about my truck :d And if I ever get a hassle about it, i'll tell them my truck is more then 4500 KG :d So stupid though, if my truck is empty it's illegal, but if I throw 2 sleds on my deck it's legal? Retarded....

A stock truck is illegal from the factory to, because it needs mud flaps on the rear....

 

[crazy_wheeler]

Okay I shouldn't have generalized all lifted trucks are driven by rig hands. With the way all parts of industry had been booming and wages being pretty darn good people pampered themselves. Heck I'm even guilty of pampering myself w/ a new sled in '08 and upgrade the quad every 3 years but some people spent a little more than should have and are living off credit.

Interesting to know about the head light and bump height regs. For me a lift is impractical as I want to be able to get my dodge in the garage and at stock height there is about 2" clearance b/w the cab and garage door.

 

[H2SNOW]

Okay I shouldn't have generalized all lifted trucks are driven by rig hands. With the way all parts of industry had been booming and wages being pretty darn good people pampered themselves. Heck I'm even guilty of pampering myself w/ a new sled in '08 and upgrade the quad every 3 years but some people spent a little more than should have and are living off credit.

Interesting to know about the head light and bump height regs. For me a lift is impractical as I want to be able to get my dodge in the garage and at stock height there is about 2" clearance b/w the cab and garage door.

got chainsaw ?? just buck out another foot or soo in the garage door department LOL

and I found this fer ya
The only limit on height is for the headlights. The center of the light must be between 22" and 55" from the ground. Full text of the regs can be found here... http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Regs/2002_322.cfm?frm_isbn=0779719557

Speaking of the text, don't you just love the way politicians make everything more complicated than it has to be. The actual wording is "not more than 1.4 metres and not less than 560 millimetres". Why metres and millimetres? Why not 140 and 56 cm? I guess they all failed junior high science.

 

[H2SNOW]

20.13 In the case of any truck or multi-purpose passenger vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 4500 k. or less, the
following shall apply:
(a) RAISED VEHICLE: The front tread width divided by the sum of the frame height at its highest point, and any
body lift shall not be less than 1.80 for vehicles with wheelbase of 254 cm. (100 in.).
(b) LOWERED VEHICLES: No part of the chassis or the steering components shall extend below the rim of the
wheel or come in contact with the road surface if all four tires are flat.

TIRES
Tread width is distance between center points of left tire tread and right tire tread. Measurements are taken from
frame center line to center of tire in each case to establish correct frame-to-wheels relationship.

21.1 The tires on special motor vehicle shall comply with current Canadian Motor Vehicle Tire Safety Regulations, and
Manitoba Highway Traffic Act and Regulations.

21.2 All tires when installed on the rear and at the recommended P.S.I. air pressure shall when the vehicle at
maximum loaded weight is jacked up at the rear at one wheel, have a minimum lateral clearance each side of 2.5
cm.(1in.) from the nearest component and a minimum fore and after clearance of 3.5 cm.(1.4 in.). The same shall apply to
front tires and that the tires while in full contact with ground and at maximum vehicle weight shall not make contact with
any component when the wheels are turning from stop to stop.

21.3 Every special motor vehicle shall have tires that are rated to carry that vehicle weight.

21.4 Front tire to rear tire section width variances if other than car manufacturers allowance shall be not less than
60% of the section width of the rear tires.

21.5 No vehicle shall be equipped with a tire having a section width less than the vehicle manufacturer's
recommended specification.

 

[Cyle]

got chainsaw ?? just buck out another foot or soo in the garage door department LOL

and I found this fer ya
The only limit on height is for the headlights. The center of the light must be between 22" and 55" from the ground. Full text of the regs can be found here... Alberta Queen's Printer:

Speaking of the text, don't you just love the way politicians make everything more complicated than it has to be. The actual wording is "not more than 1.4 metres and not less than 560 millimetres". Why metres and millimetres? Why not 140 and 56 cm? I guess they all failed junior high science.

55" is actually pretty high. I just measured my truck, it's approx 48" to the center of the headlight. That's with 6" lift and 37" tires. You could have quite a bit more and still be legal.