New wheels tires and suspension

[MoparFreak1988]

Hello guys and gals this thread is going to be a write up/ information seeking. To ge you all up to speed my truck got hit pretty hard last year on the drivers side. For those who replied in the other thread I thank you for making my decision to repair the truck easier. Long story short my Ram will be getting a 1500 doner trucks body put on it the body came out of texas weather and time have not permitted me to post the before pictures of my sad lo truck and her new doner but they are coming... So that being said I would like to now turn our attention to the point of the thread. For what we use are trucks for the suspension perform ime parts waranty buts OK but I am not happy with it. First off wander while pulling a trailer, those stuborn sway bar end links (mine are moog and have lifetime warrantys the shop Big Bear Tire has been great about fixing what broke) but just so you know I stopped counting after I broke 6 this year alone and this bucking in the rear end? I dont think the buccking is normal and I'm wondering if you guys have problems empty or loaded on loose gravel on a steep hill it seems worse loaded Now after talking to Thuren and Carli their kits are purely to expensive. I decided to piece together my own system that will soften up the front end as well as change to double heim endlinks while still being able to clear 37 military hummer tires for 4200 or less. At this point the wheels and tires are still in fabrication TRAILWORTHYFAB.com right now all I have is the rear shackles, the drop pitman arm, the track bar, the shocks and the end links the control arms and springs are on back-order. Keeping cost down the rear springs are retained and the shackles are changed instead now I found no branded lift shackles for a 2nd gen truck. After measuring and looking around 3rd gen shackles will fit on some 2nd gen trucks you must check first which width springs you have now since all of you are CTD owners I can almost guarantee that you have 3 inch springs in the back some had 2.5 and the shackles then wouldn't work the shackles were thuren fab ones that are for 03-07 trucks. I am using Thuren Fab two inch lift coil springs Im just raising the truck 2.5 inches up front and moving the axle forward one inch, the rear shackles have multiple lift options. Just some information I found once your lifted you will need to push the axle forward as it is no longer centered in the wheel wells now yes I can trim the fenders for cheap and make it work but you will still have a poor ride this is becuase the truck once lifted changes the geometry of the suspension. Think about physics and geometry if you remember geometry (a squared plus b squared equals c squared) well we just added legnth to the spring (which are the b squared part of the equation) now the frame we'll call (a squared) cant be changed unless you move the mounts on the frame, if the control arms (c squared) are not changed you force the axle to move thus changing the angle of the arms and basically shortening the effective lenth of the control arm. Now the physics side if you try to bend or move something using short lever arm (axle) at a steep angle it will be harder than one that is longer with a shallower angle. So now thinking about that whenever you hit a bump with a short arm its a jarring hit that will leave you and your suspension components in sorry shape. This will cause premature failure and the truck will be hard to align now that its not in O.E.M specs that came straight from our tire shop hear in town. That's why in my opinion the coil spacers to lift your truck are a poor idea, unless you plan to do more to the suspension. I plan to have this build fully photographed and writeups to follow I have been saving for two years now, and over this next year will be the transformation of a good truck into a better than new truck IMHO. I hope you all can gain something from this as most of the information and ideas have come from you guys.

[Reg02]

have you started you build yet?I'm looking forward to following your build, very interested to see how things work out.I'm just starting to look in to lifting my truck as well, so fare I'm a fan of the 5" BDS long arm I have seen good reviews. Ride quality is supposed to be better then stock and life time warranty on all parts. The price is not to bad either, I was quoted $2797.99+tax. whats your reason for not going with a factory lift of some sort?Reg