Went for 3.5" lift, ended up at 6". Drive shaft?

[Diesl Jp]

JTOD. Went with Clayton's Diesel 3.5" Ride Right+, which includes springs but not shocks. I had heard that Clayton tends to understate their lift height a bit, and after install, I did indeed end up with 4"of lift. Keeping the factory shocks, the ride was BRUTAL. So within a week I ordered the Falcon Diesel SP2 3.3 Fast Adjust Piggyback Shocks. The ride is terrific now, but... it added another 2" of lift. So now I'm at 6" of lift. Way more than I was intending. So... couple questions:

1) I've come to understand that a new lift kit will settle a bit over the first few weeks. Any thoughts on how much settling I might expect here?
2) What kind of risk/strain am I looking at in regards to my front drive shaft? I'm not going to wheel it before getting that sorted out, but how long might I continue to daily drive it before it starts to become a gamble?

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[sass JT]

I was told on front driveshaft is this… “ it could be in the next 30 minutes or the next couple years depending how it holds up” but if your gonna wheel it, the cover on the slip portion of the driveshaft will come in contact with the exhaust crossover and shred it. Plus the angle will be to great and more than likely take out the cv joint.
I have the metalcloak 3.5” lift and I did an Adam’s driveshaft from @Northridge4x4. It’s slip portion is made for 0-6” of lift.

I hope this helps.

 

[Tommyd]

JTOD. Went with Clayton's Diesel 3.5" Ride Right+, which includes springs but not shocks. I had heard that Clayton tends to understate their lift height a bit, and after install, I did indeed end up with 4"of lift. Keeping the factory shocks, the ride was BRUTAL. So within a week I ordered the Falcon Diesel SP2 3.3 Fast Adjust Piggyback Shocks. The ride is terrific now, but... it added another 2" of lift. So now I'm at 6" of lift. Way more than I was intending. So... couple questions:

1) I've come to understand that a new lift kit will settle a bit over the first few weeks. Any thoughts on how much settling I might expect here?
2) What kind of risk/strain am I looking at in regards to my front drive shaft? I'm not going to wheel it before getting that sorted out, but how long might I continue to daily drive it before it starts to become a gamble?

Awesome. Now it’s time for 40s to fill it up!

 

[Diesl Jp]

Awesome. Now it’s time for 40s to fill it up!

The temptation is real .
I'll have to stick to the plan, tho, which is 37s. Don't have the cheese right now for all the upgrades that go with 40s.
But srsly, I need those bigger tires stat. Feel like I'm driving on hockey pucks, now.

 

[Tommyd]

The temptation is real .
I'll have to stick to the plan, tho, which is 37s. Don't have the cheese right now for all the upgrades that go with 40s.
But srsly, I need those bigger tires stat. Feel like I'm driving on hockey pucks, now.

At least your getting good gas mileage haha

 

[LostWoods]

Yeah beyond 3" it's not a question of if but when. With the FAD you won't put wear on it around town but if you wheel a lot and wheel hard on the front axle, you'll eventually wear it out.

So you can wait but I'd definitely add it to the list. I did the Spicer 1350 driveshaft and it's been solid. Looking to do the 2pc rear at some point as well.

 

[bleda2002]

Shocks shouldn't add any lift, or do you mean more travel?

 

[tommyp]

Shocks shouldn't add any lift, or do you mean more travel?

Agree you shouldn't really be getting more lift out of the shocks.

 

[Jefe1018]

Shocks shouldn't add any lift, or do you mean more travel?

Agree you shouldn't really be getting more lift out of the shocks.

Likely the reason it rode so bad was because the shocks were topped out 100% of the time and the limiting factor to it reaching the correct ride height.

 

[tommyp]

Likely the reason it rode so bad was because the shocks were topped out 100% of the time and the limiting factor to it reaching the correct ride height.

Yikes, yeah not adding shock extenders or correct length shocks would do that if you mounted the shocks with the weight on the truck. Op must have had to compress the springs a bit to get the shocks on if that was the case. Good catch

 

[bleda2002]

Likely the reason it rode so bad was because the shocks were topped out 100% of the time and the limiting factor to it reaching the correct ride height.

Oof that never occured to me, but you're right that's probably exactly what happened.

 

[Diesl Jp]

Likely the reason it rode so bad was because the shocks were topped out 100% of the time and the limiting factor to it reaching the correct ride height.

Definitely the reason it rode so bad. As soon as I got the new springs on I saw that the shocks were maxed and figured I would be in for a "treat" when I drove it.

Shocks shouldn't add any lift, or do you mean more travel?

Agree you shouldn't really be getting more lift out of the shocks.

Nope, not travel. I mean level-ground ride height, measured before-and-after with a tape measure. I was very surprised by this as well. The shocks were specified as being for 3.5-4.5 lift (and I was sitting at 4" after springs) and I even verified directly with Clayton that these were the correct ones. The shock shafts are indeed quite long. Once I had the factory shocks off, I had to drop the axles as far as they would go, and then I still had to put my floor jack underneath the falcon shock and compress it several inches before I could bolt it into the lower bracket.
So it's either pushing down hard enough to give the extra 2" of lift, or Clayton way understated the lift height and the factory shocks were limiting how high the springs were lifting. Honestly, I think it's a little bit of both, which is why I'm still hopeful it will settle a bit. But regardless, it genuinely added 2" from just the springs and now sits at 6" higher than stock. Which looks pretty sweet but is definitely way more than I was intending.

I suppose Clayton could have given me wrong springs. Now that I type this out, I did have to ratchet strap the s#!t out of them to get them to fit. I don't think they even offer anything taller than 3.5", though, so I kind of doubt it. I'll double-check the part numbers and shoot 'em an email in the morning just to check, I guess.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

You skipped leg day

 

[MPMB]

I have nothing constructive to say about this other than: Never skip leg day. :D :D

 

[j.o.y.ride]

i don't even understand how this happens. This looks way beyond absurd. How is it that much added lift? 6"?

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