[timgco]

Many of you have been following my post on the Rancho 4" lift. I thouhgt I'd share why the lift is coming back off of my truck.

#1 reason; 16", 17", 18" tires will fit with the proper offset, however, the steering knuckle is less than 1/4" from touching the tire. So if you ever plan on off roading and airing down, the sidewall of your tire will touch and get trashed with their "required" 4.5" offest. I had to use a 1'4" wheel spacer so it would not touch the tire at the required aired up ammount.

when I called Rancho about this, they said the kit was desigend for a 20" rim with 5" of offset. using a smaller diameter rim will not allow for airing down. WTF is is good for than?

#2 reason: Your tires will stick out 3" to 4" at the top of the fenders. They stick out much more towards the bottoms of your flares. FOr those of you with the stock 33" tires and have driven through snow/ mud have seen what happens to your door/ door handles, and fender flares. Now take that X 10 and you can imagine what that looks like. This means the sides of your truck will be trashed in no time. After only 300 miles or so, the truck is already getting rock chips though the paint and the rear fender flares will look like swiss cheese in a couple thousand miles.

#3 Reason: When you get at highway speeds, the truck does not feel very stable at all. If you drive 75mph or higher on a daily basis, I would not get this lift.

On a positive note, this lift gives the truck a very aggresive stance and handles OK at 55mph or under. You will feel the tires grab your steering wheel on grooved surfaces or at places the road has those "trenches" in the blacktop from heavy trucks. But it's not too bad. You will get a ton of improved ground clearance, ap angle, and dp angle. You will also get somew vibration in the steering wheel and floor boards.

So, there's my 2 cents on this lift.