right now i have some american racing 18 inch rims on my 2wd 2000 ram extended cab, well the guy at americas tires told me they were 18's. im not positive either way since i got it used and it had them on when i bought it. but when i crank the wheel hard either direction i hear what sounds like light rubbing. ive never heard tires rub so im not sure if thats what it is but i noticed it a few days ago when i pulled onto the main road from a side street and had to make a hard turn and my radio happened to be down and i was like..wtf is that. its not very loud but i noticed it. anyway when these tires wear down i really want to put 22's on my truck (im in cali and its all about show here..no worries i'll work on go when i get the money :-p ) and i was wondering if these tires are rubbing what happens if i stick bigger rims on.

i was planning on lifting it anywhere from 2 to 4 inches because the previous owner (i think) lifted it a little bit but i want it just a little bit more. not soo high you are above everyone but when i pull in the garage theres a good 6 inches and everytime i look up its a reminder that i could be higher and it bothers me. anyway i was wondering if anyone had any experience with how big of rims/tires will fit on a stock ram cus i have no idea if he lifted it, how high he put it up.

the tires i have now are toyo proxes and they say 305/60r18 120v i have absolutely no idea what that means so if someone could enlighten me that would be wonderful. i plan on waiting until these tires need replacement before i switch to the bigger rims but i want to make sure everything will fit and if not what kind of lift i should do.

ive read a little on lifts but im not sure if i just get a suspension lift if that will help create more room or if im going to need a body lift, because if im going to have to lift it up i'll do that before i need new tires as opposed to putting the new rims/tires on and finding out too late that i need to lift it as well.. i use my truck more for messing around and racing then off roading since its a 2wd so im not going to need huge tires but i need to know if im going to have to lift it up before i try to put new rims on. the guy at the dealer didn't say anything about needing to lift but i trust you guys more then some guy just looking to make money

 

with a 4 inch suspension lift, it would be prety hard to get tires to rub. if its only a light rubbing, if it is indeed the tires, any lift would get rid of it with the current tires.

 

The tire size you're running is equal to 32.3 inches (diameter) and about 12.5 inches wide, which is pretty big for a 2wd truck. From the factory, it should have come with a 245/75/16, which equals 30.5" x 7.6".

I doubt the previous owner lifted your truck any, because there's only a two inch difference in tire height. Although you can get body lifts in one or two inch increments, the most popular is a three inch lift, and suspensions lifts generally start at four inches.

You have a few choices here. One, you can go with a smaller tire size if possible (I'm not sure as to what's available for 18 inch wheels). Second, you could go with a body lift. Third, you could go with a suspension lift. Fourth, you could run a set of 3/4 or 1 ton springs in the front (I believe they provide about 2" of lift), or fifth, you could go with coil spacers.

I'm assuming you just want to lift the front a tad, but not the whole truck, so personally, I would go with coil spacers if I was you. They'll provide you with two inches of lift, without affecting ride quality (unlike a suspension lift or a set of 3/4 or 1 ton springs). A lot of people buy coil spacers to level out their trucks (if you noticed, the front end of the Ram sits a touch lower than the rear), but I think they'll work out good for your applications. It'll level up the truck, provide you with enough room to clear the tires, and I think they cost around $80-90.

 

im thinking of getting lower profile tires when i upgrade to the 22's the tires now are huge to me because my mother drives an echo and when i bought my truck its like going from a gremlin to a monster truck. i just don't want to cause any problems when i drive

i was thinking of lifting it all up a few inches since if you are ever out here... or at least where i live everyone has lifted stuff. SUV's seem to be really popular with like 6 inch lift kits its insane you see these moms lifting infants in and out of them and just laugh.

at one point i was even considering lowing it to a sport rake with airbags for racing around but since my "racing" only takes place when im messing around on the streets and a civic or some guy with a truck wants to play around with me it didn't seem like that would be a good idea. plus then you have to get a cover for the bed so the air tanks don't get messed up and i really didn't want to get one of them.

i want something that will turn heads with the rims and tires. i allready have a really really good stereo system. but the toyos are wearing down so i had to start looking in to what i wanted to do there isntead of the performance upgrades i wanted. my original goal was to make this a show truck, but one that doesn't just look good that could also smoke you if you got in my way. but after my seriously expensive stereo i realized show might not be for me since i don't have the money to pull it off right why do it at all

i was just looking through a truck magazine at tires and i for sure don't need mudders or stuff like that i jsut want soemthign that will hug the ground nice but if i end up moving north or out east i won't be completely screwed in the wet and snow either

now i had heard (reading around this foruma t one point) that body lifts were worse then suspension lifts because you stress a lot of different parts and you have to perform more maintenence and stuff like that. is that true? beacuase if it is i might have to go with a suspension lift... its not something i need. i mean when i look at the truck i don't go darn thats low... but when i bought it my neighbor went out and bought a suburban thats like...6 or more inches higher then mine... i think thats dumb though cus he has to jump to get in and one time he almost fell back out .. its jsut ive always liked likfted trucks and even though it may not be needed. i think it woudl look cool.

but either way it looks like i have to call and find out what the daimeter tires that go with the 22 inch rims are and compare them to what i have now

is there any brand you guys like more then another when it comes to lift kits whethere they be suspension or body lift?

 

Since you want to lift the whole truck, it's really a personal choice as to which way to go. A body lift will expose more of the frame, but your ride quality will remain the same. A suspension lift will affect ride quality because it uses stiffer springs.

Well, body lifts aren't worse than suspension lifts, but they're kind of considered the "poor" way to lift a truck since they're so cheap and easy to put in. The down side is if you like a clean looking truck, a body lift will expose more of the frame. You'll also have to lengthen the shifter rod by welding in a little piece of steel rod, lengthen the brake lines at the master cylinder (usually can just uncoil them a bit), lower the radiator fan shroud, lenthen the steering shaft (or swap to a Borgenson shaft), and replace your current bumper brackets with lift brackets so you don't have a big gap between them and the body (should be included in the kit).

With a suspension lift, if you keep it at 4", might require a few things....a drop pitman arm, might have to lengthen the rubber brake lines (some do, some don't. each truck is drifferent), an aftermarket trac bar like the DT unit, you might have to put in some correction shims to keep the u-joint angles on the rear driveshaft the same, and maybe even a lengthen the driveshaft (again, some do, some don't. each truck is different).

A body lift will run you about $100, but I think suspension lifts begin around $1000, so that's something else you have to consider too. Then you have installation costs on top of that if you're going to have a shop do it.

There's pro's and con's to both kind of lifts, but not enough to really sway you one way or another, atleast I don't think so. Like I said, it's really a personal decision on which way to go.

 

Look around on line for the suspension kits...I've got a 98 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4, and I've found 2" and 3" suspension lifts starting around $200-300. Bear in mind though, that most of the cheaper suspension lifts don't come with shocks, so you'll end up dropping about another hundred on them too. It also depends on what type of front end you have. I've got a Dana 44 with coilovers, but if you've got an IFS, it might be more expensive to lift your truck.

 

Just out curiosity, who makes 2" suspension lifts? I've seen a few (very few) 3", but never a 2". Thanks.

 

Rough Country and Revtek both do a 2" spacer lift, Tuff COuntry, Rancho and Trailmaster all have a 2" lift and Superlift has a 2.5" suspension lift