I recently bought a 98' Ram 1500- shortbed, it ISN'T 4x4- everything stock. Don't know much about trucks at all, I used to drive a Civic. So this is a huge change for me. But i am looking to try and fit some 36' tires on this sucker. How much of a lift would I need? What is the cheapest and easiest way to go? Would I need new springs or anything else along with a suspension/ and or body lift? I was thinking about perhaps getting a 3' suspension lift and a 2' body lift. Is this higher than needed to clear 36' tires? Please shed some light on this situation for me. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

why do you want to put 36's on a 2x4?? just for the looks? 3" will clear 33 12.50's 5" total with the 3" suspension and 2" body should clear you 36's but that's just my opinion i've seen people put 35's on 3" lifts. if you do suspension lifts remember anything bigger than 3" and you're going to have to add control arms and whole bunches of stuff to the list of parts.

just my two pennies

 

It is kind of stupid, but yes, the lift is basically just for looks. Any recomendations/ suggestions on a cheap 3" suspension lift and 2" body lift? Thanks for the help!

 

Don't forget, if you want to have any kind of power and/or fuel mileage with 36's, you will need to change your gears. It'll be a serious dog if you don't. I would go with 4.88 personally, but no less then 4.56.

 

Silver_Dodge, what kinda money am I looking at to change my gears?

 

Rule of thumb is $300-$500 per diff. Your lucky it is just a 2x4. 4x4's have to do both differentials.

 

Your going to spend well over 1000 bux to do this......unless you already have some 36's laying around...

 

Well, I have money saved for the tires. But I am just trying to figure out how much to lift the truck just to fit them on. Will not upgrading gears slow my Ram down a lot? I might pay the price with a lower mpg for a few months to save some money to upgrade gears.

 

Consider this. Stock tire size is 30.5", and stock gear is 3.55. Compare the stock tire size with 36's with 3:55 gears on this gear chart.
http://4wheelparts.com/4wp/assets/!!!---CHARTS---!!!/chart_gear-ratio.htm

Also, compare RPM's with this RPM calculator:
http://www.differentials.com/calc.html

 

You will have nooo power and gas will kill you without re-gearing it.