hello all-
so i have a 03 dodge ram 1500 4x4. its got the torsion bars for the front suspension. im planning on lifting it shortly and just need some direction on who to go with on lift. im looking to go 4''. but i dont want to put any extra stress on cv's. so who makes a quality kit that wont burn through cvs and will ride smoothly on and off road. thx for any help

 

Welcome to the site. Check out Rough Country for their 4wd lifts.

 

I agree the rough country lifts are nice but I think there is a poll and a little info in the faqs. Check it out man.

 

For 4" it's Rancho. I researched the hell out of it before I bought mine. I installed body lifts on three of my previous trucks but had never done a full suspension lift.
I rode in or drove what musta been a dozen trucks with various lifts and asked a ton of questions, mostly of guys in my hunting club where 90% of the guys have a lifted truck.

What I found is that I wanted a kit that left the CVs at or near stock levels and had a full sub-frame as opposed to just a crossmember or two.

This kit IS NOT cheap, it replaces a good bit of stock front end steering and suspension components that other kits do not and therefore costs as much if not more than many 6" kits. The nice thing is the tie rods they give you are not only oversized, but unlike the stock ones are greasable.

I had one tie rod go on me last fall (5+ years after I bought this kit and installed it) and a call to Rancho to find out where I could purchase a replacement not only got me a free one (under warranty - still) but they told me they would send me two because I was going to have to have an alignment done, and it'd be better to replace both at the same time rather than have the other go and have to pay for an alignment again.

NOW THAT'S CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

The one to stay clear of for a torsion front end is the Fabtech - almost everyone I know personally (and a few members on here) are on their second or third CV axles with that kit.

A couple of pics w/ Cepek FCII 35" tires:

 

Hammer is this the kit you have?

http://www.roughcountry.com/dodge_4wd_02-05_5x.html

I was thinking about getting this one when i get enough money for bigger tires too

 

Sorry i read that wrong you have a rancho. Do you know anything about that rough country one i posted?

 

It was not out when I bought mine.

This is the Rancho kit I have:



I don't personally know anyone with the Rough Country on a Ram, but I do know a guy with their torsion front 4x4 Chevy kit, just about identical and he's pleased with it.

The shocks are your generic white Tenneco shock, so they are made by the same company who makes Rancho and Monroe shocks.

Most guys who have the kit on the forum seem to like it. It's a good bit cheaper than the Rancho kit. It appears to have a boxed sub-frame, unlike some of the chintzier kits, these are not simply a pipe that goes across.
Drop brackets are there, so the CVs shouldn't be at a bad angle.

Only thing sticks out to me that it doesn't include that the Rancho does are larger, greasable tie rod ends, the stock ones have trouble with stock 33" tires and tend to wear out fast, but with the savings, you could always go out and pick up a couple of Moog tie rod ends and still be ahead of the game.

Over-all, looks to me like a solid lift kit...

 

awesome- those were some of the answers i was looking for. just wanted to verify. leaning towards rancho or rough country. thanks

 

What would y'all go with on the rear with a 4" lift? 2" or 3" blocks? I want it so set level and I don't tow. Maybe haul around random stuff every now and then. Also if someone goes with this lift can they add on in future to a 6" lift?

 

You want probably 2" in the back with 4" in the front

The trucks are weird though so you need to
Measure yours and see what will make you level