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Bought New Truck! Go IFS Lift or SAS, Tow Rig!

K5-CJ5 said:
So I went looking at trucks again trying to decide what to do, and drove a 2004 ram 3500 5.9HO cummins 4x4 long bed, Gotta say I was impressed with the wya it rode and the power it had. It has 143000 miles on it and seems to be in pretty good shape. Its and AT. Anything I should specifically look at on this year model truck? Im thinking I may just pull the trigger and get this newer truck.
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My .02:

It boils down to what you want to "upgrade."

You can take an old truck and put a hot powerplant in it. You still have an old truck, with all of the benefits and hassles thereof. An older truck is cheaper to register/insure, but often lacks creature comforts and such. If your existing rig is comfortable to you and you're okay with the generally higher likelihood of breakage, go that way. (I say "generally higher" as, all else being equal, an older vehicle is more prone to failure than a newer one.) A motor swap might also mean smog hassles to deal with with.

Or you can get a newer truck. In (again, grossly) general terms it will have a better ride, more comfort and/or features than an older truck, and be (again, generally) more reliable. In this scenario you don't have to deal with special emissions hoop-jumping.

I recently went through this with my utility/tow rig, and though my case is admittedly more extreme (I jumped forward 40 years, 1974-2014), I opted to stop putting time and money into the old and get a new truck.

Of course you'll do your research on the new(er) ones to see what motors/trannies to get or to avoid ... but I'd recommend strongly looking at the new vehicle scenario. Might cost a bit more $$ up front, but could save you time and frustration and gain you peace of mind. I'm pleased 'cuz I can now focus my time on keeping one truck running instead of being split between two.
-- A
 
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I ended up buying a newer rig instead of doing a swap.

No regrets yet,............................ and it is a Ford
 
Ok guys so in my search I came across a clean 99 K3500 CC longbed, Vortec 454, 4l80E etc. Runs great, handles great, 92k original miles! Now it needs tires, and some front en work...so, gonna do a small lift IFS, or possibly a solid axle swap. Was curious what the cost difference is between the two, as it seems like they are close to the same given the fact the ifs lift is 2k alone.

Thanks
 
Look on ORD web site they do the swap kits as well as DIY, then you would have to buy the other parts and an axle.
 
So im thinking that all things considered, the IFS setup would actually do better than a SAS for a street driven Tow Rig....Im not gonna argue the strength of a Solid Axle, but for towing, ride etc I think a mild IFS lift will be perfect.....What do you all think?

Looking at ProComp and Skyjacker for the IFS lift.
 
I do not like stock IFS on my blazer. So I am no help all I do know is the straight axles walk up the mountain roads here better due to the dozer ruts!





Oh and now that the truck question is solved I say paint the white one green and put a utility box on it.. :whistle:
 
Im leaning towards replacing the ball joints that need replaced and leaving it stock. Its just a tow rig, not ever gonna be wheeled. I have an FJ40 and jeep for the mountain road ruts:D
 
No sense in messing up a truck that doesn't need to messed with.
 
My 2 cents having owned a bunch of the 88-98 trucks. I have one now that is SAS and I like it but would I do it again...probably not for a driver. I don't burn through idler, pitman arm or wheel bearings but to keep it a nice driver it has taken A LOT of work. If your going to wheel it or want the cool factor SAS it but it ain't cheap. I decided to do because I knew I wanted a big wheel/wide tire, my complete frontend was worn out and I wanted to sas one.

Do yourself a huge favor and either leave it stock or spend the money on an RCD lift. They run about $1800 but come with bilstein 5100 shocks. The RCD says its a 6" but it actually a 4" if you leave the torsion bars un-cranked. The RCD lift is the only lift that doesn't use a dropped centerlink and leaves the upper control arms in the stock location. This reduces the wear on the idler and pitman arms and allows near factory alignment specs that don't "move". Even left stock these trucks burn through idler/pitman arms in 70K. All the other brand lifts lower the upper control arms and use a dropped centerlink. I had a 98 K3500 with a Tuff country and it was terrible to keep aligned. In fact the 98 I have now had a tuff country in it before I put the Dana 60 in it. Being a long bed you will have driveline vibrations just off idle because of the 2 piece driveline. It can be fixed but isn't as easy as dropping the crossmember because the carrier bearing sits on top of the crossmember and the crossmember is riveted to the frame.

Check the intake gaskets on your truck they are notorious for leaking. My K3500 started leaking at 100K and my K2500 started leaking at 75K. Other than that the other problem they tend to have is injector problems which you will know from hard hot starts.

Sorry for the long post.

PM me if you have any questions.
 
86454K30 said:
My 2 cents having owned a bunch of the 88-98 trucks. I have one now that is SAS and I like it but would I do it again...probably not for a driver. I don't burn through idler, pitman arm or wheel bearings but to keep it a nice driver it has taken A LOT of work. If your going to wheel it or want the cool factor SAS it but it ain't cheap. I decided to do because I knew I wanted a big wheel/wide tire, my complete frontend was worn out and I wanted to sas one.

Do yourself a huge favor and either leave it stock or spend the money on an RCD lift. They run about $1800 but come with bilstein 5100 shocks. The RCD says its a 6" but it actually a 4" if you leave the torsion bars un-cranked. The RCD lift is the only lift that doesn't use a dropped centerlink and leaves the upper control arms in the stock location. This reduces the wear on the idler and pitman arms and allows near factory alignment specs that don't "move". Even left stock these trucks burn through idler/pitman arms in 70K. All the other brand lifts lower the upper control arms and use a dropped centerlink. I had a 98 K3500 with a Tuff country and it was terrible to keep aligned. In fact the 98 I have now had a tuff country in it before I put the Dana 60 in it. Being a long bed you will have driveline vibrations just off idle because of the 2 piece driveline. It can be fixed but isn't as easy as dropping the crossmember because the carrier bearing sits on top of the crossmember and the crossmember is riveted to the frame.

Check the intake gaskets on your truck they are notorious for leaking. My K3500 started leaking at 100K and my K2500 started leaking at 75K. Other than that the other problem they tend to have is injector problems which you will know from hard hot starts.

Sorry for the long post.

PM me if you have any questions.
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Thanks! Staying stock for now...The intake gaskets are good, right now, and it starts great cold and hot...Easy enough to do when needed. I will need to do the valve cover gaskets in the future as they are starting to seep just a bit.
 
In 2004 I bought my 05' Duramax. When I picked it up at the dealer I vowed to never lift it and never take it "four wheeling". It was to be a towrig and my DD period.

This has been the hardest thing I have done to date, but I DD it, have no issues with jumping in and doing a trip with a camper and buggy on trailer at the drop of the hat, etc.

IMO if it's your towrig, DD type vehicle keep it close to stock and use the things you have built that need the towrig for fun.
 
miniwally said:
In 2004 I bought my 05' Duramax. When I picked it up at the dealer I vowed to never lift it and never take it "four wheeling". It was to be a towrig and my DD period.

This has been the hardest thing I have done to date, but I DD it, have no issues with jumping in and doing a trip with a camper and buggy on trailer at the drop of the hat, etc.

IMO if it's your towrig, DD type vehicle keep it close to stock and use the things you have built that need the towrig for fun.
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I have a bunch of friends that tow with their lifted diesels and they are always fixing ball joints, hubs(unit bearing) and other stuff. Hell Mrclean just ended up throwing a rear driveshaft on his f250 probably because of the lift. I've been meaning to pick up a leveling kit for my dmax but it fits 285's fine and tows great so why bother. Plus I can run standard hitches.
 
K5-CJ5 said:
Im leaning towards replacing the ball joints that need replaced and leaving it stock. Its just a tow rig, not ever gonna be wheeled. I have an FJ40 and jeep for the mountain road ruts:D
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+1
Save the money for power/brake upgrades and the play toy.

My tow rig is a 2000 K3500 SRW CC with 6.5 TD/4L80E and I towed home a 310A JD backhoe. WAY more than you want to tow with a 6.5TD!

Our truck has 140K with original ball joints and tie rods. The idler/pitman and one wheel hub has been replaced. Next big repair will be the A-arm bushings as they are starting to break down.
 
jekquistk5 said:
I have a bunch of friends that tow with their lifted diesels and they are always fixing ball joints, hubs(unit bearing) and other stuff. Hell Mrclean just ended up throwing a rear driveshaft on his f250 probably because of the lift. I've been meaning to pick up a leveling kit for my dmax but it fits 285's fine and tows great so why bother. Plus I can run standard hitches.
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I think the lifted badass looking towrig is a mistake that everyone has to make for themselves to understand why we have very close to stock towrigs.

I have 285s on hummer rims and knock on wood still have the original unit bearings on mine. I've had to do ball joints and steering stuff but some of that has to do with the fact I do live in rural Colorado and drive on wash board and potholed roads on a daily basis.

Otherwise it's exhaust and a small tuner just to make it work better. After 5 years of going to California at least once if not twice a year grossing near 20,000# I think it's a solid combination.
 
miniwally said:
I think the lifted badass looking towrig is a mistake that everyone has to make for themselves to understand why we have very close to stock towrigs.

I have 285s on hummer rims and knock on wood still have the original unit bearings on mine. I've had to do ball joints and steering stuff but some of that has to do with the fact I do live in rural Colorado and drive on wash board and potholed roads on a daily basis.

Otherwise it's exhaust and a small tuner just to make it work better. After 5 years of going to California at least once if not twice a year grossing near 20,000# I think it's a solid combination.
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:thumb:

I have replaced the drivers unit bearing twice, and it was replaced before I replaced it. Pretty sure Duralast wasn't the oem part. :haha::haha: I installed a timkin and it failed in 3 years. I hope the new timkin lasts longer than 3 years. They are not cheap at about 300 a pop, and yes I did torque to exact spec.
 
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