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Doing my first lift.

Jeff Carr

Jeff Carr

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I'm going to be installing my first lift on a 1990 Jimmy. I'm going with a 6 inch Rough Country and will be putting on 37X14.50 15's Toyo MT's. Beyond the kit itself I have extended brake lines, a swaybar drop kit, dual stabilizers, and a transfer case drop. Is there anything else I will need and how involved is the transfer case drop and do I really need it? It also looks like the front drive shaft may hit the exhaust. Any suggestions and pointers about the install would be great.
 
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You prob. want to use the t-case drop so you shafts dont bind and rip through u-joints. It's easy to do. Get a jack nice and snug under it, unbolt, it lower it, slide in the spacers, bolt it back together.

K30guy should chime in soon...he knows his ****.

good luck
 
I just read a bunch of posts with people having all kinds of drive line issues with a 6 inch lift which I didn't expect. I really like the look of the 6 inch but not sure I want all the hassles of possibly lenghthening the drive shafts and the vibrations and grinding a lot of people experience. My truck is my daily driver so what I put on needs to work. Maybe a 4inch and 35's would be a better way to go. I have 33's stock with little trimming. Would the 37's work with a 4inch and maybe a little more trimming. My truck doesn't see any real hardcore trails just some playing here and there.

If I were to stick with a 6inch lift what would I be looking at as far as pricing to get my drive shafts lengthened? Since I do mostly street driving I don't need any hardcore drive shaft parts. I would prefer not to drop the transfer case so would shimming the axles keep me from having to do this? I've also read a couple of posts of using a spacer on the front drive shaft.
 
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If you aren't doing any hardcore offroading you shoudn't need to lengthen your driveshafts. The kit will have a picture in it about shaving a section down on your CV. If you do that and the TC drop, you will be just fine. The 6 in is the same lift I have on my truck and that's all I did. Nothing vibrates, or leaks, any worse than it did before.
 
How do you like the kit and the way it rides? When you dropped your TC did you have any front drive shaft issues?
 
Once I did the trimming on the CV, I didn't have any problems. Just so you know, the RC springs are pretty damn stiff. If you like your truck to ride like a truck then you'll be fine though.
 
I have a 4 inch lift with 37" swampers. I initially did just a small bit of trimming so they would clear when turning on the street and it worked just fine. Once I hit the rocks here in socal the tires tried to do there own trim job. what they didnt get I ended up taking off with an angle grinder.
 
Well, after reading about a million threads I think I will be going with a 4 inch lift and 35's. I don't want all the headaches of a 6inch lift and I think that plus 37's on a stock drivetrain will be too much for it to handle. Also most people seem to be getting about 5 inches of lift out of the Rough Country.
 
I dont think you will need a sway bar with a rough country lift. I have a 4" RC lift it handles fine without the sway bar. With the bar the ride up front is very stiff.. I have had no problems without the sway bar. my k5 is a DD and I tow quite often.
here are the instructions for the 4" Lift. it may answer some of your questions. http://www.roughcountry.com/install/145S.pdf
You can also DL instructions for the 6' off their site.
Also. dropping the t case is a piece of cake and gives you better angles on your drive lines. I dropped mine and have 0 vibrations at 45 -55 where K5 with lifts commonly vibrate. U joints last a long time.
 
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