[Muskalade]

I am wondering what lift to do on my 1985 Dodge Ram w150.
I have considered the 4,6 and 8 inch lift kits. I am wondering what i would have to do to use the 4, or 6 or 8 inch kits. I like the looks of the 8inch kit with 49inch tires but i dont want to do to much to get the kits to work properly.

 

[Dodge 85 RC]

With the 8 inch kit you won't fit 49's unless you breakout the sawzall and leave no trace of your fenders....

 

[santak]

no expert here, but the higher the lift the more work you have. Guess it really depends on what you want to do with your truck, since it's not only the lift itself (try running those 49" on a D44 and I am pretty certain you won't like the results):

4" is usually no problem, and requires very little additional work, such as steering correction. But usually your driveshafts are fine, maybe you need to lengthen your brake lines.

above that you get to lengthen your driveshafts, steering geometry, lift laws....

I myself decided on the tire size I want and then looked around which is the minimum I need and that's what I'm getting

 

[Guest]

49's....... hmm you need about 18" of lift and rockwell axles........

 

[Muskalade]

I also plan on doing a 3 inch body lift on it. And puttin some heavy duty axles with 5.13 gears in it. And ya with the 8 and the 3 lift the truck can handle the 49's. But i dont know if I will go that big or not which is highly unlikeable considering the friggin prices for the tires. So I will more than likely go with 42's or 44's

 

[BrianT]

Actually this is omethign u need ot definitely do some good research on . Most of the time it seems to run a huge tire like a 44 and above take alot of lift and fab work . you are looking at at least 4 grand in lift and tires if not more if u pay some shop to do it add another 3 grand . So u know u can weld 10 inches of blocks and be done in about 2 days and have a death trap . Umm..... I think if you look at like 37 inch tires and 8 inches of lift maybe only 6 inch lift and a shackle flip front and rear would be bad ass if u ask me .

 

[santak]

ok, so let me repeat this:
you want an 8" suspension lift, a 3" body lift, HD axles and 40 something tires. And what was your question again? What you would have to do with a 4", 6" and 8" kit? Uhm, sorry, i don't follow. Forget a 4" lift if you want more than 40", even with 3" body it won't give you, what you need, or you break out the swazall, that's an alternative.
The 6" and 3" body might work. With an 8" lift on a short wheel based vehicle you will be getting trouble with your drive shafts. From what I read on here, a lot of people drop their t-case to counter this. Do a search on the vehicle help and tech board, usernames that could have posted something in that direction include kyot, cleandust and logjam. To get an idea of their rigs, look in the pic section.
Other than, it seems like you're taking apart half your truck anyways, so it probably doesn't matter if there is some more work, uh?

 

[Sam Simpson]

You will need more then 8" of lift to fit 49's. I had 13" on my RC with 40x17's on 14" wide wheels and I still hit the fender when wheeling. 1/2 ton axles will not last with 49" tires and without the right gearing your tranny won't either.

 

[Muskalade]

Well you make it sound good Brian. The more and more I look at the prices the more and more i think smaller lol. I will more than likely do a 6 maybe even a 4 inch lift. Whats the largest tires i can get by with a 6 inch lift and a 3inch body lift? And the same for a 4 inch lift.

 

[santak]

w/o body lift, a 6" suspension should allow for 35x12.5 on a 15x10 rim with no problem. A 36 fits in most cases, but every truck seems to be a little different.
for the 4" 33x12.50 on a 15x10 rim is a sure fit.

That said, some members on here run 4" suspension plus 3" body lift with 37" boggers....so that should give you a ballpark. But again, it depends also on the tire manufacturer (not all tires are the same physical size), the rim, backspacing etc.

 

[Muskalade]

Santak i didnt see yours or RCC_SaMiaM post's until i posted a reply to brians. The truck is a long wheel base. I was just mostly hoping to use the 49's but if i cant thats ok. I think a 6 inch lift with a 3inch body is what im going to go with. On the 6 inch lift what problems will I have with the driveshafts and steering? The motor is going to be a 383 more than likely although I may end up stroking it to make a 426. The axle's are definately going to be replaced because i already tore out the 9 1/4 and I only have a 318 2brl and stock wheels and tires. What axle's do you all recommend? I also plan on using a gear like a 5.13 or numerically higher one. The tire size will be what I can get by with using the 6 and the 3 lift. The truck is a 1985 Dodge Power Ram w150 Royal SE long wheel base. The body and bed is not rusted at all but the bed is dented pretty bad. Do you all think a long wheel base will look good fixed up?

 

[santak]

on a long wheel base you will definitely have a little more play with the driveline angle for the rear drive shaft. However, most likely the front shaft will still need to be lengthened, I don't think that there is difference on long or short wheel base regarding the placement of the t-case on the vehicle. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Regarding the steering, I would probably aim for a cross over steering with that amount of lift, instead of trying to fix everything up with dropped pitman arm and whatnot. Depends on what you can afford.
With axles, what do you want to do? Mud racing, Rock climbing, daily driver? I mean rockwells sound cool and all, but the question is, do you need them? How about some unimog portal axles? Gain some clearance. Personally, I would go first with a D60 setup and see how it goes. If I keep breaking these things for whatever reason, I still can go bigger in that area.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say

 

[Muskalade]

Well I dont really plan on doing some mud and rocks but if the mood hits me right I want to be able to go off roading or just climb some hills. The truck will be mainly a daily driver.

 

[Dodge 85 RC]

D60's would be a good combo, or theres always the 14 bolts out of GM's too.

 

[RXT]

The taller you lift a truck, the more work you have to put into it. It sounds like you want to spend alot of money and put in alot of work for a daily driver. If you want to keep it simple and better at daily driving, go with less lift and a radial tire. The biggest radial tires are 38 inches tall. For the 38s you can use your existing axles although they are just about at their limit for tire size. To clear 38s you'll need the 6 inch lift with perhaps a 3 inch body lift.

Ed

 

[Muskalade]

Well I dont care about the money going into the lift i just want it to look good and what i want is it to be jacked in the air. I have decided to go with a 6inch susp and 3 in body lift. With D60 front and back axles. Thanks everyone for your help and if I have anymore questions i will know where to go to get them .