SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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Joined: 12/14/2003
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What kind of trailer are you towing?
Most trucks now days are tall enough from the factory to fit a large size tire without doing anything to the springs. Heck, my basicaly stock F350 will fit 35x12.50's or 315's with no lift. I have 285's in the rear and 33's in the front with lots of clearance.
The problem with alot of lifted trucks is they use springs that are too soft and then they eliminate the factory rear sway bar and helper springs, so you end up with a truck that looks cool unloaded, but squats way down and sways around the curves once you put a load on it.
Same with the 'leveling kits' for the frontend. Lift the frontend so the truck looks nice sitting level when loaded, but then it squats down in the rear once you put a load on it. Trucks were made to sit high in the back when unloaded for a reason-- so they sit level with a load on.
Also as mentioned above, it makes it alot harder to level a fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer or haul truck camper when the truck is lifted too high. Another thing is the load height. If you intend to use the truck as a truck, for hauling things in the bed, it's alot easier to load and unload it if the bed is not so high up. I really laugh at some of these F650/GM4500-&-up pickup conversion trucks, as the pickup beds sit so rediculusly high up, who would want to ever have to lift something heavy up into it??
Also as mentioned above, the brakes become less effective the larger you go on the tire height, as well as the gearing becomming less effective to. Also the additional wear on ball joints from the larger heavier tires/wheels, especially if the wheels have less backspacing than the stock wheels. A little larger than stock tires usually won't hurt anything if you keep the same backspacing as stock, but the taller and wider you go, the more effect they have.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with lifting a truck and putting big tires on it. There is an off-road benefit with it, to an extent, and it certainly looks cool. It's just not really the greatest thing to do to a truck you intend to do alot of towing or hauling with.
I also agree that buying a used truck that someone else has already lifted and modified, you may be getting a truck that has been beat on by a young irresponsible owner with more money than brains. I also agree, I personally would rather do any modifications to the truck myself, that way I know what exactly has been done and I can choose the modifications carefully to suit my particular needs. The previous owner may have had needs much different than mine and may have caused more havoc for me to use the truck for my purposes.
92F350 CrewCab 4x4 351/C6
LoadNGo service body
69Bronco ATC250R CR500
20' BigTex flatbed carhauler
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SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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By the way, I like the band Switchfoot. 
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eightballsidepocket
San Jose, California, USA
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Joined: 09/20/2004
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If you could get a good buy on a lifted truck such as the one the author of this thread is looking at, what would be the cost to lower it back down to stock height and suspension setup?
I'd think a lifted P.U. would be cheaper or a potential "good buy" if you wanted a stock truck and the price to decommision the lifted style and restore it was reasonable for the pocket book.
You could probably sell the big tires on Craigslist along with all the lift kit equipment and maybe use that money to offset the cost restoring your newly acquired P.U. back to stock again?
Regards, Eightballsidepocket
2005 Dodge Ram 2500 SLT 4x2 Quad Cab, Cummins, 48RE Tranny, Lg Bed, Line-X Spray-on Bed Liner.
06 T25BS Komfort Trailblazer TT
"If you can't say it in person, it isn't worth saying while hiding behind an anonymous P.C.!"
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rsh_757
Auburn, WA
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Joined: 04/05/2006
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I had my truck lifted when it was new, I have my reasons and haven't suffered one percent in the towing dept. I tow a fifth wheel and have 8" clearance with the bed rails, the trailer did ride about an inch high until I changed my 35's to 285/75/17's. Now it is perfect!!! Of course, it isn't a huge suspension lift either.
That said, unless you know that it was a "pretty-boy" lift and the owner just did it for looks you can assume the guy did it for clearance like me, which means a hard life for the truck and probably for you too. I wouldn't buy my truck if someone else was selling it just by looking at it.
2008 Cougar 310SRX 5th Wheel
2005 Dodge Ram 2500 QC 4x4 CTD
2008 Nissan Armada LE
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Switchfoot
Kailua-Kona, HI
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Thanks for all of the replies. I am definetly not interested in the lifted trucks anymore. It was mainly the way they look that that I like but function and safety are far more important.
I was born with nothing and I still have some left.
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SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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Joined: 12/14/2003
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eightballsidepocket wrote:If you could get a good buy on a lifted truck such as the one the author of this thread is looking at, what would be the cost to lower it back down to stock height and suspension setup?
I'd think a lifted P.U. would be cheaper or a potential "good buy" if you wanted a stock truck and the price to decommision the lifted style and restore it was reasonable for the pocket book.
You could probably sell the big tires on Craigslist along with all the lift kit equipment and maybe use that money to offset the cost restoring your newly acquired P.U. back to stock again? Going by advertised used truck prices I have seen over the years, you pay about the same money for a lifted one as you do a stock one. Re-springing the lifted truck to stock would be a fair amount of money, as usually the previous owner does not have all the stock parts anymore to put back on the truck, so you're left either paying through the nose at the dealer, or scavenging the junk yards for all the steering and frontend parts, in addition to springs and shocks. Then there is shortening the driveshafts, acquiring new wheels and tires, and changing back the axle gears to the stock ratio (if the previous owner bothered to change them out to begin with.
Far too much money and hassle, in my opinion, when you can just buy a stock one and spend less in the long run and no hassle. Selling the used lift parts and wheels and tires, etc. on Craigs List will only bring in a small portion of what they cost new.
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SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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Joined: 12/14/2003
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Switchfoot wrote:Thanks for all of the replies. I am definetly not interested in the lifted trucks anymore. It was mainly the way they look that that I like but function and safety are far more important. The stock trucks are plenty tall and look very nice with a nice set of wheels and a little wider tires (or a little taller too) on them. One size up (265's -vs- 235's, for example) makes a big difference with few drawbacks.
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rob85546
Hot arizona
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Joined: 03/14/2006
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Being into the truck, RV, sand dune and lake scene for ahwile.. In them scenes there are MANY lifted trucks pulling every size trailer imaginable.
Not to start anything but seems most on here are on the more conservative side and older and prefer no lifts..
Go to dieselplace.com or some of the truck specific sites and there are MANY who lift thier trucks...Kind of the popular IN-THING now it seems...
That being said, I do think it effects things and if I was towing a RV ALOT I would probably not have a lift. My truck I just have the front level and bigger tires....
2007 GMC DURAMAX,LBZ,4 by Crew, Allison
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rob85546
Hot arizona
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Lifting a truck DOES NOT add to the blue book value... although I noticed when the truck places that sell them try to get alot more out of them when they have lifts, and they DO sell THEM..... like I said its the In thing and then those can finance the whole package..
I remember a few years back I was looking at a place in phoenix selling a 2003 8.1 chevy with a new lift and tires... it was after midnight when I was on their website... Loved the truck, so I KBB the truck and then in the morning I called them and they wanted 11k more than the KBB.. I told him that and he said well it has a new lift and tires......
..FUNNY try trading one with a lift..... Oh we cant give more for it..... then when they sell it their selling point is oh it has a lift....
SoCalDesertRider wrote:eightballsidepocket wrote:If you could get a good buy on a lifted truck such as the one the author of this thread is looking at, what would be the cost to lower it back down to stock height and suspension setup?
I'd think a lifted P.U. would be cheaper or a potential "good buy" if you wanted a stock truck and the price to decommision the lifted style and restore it was reasonable for the pocket book.
You could probably sell the big tires on Craigslist along with all the lift kit equipment and maybe use that money to offset the cost restoring your newly acquired P.U. back to stock again? Going by advertised used truck prices I have seen over the years, you pay about the same money for a lifted one as you do a stock one. Re-springing the lifted truck to stock would be a fair amount of money, as usually the previous owner does not have all the stock parts anymore to put back on the truck, so you're left either paying through the nose at the dealer, or scavenging the junk yards for all the steering and frontend parts, in addition to springs and shocks. Then there is shortening the driveshafts, acquiring new wheels and tires, and changing back the axle gears to the stock ratio (if the previous owner bothered to change them out to begin with.
Far too much money and hassle, in my opinion, when you can just buy a stock one and spend less in the long run and no hassle. Selling the used lift parts and wheels and tires, etc. on Craigs List will only bring in a small portion of what they cost new.
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Road Ruler
Canada
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Joined: 09/11/2003
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rob85546 wrote:Lifting a truck DOES NOT add to the blue book value... although I noticed when the truck places that sell them try to get alot more out of them when they have lifts, and they DO sell THEM..... .
Yup, there is only one Grave Digger but 1,000's of Grave Digger wan a bee's.
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