3" lift and 33" tires questions

[BigandTall]

I finally got my 1995 4wd 4 door Tahoe home. I've done all kinds of research on lifts and tire size combos and all that I feel that I've accomplished is going crosseyed by reading all the numbers. My situation is as follows... I want to run a set of 285/75-16 Dick Cepek Mud Country tires

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mounted onto a set of 16"x8" 4" backspace Dick Cepek DC2 rims

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. I don't want a 6" lift kit bc it's more work than I'm interested in doing and I want to still fit in my garage when I'm done. I've found a 3" lift kit from Rough Country for $600.http://www.roughcountry.com/gm-suspension-lift-kit-165.html so my questions are

Question 1: Do I really need to buy that kit or can I just put in 3" lift blocks with longer shocks out back and crank up the torsion bars out front?
Question 2: Is a 3" lift going to be enough from factory height to run this size tires? An online tire height calculator says the new tires are 32.8" tall vs the current tires that are 245/70-16 or 29.5"' tall. If by some chance those tires are too small for that lift, whats the biggest tires I can run on the 3" lift?(I'm not afraid to cut plastic from my inner fenders).

 

[SkyHighColorado]

3" lift is big enough to run the tires you want.
You can really only crank the front 2" stock keys can crank all the way. I always hear problems with that 3" kit. Since you don't want to do that much work on suspension I recommend a 3" body lift + 2" block and crank. Lots of people have done this can cleared 33" tires no problem. You could even just so the 2" body and block n crank.

 

[SCOTTYINWV]

You could clear 285s with just a crank

 

[kamokevin]

Question 1: Do I really need to buy that kit or can I just put in 3" lift blocks with longer shocks out back and crank up the torsion bars out front?
Question 2: Is a 3" lift going to be enough from factory height to run this size tires? An online tire height calculator says the new tires are 32.8" tall vs the current tires that are 245/70-16 or 29.5"' tall. If by some chance those tires are too small for that lift, whats the biggest tires I can run on the 3" lift?(I'm not afraid to cut plastic from my inner fenders).

Answer 1: Rough Country's 3" kit is hardy worth the $600. Sure it will give you slightly better CV joint angles and upper(?) ball joint angles but it does nothing to help with the altered steering geometry and lower(?) ball joint angle that will result from this kit. Honestly it's a glorified torsion bar crank considering the price.

Answer 2: Yes. 3" higher from the factory is high enough, but you don't even need that. I am running 285/75/16's on my stock height 4DR 4WD Tahoe. The only cranking I did was 1/4" on the driver side to level it out with the passenger side. The tires rubbed ever so slightly at full lock while the suspension was compressing (so very rarely). I solved this by cutting off a small sliver of my bumper on each side. As shown below. You could also crank more if you don't want to trim the bumper.

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[Purefection]

I'm running those same tires with nothing but a crank. If ur gonna go 3" u can fit 35s

 

[BigandTall]

Awesome! Thanks for the replies. If I don't need the lift kit to clear those tires, I'll be saving that money to put towards more upgrades like brakes and better sounding exhaust.

 

[ShadowRejects]

i ran 35's with 2" block and crank on my truck for about a year with small issues,

they rubbed terribly when i hit a speed bump/curb and when i would pull a u-ie. but other than that, they ran fine.

please dont waste money on a torsion key lift, its not worth it.... just crank your factory bars and run 33's and you will have no issues,

 

[dirtridinz71]

This is with 33x12x15 mud countrys on 15x8 rims with 3.75" backspacing with 2" block and cranked to level. Ride sucked and wore out front end parts in no time

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/GoFastCat/100_1122.jpg

With a 3" block the rake would look terrible or the amount of crank would be WAY to extreme

 

[RHamill]

Ive had a 3" body lift, 2" block and crank on my front end, still have original riveted in ball joints, no problems and I drive 85 miles a day every day but sunday.

 

[96k1500]

I had 285x75r16 on my 95 yukon 4 door 4wd and just cranked the front some(the one in my signature)