This is the truth. Those 3" lift kits may have a few extra parts in them to make them look more like a real lift kit, but they are still mostly a crank but with a few extra Band-Aids thrown in to tempt you.
Then only way to keep good angles with a lift kit is for everything to be dropped the full amount of the lift. Those 3" kits may drop your diff an inch or two (again, to seem more like a "real" lift) but your arms and other components are still stressed just as much as if you had just cranked it. A real lift kit (Like the 4" and 6" kits that cost $1000+) either drop or extend everything so that all the parts are in their stock positions relative to each other, just farther below the truck than before.
IMO there are two right ways and two wrong ways to do lift these trucks. (Excluding SAS, that's it's own thing
)
Right:
1) Slight crank and run some 33's on modest wheels.
2) Full blown lift kit. 4" in your case, you can even let the torsion bars down a bit if you don't want all that height.
Wrong:
1) Those janky 3" lifts that are the worst of both worlds. They cost almost as much as a real lift kit while barely being any better than a crank on a stock truck that costs you nothing.
2) Body lift. I just think they look really bad on these trucks since the 4x4 frame already hangs down so low. It also doesn't get your belly any higher off the ground, which was always my problem off road.
This is my truck cranked to level with 285/75/16 (33x10.50) tires on 16x8 wheels with 5" backspacing.
You must be registered for see images attach
This is with 305/70/16 (33x12.50) same wheels and same crank. And a small dog lol.
You must be registered for see images attach
And this is what my angles look like
You must be registered for see images attach