Lowered vs Lifted

[95six.five]

Okay so I've been debating lately between whether i want to lift or lower my truck(95 2wd 2500) and i wanted to get some opinions! i don't want to hear the "do this cause the other option is stupid, useless, etc." i want practical reasons you would recommend one or the other. Either way it won't be a dramatic lift or drop, probably either drop the back to level with the front or raise the front to level with the back. Wanting to do airbags either way eventually for towing. So which would YOU recommend?

 

[poncho62]

Looking at the truck in your avatar, I would just drop the rear a couple of inches and call it good. You said you wanted practical......lol

 

[eric.s.t]

tough call, but I think it comes to preference... either you want lower because your more in to a clean/non offroad look, or you like them higher for more offroad look. What are you planning on doing? If their lots of camping, fishing, hunting, working in the bush... then I would go up.. better clearance. A lot of using the box but mostly on road city driving... then I would go down.. plus its easier to put stuff in the box if the truck is down right

As far as if your going to be towing a lot... people will say go up, but if your putting air bags, it wont matter... all you need to do is readiest your ride height in the back! so its all your call in what your plans are!

either way, you may lift it and hate it, then drop it... both lift or drop is an easy fix if all you want is to match the front or back to stock.

 

[great white]

A more important question is how you intend to use it.

Daily driver where comfort and MPG is important?

Off road?

Pavement pounder?

show truck?

Tow pig? Then under 5,000lbs? Over 5,000 lbs?

Hauling lots of weight in the bed? Hauling nothing?

Etc, etc.....

Once you know how you plan to use it (IE: 90% of the time) then you can start working on your "compromises".

Personally, if I was looking for an "all-arounder" I would probably just leave the suspension alone. Maybe add the airbags to supplement the rear springs when overloaded and that's about it. As a 6.5 1500, towing and hauling is going to be more limited by the drivetrain and brakes more than anything else. High HP and Tq aren't going to be a worry either....

*edit*

Oopps, 2500.

Still, I'd likely leave it. 4:10's will make it a decent hauler once you get the drivetrain up to *****. They'll keep your MPG down around the 15-ish mpg range though...

 

[eric.s.t]

Pretty well what I said.. Just not as spacific...^^^^

 

[95six.five]

It'll most likely be a daily driver but also used for towing, anywhere up to 8k lbs or more...I'm wanting to get a Z71 to lift and be more like an offroad toy, backup, or rescue vehicle since i'm always the one getting called if a friend needs help. I think i want to drop the rear down to match the front, air bag the back for towing, 18's or 20's and drop the gear ratio to either 3.42 or 3.73. I just dont know how much that'll drop my rpms compared to now? Right now with a 5spd, 4.10's, and 33x12.50R16.50 tires im at about 2000 rpms at 55mph. I'd like to be able to do 70 without being at 2700 rpms lol

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[Ruger_556]

I'd just leave it alone I had drop shackles on mine for a while and it looked okay... But 400's need an inch of cali to look level (Which requires weight in the back as it's almost impossible to only drop 3") You either get 2" or 4". Looks way better raked than it did leveled. 2wd with 245/75 looks

 

[95C1500]

I have 1" of Texas rake! Love it! I lifted the front 2" and the rear 1.5"

 

[great white]

It'll most likely be a daily driver but also used for towing, anywhere up to 8k lbs or more...I'm wanting to get a Z71 to lift and be more like an offroad toy, backup, or rescue vehicle since i'm always the one getting called if a friend needs help. I think i want to drop the rear down to match the front, air bag the back for towing, 18's or 20's and drop the gear ratio to either 3.42 or 3.73. I just dont know how much that'll drop my rpms compared to now? Right now with a 5spd, 4.10's, and 33x12.50R16.50 tires im at about 2000 rpms at 55mph. I'd like to be able to do 70 without being at 2700 rpms lol

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at 8,000+ lbs on a 6.5 you're going to want to keep the 4:10's.

Especially if you have to tow any kind of elevation.

The 6.5 is not a towing animal like the newer diesels or even a 454. It needs gearing to get the job done without yanking your hair out.

Also, airbags aren't a lot of use for towing in this case. You're going to need a weight distribution hitch to tow that heavy with a bumper tow. A properly set up WD hitch only squats the rear about 1" when loaded. You also need that 1" of squat to properly load the truck so airing it back up an inch ruins the properties of the WD hitch. That's with a class IV hitch too.

I tow a 9,000 lb travel trailer with my 98 K2500 TD. I have air bags, but I don't need 'em. What I do is load the trailer and set the WD hitch. Then I chuck whatever gash I have in the back and air up back to the trailer only loaded weight. Or I load the bed, air the bags and then set the WD hitch. The whole idea is to load the front steering wheels properly, which is what a WD hitch does.

We can probably chuck legality in here too: with a 6.5 and 4:10's your truck is only rated for an 8500 lb trailer with a WD hitch. I'm usually right at that and sometime a bit over when the trailer is loaded (8000lb dry weight, sometimes closer to 9,000 ready to roll out). My 6.5 is "wicked up" pretty good (4:10's and a "full" 2500) and I don't think I would go any heavier with it. It could pull more, but you know you're at the limits of comfort at my weights when rolling.

Gooseneck and 5th are a different story for bumper pull, except for the weights....

 

[95six.five]

I don't ever pull that much weight except basically around the yard or down the road maybe a mile. I may be exaggerating a little on the weight but better safe than sorry right? Probably the heaviest i've had is around 6-7k and thats a truck that was a twin of mine except with a 350 on our very heavy duty trailer(not sure how much it weighs) and that was just like 3 miles down the road to the scrap yard. I need to invest in a good gooseneck for carhauling. If i go down to smaller tires do you think i could get away with 3.73's? When i pulled that truck i had plenty of power, i just couldnt load it right because the trailer was too short so turning and braking was horrible.

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