Slight rant - what’s with all the cheap ass lift kits?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Nick_R_23

I'm Awesome
Joined
Dec 13, 2020
Messages
153
Reaction score
292
Location
Alaska
This is more of a vent than an actual question, but what’s with all the lift kits being cheap crap these days?

I sold one of my DD cars with the idea of picking up a 4 Door Wrangler for some off-roading. However, I ran across a 1990 K1500 RCLB for a fraction of the price, and thought why not save a few bucks and throw one of those together? Not. After looking at all the kits available, I’m disappointed. Add-a-leafs, lift blocks, torsion keys, yuck. What happened to the torsion bar drop, full rear leaf spring kits? Even BDS is $2500+ and still uses blocks. WTF?
 

Joe Dirte

I'm an idiot!
Joined
Dec 30, 2017
Messages
2,530
Reaction score
5,300
Location
Ahia
When I was on facistbook on the truck groups that's all you'd hear these kids asking about is "level kits for a 93 Chevy" or "my uncle leveled his new f won fiddy with pucks. Where can I buy those for this chevy?" They couldn't understand why they were getting laughed at after everyone tried to explain to them that stuff doesn't work on these old trucks. People are getting lazier by the minute n want instant reward with little to no sacrifice. To quote Hyro the Hero "dopamine fiends."

I have a lift in my driveway, picked it up for like $150, but needs some bushings and shocks... may just sell it for what I paid n buy a whole new one.
 

BNielsen

I'm Awesome
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,632
Reaction score
4,070
Location
North Carolina
I guess. I remember when Skyjacker offered a full 6” kit with rear leafs for $1500. Now $2500 still doesn’t even get you that! Honestly, I bet one could SAS for close to that price.
That's my thought process. I debated on lifting my 96; but if I was going to do it, it would either be a damn good IFS kit, or an SAS.
 

Schurkey

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
10,963
Reaction score
13,741
Location
The Seasonally Frozen Wastelands
what’s with all the lift kits being cheap crap these days?
That's REALLY EASY.

MOST folks who buy lift kits don't need a lifted truck. The only reason they do it is to impress people they don't know, and who don't really care.

Therefore, the "lift kit" doesn't have to work well, or last a long time. It only has to "look good" to people who don't know what they're doing, and happen to be delusional.

Which means the cheapest piece-of-crap parts kit will sell better than a parts kit that actually works well and is engineered properly.

JUST EXACTLY LIKE rear disc brake conversions.

I used to live in an area with heaps and piles of lifted trucks, mostly done by posers and idiots, and sometimes using stacks of hockey-pucks on the body mounts. I would drive over Main Street railroad tracks on my sportbike faster than these doofuses would drive across with the "big, badass off-road" lifted trucks.

Ever seen broken hockey pucks along the curb? That's where they come from.
 

1989GMCSIERRA

I'm Awesome
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
547
Reaction score
599
Most lift companies aren’t gonna put a ton of R&D on what’s a 20/30 year old design. And there just aren’t many of these trucks running around where people are gonna pay 2500 bucks just for a lift kit. Not including tires wheels regear inch and labor for all that. Potentially you could be looking at 8k for a lift kit the wheels and tires and regear inch and the labor. None of that is gonna be cheap.
 

1989GMCSIERRA

I'm Awesome
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
547
Reaction score
599
I dot think you understand how companies make money on kits. What’s “plenty”? 5000? 10,000? Plenty of trucks in your area means nothing. Let’s assume there are 10,000 of those trucks in your area. Which is a lot. Out of all those trucks how many owners are looking to actually lift the truck. 5%-10% let’s say 10%. That’s 1000 kits. Granted they would need to be different sizes as everyone may need a different height. Which complicates manufacturing.
No company is gonna waste R&D and manufacturing line time for 1000 lift kits.
These trucks had their time and when they were popular the lift kits were all over the place . Dick Cepek, FabTec, Rough country, BDS and a few others had lift kits. They all discontinued them for a reason. There wasn’t enough money in the line to keep it going. Especially as people moved on to other vehicles.

It’s sort of like when people ask why did manufacturers stop offering the standard transmission? I love standard shift vehicles. Because they aren’t popular enough to turn a profit. So they don’t offer it anymore. Same with lift kits wheels and anything else a small group likes but it’s not easy to sell to masses.
 
Top