Please tell me that the front will settle some

Just wrapping up and getting measurements. Installed a 2.5 inch rough country spacer in the front with 2 shims totaling right at 3 inches. Right now (after a spin around the neighborhood) the front is 3.5 inches taller than original. I’m assuming it will settle some.

Supposed to be getting alignment and tire/wheels installed tomorrow. Am I gonna have trouble with the alignment being that tall (stock UCAs)?

 

Pretty sure each shim is 1/2” lift....

spacer lift isn’t going to settle since you didn’t put any new shocks in or anything.

 

If they were 1/4 inch spacers then yes actual lift is 1/2 inch.

You shouldn't have to lift the truck more than 2.5 inches to level if I am not mistaken.

 

Nah. These were the shims that came in the kit from RC....

 

Are you trying to level or did you raise the rear too? You only need 2” to level with stock rear.

 

I raised the rear 1.5”.

 

Right now I’ve got 3/8” of rake. A little rake is what I was going for while lifting the front 3”. Just wasn’t expecting to get 3.5 inches by adding 3 inches worth of hardware. Trying to figure out how I gained the extra half inch.

 

Looks good the way it sits.

 

An alignment might change it just a little bit. When I did the front of mine it looked a little high because my alignment was all off. The tires were tucked in like a lifted Volkswagen Bug. After the alignment it looked more proper.

 

Yeah. I love the way it looks right now!! I just don’t want to not be able to have it aligned correctly. It sits almost perfectly level now and taller than original.

 

It may not even align properly at 3”, honestly.

 

Right. That’s my concern. Oh well, guess we will find out tomorrow.

 

So how thick were the shims? Roughly double the thickness will be your lift per shim.

 

3/8”. By reading the paragraph in bold, I’d say the total should’ve only been 3”.

I’m not following you on the “double the thickness” part. I’ve never heard that before.

 

The coilover attaches to the lower control arm at roughly the 1/2 way point from the LCA bushings to the ball joint. Moving the middle of the LCA “down” 1/2” moves the ball joint down 1”. The LCA is just a lever.

 

Ok, that makes sense...I follow your logic there, but the way it is written in the instructions from RC, it seems to me that I should have only had 3 inches of lift.

 

A few lines above they also state that “Rough Country makes no claims regarding lifting devices...”

 

Haha. Of course.

 

Almost like a blessing in disguise! Then time for an upgrade to some new AM uppers!

 

Ok, the curiosity was killing me. Just went out and measured again the best I could holding a flashlight and tape measure. Looks like the shims are 1/4" thick each, and the spacer is right at 1-3/4" for a grand total of 2-1/4 inches of hardware. I guess based on the the geometry explanation from @landphil, I can see it being more than what the spacers and shim add up to........

 

I'll see what the shop has to say tomorrow when I drop it off for alignment. They are a Rough Country dealer. Maybe they can help me clear things up. I REALLLYY don't want to have to pull it all back apart if they can't get it in spec. I may just pay them to do it since it will already be there anyway. Fingers crossed. Maybe it will all work out.

 

who install it, did they tighten everything before they drop the truck. Did they lose the upper or lower control arm bolt. you have to put the weight on the axle before tighten control or the bushing will make the truck sit higher.

 

I installed it. I didn't tighten the LCA bolts until the truck was sitting back down on its tires.

 

you may have to loosen the upper arm too and re tighten it on ground

 

Take a shim out then align it

 

So if you installed 2 1/4 inches of hardware, you will have 4 1/2 inches of lift. It's a 2 to 1 ratio.

You probably need to remove some before getting your alignment.

If it was me, I would measure the rear end and front to see how level you are side to side.

If your rear end isn't level, adjusting the hight of the opposite front end will raise or lower the opposite rear side. Imagine a seesaw going from opposite corners of the truck.

Just an example:
It may be that you need one shim and the spacer on the driver's side to correct any lean in the truck.

 

That's a good point. I had hell fixing the lean in my truck until I learned this.

 

OP take some measurements from center of the wheel to fender. Did you do anything with the spring at all? Sometimes we see the lower perch installed backwards (so the spring doesn’t properly seat on the bottom) giving you more lift than normal.

 

I understand the logic here.....so, I'm not really sure how I ended up at 3.5 instead of 4.5.

 

Didn't do anything to the spring. Only removed the entire coilover unit and added the spacer/shims to the top of the assembled unit and reinstalled it.