James Duff vs Skyjacker

[Surrey]

You don't want heim jointed rad arms... dirt and mud are not friends if heim joints, and they are basically in line with your front tires. Not a good combo, especially on a daily driver. You would have to maintain them like weekly at least - and at 3 inches lift you will never have a true need for hiem joints - stock bushings won't bind in the room you have.

hell, I wouldn't even pay for long arms at all for only 3 inches.

 

[Ryannn]

You don't want heim jointed rad arms... dirt and mud are not friends if heim joints, and they are basically in line with your front tires. Not a good combo, especially on a daily driver. You would have to maintain them like weekly at least - and at 3 inches lift you will never have a true need for hiem joints - stock bushings won't bind in the room you have.

hell, I wouldn't even pay for long arms at all for only 3 inches.

James Duff Class 3 Lift Kit
·Progressive Rate coil springs
·Shocks with blue boots (2 front, 2 rear)
·Axle pivot drop brackets
·Radius arm drop brackets
·Radius arm bushings
·Add-a-leafs (or 1" block on Ranger SuperCab)
·Rear axle U-bolts
·Polyurethane coil pads, leveling spacer
·Coil Tower & Dual Shock Mounts
·Shocks with blue boots (4 front, 2 rear)
·Long Link Radius Arms replace drop brackets from Stage 1
·Leaf springs, lifted

So Dont use the Long link Radius Arms? If I didnt use them I wouldent need to worry right?

 

[rkneeshaw]

If you're only going 3" and mostly road driving, then I wouldn't bother with the longer radius arms. If you go to a 6" lift then definitely get the longer radius arms becuase that tells me you'll want the longer arm travel when offroad.

You can also save money on the leaf springs, I dont think you'll need them. Just get belltech shackles and call it good. That shoudl save you a good chunk of change. If you were going higher than 3", like say 6", then I'd probably recommend the new leafs to help reduce the amount of blocks you'd have to add after you max out the belltech shackles. Belltech's will give you about 1-2" in the rear, which is perfect to level out the truck if you're lifting the front 3".

You could use 4" Skyjacker coils, sure, but Im not sure how much the James Duff brackets drop your pivots... probably not as much as the 4" Skyjacker ones, almost definately not if you consider the 6" holes that are there on the same bracket...

James Duff brackets will drop your radius arms and pivot beams down exactly 2". On my supercab 4x4 I think I could easily go with 4" coils and it would be perfect, maybe still need 1/2" of spacer to get the geometry just right. In fact, I'm thinking at some point I will swap out the stack of washers and JD coils I have for some skyjacker 4" coils at some point.

I will say that I LOVE the ride of the JD shocks and coils I do have. It really soaks up the bumps in the road with ease. Compared to the procomp shocks I have in the rear, its a night and day difference. The procomps really make me feel every slightest bump I hit in the road. Swapping in a pair of JD shocks in the rear are also in my plans.

I've heard nothing but praise for the SJ stuff, but I still don't know why they drop the drivers side pivot arm an extra inch or so lower than the passenger side.... the JD drops both the same amount.....which makes both sides alignable to the same extent

Since you have no desire to go 6" then I'd recommend the JD kit and if its not enough or you dont like the coils, then swap in some SJ 4" coils later.

 

[Surrey]

James Duff Class 3 Lift Kit
·Progressive Rate coil springs
·Shocks with blue boots (2 front, 2 rear)
·Axle pivot drop brackets
·Radius arm drop brackets
·Radius arm bushings
·Add-a-leafs (or 1" block on Ranger SuperCab)
·Rear axle U-bolts
·Polyurethane coil pads, leveling spacer
·Coil Tower & Dual Shock Mounts
·Shocks with blue boots (4 front, 2 rear)
·Long Link Radius Arms replace drop brackets from Stage 1
·Leaf springs, lifted

So Dont use the Long link Radius Arms? If I didnt use them I wouldent need to worry right?

For what you are after, I would just get the stage 1 kit and call it a day.
All the other money is more or less wasted.
You really dont need new leaf springs for only 3" of lift, you have a lot of options available - add-a-leafs, shackles, blocks, Explorer leafs....
And as stated, with only a 3" lift, you wont get your moneys worth for the long arms either.

Also, it looks like the James Duff kit doesn't come with a drop pitman arm, so add another $70 to the price.

the JD kit look like it will do exactly what you want, but the stage 2/3 are just wasting money on fancy extras that you wont actually put to use.

 

[Ryannn]

So Buy this? Stage 1:
·Progressive Rate coil springs
·Shocks with blue boots (2 front, 2 rear)
·Axle pivot drop brackets
·Radius arm drop brackets
·Radius arm bushings
·Add-a-leafs (or 1" block on Ranger SuperCab)
·Rear axle U-bolts
·Polyurethane coil pads, leveling spacer

Then can I also buy the Coil Bucket Dual Shock Mounts Seperatly and add them on?
Where do I buy the Belltech Shackles? Do they Bolt on? or Do I need to Fab them on?

 

[Surrey]

So Buy this? Stage 1:
·Progressive Rate coil springs
·Shocks with blue boots (2 front, 2 rear)
·Axle pivot drop brackets
·Radius arm drop brackets
·Radius arm bushings
·Add-a-leafs (or 1" block on Ranger SuperCab)
·Rear axle U-bolts
·Polyurethane coil pads, leveling spacer

Then can I also buy the Coil Bucket Dual Shock Mounts Seperatly and add them on?
Where do I buy the Belltech Shackles? Do they Bolt on? or Do I need to Fab them on?

The only thing you should need to make that Duff kit work properly is a drop pitman arm.

You shouldn't need shackles... If you do, they are cheapest from Summit - $55 I think... Autozone sells their own for like $35, but most people prefer name-brand for the little bit of price difference...

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...&fromString=search&itemIdentifier=204654_0_0_

If you really want, you could add the Duff coil buckets, but you many want to look at the F250 shock mount mod first... http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/F250shocktower.htm

It allows for a much longer shock than normal, and is pretty damn cheap to do (I think the part is about $15-20 a side?)

 

[rkneeshaw]

Yep, get the JD stage 1 and get a drop pitman arm. The drop pitman arm I got drops the steering linkage 2 inches, which is dang near perfect. Here's how my steering linkage looks with the drop pitman arm (and I had to use about 1" of spacers to get the height right because of my 4.0L supercab's extra weight so its still slightly high). Notice the steering drag link is nearly horizontal

Without that drop pitman arm the steering drag link would be at a steeper angle which would give you some crappy bumpsteer.