Rough Country Lift

Boomballs · Sep 12, 2009

Hey guys I was wondering if any of you had a Rough Country 2.5-4 inch lift and what you thought of it. Im looking to lift my Bronco and wanting to not spend a holy fortune. Also, what is the real difference between rear blocks and springs? It's a good $300-400 hundred for the rear springs. I mainly use my Bronco for daily driver and for hunting/camping/fishing trips so it won't be doing major flexing or any rock crawling.

Also, I wont need to swap my gears if I put a 4 inch lift and 33s on it will I?

Thanks guys,

Boomballs

h34r: /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

RBuffordTJ · Sep 12, 2009

Boomballs said:
Hey guys I was wondering if any of you had a Rough Country 2.5-4 inch lift and what you thought of it. Im looking to lift my Bronco and wanting to not spend a holy fortune. Also, what is the real difference between rear blocks and springs? It's a good $300-400 hundred for the rear springs. I mainly use my Bronco for daily driver and for hunting/camping/fishing trips so it won't be doing major flexing or any rock crawling.
Also, I wont need to swap my gears if I put a 4 inch lift and 33s on it will I?

Thanks guys,

Boomballs h34r: /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Pay it and get the spings, the ride is better and after many miles the truck could use new springs.

Boomballs · Sep 12, 2009

RBuffordTJ said:
Pay it and get the spings, the ride is better and after many miles the truck could use new springs.

What about getting a Rough Country 2.5 lfit, they don't offer rears springs but just blocks. :glare:

RBuffordTJ · Sep 12, 2009

Boomballs said:
What about getting a Rough Country 2.5 lfit, they don't offer rears springs but just blocks. :glare:

I have never had one, I'm just suggesting you look into a package with springs, blocks to me are a little dangerous. Something shifts and then you have problems. They are pretty much the standard, but I just don't trust them, they seem like body lifts to me, just not stable enough to trust my life to.

Rick

Boomballs · Sep 12, 2009

RBuffordTJ said:
I have never had one, I'm just suggesting you look into a package with springs, blocks to me are a little dangerous. Something shifts and then you have problems. They are pretty much the standard, but I just don't trust them, they seem like body lifts to me, just not stable enough to trust my life to.
Rick

K, I kind of get your point there. Ive heard stories about wrecks that the rear blocks fell out or even when people were off road that they slipped.

Do you happen to know of any good brand 2.5 suspension lifts with rear springs?

Shadow_D · Sep 12, 2009

Ok just to give you a little info on my setup...

I have the Rough Country 6" kit. It came with shocks, front springs, drop pitman arm, the 2 drop brackets for the front axle, rear blocks and ad-a-lift springs for the rear.

I also bought the extended brake lines as well. I would suggest if you are going to get a lift, get the 6" rather than the 4 because you will wish you went bigger when you get stuck in the woods.

The cost of the 6 isn't much more than the 4, only a few bucks IIRC. I paid $650 total with shipping, extended lines and quad shocks.

Just my

Yardape · Sep 12, 2009

I have said this to many people, and I will say it to you too. I have installed quite a few 4 inch lifts and I have told every person that I have installed them for that they should consider a 6 inch. Every one of them said they dont need it, they only do light wheeling. Every one of them came back and said you were right, I wish I would have listened, how much to go 6. Well now they have to pay the whole amount again because it takes the same amount of labour. If you do not believe me and in fact think you will be fine with a 4 inch, do yourself a huge favour and be sure to buy a 4 inch lift that has the holes for a 6 inch lift (the ttb drop brackets) because WHEN you do wish for the 6 your half way there. The blocks are dangerous because they can work loose and even fall out which is very counter productive when you are trying to drive down the highway resulting in severe damage due to roll over or various other unmentionables. Suspension is not the place you want to save money.

Yardape · Sep 12, 2009

Oh and the 33's, no you wont NEED to change the gears. I didnt catch the year your working with but if its a newer bronc then it should have 3.55/3.54 gears which are acceptable with 33's. I ran that combo for about 3 years with no trouble other than a slight lack of power and a bit worse fuel mileage. I found that overdrive didnt work very well as I had a 302 and it didnt have the power to maintain speed in overdrive. but in lowrange it was pretty good. I had a Tcase get screwed up once and stuck in low, I drove it around town and it would easily do 60k around town. 4.10's I find are optimal for 33's

stusainte · Sep 13, 2009

Hey I put a rough country 4" lift with 4" springs on my 95 with 33s and it ran good but got a great deal on 35s so thats what im running now but soon to change gears prob to 4:10s PS make sure when buying a 4" lift that you get the one that can be changed to a 6" Good luck

Boomballs · Sep 13, 2009

Yardape said:
Oh and the 33's, no you wont NEED to change the gears. I didnt catch the year your working with but if its a newer bronc then it should have 3.55/3.54 gears which are acceptable with 33's. I ran that combo for about 3 years with no trouble other than a slight lack of power and a bit worse fuel mileage. I found that overdrive didnt work very well as I had a 302 and it didnt have the power to maintain speed in overdrive. but in lowrange it was pretty good. I had a Tcase get screwed up once and stuck in low, I drove it around town and it would easily do 60k around town. 4.10's I find are optimal for 33's

Yeah, I have a 89 302 that I almost always run in drive not overdrive. Im pretty sure I only want a 4 inch with 33s but Ill look at the ones with holes for 6 inch. I have to remember this is my daily driver and probably will be for as long as it runs consistently. So are you saying that with the combo of 33s, 4 inch lift, and 3.55 gears ill be left with a lack of power?

Thanks

Boomballs · Sep 13, 2009

Boomballs said:
Yeah, I have a 89 302 that I almost always run in drive not overdrive. Im pretty sure I only want a 4 inch with 33s but Ill look at the ones with holes for 6 inch. I have to remember this is my daily driver and probably will be for as long as it runs consistently. So are you saying that with the combo of 33s, 4 inch lift, and 3.55 gears ill be left with a lack of power?
Thanks

But now that I think of it, im not sure I have 3.55 or somewhere I heard 4.10 had become options? :huh:

How do I check what I have for sure?

skrap420 · Sep 13, 2009

also unless you are expiernced with installing lifts i do not recomend doing it yourself. i did mine and it took me three days and it was just an all around nightmare and just like they said as soon as i got it on all i can think is wow i wish i would have gone with a six inch. also just fyi be easy with the studs on the front shocks, i sheared one off and it took me all of an hour and half to torrch the old stud out and replace it with a new bolt.

skrap420 · Sep 13, 2009

o and as far as blocks vs. springs

if you spit a block out, it is probably the least of your worries cause you have broke just about everything else and i dont care what people say the ride difference is not that notticiable it still is a bronco and is gonna ride like a bronco not a cadiliac.

ford_302 · Sep 13, 2009

i have an 89 with a 2.5 rough country lift and im running 33s, it looks good and has plenty of clearence off road. if you only plan on running a 2.5 lift then i wouldnt worry about getting springs, yes new springs are nice but there is nothing wrong with a 2 inch block, you might have a little axle wrap but thats it. i got mine from jc whitney and it was only $200, it took a day to install and im very happy with it.

broncotough · Sep 14, 2009

ive had a 4" on a 86 i had. had to shave out the fenders to fit 35" tires. now i got a 96 with a 6", im much happier with it. 35s fit perfect. highly recommend a pro put it on. i did mine in my driveway with four friends. took us 8 hours. after a few months the bolts starting comming loose and it got the death wobble. i had to weld everything up as most of the holes rounded out. i got blocks but would have got the springs if i could. the shocks that it came with didnt last 6 months.

muddrivermike · Sep 16, 2009

Think of this also.If you do end up just putting on the 4 inch lift,and wish you went bigger you can always put on a 2 or 3 inch body lift instead of redoing the whole suspension.And before anybody says it,,,I DO NOT CARE what people say about body lifts.I have had a body lift on EVERY truck I had owned and built.From my 2 toyotas,my 87 suburban,And my previous and current fords,And I have NEVER had any problems with any of them.They are a quick cheap way to add more lift.I keep hearing people say "I can feel the truck sway" Well no shit thats what happens when you raise the center of gravity on any truck,suspension lift or not.And just for the record I am just throwing my 2 cents in,So dont take this reply as me seeming angry,Im not.Im just tired of people bashing body lifts all the time.And I have to agree with Ford-302 Theres nothing wrong with a 2 inch block,I myself have run those 4 inch blocks from ford and havent had a problem .I probably could have had some axle wrap with that but turning 44s at the time I didnt even notice.

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Shadow_D · Sep 17, 2009

I'm sorry Mike but I am one of those who do not think body lifts are the safest things out there...

The reason I don't like them is simple. They use longer bolts to mount the body to the frame and in my opinion, a longer bolt = bigger risk of snapping causing the body to detach from the frame.

Now I'm NOT going to tell you it will happen but it is a bigger risk and it has happened in the past. I don't know what the reason was that caused it but it could have been any number of reasons ranging from poor quality / cheaper bolts to over torqued bolts to age or anything in between.

muddrivermike · Sep 17, 2009

Shadow_D said:
I'm sorry Mike but I am one of those who do not think body lifts are the safest things out there...The reason I don't like them is simple. They use longer bolts to mount the body to the frame and in my opinion, a longer bolt = bigger risk of snapping causing the body to detach from the frame.

Now I'm NOT going to tell you it will happen but it is a bigger risk and it has happened in the past. I don't know what the reason was that caused it but it could have been any number of reasons ranging from poor quality / cheaper bolts to over torqued bolts to age or anything in between.

Hey thats cool,I see your point.I just think of it as your raising the body onto a block that SHOULD be the same diameter as your body bushing.Now I could see if you put a smaller diameter block on the truck then you would be relying more on the bolt than the block which as you said isnt safe.Its funny because I just got done putting poly body bushings on my truck because the rubber ones were just about destroyed,And what you said about the bolts snapping,Im suprised my body didnt come off the frame.The original bolts were so whittled down from rust I dont know how they were holding up.So this body lift I had Gotton for my suburban but lost some pieces had 1/2 inch bolts in it the perfect length I needed for replacements.So with the exception of my rad support I have replaced all my small factory sized bolts with these new 1/2 inchers.I gotta say I do feel better now knowing I have new thicker bolts holding the body on.Anyway thanks for the reply....

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Shadow_D · Sep 20, 2009

muddrivermike said:
Hey thats cool,I see your point.I just think of it as your raising the body onto a block that SHOULD be the same diameter as your body bushing.Now I could see if you put a smaller diameter block on the truck then you would be relying more on the bolt than the block which as you said isnt safe.Its funny because I just got done putting poly body bushings on my truck because the rubber ones were just about destroyed,And what you said about the bolts snapping,Im suprised my body didnt come off the frame.The original bolts were so whittled down from rust I dont know how they were holding up.So this body lift I had Gotton for my suburban but lost some pieces had 1/2 inch bolts in it the perfect length I needed for replacements.So with the exception of my rad support I have replaced all my small factory sized bolts with these new 1/2 inchers.I gotta say I do feel better now knowing I have new thicker bolts holding the body on.Anyway thanks for the reply.... /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Scary isn't it...

Rough Country Lift

Which set should I get?

2.5 Inch Rough Country Suspension w/ 32 BFG A/T KO

4 Inch Rough Country Suspension (Blocks) W/ 33 BFG A/T KO

4 Inch Rough Country Suspension (With Rear Springs) w/ 33 BFG A/T KO

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