Lift kit questions for those with experience.

[Mattn]

Hey guys im about to lift my '12 f350 and i have a whole bunch of questions about the best route to go without costing me a fortune.
With the canadian dollar as low as it is right now and many other factors lifting this truck wont be cheap i know that much.
Any ways what i am looking for is either a 6 or 8" lift.
deciding between the two wont be easy. obviously i really want the 8" but i would like to know if 8" will have any disadvantages over a 6" like parts wearing out ect.
next i know there is a lot of debate between radius arms or 4 link set up and i am pretty sure i will go with a radius arm kit with one up radius arms.
My thoughts on that were to get a procomp stage 1 lift and instead of using the drop brackets just use the OUO arms, does that work?

Is there a set up that will give a noticeably better ride quality, less stiff maybe?

Thank you all in advance BTW!

 

[TripleE44]

First, if you're deciding between 2 heights just go ahead and get the bigger one. You will kick yourself after you buy the 6'' and someone with an 8'' comes driving by. Damn that sounds bad. LOL

Second, the stage 1 pro comp isn't going to ride good. You need better coil springs, shocks, and if that kit comes with an add a leaf for the rear instead of a block that's going to stiffen things up as well. The hard parts that the procomp comes with are probably fine, but by the time you replace the shocks and coils you might as well have bought a more expensive kit.

Third, the OUO arms, or anything like that on a stage 1 pro comp lift isn't going to be near as beneficial for ride as going with a better shock than the standard white body shocks that pro comp lift will come with or a better coil spring.

I always recommend PMF for a better value kit. I've always felt like I got more value from them. They use the Icon coils, have multiple shock options and it just seems like you get a little more for your money compared to pricing an Icon kit for example.

Sorry for the long winded response, but there have been a lot of people lately that try to save money and buy a rough country lift, for example, and end up replacing a bunch of parts or pulling the lift back off.

 

[Mattn]

First, if you're deciding between 2 heights just go ahead and get the bigger one. You will kick yourself after you buy the 6'' and someone with an 8'' comes driving by. Damn that sounds bad. LOL

Second, the stage 1 pro comp isn't going to ride good. You need better coil springs, shocks, and if that kit comes with an add a leaf for the rear instead of a block that's going to stiffen things up as well. The hard parts that the procomp comes with are probably fine, but by the time you replace the shocks and coils you might as well have bought a more expensive kit.

Third, the OUO arms, or anything like that on a stage 1 pro comp lift isn't going to be near as beneficial for ride as going with a better shock than the standard white body shocks that pro comp lift will come with or a better coil spring.

I always recommend PMF for a better value kit. I've always felt like I got more value from them. They use the Icon coils, have multiple shock options and it just seems like you get a little more for your money compared to pricing an Icon kit for example.

Sorry for the long winded response, but there have been a lot of people lately that try to save money and buy a rough country lift, for example, and end up replacing a bunch of parts or pulling the lift back off.

Great thank you for the reply. i should add to my first post that i already have a 2.5 ready lift leveling kit, not sure if thats something that could be staked with a smaller lift to make a larger one? cool if that works!
one other thing is i have airbags in the rear right now, will they still function after putting a lift on?

also i just priced out a pmf lift ofr my truck and with the dollar conversion its over $4300 yikes! likely cost me another $1500 to have it installed here aswell.

where as i can get a procomp 6" stage 1 installed for under $2000

 

[TripleE44]

Great thank you for the reply. i should add to my first post that i already have a 2.5 ready lift leveling kit, not sure if thats something that could be staked with a smaller lift to make a larger one? cool if that works!
one other thing is i have airbags in the rear right now, will they still function after putting a lift on?

also i just priced out a pmf lift ofr my truck and with the dollar conversion its over $4300 yikes! likely cost me another $1500 to have it installed here aswell.

where as i can get a procomp 6" stage 1 installed for under $2000

To compare the PMF Alpha kit to a pro comp just isn't quite right. With that $4300, you get Icon coil springs, better shocks, the PMF 3-link(similar to the OUO ALAs), traction bars and I might be missing some things it has that the pro comp kit doesn't have.

So say you buy that pro comp and decide the ride sucks. Icon coils are $350, just as an example Fox 2.0 shocks are about $600 for a set, those OUO alas you talked about earlier are like $1200. Now you're into the kit for a total of $4150 and you don't even have traction bars. Again, there have just been a lot of people try to save the money only to realize they have to spend more to make it ride halfway decent.

I'm not saying this to sway you into a PMF kit nearly as much as I am to sway you away from the pro comp kit. Have you looked into BDS maybe? It may be a better middle ground for you.

 

[Mattn]

Well I can get the entry level BDS installed for $3300 is that much of an upgrade over the procomp though?
Or I can do the BDS 4 link installed for $4400

 

[Layson]

A lot of people are happy with BDS. Are you real picky about ride quality? Do you think you would change it out if it road a little to stiff?

Higher Tech Lifts in Canada has OUO parts. Might be worth looking into if you are close by??

It also might be worth it to call up and BS with Dave at OUO or call Jared at River City or even Truck Toyz. These guys deal with these kits all the time and can tell you what you want to know about ride quality and what is worth the extra money.

 

[ftast350]

Why are you looking at getting someone to install it for you? They aren't hard to install at all! They aren't like throwing in a 6" lift on a Chevy where you gotta cut tabs or the frame for the front diff. If your in Alberta I'll install it for yah! Haha

 

[StrokinDuty]

I have pro comp stage 2 6'' on my '13. Comes with the upgraded coils and reservoir shocks. Had a shock blow a seal on front, Procomp replaced for free. Cant really complain about it. Drink a few beers and save the money and put it on yourself man.