Unlifting y new to me 3500

[shrekmoose]

Got a great deal on a 07.5 3500 drw cclb with a 6 inch lift. Truck currently has great 265s on it I assume original owner was running 22.5s on it and just threw these on when they repoed the truck. Trying to decide between going to a 37 or bringing it back down to 3 inches in the front and stock in the rear. Lift is a procomp it appears with control arms trac bar drop bracket and adjustable track bar. Will I still be able to use the stuff for the 6 inch lift with 3 inch springs and shocks. Truck need shocks anyway and it sure would save me a boatload not buying 37s right now if I could leave alot of this stuff on. It isnt a long arm lift just procom control arms, the wheels seem to look a little far back in the fender well even with the control arms.

 

[cerberusiam]

If it is a toy, your choice what to do. If you bought it be used as intended I would spend the money on lowering it.

 

[shrekmoose]

It will spend most of its life pulling a bumper pull camp and car trailer with a jeep on it. Just looking for a cost effective way to go about it all.

 

[AEdelheit]

You will pretty much have to scrap everything to lower it back to 3". The control arms are too long, track bar drop and pitman arm drop will cause interference issues as well at full bump stop travel.

 

[cerberusiam]

Remove the trac bar drop bracket and the adjustable track bar should work fine. You basically need springs, control arms, and shocks. If the control arms are adjustable you *might* be able to use them with the 3" lift springs. Cost will be in the neighborhood of 3 tires if you need control arms, less if you can use the existing ones. Best thing with the deletes will be it working as intended and riding better with the better coils.

 

[AEdelheit]

Remove the trac bar drop bracket and the adjustable track bar should work fine. You basically need springs, control arms, and shocks. If the control arms are adjustable you *might* be able to use them with the 3" lift springs. Cost will be in the neighborhood of 3 tires if you need control arms, less if you can use the existing ones. Best thing with the deletes will be it working as intended and riding better with the better coils.

If you change the track bar mount the pitman arm has to change too or the drag link and track bar will not be parallel causing bump steer.

 

[cerberusiam]

Remove drop track bar mount and it is back to stock position. Pitman arm may or may not be drop, he never specified so cannot tell. Some put them on others leave them stock and live with the problems.

 

[shrekmoose]

pitman arm is dropped but just oredered the 08 up steering upgrade so a 65 dollar pitman arm wont kill me. the control arms arent adjustable but like I said the tired look a little far back to me anyway. I have gathered the pro comp control arms are only 1/2 inch longer than a stock control arm. Could they possibly work with 3 inch springs since they are only 1/2 inch longer? Also just dawned on me I know if I order a thuren trac bar i have read where it wont work with a pro comp drop bracket somewhere, is there anyway that the pro comp trac bar will work just be removing the bracket. Not sure if stock if its just bolted where the drop bracket is or if there is a factory trac bar bracket I would have to order.

 

[cerberusiam]

Try the pro-comp arms with a 3" spring and see what it looks like. The stock control arms are a bit short at 3-4" of lift so those might be fine. You already have an adjustable track bar, all you need to do is remove the extra drop bracket and it should be fine. The question is whether that drop bracket was bolt on or weld on.

 

[GrantP]

The Carli arms are 1/2" longer for their 3" lift so the Pro Comp arms should be fine if they really are only 1/2" longer than stock.

 

[AEdelheit]

Control arm length is limited by clearance from the axle to track bar and mount, that is why most quality arms with suspension function in mind are only 1/2" longer then stock and unless you measure your current arms I would not gamble on them working as it will create metal on metal contact. They should be close to 17" eye to eye on the upper and 19" eye to eye on the lower. Also you will want to remove any bump stop drop brackets or you will have very little up travel from ride height.

 

[shrekmoose]

ill measure them against a tock 06 setup in a buddies truck. My main concern was the trac bar i planned on the pitman arm. The trac bar throws me for a loop im going to measure the tracbar up with a set of digital calibers and go from there.

 

[shrekmoose]

Just to check back with everyone. Measured my control arms and a buddies stock 06 control arms mine are infact 1/2" longer than his. Also it looks like I can remove my trac bar drop bracket and just mount the adjustable pro comp bracket like the factory one and buy the a new drop pitman for the 08 steering upgrade i just did. Looks like I am going to go that route and just run 3 inch springs in front and stock in back. Now any suggestions on a decent 3 inch spring in the front and shocks for 3inch in front and stock in back. Have looked at the thuren and carli but if there is another decent spring I dont need the high dollar springs I dont expect the truck to ever ride like a caddy, its just a weekend work/hunting truck. I would imagine getting the truck out of the air will improve ride in itself though as the control arms are at a very steep angle with the 6 inches up front so I would imagine flattening them out would help quite a bit.

 

[cerberusiam]

The Thuren soft ride springs and Bilstein 5100's are a good combo, With those springs you don't really need a drop pitman arm, just the standard one will work fine.

 

[shrekmoose]

I wont need a drop pitman even with the 08 plus steering that mounts on top of the pitman arm?

 

[AEdelheit]

I wont need a drop pitman even with the 08 plus steering that mounts on top of the pitman arm?

DO NOT USE A DROP PITMAN ARM !!!!! If you dont have a drop track bar bracket and have full bump stop travel it will cause issues!! Also if the drag link goes on top of the pitman arm then likely the pitman arm has more drop or where the draglink meets the tie rod is in a different spot and it needs to be on top of the pitman arm for the track bar and drag link to stay parallel.

 

[cerberusiam]

I wont need a drop pitman even with the 08 plus steering that mounts on top of the pitman arm?

Should not with just a 2-3" spring lift. The pitman arm and position is different from the y-type. As long as you have the pitman arm for the t-type steering it should be good.

 

[shrekmoose]

well i do have a drop trac bar bracket thats on there now so i pretty much need to just try it both ways with and without and just go the way that keeps the drag link and trac bar most parallel.

 

[GrantP]

Ditch the track bar drop bracket, that's just slop waiting to happen. Attach the track bar to the oem mount assuming the Pro Comp bar can do so, not sure how it mounts now...you may need a new track bar too.

 

[shrekmoose]

I'm hoping it will mount liken factory the drop bracket looks really similar to the factory mount. I'm going to hit it with a caliper and make sure though.