Hi all, I am fairly new to the off road world, and I had a few questions about my vehicles.

For starters, I have a 98 Dodge ram Quad cab four door Laramie SLT package with the 5.2 liter 318 small block V8. The previous owner had installed a 3inch lift (he claimed it to be four inches) cut away the front fender walls and front bumper for the over sized 35X12.50R16 Tires, which were Super Swamper TSL Thornbirds. I peronally am not a fan of the tires, lots of people like them lots of people hate them I could go either way, they have gotten me unstuck a ton of times, but they are for sale none the less.

My question is as follows.

I would like to put an additional 3inch lift in the susp. and with the factory 3.55 gearing (I'm not sure if it has the towing package which would make it a 3.96 ratio but like I said no idea) I would like to swap down to a 305/70R16 Super Swamper SSR.

So I am looking at the pro comp lift kit on 4wheelparts.com and wondering, do I have to cut anything? Area ll the parts that I need to do this lift kit there? Will I need additional pitman arm, or IFS stabilizers? etc, etc, I have never had a susp. lift kit before so I would want to make sure I got all I needed.  I plan on dropping my truck and the kit off at a local mechanic, but hes a good friend and very trustworthy to install everything properly, I just don;t want to have any unforeseen costs..

So any help here? I was thinking about the pro comp stage2 kit with dual shocks.


Anything cheap is good as always bang for the buck! (Soon to be in college so less I spend here the more I get to eat)



Next up s my 100% stock 92 ford explorer, it needs Trans. and the suspension is about to *** the bed almost the whole way around, so I figured putting a small 4 inch lift kit, perhaps, a rebuilt A4LD with heavy duty torque converter, and a set of SS Boggers might do the trick but this car does no have to be road legal so any suggestions?

I want to keep the 4.0 six that engine never failed me and I put it through the paces a few times, so it stays, possibly some exhaust and intake upgrades as well as a total overhaul rebuild kit to spruce it up a bit, but I want this truck to be a low stance mud king.. help?


hah thanks all for your time, sorry for typing a small book, any help with these two questions would be greatly appreciated, and mostly the first one, my truck is my baby and  I would like to see the lift in before the rain hits for some mud action.  

I personally haven't had that much experience with newer Dodge trucks but the explorer i know a bit about- My friend and I installed a 5.5" Superlift kit on his '92 sploder and he is running 33x12.50R-15 Truxus tires on it. As far as keeping it low you should be able to run 33s with a 4" but keep in mind that if it sees trail as well as mud you are going to want to step up to the 5.5 cause it will tuck them up VERY well and the extra clearance is nesessary. If you have the 2-door sport you may be able to trim with the 4" and run 33s but the 4 doors have no room to cut in the back. Plan a full weekend and have some help to install the lift because the front TTB can be a challenge to line up by yourself. The rear kits have optional lift via new springs or in my opinion to be the better (and cheaper), the spring-over conversion for more leverage on your springs for more flex and simplicity of install.
    The automatic tranmissions are a LOT easier to replace than the troublesome hydraulic Mazda 5 speeds. The clutches have to be bench bled, and plan on taking it in and back out more than once for a first timer. The automatics are readily available at most salvage yards and can be re-built fairly priced.
      Hope this has been helpful in answering some of your questions    

Hey there-

About your Dodge Ram- I'd seriously avoid the stacking idea you're thinking of right now.
With the control arms in the stock locations, doinga  6" lift would put them at way too great of an angle.

If it were my truck and I were staying cheap and wanted 6", I'd build the kit myself instead of buying someone's, and I'd do it like this:
CONTROL ARMS- Buy Pure Performance or Extreme Suspensions long arm kit (can be sold seperately) for the '94-01 Dodges. All the long arm kits will fit the 1500,2500, or 3500 Dodges of that era. (under $600)
COIL SPRINGS-Contact Valley Spring Works and order a 6" tall coil and ditch that 3" spacer. You shoudl never stack the spacers, and if you want an additional 3", then you'll have to buy a new coil spring anyways. (around $400)
TRACK BAR- look up DT Pro Fab on the internet. But his rebuildable track bar and bracket. It is badass and will make your truck perform worlds better in the dirt AND on the street. The factory track bars are junk. (around $250)
REAR LIFT- Well, since you're staying cheap, you can buy 5" blocks and some new U-bolts for less than $100 (around $85)
STEERING- you'll need to buy a drop pitman arm- I think Pro Comp sells the one I own- it is not a longer pitman arm, and instead just flips the draglink so it attaches to the bottom of the pitman arm instead of the top of it (reverses the taper) (around $65)

STEERING STABILIZERS- honestly, I take these off of all my trucks. Technically, they are really just bandaids for bad steering. If your steering is healthy and the joints are good and you have that DT track bar, then you will not need a steering stabilizer on your truck.

One thing to check out- look up solidsteel.biz and check out his steering kit. He's got this product that puts a bearing on the sector shaft below the pitman arm, stopping any ill movement in the pitman arm (something that the Dodge steering box suffers from).
Oh, and you likely have 3.55 gears, even with the tow package. 3.92 gears were just an option that you could purchase when you ordered a truck. It had nothing to do with the tow package. There is a sticker in your glovebox that I believe has your specified gear ratio on the specs sticker.

Hope this helps
-Jerrod  

Listen to Jerrod, he knows Dodge trucks...