What lift on an 08 Duramax?
 

So i've been going back and forth on what lift to put on my 08 lmm crew cab duramax. I want to be around 6". Right now i can get a killer deal on a full throttle style lift but my buddy swears they are "backyard engineered" and thus safety is a concern as well as ride quality. I've also looked into knuckle lifts from pro comp and fabtech Pro comp has the advantage because it pushes the front track out 1" vs 1.5" on the fab. Also looked into a pro comp 6" bracket drop but have heard bad things about the kit. I plan on runing 20x12 wheels and 33's, possibly 35's to help the ride quality. Right now the truck has a leveling kit and rides terrible so my main goal is to get the best ride possible without losing too much turning radius and blowing the bank.. Anyone have experience with these lifts on their trucks?

I got fabtech 6" on my silverado with 35s 1500 and fabtech 6" on my f250 superduty with 37s.... Worth every penny... Very smooth for such a big lift.

If you can get a good deal on an FTS lift, go ahead and do it.
If not, cognito

And smack your buddy in the head

have you ridden in one ? If so how was it? some people say there's lifts that ride better than stock on these trucks so i'm kinda hoping thats the case with one of them.. Its not an fts but similar- theres a few shops around this area with their own kits like showoff motorsports, tcs, etc. I'm not certain but they all look to be pretty much the same design. I also was told to stay away from them from a shop that can get their lifts too. Said he doesn't feel confident in them and the other companies spend lots of money on r&d to make sure they ride and handle properly and safe...

Cognito
 

Cognito 4-6 and 33s or 7-9 and 35s. Also if you want it to ride nice at the height you have there level kit will have it ride real nice. NorCal truck will hook you up! He knows these Chevys inside and out and is very pleasant to deal with.

But if you can't afford cognito. Any kit you get make sure to not crank the torsion bars and they should all ride pretty well.

Cognito

What do you mean "full throttle style"?

Full Throttle and Cognito are the best, but they also have the price tag to prove it. My company does lifts from Rough Country, FTS, and now McGaughy's. Rough Country is as basic as it gets, and you can get those for around $1000ish. Before you or anyone else says they're junk, let me say that we've done a minimum $100K/year for the past several years, and not a single one came back with an issue. For some reason some of the keyboard warriors don't like them. Maybe because they're affordable compared to others?

Again, FTS is good, but the same kit (built a little different) is double priced.

I have a Rough Country lift on my 08 F250 and love it. Truck rides great, lift was easy to install & my bank account liked it! Im running 38's on a 4 inch lift. I did away with the 20 inch wheels and went to 18's and I think it looks more agressive and it helped the ride out as well! The only issue I had was the dual stabilizer & I still think they sent me the wrong one. I just took it off and put the stock single stablizer back on. Works great!

I had a 7" BDS with 37x13.5-20 M-16 Interco with 20x9 XD Hoss Wheels.
Attachment 34757

Attachment 34758

Attachment 34759

First two pic's is mine when I first bought it with 6" fab tech and ready lift key's to help it fit 37". My fenders are cut back so it will fit 37" too. Last crappy cell phone picture is with keys turned back down some and 35" with 20x10 eagle alloy 016. I love this set up so much more it rides 100 times better. I'm still going to swap out my 4" blocks in the back for 3" and drop the front another 1". So it will lunch straighter in 4x4 :D

Fts all the way. Super clean and solid lift. I'm not sure why your truck would ride crappy with a leveling kit. That's usually the go to set up for guys who want a smooth ride. Where are you located?

A leveling kit will ride rough because the shocks are max out.

You have to upgrade your shocks or put shock extensions on!!!!


My 6" lift was maxed out with the ready lift key's and the shocks were over extended. It rode so bad and once I dropped it a-little it smoothed out a lot.

I have had a 6in CST lift on my '08 since new and 123k miles. Been great to me. Mine is on 18's and 35's.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psb7fe695d.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ps9a02ef5a.jpg

my old d max. 8 inch fabtech with 24x12 cockstars on 38inch m16s

I've installed about every kind of lift on about every kind of truck thats out there. i judge a lift by build quality, the ride - drivability, but probably the most important thing on my list is how well the lift performs on my alignment machine. from my experience fabtech is hard to beat, they have a pretty big bang for the buck. fts imo are made for trucks that get trailered to a car show. bulletproof and cognito are the only two lifts i would trust on ifs or gm product going over 8 inches

another

10 inch fabtech 22x14 fuels 40x15.50 nittos

my 1/2 ton i built back in the day. 10 inch cognito 20in kmc monsters 38 15.50 mickeys. i also installed a dana 60 in the rear had strange 6 lug axles with rear disc, 5.13 gears with det. locker. motor was a 6.0 had heads, head bolts, cam and a 77mm turbo, 4l80 tranny with a 4000 stall

thanks for all the input, wish i would've asked for some input sooner! thats what i like about this site! it was a tough choice but i ended up going with the lift similar to fts. I'd heard good things about fabtech, cognito etc but for the money this was too good to pass up. I'll post some pics when its all done. Blair is yours a full bracket lift or is it spindles? I've read that brackets ride better but also heard the spindle lifts hold alignment better and hold up better. There's so many pro's and cons to just the two different types of lifts let alone companies to choose from! It was harder than buying a boat for me, at least i know what i like in a boat and can try them out first! What i mean by similar to fts is that they look pretty close to the same just with different name plates and made by another local company here. I don't believe its identical, but i couldn't tell you what the changes are.

Showoff or TCS. which did you end up with

Robby, looks like both your Ford and Chevy trucks really squatted from the tongue weight of your boat. Do you run lead in the bow of your boat while trailering? I'm used to seeing Fords squat like that but not Chevys with similar weight. Thanks for sharing the pics.

markj, I had a 1/2 ton crew cab a few years ago, and with a smaller boat it squatted as bad as Robby's. Leaf springs are weak. Those trucks aren't meant for heavy hauling.

mine hardly had any sag

Ha ha only thing in the bow of that boat is a sub, the x80 has some seriouse tonge weight!

Mine is a full bracket lift. It rides real good in the front but the back is alittle rough because my 4" blocks are to big for the shocks that are on there (thanks to the previous owner). I can't say that the alignment is any worse than my other stock trucks and on a Fabtech lift they set the alignment to stock specs which I thick is pretty slick.

on a bracket lift you just have to keep an eye on your idler arm and pitman arm. other than that they are great as well. the reason why your running a block in between the i/p arms and the center link, it puts a lot of strain on them. thats why cognito sales I/P support brackets. look at bulletproof lifts, they have done some pretty cool stuff with their steering. instead of using a steering block and fancy support brackets to help keep the wear down. they deleted the idler arm and went to a crossover steering set up which i thought was really cool. so your ifs chevy more or less has the same steering setup as your ford and dodge 3/4 ton. the absolute best way i have found to keep any kind of wear to a absolute min. on your front end is chunk your factory steering stabilizer and run a psc hydraulic assist steering in its spot. plus it is night and day on how much better they drive.

^^^^ AGREE

I broke my pitman arm pulling to my drive way two week after I bought the truck. Lucky it happen in my drive way and I just missed my mail box and was out in the yard before I realized I lost all steering. Now I have moog pitman and idler arm and I'm order the cognito braces as soon as I have the extra cash laying around.

But I have a feeling the guy that had it before me bet on it pretty good off road and racing it.

Tcs lots of his kits running around the valley,I have yet to hear anything bad about them.