4" lift with 33's VS. 6" lift with 35 or 36's

[fastsumbtch]

I am putting 33's on my 88 Bronco now. i know they will fit with no issues on the stock rims. I plan on doing some trail riding with this thing so extra ground clearence is a good thing. I am thinking about going with a 4" and keeping the 33's. But as everyone says if you go with a 4" you will wish you did a 6. But if I go with a 6 then I will want the bigger tires so it doesn't look silly and then I get into a whole nother issue of more stress on the axles from the bigger tires, have to do a gear change to compensate for the bigger tires, alignment issues etc...... My question is what are the pro's and con's between these 2 setups with the type of driving I am wanting to?

[Bronco85]

In my opinion there is no real con of going 6" over 4" or 33s over 35s. You'll get about 1" of ground clearance which will make a bigger difference then you'd think.

35's are still a good street tire to have. You can regear or not, just depends on how you like the truck with less get up. If you drive alot on the highway you'll be ok.

Cost difference isn't really an issue either maybe $200 more for 6" and 35's.

Alignments wont be an issue as most kits are the same for 4 and 6". the TTB brackets will have both holes in them. The radius arm brackets are the same.

[fastsumbtch]

I guess the only other issue would be axle breakage but as long as I don't go nuts trail riding/mudding I shouldn't have to worry about it?

[wik]

I went 4" as to still fit in the garage. Also wanted to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.

If I decide to go 6", figured I would just do a shackle flip and put new coils up front and use the bottom pivot mount holes instead of the top ones.

As of right now, I have no plan to go to 6". I am very satisfied with the 4" and 33s.

[Ewgoetz]

You can do 4 inch lift with 35's. they should fit fine. My old bko had a 4 inch lift with 33's and had plenty of room to do 35's.

[phobos2deimos]

Originally Posted by Bronco85

Alignments wont be an issue as most kits are the same for 4 and 6". the TTB brackets will have both holes in them. The radius arm brackets are the same.

I don't know *anything* about suspension/alignment, but don't you start running into TTB issues as soon as you get beyond 4"? Something about the proper lift parts not being available to do it right?

[fastsumbtch]

Originally Posted by wik

I went 4" as to still fit in the garage. Also wanted to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.

If I decide to go 6", figured I would just do a shackle flip and put new coils up front and use the bottom pivot mount holes instead of the top ones.

As of right now, I have no plan to go to 6". I am very satisfied with the 4" and 33s.

I was thinking along the same lines with the center of gravity. I could just see me getting sidways on a trail and just falling over...lol.

Originally Posted by Ewgoetz

You can do 4 inch lift with 35's. they should fit fine. My old bko had a 4 inch lift with 33's and had plenty of room to do 35's.

There is a truck around the corner from me that has 35X12.5's on stock wheels with no lift at all. It looks cool but you can tell as soon as that thing hits a city titty in the road it will rub....lol.

[Jasonhughes2009]

If you try hard enough you can fit 37 inch wranglers on a rancho 4 inch. But theyre not even close to 37 inches...

[fastsumbtch]

Originally Posted by phobos2deimos

I don't know *anything* about suspension/alignment, but don't you start running into TTB issues as soon as you get beyond 4"? Something about the proper lift parts not being available to do it right?

I did some research on this and found this write up on broncozone.com, I thought it was pretty informative.

Originally Posted by roadkill

A common question when lifting TTB (Twin Traction Beam) suspensions is, "Why do I need drop brackets?" or "Why can't I just add a coil spacer or use longer springs?" Actually you can do that, but you will have alignment problems if you lift more than an inch or two. The alignment problems can cause excessive tire wear and steering problems. With this post, I will attempt to explain why.

There are three factors to alignment, Castor, Camber, Toe-in/Toe-out. In this post, I will only be talking about Castor/Camber and how they are affected by lifting the TTB suspension. I made this picture to illustrate the relationships of the TTB components and how Castor and Camber angles are measured.



Steering is accomplished by pivoting the wheels right or left on the axis between the upper and lower ball joints. The only method to adjust Castor/Camber angles on the stock TTB is by changing the bushing/spacer that the upper ball joint is mounted in. This will move the top of the wheel in and out or forward and rearward a small amount to obtain the optimum Castor/Camber angles. There is only room for about 1/2 inch adjustment any direction from dead center. (Only amounts to about 2 degrees of adjustment)



The picture above, is exaggerated, but it illustrates the affect of using longer springs or spacers to lower the wheel without lowering the axle and radius arm pivot points the same amount. If you are only lifting a small amount, (1 or 2 inches) you should be able to change bushings on the upper ball joints to bring things back into alignment. Adjustable bushings are also available. They eliminate the need to replace bushings during alignment, but they won't give you any increase in the amount of adjustment possible. If you are adding larger lift amounts, (4 � 6 inches or more) you will not be able to get things back in place and you will experience the negative effects of improper alignment. Camber problems will cause excessive wear on the outer edge of your tires and bad Castor angle can affect steering. These problems can also arise with the one or two inch lifts when the Castor/Camber angle has already been adjusted near its maximum amount before the lift was installed.

On 4 inch lifts and greater, the only solution is to lower the axle and radius arm pivot points by installing longer brackets so that they are in their original position in relation to the wheels. And that, boys and girls, is why you have to buy the extended brackets and can't just slap a set of longer springs from your F-350 on it.

[wik]

The kits will have drop brackets for the pivot points. Most with have an upper hole (4") and lower holes (6"). The radius arms will then either have drop brackets, or extended arms with new brackets around 15" back from the original ones.

[FordsForeverEric]

In my opinion, leave it stock with 33's.. For just light trial driving mud, I would think it would do just fine.

[Bronco85]

Originally Posted by phobos2deimos

I don't know *anything* about suspension/alignment, but don't you start running into TTB issues as soon as you get beyond 4"? Something about the proper lift parts not being available to do it right?

Maybe if you don't lift it correctly. But I had 6" lift on 2 broncos and never had an issue with the alignment. I think post people things it's a bad alignment because it wanders more then it used too. But it's a TTB with bigger tires. I think thats really the only reason.

[Swegner99]

I have a 4" on 33" BFG's and the thing rides nice. Have never had an issue with ground clearance, but im in the desert and don't know how that compares to the woods and other terrain.

[phobos2deimos]

Originally Posted by fastsumbtch

I did some research on this and found this write up on broncozone.com, I thought it was pretty informative.

Thanks, that was a good read.

For what it's worth, I'd stay stock with 33s until you feel like you need a lift. 33s fit very nicely from stock (on my 86, not sure the difference for you) and I still haven't felt an actual need for a lift. What I have felt the need for is a rear locker.

[mexicangringo]

I would agree big time. Planning to install ARB s next year.