Leveling kits and CV/Ball joint life.

[tiny68]

I am giving my 2001 Ford F150 4x4 to my son as his first vehicle. It needs a new set of tires and I purchased a set of 20" Pro Comp rims from a neighbor years ago and never used them. He was running a 6" full lift kit (Fab Tech I think) with 36" tires. I don't want anything jacked up that much. I am thinking a set of Nitto 305/50r20 which is a 32" x 12.5" tire. I only need a 2" lift to make this work.

Does anyone have experience with torsion key leveling kits? If I only need 2" will this tear up the CV and ball joins? We have 3 small shops in town and they all want to sell me a $1700-2500 full lift (4-6") and tell me the torsion keys are junk. What is the truth.

Thanks for any advice, Tim

[EFBell]

May find some help here.

http://www.f150forum.com/

[tiny68]

Thanks for the link. I had looked there in previous searches. Too many different opinions to have a clear idea. Some guys hated them. Some said they are fine. I went ahead and got a 2 1/2" kit installed. That allows the 33" tires. Time will tell. Tim

[tufrthnails]

Having run all kinds of lifts ranging from budgets boosts and spring spacers to full custom long arm lifts in my Jeep/ Rock Crawler. Any time you lift a vehicle without correcting the geometry you are adjusting it will effect the life of the components now that said somethings hurt worse then others and the biggest IMO hit to the wallet is in poor tire wear. Torsion keys tend to cock the tire causing excessive wear on the out side edge of the tire sometimes in the form of cupping others just eat the tire faster. When it comes to lifts you get what you pay for that said unless a lift requires cutting and welding it is simply replacing parts and anyone that knows there way around a tool box can do one and save themselves a ton of money. I have no idea how many I have installed over the years. Side Note: Spring compressors needed for coil sprung suspensions are a dangerous tool respect them or they will hurt you.