6inch lift to a 4

[Christian P]

Hey peeps! Pretty new to gmc trucks lifts kits etc. Long story short I saw a truck that I fell in love with. But after driving several thousand miles I really didn’t like the lift. I rather go down to a 3.5 or 4inch. This sounds crazy right? Why lower it? Thought you loved it? Well... fell into the look and not practicality. I already got new tire to fit on my fuel wheels. Need to pay for it, so willing to almost do what it takes. Les swab told me about $10,000 to get it back to a 3.5 lift or some what stock look. If that’s the case id keep my lift now. But I thought it was kinda crazy so I thought I’d ask some people with a little more experience and knowledge. Not saying they don’t.. but need some guidance. Is it possible? 
 

specs:

2019 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT

rough country 6 inch lift

currently on fuel wrapped with 35/12.5r20

coming soon.. 33 AT nitto forgot the rest. 
 

but please if anyone can help guide me I would greatly appreciate it! 

[topgear1224]

Hey peeps! Pretty new to gmc trucks lifts kits etc. Long story short I saw a truck that I fell in love with. But after driving several thousand miles I really didn’t like the lift. I rather go down to a 3.5 or 4inch. This sounds crazy right? Why lower it? Thought you loved it? Well... fell into the look and not practicality. I already got new tire to fit on my fuel wheels. Need to pay for it, so willing to almost do what it takes. Les swab told me about $10,000 to get it back to a 3.5 lift or some what stock look. If that’s the case id keep my lift now. But I thought it was kinda crazy so I thought I’d ask some people with a little more experience and knowledge. Not saying they don’t.. but need some guidance. Is it possible? 
 
specs:
2019 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT
rough country 6 inch lift
currently on fuel wrapped with 35/12.5r20
coming soon.. 33 AT nitto forgot the rest. 
 
but please if anyone can help guide me I would greatly appreciate it! 

Rough country doesn't offer a 4-inch kit, that actually complicates things.

you will need to go through the various lift manufacturers instruction manuals and find the one that lines up with how rough country had you cut your cross members. (Compare both install instructions).

You will be limited to 4 inch bracket lifts. Any shorter and they're going to be spacer lifts.

It would cost 10K if you were to replace and re weld the cross members that were cut to install the lift. This would in effect return the vehicle to "stock".

I already own a 6-inch lifted Chevy 2500 HD and although I could downgrade it to a 4 inch lift and it's probably something that I should do with the amount of axle wrap it has, I really do wish I could turn it back to stock. But with the cut crossmembers that's not really an option. I could always downgrade to a 4 inch lift however because this is a tuff country lift that cut differently than the vast majority of the lifts on the market, I'd have to go with the tuff country 4 in which cost the same as the 6 inch.

because of this I explicitly chose a lift kit that I can revert back to stock on my 2020 1500 if I ended up not liking it. Or if the center of gravity was simply too high for the slick winter roads.

If you just need to lower the step-in height you could always run smaller tires.

I do that in the winter on my 2500 I go from my 315/75R16 to a 285/75R16. Looks a little Goofy but not insane.

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[Christian P]

Thank you for educating me. Hm I will do some more research. I’ll be looking into tuff country! Thanks for that write up! Explains a lot!

[topgear1224]

I'm apologize, I own 2 Chevy's one is a 2500 with a tuff country lift. The other is my 2020 1500. That might have been confusing.

Tuff country doesn't make a 1500 kit for the new trucks.



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[BetaX]

Chances are, you can use a spacer (i'm assuming you have a spacer lift not coil over) from another brands lift kit to drop the strut assembly height. May take some trial and error but no reason it shouldn't work as long as some homework is done.

 

You could always look at how the trucks are lowered and potentially put a lowering kit on the truck depending on how the aftermarket does the drop.

 

Adding back the metal ain't going to cost you $10k (it's just 2 cuts out from the install instructions I believe, i could be wrong on this), but isn't the desirable route either way unless a good fab shop does the fab and welding. Anyone that quotes you $10k is giving you the go away price we're not interested.

Edited July 1, 2020 by BetaX

[topgear1224]

Chances are, you can use a spacer (i'm assuming you have a spacer lift not coil over) from another brands lift kit to drop the strut assembly height. May take some trial and error but no reason it shouldn't work as long as some homework is done.
 
You could always look at how the trucks are lowered and potentially put a lowering kit on the truck depending on how the aftermarket does the drop.
 
Adding back the metal ain't going to cost you $10k (it's just 2 cuts out from the install instructions I believe, i could be wrong on this), but isn't the desirable route either way unless a good fab shop does the fab and welding. Anyone that quotes you $10k is giving you the go away price we're not interested.

No such thing as a 6 inch spacer kit. Your CV axles would immediately fail.

Biggest spacer is the 4 inch SST ReadyLift. And that has huge NO OFF ROAD USE OR ABUSE. Warnings.


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[topgear1224]

Chances are, you can use a spacer (i'm assuming you have a spacer lift not coil over) from another brands lift kit to drop the strut assembly height. May take some trial and error but no reason it shouldn't work as long as some homework is done.
 
You could always look at how the trucks are lowered and potentially put a lowering kit on the truck depending on how the aftermarket does the drop.
 
Adding back the metal ain't going to cost you $10k (it's just 2 cuts out from the install instructions I believe, i could be wrong on this), but isn't the desirable route either way unless a good fab shop does the fab and welding. Anyone that quotes you $10k is giving you the go away price we're not interested.

Ya because they would be welding a structural member. Meaning if you crash and it fails during that crash and you are hurt they are getting sued.

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[BetaX]

5 minutes ago, topgear1224 said:

No such thing as a 6 inch spacer kit. Your CV axles would immediately fail.

Biggest spacer is the 4 inch SST ReadyLift. And that has huge NO OFF ROAD USE OR ABUSE. Warnings.


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They use a spacer on top of the strut instead of a coil over. Spacer below and to the side of each rear shock.

Edited July 1, 2020 by BetaX

[BetaX]

14 minutes ago, topgear1224 said:

Ya because they would be welding a structural member. Meaning if you crash and it fails during that crash and you are hurt they are getting sued.

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I've always stuck with the if i'm willing to cut the frame the lift ain't coming off, but it is doable.

 

OP, if that's the route you want to go, work with a suspension shop to get their scraps next time they do the job on a 2019+ truck and then have a competent shop do the copy and repair the removed parts. No way i'd consider buying a truck with this work done for the record and i suspect many other buyers would not be interested as well.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by BetaX

[Christian P]

That you for such in information. It seems doable. So rough country offers a 4 inch lift. Currently I have the 6inch lift. Based on the pictures... it looks like a straight swap??? 

[BetaX]

25 minutes ago, Christian P said:

That you for such in information. It seems doable. So rough country offers a 4 inch lift. Currently I have the 6inch lift. Based on the pictures... it looks like a straight swap??? 

 

I suspect (and i could be wrong as i'm not as familiar with GM products) the 4" and 6" kits are likely the same minus spacers, blocks and couple odds and ends.

 

Ask Rough country the question to see if that is correct and if so, what part #'s would be required if you wanted to convert your 6" to a 4"

 

That will give you the best answer to help decide which way to proceed. There are options, just need a good truck shop that can help you navigate which route is the best to get your desired results. 

[topgear1224]

 
I suspect (and i could be wrong as i'm not as familiar with GM products) the 4" and 6" kits are likely the same minus spacers, blocks and couple odds and ends.
 
Ask Rough country the question to see if that is correct and if so, what part #'s would be required if you wanted to convert your 6" to a 4"
 
That will give you the best answer to help decide which way to proceed. There are options, just need a good truck shop that can help you navigate which route is the best to get your desired results. 

You're giving horrible information that a simple Google search would solve the only drop bracket lift rough country offers is a 6 inch kit.

They're smaller kits do not require the crossmembers to be cut.

This means if the Op orders the smaller kit it's not going to work.

OP TBH you're likely stuck with it.

I know BDS makes a 4-inch kit that utilizes drop brackets. You and your shop will need to figure out if the instructions have you cut the truck up the same way that the rough country did. (Location, angle etc.)

If you just remove spacers you're going to tear through driveline components every 3 to 6 months.

This is because they give you a 6in spacer for the top of the strut to match the 6in drop crossmember.

This effectively moves your suspension 6 inches further from the frame.

If you delete that 6 inch spacer suddenly now your CV axles will be pointed to the sky.

if you want to make sure you don't get screwed either take it to somewhere like four wheel parts and tell them what you need done to the truck. $$$

or the other option is to do the research yourself so that way you're not paying somebody to do it for you and figure out what 4 inch drop bracket kits utilize the same cuts as rough country.

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[topgear1224]

 
I suspect (and i could be wrong as i'm not as familiar with GM products) the 4" and 6" kits are likely the same minus spacers, blocks and couple odds and ends.
 
Ask Rough country the question to see if that is correct and if so, what part #'s would be required if you wanted to convert your 6" to a 4"
 
That will give you the best answer to help decide which way to proceed. There are options, just need a good truck shop that can help you navigate which route is the best to get your desired results. 

Completely different, the smaller kits do not use drop brackets they use spacers.



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[topgear1224]

That you for such in information. It seems doable. So rough country offers a 4 inch lift. Currently I have the 6inch lift. Based on the pictures... it looks like a straight swap??? 

These are the same kit.
The AT4 is 2 inches high from factory so they have to advertise only a 4 inch lift.

You need to locate a 4in kit that has the u shaped members. You will then need to compare the instructions to rough country to see if the frame modifications are the same.

the other option is to take it to an off-road shop and tell them that you don't like the lift in that it's too high and see how much they want to charge you. To keep their liability to a minimum they will find you a 4-inch bracket kit.

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[BetaX]

4 minutes ago, topgear1224 said:

You're giving horrible information that a simple Google search would solve the only drop bracket lift rough country offers is a 6 inch kit.

They're smaller kits do not require the crossmembers to be cut.

This means if the Op orders the smaller kit it's not going to work.

OP TBH you're likely stuck with it.

I know BDS makes a 4-inch kit that utilizes drop brackets. You and your shop will need to figure out if the instructions have you cut the truck up the same way that the rough country did. (Location, angle etc.)

If you just remove spacers you're going to tear through driveline components every 3 to 6 months.

This is because they give you a 6in spacer for the top of the strut to match the 6in drop crossmember.

This effectively moves your suspension 6 inches further from the frame.

If you delete that 6 inch spacer suddenly now your CV axles will be pointed to the sky.

if you want to make sure you don't get screwed either take it to somewhere like four wheel parts and tell them what you need done to the truck. $$$

or the other option is to do the research yourself so that way you're not paying somebody to do it for you and figure out what 4 inch drop bracket kits utilize the same cuts as rough country.

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I mis-read the OP's previous post. I read it as Rough country does offer a 4" kit with a drop bracket, not just the cheap leveling lifts. Didn't care enough to go stalk their website. 

 

I at no point said delete the 6" spacer, i said look into utilizing a spacer from a smaller kit (aka 4" kit from another manufacturer)

 

Either way, your end recommendation to work with a shop matches mine...