If you have looked at the 3 inch lift kit by Skyjacker hold off until they get their act together.

I installed the first design they had last August and the strut on the drivers side they supplied snapped in two. Plau the kit never leveled the truck as they said it would, the front was still close to stock hieght while the rear had 4 inches of lift....

They are refunding my $ for the kit but not the labor to have the new "redesigned" kit installed. Funny they actually told me they discontinued the kit bacuase they found they had problems with it, and redesigned it, but I was never contacted for a recall??? The new kit uses beafier struts but you are required to use the stock coils (Which I threw away) Coils where $50 each from the Dealership, so not a huge loss there. Labor to install the new strut set up was $200, ok not too bad either but it's adding up and I already paid to do this once...

So Monday the new kit went in and the truck looks great, it actually sits damn near close to level now, (1/4 " lower in front) the ride is great also! It does feel as if I lost some turning radius though?
Tuesday I drop the truck off at the Ford dealership for the 30K check up and a front end alignment. I got a phone call from the manager telling me he would not do an alignment and will show me why when I get to the dealer.
Well, this kit raises lowers the mounting position of the wheel the arm assembly is now at a larger angle which is fine, the steering control arms are pitched but also ok. The major issue is the axles for the four wheel drive assembly if 4 to 5 inches out of of position. He told me if I use four wheel drive the possibility of tearing appart the axle assembly is severely at risk. This lift kit thing is new to me, but after looking at what he was talking about I completely agree with him. This kit should only be used for two wheel drive 04-05 F-150's. Skyjacker reps told me this is the right kit for my truck, as well as reps from the company I ordered the kit throu. I am going to have another nasty conversation with this company again tomorrow and get some more $ back.

I am going to leave this kit in until this winter and be sure not to use the four wheel drive at all. Come winter I will return the truck to stock height and put the stock wheels and tires on until I can bear to spend the big bucks on the right kit that lowers your front differential assembly and replaces the sub frame and lower control arms.

Can anybody recomened a kit the is only 3 or 4 inches of lift? Skyjacker is 100% our of the question.... I am thinking Rancho or Fab-Tech. I don't think they make any kits smaller than 6 inches though? I would love to do that, but Massachusetts is very strick with inspections and especially lifting trucks... Fugggggggggersssssssssss...

 

Rcd 4.5"

 

I agree. I think the 3 inch Skyjacker lift puts the CV and ball joints at too severe of an angle.
I'd suggest going with the 4 inch Rancho or the RCD lift. It is adjustable from 4.5 to 6 inches of lift and is a little better quality than the Rancho (which is a fine product also)

 

Hey there. I currently have the 4" Rancho lift on my truck. It rides better than stock and looks reallll nice too. Extremely well made. If 4" is all you need, I would definetely get the Rancho. However, In my opinion, Bigger is always better.

I got the 4".
But then, I decided to go bigger. So, if you decide to go bigger after you get the rancho, you can make it a 6 or 7 inch lift as i did.

1-1/2 auto spring spacer in the front, and change the rancho blocks to 6" fabtech blocks.

Alltogether, it cost me about 500 bucks to make my 4" into a 6-7".

Here is a pic of my truck with the rancho and the new blocks/spacers making it a 6".



I HOPE THIS HELPED YA OUT MAN!

 

I ran the SkyJacker 3" for 70,000 miles - only issue I had was the shock blow out. Sorry to hear you had so many issues.

The guys have you on the right track with the other kits - too bad you can't go bigger. These individual state rules are stupid!

 

I had the 2.5" AS on my F150 and always felt like the angle of the axles was too extreme. One of my axle boots would throw grease whenever I engaged the 4WD. If I had it to do over again, I would go with the Tuff Country with the longer lower control arms. The F250 is totally different, as it has a solid front axle.

 

This may need a seperate thread, but I finally got my Rancho 4" installed and now the front wheels won't align...?? The alignment shop says I need to go to a frame shop to have them adjust the subframe (the rancho part). This doesn't seem right. They say it's off by about a quater inch so the left wheel leans inward at about 3 degrees and the right leans out, and now my steering wheel isn't straight either.

Has this ever happened to anyone here?

On top of that (as if that doesn't just **** me right off enough after waiting since March 22 for all my parts), now I'm hearing a strange sound at speed with revs above 2K that can only be described as either pebbles in the muffler or dragging a tin can. I've got a 5.4, magnaflow SISO exhaust and an edge evo tuner (set to level 1 with just the tire size adjusted, although tested at stock tune and same chit happens).

Not too excited about the hastles of customizing my truck...
Any Help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

Just so you know when you lift your truck the cross member that runs under the oil pan on the drivers side is cut away to clear the drive shaft. Because the front differential is lowered to reduce the angle of the cv joints. So once you lift your truck it stays lifted unless you go to a body shop to have that bracket removed and a new one welded on. if you were to reinstall the stock suspension the vehicle would become unsafe and you could damage you truck if that cross member is not reinstalled.
looking at the design of the Rancho system is by far the most robust. Both drop down lower control arm braces are welded together unlike many other lift kits. Which to me is stronger and less likely to fail. But that is my opinion.

Good luck with your dealings with Skyjacker and hopefully everything works out in the end. You may want to check with another off road shop to see if the kit is installed correctly.

 

Hate to be this guy.....but I think the OP figured it out about 4 years ago...

 

4 year bump to post worth less crap?

 

didn't look at the post date. **** happens.

 

what did a crossmember have to do with a 3" lift? all it is is a big spacer (or longer strut) to get lift so none of thats even touched. my guess is you just waited 5 years to spam.