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Old 08-26-2015, 05:29 PM   #1
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Who tows a 5th wheel with a lifted truck?

All,

I have a 2006 Chevy 2500HD that is currently leveled (was that way when I bought it) and am running 275/70R18's.

I LOVE the way it looks, but the leveling makes it ride pretty rough, so I'm thinking seriously about putting a small lift kit on the truck to get the CV's and other front suspension components closer to factory angles. Right now, I'm considering a Zone Offroad 4-6" lift as its a subsidiary of BDS, and the most cost effective, plus I've read plenty of decent reviews. Once installed, I would set it up to have the best suspension angles possible, and ideally be about a 4" lift.

My concern is that with towing a 5th wheel, it might sit too high, and I will not mess with the 5th wheel suspension to make this happen.

I'm interested in hearing people's experience with lifts and towing 5th wheels, as well as if anyone has a 4" lift, what the measurement would be from ground to fender well.

Now I do intend to increase the tire size a little. I will stick with 18" wheels, but probably go up to a 35x10.50 - 12.50.

Alternatively, if a lift just won't work, I have seen some improved leveling kit solutions that replace the UCA and some other components to make the ride and angles better. Again, looking for feedback here, thanks!
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Old 08-27-2015, 03:23 PM   #2
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I personally don't pull a 5th wheel with a lifted truck. I pull one with a stock height 03 2500HD Chevy.
A good friend of mine however pulls a 5er with a lifted chevy truck. His truck is lifted 4 inches and he did nothing to his 5th wheel suspension to lift it. His combination works but he complains about it a lot. He had to lower the hitch in the bed of his truck to it's lowest setting so the trailer would ride level. In doing this he only has about 3 inches of clearance between the top of his bed rails, and the bottom of his trailer.
Going down the highway it works fine but in situations where the truck/trailer need to articulate opposite directions because of uneven ground his trailer actually leans over far enough to touch the top of the sides of the box.
The sides of his box and the bottom of his trailer are getting pretty beat up and scratched up from hitting each other.
In my stock height truck I have my hitch in the tallest position and have about 8 inches of clearance between box sides and bottom of our trailer. I've had mine twisted up pretty good before and never even been close to them touching.

I love the look of a lifted truck but I gave up on driving them years ago. When I was a high school kid/college kid I always drove a lifted truck. But once I hit the age of about 25 and started actually using my truck like a work horse constantly towing and hauling things I found the lift to be annoying. I was constantly cussing having to load/unload things from a truck with a 6 inch lift.

I still admire a truck with a lift, they look good. But I need my truck to function conveniently as a truck....not a mall crawler.
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Old 08-27-2015, 03:55 PM   #3
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Thanks for the response. Ya I really love the looks of lifted trucks and have never owned a truck before this one (I'm 31) so I really want to lift it as it's always been a dream to have "that look." With that said, I agree with what your saying and I can't justify ruining the functionality of a truck just for a look. I was hoping a 4" lift would be that happy medium to get what I wanted, but still be functional.

Perhaps my best bet is to just look more into the redesigned leveling kits that replace the UCA's and other components to fix the ride quality and be happy that at least it still has a beefier stance leveled than stock.

Thanks again for the input. Hope to hear others chime in as well.


Quote:
Originally Posted by J&HinMT View Post
I personally don't pull a 5th wheel with a lifted truck. I pull one with a stock height 03 2500HD Chevy.
A good friend of mine however pulls a 5er with a lifted chevy truck. His truck is lifted 4 inches and he did nothing to his 5th wheel suspension to lift it. His combination works but he complains about it a lot. He had to lower the hitch in the bed of his truck to it's lowest setting so the trailer would ride level. In doing this he only has about 3 inches of clearance between the top of his bed rails, and the bottom of his trailer.
Going down the highway it works fine but in situations where the truck/trailer need to articulate opposite directions because of uneven ground his trailer actually leans over far enough to touch the top of the sides of the box.
The sides of his box and the bottom of his trailer are getting pretty beat up and scratched up from hitting each other.
In my stock height truck I have my hitch in the tallest position and have about 8 inches of clearance between box sides and bottom of our trailer. I've had mine twisted up pretty good before and never even been close to them touching.

I love the look of a lifted truck but I gave up on driving them years ago. When I was a high school kid/college kid I always drove a lifted truck. But once I hit the age of about 25 and started actually using my truck like a work horse constantly towing and hauling things I found the lift to be annoying. I was constantly cussing having to load/unload things from a truck with a 6 inch lift.

I still admire a truck with a lift, they look good. But I need my truck to function conveniently as a truck....not a mall crawler.
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Old 08-27-2015, 04:17 PM   #4
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First question I have is how much distance is there between your 5th wheel & bed? Does your Denali sit level when towing or is it nose high like most of us with Voltages?
Measure your 5th wheel on the truck from the ground to bottom of the 5th wheel. Do this at the tailgate of the truck. Disconnect & lift it 4" higher then what ever you measured. This would be the angle it would sit at with a 4" lift.
My guess it's going to be sitting high in the front. The distance between the tailgate of your truck & the bottom of the 5th wheel is going to be less also.
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Old 08-27-2015, 04:30 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by West1134 View Post
Thanks for the response. Ya I really love the looks of lifted trucks and have never owned a truck before this one (I'm 31) so I really want to lift it as it's always been a dream to have "that look." With that said, I agree with what your saying and I can't justify ruining the functionality of a truck just for a look. I was hoping a 4" lift would be that happy medium to get what I wanted, but still be functional.

Perhaps my best bet is to just look more into the redesigned leveling kits that replace the UCA's and other components to fix the ride quality and be happy that at least it still has a beefier stance leveled than stock.

Thanks again for the input. Hope to hear others chime in as well.
I'm not trying to discourage you, it's your truck. I'm just saying from a functionality standpoint I don't want a lifted truck anymore.
I like the way my truck rides and handles. When I bought it the front did sag a little. But instead of buying a "leveling" kit I just cranked up the torsion bars until it sat level. Then took it for an alignment because cranking up the torsion bars does change the camber geometry a little bit.
Not sure why people spend the money for a leveling kit when you can get the same result in 5 minutes in your driveway with a wrench and a tape measure.
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Old 08-27-2015, 11:25 PM   #6
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Most 4" kits are only going to lift the rear 2".

I just put a 4 inch lift on a 2500 ram and it came with 2" blocks for the rear.
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Old 08-28-2015, 02:53 PM   #7
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My 2015 F250 has a 4" lift. It doesn't look high but gives it a little more clearance off road and really clean aggressive look (IMHO). It really only lifted the rear about a total of 2" higher than stock (but is a 4" lift) and just brought the front level to match. Actually unloaded the rear is about an inch higher but its hard to tell, this allowed my overload spring to engage correctly when loaded. Now with the 5th wheel on it sits level or higher or slightly lower depending on how I want the ride to feel (wireless airbags are wonderful). Before the overload springs I had to put 100 pounds in the bags just to get her to sit level. Now with the springs I just put 35-65 depending on weight and CG of load. I wouldn't change a thing and I love the ride. No clearance issues, however, I do have the ability to lower my ass down several inches (raising the trailer ass up) due to the air bags which has saved me a few times on my steep curvy driveway and other inclines.
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Old 08-28-2015, 05:38 PM   #8
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I tow my Voltage 3600 (40ft length) with a 2008 F350 with 6" ROugh Country lift, and 37" Toyo Open Country AT's on 18" rims. I was very nervous about hooking up the first time, but found it actually rides good and once the weight of the trailer squats the truck a bit its fairly level. Now it does help that my trailer is 40' in length because there is a lil bit of high nose, but if the trailer was shorter , that would most likely be exaggerated.
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Old 09-01-2015, 08:53 PM   #9
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Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm still mulling it over, and won't be doing anything anyways until I pay my truck off which will be within the next year.
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Old 09-08-2015, 07:49 PM   #10
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Lift kits are what I do for a living and he is right a 4" lift raises the front 4" and the back 2" to level it out. With that package you should be fine with towing your 5th wheel. I have a 3500 dodge with a leveling kit and big rig rims which measure about 36.5". I chose to install a kit called correct track on my 5th wheel to make it sit level to the truck, the kit gives you 2" of lift and allows you to adjust the tracking of the axels. I like the look of a level truck and trailer going down the road, also your fridge will last longer if you have it on while going down the road.
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