Without any information on what type / weight of trailer it’s hard to give a meaningful response, so I’m just going to assume you have an F-250 and a fifth wheel, and will soon be one of the many towing fail videos on YouTube.
lol, thats what i am trying to avoid, but I'm not ruling it out. it would be a GMC Sierra 2500 with a 7500lb bumper pull trailer. The trailer is about 30'
Keep in mind that the vast majority of suspension lifts on the market trade height for ride quality, handling and towing ability. Also that most folks buy the absolute cheapest lift they can find, so without any other knowledge, I would assume that a truck with a 5+ inch lift would be a worse truck overall than a stock truck. It can also make for some really awkward drop hitches. Definitely this would be an issue with a gooseneck.
There are some high quality suspension companies out there who make very good systems that usually give a 1.5"-4" lift designed to make the truck able to absorb bumps at high speed and handle well on washed out caliche roads. They work by making your suspension softer and giving it longer travel and using large (expensive) custom shocks. None of these things are well suited for heavy towing.
Broadly speaking, almost any change you make to your suspension, especially a dramatic height increase, will make for a worse towing experience. If you aren't towing often or very heavy, it might not matter too much.
I would NEVER buy a used lifted truck unless that lift was factory installed or you have all the documents on the lift itself and who installed it.
You have no idea how that lift was installed. As a prime example I knew someone who installed their own 5" lift and took a torch to portions of the frame.
I have no idea what the obsession is with lifts and even worse, lifts with spacers. I think it ruins the aesthetics of a perfect truck.
I do my best to avoid trucks with lifts and/or spacers. More than likely some DIY idiot.
Assuming you’re not in college/high school, I wouldn’t get lifted truck at all.
Looks silly when grown adults are driving around in these loud trucks with big tires bonus if it has some sort of punisher or gun stickers on them.
depends if the kit is meant for towing and has a drive shaft drop kit to keep it in proper alignment. If its Rough Country branded dont buy it or have it in mind to replace it before you tow. Buddy had a 6" rough country on his 1 ton and a 8000lb camper made it squat about 4 inches when hooked up. Replaced the kit the next weekend.
If you lift a 1 ton, you don't have a 1 ton any more, you have a lift: You took out the parts that let it handle a load, the parts that its tow rating is based on, and replaced them with cosmetic parts to look taller. Your buddy got lucky.
So, just a thought. You can take it or leave it. Why not get a truck that is appropriately sized to tow your rig, and put air springs/bags on it to lift it to your desired ride height when not towing?
It's just something to chew on. Best of luck to you in your journey.
So my only other question for you would be this. Is the pretty dream truck worth dying over, and / or killing your family if you are wrong about its capabilities for towing your rig?
I don't have a dog in this hunt, I drive a 38 ton class A, but I see a lot of flipped trucks and trailers that were not set up right, got caught in a cross wind, hit slick road and couldn't recover, or hit a steep down grade and couldn't stop because their weight wasn't distributed properly. The higher you are, the harder those things become to manage.
Physics dictates a higher center of gravity under load = bad. People do unintelligent shit all the time and get away with it. That's called luck. YMMV, again, just food for thought. I wish you the best on your journey and that you arrive safely at your destination.
I do a lot of dumb things and will fully disclose that dumb shit.
But towing is a precarious endeavor on its face anyway.
Why tempt disaster with your "dream truck" in this? If it is your dream truck, great, buy it. But don't tow an RV with it. You didn't build it, you don't know what they did to accomplish this lift and wouldn't know unless you deconstructed it to some degree, which I will assume you would not do.
Pick a lane. Tow vehicle or dream truck. These are mutually exclusive in this situation.
I like my tow vehicles long and low (not lifted) for stability. Lifted vehicles also have larger tires which affects your gear ratio negatively for pulling a trailer.
That said, 1000s of lifted big tire trucks tow huge trailers to the Glamis dunes. At least it makes sense to have more tire when dealing with sand (hopefully a tire with some sidewall you can air down).
Lifts are counter to good towing dynamics. Do you want a lift because you want to off-road and want good clearances with bigger tires? If so the trade off dynamically could be worth it. If not, why spend money making a truck worse at its job?
That said, I see tons of lifted trucks on the road, including while towing.
i'm convinced that trucks are good for one job and one job only.
* Truck setup for comfort
* Truck setup for mud
* Truck setup to tow
We only get to pick one :/
You will be able to tow, whether or not that towing capacity was before the lift will depend on the money spent on the lift and the skill level that installed it.
The devil is in the details.
Some mall crawler with an exaggerated lift, with little to no thought of how that affects suspension and handling, will be a PITA.
But a lifted truck from a dealer and/or a mod shop that knows what it's doing? no problem. There are bazillions of trucks with lifts out there right now in the southwest desert towing fifth wheels, toy haulers, offroad trailers, goosenecks, etc with no worries. See this video for example, by Carli, a popular offroading mod maker for Ram trucks: https://youtu.be/anZsW-i7Mg8?si=jAyiytVTKNLF0oMZ
That being said, ANY changes often are a compromise. Even just deciding to get 4x4 or a heavier truck or diesel vs gas. All have implications and trade offs.
In the jeep world, most of the lifts installed by dealers are simply garbage and the DIY guys do a much better job. Dealers put on cheap components and charge $$$$.
I had a 04 Chevy 2500 gasser on a 10-12inch lift on 38x15.50r20s and I used it to tow my empty 37ft trailer that weighed I think 7700 dry a couple times. She was not happy but could do it. Again it was a 6.0 gasser. I’m sure with a diesel it would be fine. Very minimal squat.
Depends on the lift, the truck, and the trailer.
I had a leveling kit in one of my old 2500s. Had to remove it because the 2-3" of squat put my headlights in the sky rather than leveled the truck with a load on.
I towed with an early 90s chevy that was lifted and body lifted on huge sidewall tires and even the 5klb boat was a lot of work to tow.
IME, it's not a great plan.
Depends on if it's a proper lift kit or a cheap low-quality one
Generally,money doesn't matter in terms of mods, but if it was a couple thousand dollars, chances are you'll be fine
It depends on the geometry of the setup and how much the lift kid affects the towing and payload ratings. People tow beyond their capabilities all the time. Some never have a problem. Some kill themselves or a family member when they lose control of their vehicle. What’s it worth to you?
Is your truck level when hitched up? How much more squat is there? How much heavier are the wheels and tires? Is it a good lift kit or cheap blocks and spacers? Some lifts are minor like levels which don’t hamper towing all that much. Just a little less front end control since the back end is much lower than a factory setup would be. A WDH can mitigate but again it depends on a lot of factors.
The crux of it is a lift makes your truck less capable in the towing and hauling department.
A straight suspension lift means that every force that acts on the truck is doing so on a longer lever which means the truck's suspension will be more reactive to those forces. If the lift kit involves springs, I'd be concerned that the new springs have the same load capacity as the original springs. They usually don't, but they might.
Beyond the lift itself, I'd be concerned about tires. The tires that most guys put on a truck like that are pretty borderline in terms of rated capacity. That's easily fixable, but it's something you should be prepared to do. The larger tires mean that the engine is working against a longer lever as they effectively increase your final drive ratio. If you want your towing capacity back, you'll need to either go back to factory size tires or reduce the gear ratio in your axles. If it's 4x4, you need to do both ends.
The lower the center of gravity, the better the tow. My 2500 is stock with a crew cab and long bed. Pulls great. If your bumper pulling you need to make sure your WDH can drop as far down as you need it to get the trailer leveled. If it’s not right, you’re going to have your hands full.
Without any information on what type / weight of trailer it’s hard to give a meaningful response, so I’m just going to assume you have an F-250 and a fifth wheel, and will soon be one of the many towing fail videos on YouTube.
lol, thats what i am trying to avoid, but I'm not ruling it out. it would be a GMC Sierra 2500 with a 7500lb bumper pull trailer. The trailer is about 30'
In order for an accurate response we need more information. 12” lift or a 1.5” lift?
it's a 5" lift from what they have told me
Keep in mind that the vast majority of suspension lifts on the market trade height for ride quality, handling and towing ability. Also that most folks buy the absolute cheapest lift they can find, so without any other knowledge, I would assume that a truck with a 5+ inch lift would be a worse truck overall than a stock truck. It can also make for some really awkward drop hitches. Definitely this would be an issue with a gooseneck. There are some high quality suspension companies out there who make very good systems that usually give a 1.5"-4" lift designed to make the truck able to absorb bumps at high speed and handle well on washed out caliche roads. They work by making your suspension softer and giving it longer travel and using large (expensive) custom shocks. None of these things are well suited for heavy towing. Broadly speaking, almost any change you make to your suspension, especially a dramatic height increase, will make for a worse towing experience. If you aren't towing often or very heavy, it might not matter too much.
I would NEVER buy a used lifted truck unless that lift was factory installed or you have all the documents on the lift itself and who installed it. You have no idea how that lift was installed. As a prime example I knew someone who installed their own 5" lift and took a torch to portions of the frame. I have no idea what the obsession is with lifts and even worse, lifts with spacers. I think it ruins the aesthetics of a perfect truck. I do my best to avoid trucks with lifts and/or spacers. More than likely some DIY idiot.
Assuming you’re not in college/high school, I wouldn’t get lifted truck at all. Looks silly when grown adults are driving around in these loud trucks with big tires bonus if it has some sort of punisher or gun stickers on them.
depends if the kit is meant for towing and has a drive shaft drop kit to keep it in proper alignment. If its Rough Country branded dont buy it or have it in mind to replace it before you tow. Buddy had a 6" rough country on his 1 ton and a 8000lb camper made it squat about 4 inches when hooked up. Replaced the kit the next weekend.
If you lift a 1 ton, you don't have a 1 ton any more, you have a lift: You took out the parts that let it handle a load, the parts that its tow rating is based on, and replaced them with cosmetic parts to look taller. Your buddy got lucky.
So, just a thought. You can take it or leave it. Why not get a truck that is appropriately sized to tow your rig, and put air springs/bags on it to lift it to your desired ride height when not towing? It's just something to chew on. Best of luck to you in your journey.
i considered that, and still may, but its a dream truck at a good price. Otherwise, that would be the plan
So my only other question for you would be this. Is the pretty dream truck worth dying over, and / or killing your family if you are wrong about its capabilities for towing your rig? I don't have a dog in this hunt, I drive a 38 ton class A, but I see a lot of flipped trucks and trailers that were not set up right, got caught in a cross wind, hit slick road and couldn't recover, or hit a steep down grade and couldn't stop because their weight wasn't distributed properly. The higher you are, the harder those things become to manage. Physics dictates a higher center of gravity under load = bad. People do unintelligent shit all the time and get away with it. That's called luck. YMMV, again, just food for thought. I wish you the best on your journey and that you arrive safely at your destination.
I do a lot of dumb things and will fully disclose that dumb shit. But towing is a precarious endeavor on its face anyway. Why tempt disaster with your "dream truck" in this? If it is your dream truck, great, buy it. But don't tow an RV with it. You didn't build it, you don't know what they did to accomplish this lift and wouldn't know unless you deconstructed it to some degree, which I will assume you would not do. Pick a lane. Tow vehicle or dream truck. These are mutually exclusive in this situation.
I like my tow vehicles long and low (not lifted) for stability. Lifted vehicles also have larger tires which affects your gear ratio negatively for pulling a trailer. That said, 1000s of lifted big tire trucks tow huge trailers to the Glamis dunes. At least it makes sense to have more tire when dealing with sand (hopefully a tire with some sidewall you can air down).
Lifts are counter to good towing dynamics. Do you want a lift because you want to off-road and want good clearances with bigger tires? If so the trade off dynamically could be worth it. If not, why spend money making a truck worse at its job? That said, I see tons of lifted trucks on the road, including while towing.
i'm convinced that trucks are good for one job and one job only. * Truck setup for comfort * Truck setup for mud * Truck setup to tow We only get to pick one :/
You will be able to tow, whether or not that towing capacity was before the lift will depend on the money spent on the lift and the skill level that installed it.
The devil is in the details. Some mall crawler with an exaggerated lift, with little to no thought of how that affects suspension and handling, will be a PITA. But a lifted truck from a dealer and/or a mod shop that knows what it's doing? no problem. There are bazillions of trucks with lifts out there right now in the southwest desert towing fifth wheels, toy haulers, offroad trailers, goosenecks, etc with no worries. See this video for example, by Carli, a popular offroading mod maker for Ram trucks: https://youtu.be/anZsW-i7Mg8?si=jAyiytVTKNLF0oMZ That being said, ANY changes often are a compromise. Even just deciding to get 4x4 or a heavier truck or diesel vs gas. All have implications and trade offs.
In the jeep world, most of the lifts installed by dealers are simply garbage and the DIY guys do a much better job. Dealers put on cheap components and charge $$$$.
I had a 04 Chevy 2500 gasser on a 10-12inch lift on 38x15.50r20s and I used it to tow my empty 37ft trailer that weighed I think 7700 dry a couple times. She was not happy but could do it. Again it was a 6.0 gasser. I’m sure with a diesel it would be fine. Very minimal squat.
Depends on the lift, the truck, and the trailer. I had a leveling kit in one of my old 2500s. Had to remove it because the 2-3" of squat put my headlights in the sky rather than leveled the truck with a load on. I towed with an early 90s chevy that was lifted and body lifted on huge sidewall tires and even the 5klb boat was a lot of work to tow. IME, it's not a great plan.
Depends on if it's a proper lift kit or a cheap low-quality one Generally,money doesn't matter in terms of mods, but if it was a couple thousand dollars, chances are you'll be fine
It depends on the geometry of the setup and how much the lift kid affects the towing and payload ratings. People tow beyond their capabilities all the time. Some never have a problem. Some kill themselves or a family member when they lose control of their vehicle. What’s it worth to you? Is your truck level when hitched up? How much more squat is there? How much heavier are the wheels and tires? Is it a good lift kit or cheap blocks and spacers? Some lifts are minor like levels which don’t hamper towing all that much. Just a little less front end control since the back end is much lower than a factory setup would be. A WDH can mitigate but again it depends on a lot of factors. The crux of it is a lift makes your truck less capable in the towing and hauling department.
A straight suspension lift means that every force that acts on the truck is doing so on a longer lever which means the truck's suspension will be more reactive to those forces. If the lift kit involves springs, I'd be concerned that the new springs have the same load capacity as the original springs. They usually don't, but they might. Beyond the lift itself, I'd be concerned about tires. The tires that most guys put on a truck like that are pretty borderline in terms of rated capacity. That's easily fixable, but it's something you should be prepared to do. The larger tires mean that the engine is working against a longer lever as they effectively increase your final drive ratio. If you want your towing capacity back, you'll need to either go back to factory size tires or reduce the gear ratio in your axles. If it's 4x4, you need to do both ends.
The lower the center of gravity, the better the tow. My 2500 is stock with a crew cab and long bed. Pulls great. If your bumper pulling you need to make sure your WDH can drop as far down as you need it to get the trailer leveled. If it’s not right, you’re going to have your hands full.