lift kits

[evomind2]

hello
ill be buying an h1 in the near future.
does anyone have any experience with the rubber duck lift kits? more specifically the rubber duck stage 2 4" suspension lift?
link....
http://www.teakatoys.com/product_p/rd-1-11.htm

does this kit keep the stock drivetrain geometry?
can it be used in conjunction with the rubber duck stage 1 kit, which is a 2" body lift?

anyone have any photos?

lastly, if u go taller tires, at what point does the acceleration totally go to the crapper?
(yes, ive driven stock h1s...i know theyre slow to begin with)
thanks again

[ssgharkness020147]

The Rubber Duck suspension lift is not 4 inches. They are a set of spacers that will give you 2-3 inches of lift depending on how heavy that particular truck is, and the condition of the springs.

The stage II kit includes a 2 inch body lift as well which is where the four inches of lift comes from. Go to Rubber Ducks website to see before and after pics of a lifted truck. With that kit you can safely fit 42's, but you will need to re-gear the diffs and or trans to be able to run them (practicaly).

As far as the geometry goes, yes it is altered. The kit includes "shims" for the ball joints to correct the angles of the ball joints, but the springs and control arms angles do get altered a bit. A decent number of folks are running the Rubber Duck lift, love it, and have not reported any problems because of the geo change.

IMO anything over 40's will require a re-gearing, I'm going to 39.5 Iroks soon with a lift. I'll let you know how much slower my truck is after its all in.

[evomind2]

Originally Posted by ssgharkness020147

The Rubber Duck suspension lift is not 4 inches. They are a set of spacers that will give you 2-3 inches of lift depending on how heavy that particular truck is, and the condition of the springs.

The stage II kit includes a 2 inch body lift as well which is where the four inches of lift comes from. Go to Rubber Ducks website to see before and after pics of a lifted truck. With that kit you can safely fit 42's, but you will need to re-gear the diffs and or trans to be able to run them (practicaly).

As far as the geometry goes, yes it is altered. The kit includes "shims" for the ball joints to correct the angles of the ball joints, but the springs and control arms angles do get altered a bit. A decent number of folks are running the Rubber Duck lift, love it, and have not reported any problems because of the geo change.

IMO anything over 40's will require a re-gearing, I'm going to 39.5 Iroks soon with a lift. I'll let you know how much slower my truck is after its all in.

so, i gather from what you are saying, the stage 2 kit already has stage 1, so u dont buy both.
thanks for your help ssg, obviously im interested in buying soon and trying to do some homework.

[hmcoleap]

x2 on what Carey said... I would change gearing before you go taller than 40" tires, or expect the truck to behave differently, especially on steep descents (i.e. TOO FAST downhill!)

I wrote up a review of the Rubberduck suspension lift here:
http://hummer.off-road.com/hummer/ar....jsp?id=330715

There a couple of other options out there now, too - one is similar to the Rubberduck lift but excludes the shims that correct the balljoint angles - not sure how detrimental to the kit that would be, but it does save money...