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Deleted member 12951
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Watching the video at about the 3:45 mark, he has a decent amount of preload. I took mine off-road with the preload I did and it worked out very well. I also have no issues on the road.@hashtag_AWESOME thanks for your comments.
With two spares, plus pro eagle jack, backflip cover, and about 120 pounds of tools/etc in the bed up against the cab, I still have at least 1" of rake in my truck with regular +3 deavers. I actually think a bit more weight in the bed would actually help balance in my truck. That said, I had my sled in the back (about 500#) with just one spare and none of the other stuff mentioned, and my truck was level. But definitely, it suffered performance wise with that kind of load in the back. If you're not carrying a lot of weight all the time, I would hesitate to recommend HD springs. But you know best on that front, given your use. Maybe give SVC a call, or try BajaHQ.
As for the live valves and where to set them, I am pretty happy with where my truck is at now (0.75" of lift in the front, and yes, about 1-1.25" of rake). It may not seem like much, but that extra 0.75" of down travel in the front end from what I had before (@1.5" lift) makes a big difference to grip in the front end on chattery turns offroad. It also has less bump steer from flatter tie rods. There are people on this forum that may disagree, and that's fine. I encourage testing and making up your own mind based on what you feel is best for how you want the truck to perform.
If you run your truck hard, the cooling benefit from the factory 3.0s is worth the upgrade to not lose suspension performance when the stock shocks get hot. If not, I would try first try lowering the CAS to get somewhere between 0.75-1.0" of lift in the front. If you did that, I expect you wouldn't want the +4HDs in the back as you'd have too much rake. In other words, you might be able to save yourself a bundle. You could even try drop shackles with your current +4s, along with lowering the CAS, to see if that gets you the balance you are looking for.
Have a look at Cameron Steele's raptor set up. I don't think he is running a lot of preload, but is running HDs in the back. I'm not sure if they are +2 or +3 springs though. To my eye, they are likely +2. Perhaps you can contact his shop and ask.. I have to think he knows how to set up one of these trucks better than most.