Real world feedback on suspension height

[Punuffney]

I recently received my hot rod truck kit and I'm embarking on the build. I wanted to solicit feedback from truck owners regarding ride height. For those who have selected the lower 4-4.5" ride height, are you satisfied with result during daily driving? I'm going fender-less on my build so I'm only really concerned about dragging the radiator surround on low clearance road conditions (i.e., driveways, speedbumps, etc.) I've seen some builders make bump guards for the radiator surround, but I'm not sure if that's required for the higher ride height. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks

[edwardb]

Unless you're planning to run something unusual with the wheel/tire setup, I'd recommend using the bottom holes. The manual says "The top set is for a lower ride height (4-4.5”) while the bottom set is for a higher ride height (5.5”)." My build had 18 x 8 wheels and 245/45ZR18 on all four corners. My final ride height was about the 5.5" noted in the manual. But it still had a very low appearance, wheels/tires tight in the fenders (you don't mention whether you're using them) and the radiator about as low as I would have wanted. I never scraped it. But definitely had to keep an eye on it. My setup would not have been practical on the top holes. Good luck with your build.

[Guardm16]

I recently received my hot rod truck kit and I'm embarking on the build. I wanted to solicit feedback from truck owners regarding ride height. For those who have selected the lower 4-4.5" ride height, are you satisfied with result during daily driving? I'm going fender-less on my build so I'm only really concerned about dragging the radiator surround on low clearance road conditions (i.e., driveways, speedbumps, etc.) I've seen some builders make bump guards for the radiator surround, but I'm not sure if that's required for the higher ride height. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks

The only other thing I can add is this. There is some confusion in the build manual about shock length. I think some of this comes from older versions of the Lower control arms
Control Arms.png page 67 in the manual. Mine were significantly shorter at the shock mounting hole.

With the parts in my kit, I initially read the instructions that stated the front shock should be a length of 15.15 inches and use the 400lb springs. That left the 250lb springs and the shorter shocks for the rear. After I installed all the running gear, I could not level the truck, It had an *** down attitude, I even tried to use the higher snap ring location for the adjusting sleeve, still *** down.

I ended up changing and put the longer shock on the rear with the 250lb springs on the rear, and the shorter shock with the 400lb up front. I still used the higher snap ring location on the rear springs ant that gave me a firmer ride in the rear. But the best news is I was able to give the truck a slight nose down attitude. This also corrected a problem: each time I jacked up the front end, the shocks extended so far that the springs came off the seats and the upper control arms would contact the radiator support wings

[Chris H.]

The lower ride height is extremely low. I haven't started driving mine more than around the block but I don't see how I'll be able to go over speed bumps.