It rides a little rougher than before, but the old shocks were in bad shape. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be, overall, I'm very happy with it. Visibility is much better, too.
I had a skid plate made that runs from the bumper to the tranny cross member(trying to get a good pic of it under the truck is difficult to say the least); it was made with 12 gauge sheet steel. He said that was what he used on jeeps that saw many a tough trail. Sounded like a good choice to me. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
The biggest trouble was putting the lifted struts in and reinstalling the swaybar - I think I fought with that for 3 days before that swaybar would go back in place. Without the swaybar, it's too flaky over 45.
I have found the front doesn't flex as much as the old springs did, and it took a few weeks before it finally settled. The springs are much stiffer (hence lifted) so, that was inevitable. I'm not sure if the spacers from UpYourKia would have given me any more flex than the stiffer springs, but my springs were worn out too. So, I decided to use RSG instead. I haven't been in too harsh of trails yet, cause I seem to have a front drive line slippage from a previous wheeling event.
Long story short, climbed a hill that I couldn't make it all the way up, stalled, began rolling backwards, whipped wheel around, turned around, bounced and knocked a bead off a tire. Ever since then, I have this "slipping" I can hear and feel in the drive line. Before the lift, it it would show up under heavy climbing in in 4lo, now, I can do it in 4hi taking off in a hurry. So, it's either a hub, cv, diff, or trasfercase. Oh, what fun. What's the weakest point in the front drive line, anyway?
Overall, excellent quality parts from RSG. I would certainly buy from him again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />