The difference between men and boys

The difference between men and boys, as the saying goes, is the price of their toys. The list of toys could include snowmobiles in the Midwest, speedboats in a state that has little water (Arizona), ATV’s, and motorcycles. Nationwide, the most common “toy” is the pickup truck, and the most popular vehicles sold in this country are (in order) the Ford F-series, the Chevy Silverado, and the Dodge Ram.

A large majority of those trucks, naturally, are actually used as work trucks, but there is a certain segment that would clearly qualify as a toy, and that would be the raised pickup trucks, especially the ones with huge chrome wheels.

I’ll get into the whys and the costs in a minute, but let’s first examine what state law permits.

Arizona apparently is still the Wild West. According to LiftLaws.com, Arizona has no restrictions on suspension lift limits, vehicle frame heights, or bumper heights.

http://www.liftlaws.com/arizona_lift_laws.htm

Arizona DOES have a “mud flap” law, which serves to protect following cars from damage caused by flying stones thrown up by the wheels of the truck in front of them. 

http://www.harperlawaz.com/blog/2013/8/14/ars-28-95801-arizonas-vehicle-mud-flap-law

According to Arizona law, the truck pictured below would be perfectly legal in Arizona, as long as it was modified to include mud flaps that covered the full width of the rear tires:

There are a variety of ways that a truck can be raised up. The link below lists the advantages and disadvantages of each type: You’ll notice that some of the options include a Superlift Suspension Lift Kit that could raise the vehicle as much as 12 inches.

https://www.onallcylinders.com/2015/10/02/top-10-truck-accessories-of-all-time-2-lift-kits/

Unless you are a skilled mechanic, you will want your lift kit to be installed professionally, so here is a rough estimate of how much it would cost to install the various types of life kits:

https://firstquarterfinance.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-lift-a-truck/

1)   Block kits  – up to $600, plus as much as $500 for labor

2)  Body lift kits – as much as $2300, plus $100 for labor

3)  Coil spacers – Up to $1500 plus $200 for labor

4)  Leveling kits – Up to $2000, plus $500 for labor

5)  Struct extensions – up to $1700, plus $500 for labor

6)  Suspension lift kits – up to $5000, plus as much as $1500 for labor

7)  Torsion keys – up to $500, plus $200 for labor

Once you get beyond the cost of your life kit, how much do wheels and  tires cost?

https://www.ebay.com/bhp/20-inch-chrome-rims

If you bought your fancy chrome wheels on eBay, you would expect to pay somewhere between $750 to $1000 for a set of 4.

Depending on the exact tire size you chose, your tires would cost you someplace between $250 to $350 per tire . for an average of $1200 for a set of 4.

If you decided to utilize a suspension lift kit, you could spend as much as $6500 for the kit, $1000 for the chrome wheels, and roughly $1200 for tires, for a grand total of $8700 for a vehicle that is unlikely to ever go “off road”.

If your desire is to have “the coolest set of wheels in town”, then the only option you have is raise up your truck, add the fancy wheels and tires – and you can stay a boy as long as you want. And, as we learned this week, “boys will be boys’