Isuzu D'max lift kit advice

It is hard to tease out the truth of dealer comments as they vary with what the dealer perceives you will know of or understand. If asking this question, then there are other considerations worth taking into account.

The Current Dmax has no adjustment for camber at the top arm and so ALL adjustment is done via the lower arm eccentric cams on the inner pivot. Because there is not much adjustment possible, ie, enough for normal adjustments, you will quickly run out of adjustment as the lift amount creates excessive negative camber and uses all the possible amount of adjustment and can require more.
A 2" lift may exceed the abilty to correct the camber. Each vehicle is a little different as the limit is reached. Each side may possess slightly different amount of correction to the other side.

Ball joint spacers are illegal and void insurance and warranties, no question. These usually hold the arm higher and the ball joint outward slightly to assist in correcting the lost camber. Because of the offset design they are deemed to not comply, bolts hold the spacer to the arm and other fixings hold the balljoint to the spacer. Therefore there is no bolt through ALL associated components in that area, ie, loss of integrity.

If near the 2" amount the CV drive angle is increased during normal running, that works the CV and the boots through that greater angle all the time.
If used in 4wd the CV's can explode if high torque is going through them at a high steering angle, like a full lock situation.
A diff drop lessens the drive angle. It is legal as far as I know.

With a high amount of lift, the CV will always operate at a higher angle and since it is raised the CV's run their life at that increased angle, a cv forced to drive at high angle is operating at it's weakest point.
As the CV rotates normally the trunnion balls are running sideways, as the cv rotates with increased angle, the trunnion balls have to move through a wider path in their grooves during each rotation. This has to lessen cv and boot life. People seem to not consider this as an issue.

Fitting Free Wheel hubs means you lock them in ONLY when you may encounter the need for 4wd and therefore the two wheel drive shafts and all cv's and boots are stationary until the hubs are locked. Boots only flexed during steering and suspension movement.

Closely consider the quality and performance of the shock absorbers fitted with any kit. The OE ones are OK for road use, sort of, but if the vehicle is raised the shocks should provide suitable damping ability for the loads the vehicle may carry or tow. OE shocks will not do that. Damping before bottoming is best.
Good quality shocks will cost less in the long term and provide proper abilty for safety systems to operate properl and good mass control now the vehicle has a higher CG.

I have an earlier Dmax and the OE shocks would NOT allow/provide proper ABS braking ability at 5000km from new. Just because a shock looks good, doesn't leak and feels ok when cold means nothing much.

Not certain why you want a 2" lift but when I purchased mine back in 2014 I had the ARB GVM upgrade done and this also gave me a 40mm lift.

My reason the the upgrade was that my weights when towing the van was putting me very close to the allowable payload. The GVM upgrade gave me an additional 270kg that I could carry. Our van weighs in at 2500kg so I have enough wriggle room and there is no way O will ever exceed the GCM of 5950kg.

Having the GVM upgrade done pre registration means that the modification is recognised Australia wide, having it done post registration will only see it recognised with the state it is registered in. My upgrade was the very first thing that was done to the D-Max so all the engineering needed to do it is based on a stock standard car. Doing it later means that the engineering needs to be done taking into account any additions that have been put onto the car, hence it is not recognised nationally.

As far as the diff dropper, I can not see it mentioned on the ARB quote so I assume they don't do it. I do occasionally get a thud from the transmission which I assume would not be there if a dropper was installed.

Good luck with the new D-Max, mine is nearing 5 years old but still drives like a new car, I am extremely happy with my choice.

If you need more info I would suggest that you have a look at these 2 Isuzu forums
1. NEW D-MAX
2. OZ Isuzu

Google Dmax broken CV's and Cracked inner guards , do the same with YouTube
See if you think it's worth the risk of buying a Dmax .

I remember some incidents of Isuzu knocking back warranties on rear diffs because of 2" lifts. They reckon the increased tail shaft angle was causing the diff failure.

One user account:Click

I would personally run any car for at least six months to sort out any warranty claims before you start lifting anything. I'd be surprised if a dealer would do these types of mods for a ute, things alike a Toyota designed as a mining vehicle with large tyres they have a bit more leeway.
A two inch lift should actually be 45mm so hopefully the alignment should be OK.Their expensive but something like the adjustable Bilstein shocks is worth considering as you can adjust the height if the front sags back too much.
A diff drops not a bad idea , mines also had the clunk in the back from new so I guess the tailshaft spacer will happen soon.