I just got a 4" lift from a friend and have some questions about it.

First, I am going to have 31" Michelin AT's on it for now so how stupid will this look?
Second, to go with that, Can I torque down my torsion bars to actually lower the truck at all? I feel like this will be too high and tippy for 31's for now. I plan on moving up to some 32" mud tires soon when I have the money.
Also, this is only the front lift so how should I compensate in the rear. I already have Add-A-Leafs and figure I will just do a 1.5" shackle lift.

I am pretty excited about this lift so lemme know whats up so I can get it on soon.
Thanks,
AK

 

When I 1st got my lift, I had 31's. It didn't look really odd at all. If you want to see, take a look at the link in my sig. I belive that there are some pict of the runner with the lift and 31's.

As for the rest of your questions, some one will most def. chime in.

 

Yes, you can relax the t-bars. This will drop it some, and soften up your ride. Be careful not to go too far, otherwise, you will bottom out over every bump.

I think the look is going to be a personal taste. See what you think. It will raise your center of gravity, but unless you drive like a yahoo, you shouldn't have any problems.

For the rear, a shackle lift will work. If you are tight on funds, it will be fine. It will not ride great. If you have a couple hundred bucks, get new leaf springs. Get a set of 4 or 5 inch springs, they should work well with a 4 inch front. 5 will put you level or just above it. 4 may have a bit of butt sag.

 

The red truck has 31's and the black and white truck has the 33's. I think the red truck looks good with the smaller tires. I did this for better MPG as it was my daily driver. Just my opinion.

 

Nice, lookin good. Anyone else have pix of a 4" lift and 31's?

 

Another Question:
Where is the cheapest place I can get shackle lifts online?

And where Is the cheapest place I can get shocks for 4" of lift online?

Also I'd like to do a shock relocation (/\) in the rear, but just want to get this thing going first. Can I use the same length shocks for the 4" lift as for the shock relocation?

 

Here is a shot of my old '88. I had the add-a-leaf and 1.5" shackle lift in the rear. I ordered my shackles from here Central 4wd
I was running 31's at the time.

 

Here is a pic of the rear end I put on mine,
I dont remember what size the shocks are but they are definetly longer then stock. I got all the parts and shocks from "Off Road Solutions" in Arvada Colorado.

The lower shock mounts as well as the upper bar, not shown, also needs to be welded on. Check out the "ORS" web site and he also has pics of this set up.
I paid about 150 bucks for the mounts and the bars and another aprox 200 bucks for the shocks. He also sells the shackles. Good luck and let us know.
Jmach1

 

Okay so I got the lift last night, the kid just chopped the whole front end of the frame cause it was going to the junk yard. It is a Skyjacker 4" lift. So all day I was removing parts from this which is actually good because I know where everything goes. Some difficulties came up due to the previous owner welding some of the bolts on cause they were getting too loose.

FRONT

So I have his entire spindles down to nothing, but connected to the 4" brackets. I plan on removing the ones on my truck completely and just building these new ones up with my old parts.

I plan on pulling the lower A-Arms and front crossmember leaving the old spindles hanging, chop what needs to be chopped, Put the front new bracket in and lower the diff, pull the old spindles, put the new ones on with new ball joints, Attach the lower A-Arms again, build up the new spindles, and reattach the caliper.

I will do the new bumpstops, and new shocks and stabalizers and connect the steering components.

I will move the brake line, pull the brake caliper and hang that.

I know I should be getting new brake lines, can I just get new longer soft lines, or do I need the stainless steel ones? Anyone got tips on this part?

Also, when building up the new spindles how much grease should be on all the components?

REAR

The kid who gave it to me said he can probably get the 6" springs that came with it. I am worried that that is just way too much lift though. I have the larger torsion bars to compensate and raise the front to 6" also though.

But instead I plan on just getting the extended shackles and getting it up to about 4" of lift. I found Skyjacker shocks for about 37-40 a piece, and ranchos for 45-50 so I will probably pick one of those.

If I plan to relocate my shocks like you did I will probably just weld a tube across the frame like that and get shock mounts from marlin or something similar. Did your mounts interfere with any lines or hoses or anything?

This is just whats on my mind right now, I know there is more. If anyone has some tips or whatever that would be great. I just want to get this thing back on the road and start wheelin.

Thanks,
AK

 

This is by far the tallest 4" lift I have ever seen. I saw Chads truck when it had this. It will look ridiculous with 31's IMO, not to mention it will be really tippy. This was his old truck with that exact lift. This is a better picture than the one I linked on pirate.

*edit- Just noticed that you aren't using his t-bars, so you will be two inches lower, that definitely makes a difference, haha. I think it will look a little silly still. Personally, I wouldn't go over 3 inches and stay on 31's.



You could get longer shackles but combining all the cheap lifts you can find probably won't yeild very good performance IMO. As for relocating the shocks, you will definitely need longer than stock shocks to do that. Check out www.budbuilt.com, he sells a parts for the relocation. There is a round crossmember on these trucks, so you don't have to weld in a tube like a Tacoma owner would have to. I think that Budbuilt actually sells a completely bolt on kit that isn't too expensive. Of course, you could buy weld on tabs too if you wanted to.
I would put on stainless steel brake lines. Can you do soft rubber ones? Yeah, would it be a good idea? Probably not.

 

Yea so I posted on pirate and they made it clear that this would look retarted, and that just verifys it. So I have decided to wait till I get some 33's or something to do this lift. Thanks for the advise guys, and I'm sure I'll be back asking questions when I do decide to put this thing on.

Thanks,
AK

 

yeah im goin w/ the BJ spacers and longer shackles to kinda keep it lower and to make it look good, my 85 had a 4in lift w/ 30 a/t and it looked gay, but they were a/t i bet m/ts would look a hell of alot better.

 

Well here is what 35"s look like (just to give you some perspective)


Most of this is getting yanked off as soon as I find the stock parts to replace it.
4" Superlift Front and/rear
Downey t-bars
3" bodylift (came with the truck)
The same rear shackles as jmach1

LOCKnGO

 

What kind/brand of lift did you get?

 

Thanks for the replys guys.

Its a Skyjacker, and if your ditchin them tires, and your at binghamton, let me know