Alright, I've gotta ask...

Whats everybody's beef with body lifts? I've had my 4" suspension lift on my 92 for about 8 months now and, after so long trying to get the alignment right, shackles to get the thing sitting level, not to mention the chuck of change missing from my wallet, I'm thinking that a body lift would have been MUCH easier. Prove me wrong here.

 

The problem boils down to (in my opinion) people who purchase poorly made body lifts or install the lift improperly. They have a bad experience and spread the word. Another part I believe is from people who haven't research the whole aspect of the lift and complain because shifters or bumpers or whatever now looks odd, not knowing that they can adjust those as well.

I have a 4" bracket lift, bought the truck with it. I'm planning on adding a 2" body lift here in the near future.

I think if I had it my way, I'd take the 4" suspension off and do a body/drivetrain then a mild suspension, but since I've already got it on, I don't see it being worth my time to take it off. I'll work with what I have.

 

Both have there perks and downsides. It really just depends on what your needing the lift for. What do you plan on doing with your truck?

 

A body lift will only lift the body, hense the name. It does not lift the frame, drivetrain, etc. This does not directly improve your center clearance. If you raise the bumpers to match the body it will improve the approch and departure angles. A body lift will increase the fender space allowing larger tires that do improve center ground clearance. A body lift will also keep the truck CG lower than a supension lift. You will see more frame/undercarrage with a BL

A suspension lift will increase, approch and departure angles, center ground clearance, the frame stays tucked up where it is, fender space, and usualy wheel travel. With a SL you can use larger tires further lifting the belly. The down sides are that alignment may be hard to get right, increases the CG.

 

Well, the main reson I asked is because
1) My buddy is in the process of body lifting his '99 Blazer. He wants to go to a 31x10.50 Wrangler MT/R for some mild wheeling. I kinda pushed him intot the body lift, mainly because the price difference and for the fact that on the ZR-2 S10's and Blazer's, Chavy put a 2" BL on them from the factory.

2.) In addition to the SL on my truck, I also wanted to do a 2-3" BL to fit 36's. Its a little ways down the road still, but I like to think about this stuff early and avoid headaches when the time comes to do it.

I already knew about the bumpers/shifter bieng off and I can work around that/ do it the right way so it still looks okay. I was just wondering if there were any real downsides to a body lift that can't be avoided even with proper installation and a good solidly manufactered kit

 

I have found no real downside to a body lift:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/BodyLiftKit.shtml

I like running one along with a suspension lift. And, aside from allowing the front/rear bumpers to be raised, you can also raise up rock sliders for more clearance and you can raise up the drivetrain and gas tank for more breakover clearance:


http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...ft/index.shtml

 

So, as long as they're quality kits and installed properly, no real issues?

 

the center of gravity would be worse to, SL does the same thing but for some reason ppl with BL seem to complain about it worse, i was thinking about BL to and was wondering the same thing, i have heard horror stories of the spacers poping out and stuff but i would think a PA BL installed right would be just fine

 

Bingo.

 

I made mine with play-doh, and I'm a retard, I seem to be okay .....

*edti* They wer never installed proroperyly eiter.

 

This is where the lore starts!

Being serious, whatever you guys do make sure you get opinions from people who actually run the body lifts. There is way to much web wheeling and it can not only be misleading but also give a good product a bad name.

Frank

 

For a given height lift, a body lift has the least impact on center of gravity of any type of lift. If you put the weight of the body at say 25% of the vehicle's weight, a 3" body lift would raise the overall CG about 3/4" (3" x 0.25). A suspension lift of 3" raises everything but the axles 3", so assuming the axles are maybe 10% of the vehicle's weight, you would be raising the rest (90%) 3", or a 2.7" height increase in the CG. Putting on taller tires will essentially raise the CG 100% of the added height of the tire.

 

Moral of the story is 4" lift and cut to fit

 

i didnt say they are bad, i have heard horror stories tho, i have a SL lift on my other truck and it is fine, altho i have never run a body lift i was stating the info that ppl have told me. sry if i mislead anyone just trying to give him the info i have. the SL lift changing the CG more makes sense and i understand that. again sry if i mislead anyone

 

I like mild body lifts because they can make working on your truck easier. I have never heard of any body lifts failing on anybody. IMO, If you do get one, buy or make "gap guards" to fill the ugly hole.

 

It's all good. I was saying that about the "lore" mostly in jest. There have been many a thread on body lifts and one thing that holds consistent is those that have them are typically happy with them and those that don't have them but are against them have never had them.

What's important is to be able to state what vehicle and kit did or did not have an issue. That can go a long way to help people avoid mistakes or take advantage of a good kit. Yota's seem to tolerate BL's rather well.

Frank

 

the good thing about the yota is that it looks sweet wihany lift you put on it, I have a 3inch body lift on mine, ive had no problems at all except for some of the lines had to be extended (coming on and off the carb) but besides that your good dawg

 

I love my body lift. It has been the easiest form of lift on my truck. It went in fairly easy, the only downside is my shifter has longer throws. Gave me clearance for bigger tires, kept my CG low , overall a great form of lift. I bet you if you went with a small sl and a bl you would have less issues then with the bracket lift. So I would recomend a bl to anyone, great for clearance for bigger tires!

 

The way I went was 2" homemade body lift, ball joint spacers, 2" block in the rear and let the 35's fit themselves

 

body kits just seem so un safe and un appealing to the eyes. you get much better performance with a suspension lift. but thats my opinion. i have run both, not in my rig but i've done trails with each and could tell a difference with the body vs suspension. of course if you just do body,all that ets you is bigger tires. were as suspension moves thebody AND the frame away from the ground and body lift does just the body. so you can use bigger tires, but your frame is still exposed more with a Body Lift than with a Suspension lift.
either way, if your happy, why change it?