Just want to share/rant this. My heep buddies always try to bag on my BL and I read alot of people talking crap on them, so I wanted to post my experience.

I have a 3" BL on my 87Runner which is the max I would suggest. I have it so I clear 33s which it does. It's a store bought kit and has held up to some pretty good abuse for years.

Some advantages, I believe are that it leaves my IFS stock and doesn't put any unneccsary stress on the CV's , which I have yet to break one. I ditched the sway bar and put some lo pro stops. It's also locked up front and back.

I have argued this with friends and will stick to this it, actaully keeps the COG lower than a suspension lift. A suspension lift, lifts everything, the BL only lifts the body which weighs considerably less than motor frame etc.

BL can look ugly as hell but with the addtion of some sliders and a little mod on the front bumper you cant really tell unless you get up under it and I think my truck looks bad ass .

So years of running it and zero problems that is what my experience is. Go ahead and feel free to flame away. Eventually I plan on doing a LT but there are some real advantages of a BL compared to a SL.

Meanwhile my heep friends continue to dump money into their suspension and tell me how weak my IFS is while I keep going through the same section as them without the help of a winch.

 

Sure, which advantage is the body coming off the frame due to increased leverage on bolts/mounts/spacers?



Or when they do this from a fender bender or bumping hard into a rock or tree..



Im just bustin your balls. Combined with a nice drivetrain lift, sometimes a BL is a good fit.

 

Dam, that first pic is horrible, I think I'll drive mine slower than I already do!

As far as the second pic mine are protected by my sliders.

I'm not saying BL are the best but they definetly aren't as bad as people make them out to be and in some cases better than other options.

Eventually I'll go long travel and will morte than likely lose it but that will still be awhile.

 

I call it the buddy lift

 

I have a body lift in my 87 p/u (as well as substantial suspect suspension lift) and for ease of pulling the tranny, or motor it makes it about 10x easier. Also if you ever plan to swap a v8 into your rig you pretty much have to body lift...

Oh and Toyota > Jeep...

Everytime I go wheeling with jeeps(only twice) I have ended up towing them both back out of the trail... Epic fails.

 

I had a body lift on my runner and liked the looks of it and it worked great for me. I just do not like climbing into a truck. I have even considered a two wheel just for this reason but that is just me. Anytime you start modding them from factory it is a chance you take and you also start fixing the next weakest link. When I see a truck going down the road, the taller the better, really like seeing raised up trucks, but I would not want to get behind one on a curvy road as I am sure he is going to be the slow poke on the road. Just have to keep in mind how each mod is going to effect your driving.

 

I had to replace the bushings on my truck so I did a 1" lift as well. It's a good profile and I like the improved vision. See 4crawler's' site for a write-up.