Difference? Body Lifts and Suspension Lifts

[Blackmoore]

Whats the difference between a Body Lift, and a full suspension lift? I know whats involved, but why whould I pay thousands of dollars for a full suspension lift, when I could just do a body lift and say myself a lot of money? I mean when it comes to adding bigger wheels and tires, why would I want to do a full suspension lift? Do it improve offroad capabilities?

[knees scrapin']

Body lifts, do exactly that it lifts the body(cab and box) OFF the frame of the truck. Still retaining the stock suspension. This allows you to fit bigger tires in the wheel wells. The downside to this is you only raise the truck no more then the tire upgrade size, usually about 3" and you will have gaps between the body and frame, mostly in the rear wheel wells.

Now a suspension lift changes your stock height to the height of your new kit using different springs and shocks up front and usually shackles in the rear. This changes everything from camber to drivabillity. Definetly the way to go if you want a drastic height change.

Basicly if all you want is to run a larger rim/tire and ground clearence is not a big concern use a body lift. If you want to raise the frame to improve clearence more then 3" then buy a suspension lift. Ah hell buy both. Drive over some civics.:D

[Blackmoore]

So a Suspension Lift will actually give you more ground clearance? Cause as far a I can tell it doesn't seem like no matter how much you lift your truck, the axels still sit in the same place. Wouldn't you only get more ground clearance by adding much bigger wheels and tires?

[davidI]

The larger tires are what is going to raise your truck clearance wise but a suspension lift is going to keep the driveability better. Just raising the body will make the truck more top heavy and I'd imagine easier to roll. Ghetto people just drill holes in hockey pucks if you want a $10 body lift ;)

[knees scrapin']

Suspension lift will lift the entire truck to the new height. Using longer springs and shocks.

Suspension lifts and body lifts riase the center of gravity, thus making the truck easier to roll.

[Blackmoore]

Well the guy who did the Body Lift on my 93 Pickup 2 years ago apparently did a horrible job. From what they told me, he cranked the Torsion Rods all the way up, and added a chunk a metal in the leaf spring, along with the blocks. So now im having to go to a shop to undo all the stuff he did. So my other question is, what does it cost to do a 2" or 3" Body Lift correctly, what kind of costs and labor am I looking at? I mean its not a job I can do myself right? Also where can I get some replacement guards for the wheel wells? The ones I got are like a cheap rubber, and I think I lost one of them in the front?

[Phuqu]

A body lift shouldn't cost you more than $100-200 for a full kit for your truck including spacers, bolts, washers, etc...


It is something that can be done with some mechanical knowledge.

There are plenty of write ups on installing a body lift.

Try Google!