snake_master1967

Which will give me the best overall performance for the money, a suspension lift or a leveling lift? As of now I'm going to put 33's on it but I may go as tall as a 36" (I doubt if I go any higher though). I want keep it simple and Cheap, but I don't want to junk it up with something that's not going to look good and more importantly affect its drivability. Any suggestions would be nice Thanks in advance!!
By the way it is an 85' F150 4x4 short wheel base.

Triton v8

Performance?? There's no hp in lifting trucks. Neither will make you do any better than the other off-road but obviously will make it look better.

LovetheTide

^Performance, as in off road ability.

The suspension will help off road with longer range, <can't think of the word, were as the spacer would just be a stock suspension, and that wouldn't perform as a well as a system made for off road use, which would be an aftermarket one.

kweezy

Some suspension lift systems come with a 2" bigger lift in the front which takes care of the leveling problem for you. If you get a lift, get system and not a kit. A kit usually uses blocks in between the axle and the leaf springs and they sometimes use an add a leaf with the blocks. A kit will not give you any more flex/travel (aka articulation). A system doesn't use blocks or an add a leaf, it simply replaces the stock springs with longer, more arched ones. A lift will substantially increase you're off road ability because: A. you can fit larger tires (specifically more ground clearance between the axle and ground); B. The chassis will be farther away from the axles (and again, more ground clearance). Both will allow you to clear rocks, stumps, logs, and such, be able to enter and exit hills, riverbeds etc. at a steeper angle as well as being able to clear the top of said hill without scraping. As to whether which has more bang for your buck, it depends on how extreme your off roading will be.

LovetheTide

^Well said.

Remember when you add a 2" spacer you lose 2 inches of suspension travel, so if you had 8"s of travel you would now have 6"s of travel.

f150on20's

I lifted the front of my '93 by 1.5" purely for looks. I just wanted to level out the truck so I used coil blocks. Then again, I don't plan to off road any time soon. However, a friend of mine heavily into off roading says unless you go with a complete lift system, you will actually loose off road performance with a kit due to loosing suspension travel ability. His suggestion was Body kit before suspension kit if you are just trying to get more tire clearance.