Arkansawer

Ok im going to step in here and give my .02 cents. Im just now hitting the street truck scene after being in a lifted Bronco for 10 yrs.

Body lift, lets you run bigger tires. PERIOD. It does nothing else for you. So will a sawzall.

A body lift still leaves your fame low, which is where your ground clearance comes in at, even though you say you dont. If you dont believe me when i say your ground clearance is with your frame then you havent been offroading in anything but mud. Let me give you an example: You are trail riding with a buddy and you both have the same size tires, you come up on a tree or rock and the top of the rock is 18" high. Well with a body lift, your frame is still at 16" off the ground, but with a 4" suspension you are now 20" off the ground. Which proves right there that the person with the body lift alone, is screwed.

Also with a suspension lift, it gets your motor, fan, trans, transfer case, gas tank, radiator, all of the important stuff up a little farther out of the mud. It also gets a very important thing up out of the mud and water, your exhaust. With a body lift your exhaust is still down at almost stock level, because its still down there with the frame. And if you have been mudding, and never had your exhaust in the mud, then you havent been deep enough.

The ONLY thing a body lift does is give you bigger tires. Thats pointless if everything else is still dragging on everything you go over or through. Body lifts are good for the people thats wants to just look cool and are mall crawlers.

Wondertwin1

Okay. The motor point is valid. Good one. As far as the frame dragging. Shorter wheelbase vehicles wont have that problem.

zap

You don't get any more suspension travel with a body lift, factory bump stops are on the frame not body. The only reason to go with a body lift is just for looks. Like Arakansawer stated, there is nothing for it performance wise and is literally mainly for looks. The only useful thing you could do with it is used the set up to put some massive sliders on with.

My weekend wheeler is a XJ Cherokee with a 3.5" lift. XJ's are unibody vehicles so you can not put a body lift on. I take that little lift more places than guys with F150's with 6" of lift and 2" body lifts. The reasons being, a live axle flexes out way better than an IFS ever could and I have invested at least $1000 in heavy duty engine, transmission, transfer case, and gas tank skids as well as high clearance bumpers and rock sliders. I'm not afraid to let those investments do their jobs. There are gouges in those skids and sliders yet all of my doors still open and close and there isn't any damage to the rocker panels (unlike my F150).

Before I had that Jeep, I had a Suzuki Samurai with a 8" SPOA and a 2" body. That body lift made it very difficult to shift the t-case into 2WL, 4WH, or 4WL as well as occasionally caused the vehicle to jump out of gear (mainly just 3RD gear). Plus, it gave the steering fits (no hydraulic steering on those things) and made all of the body panels look off. The only good thing it ever did was allow me to use the space between the rock rails and the body as a foot hole when getting in and out of the vehicle.

Wondertwin1

I didnt say a body lift gave suspension travel. And i hear you on the t case problem. Makes sense. But like my truck, auto tranny and push button 4x4, like many newer trucks. And body panels. Well, my bed and cab arent perfectly lined up as is. I dont really think any vehicle is unless its brand new.

zap

That was the impression I got from post 3 about suspension travel. The biggest thing about a body lift is they are cheap...but not when you go with the other parts you need to make it look right such as the bumper relocation brackets. A 3" suspension lift cost about as much as a 3" body lift in the long run (many of my friends have gone 3" on IFS trucks for under $300) and is really only effective if you want to go with a combo of a suspension and body lift to get a 6" lift since those require new arms, transfer case drop kit (which was actually what you were seeing on that black F150), pitman arms and other things. After about 8" suspension wise, you have to start dropping the front axle and a IFS really becomes more money than it is worth and a SAS should be considered. It really just depends on how high you want to go as to what's most effective. Little things that you wouldn't think about could be a problem with a body lift too, things like lengthening some wiring, lengthening the steering shaft by more length than your lift (pythagorean theorem), and some aftermarket products (CAI) might not fit right if you keep them in OEM locations.

Wondertwin1

No i was saying the same as you. Because people were saying body lifts wouldnt give you the same travel as suspension. Thats why i said only mid and lobg travel setups are the only kits that give longer travel.