Hollabakzach23

hey guys so i finally got my 3 inch body lift. i have a 97 2wd ext cab. i got the 3 inch and gap guards for a pretty good price so i snatched it up. ive been doing nothing but researching it because i am planning to do it myself to save a little money. just wondering if any of you guys who have installed one yourselves as well had any advice or tips and tricks to go about installing one. i messed up my ankle last week so i probably wont get around to it till next weekend unfortunatley but any advice would be great! Also i plan on running some 285s and having them on for the winter but is it going to make my 265s look tiny for the time being? ill get some pics up of how she sits now as soon as i can. Thanks!

01SilverCrew

I bought my truck with my 3in body lift on it so not sure how bad it was to install, sorry. But my truck does have 31s, which are 265s pretty much, and they do look small. They are Cooper Discovery STTs so im just going to wait till they wear down to upgrade to 33s or 285s. Mine is also 4x4 so it might be a bit different for your 2wd. Hope this helps.

hockeydad

If your going to lift it do a suspension lift.

billmck04

I have done a few body lifts - On newer rust free trucks, easy, as long as you have a few people to help lift. But if the body mount bolts are stuck or break, it can be a ton of work. The biggest obstacle I had was lifting the cab - I ended up using a shop lift at a buddies farm. Some of the bumper bracketry can be tricky and require some cutting.

Hollabakzach23

Thanks for the input guys them tires don't look horrible on there they will do till they are worn and I can replace them with something a little bigger! Bill what do you mean by the bumper brackets may require some cutting because my 97 has always been an indiana truck so its by no means rust free haha

Hockey dad I will gladly do a suspension lift if you pay for it mainly lets be real it 2wd won't see off road probably ever and its much cheaper haha

billmck04

Well, Start soaking every body mount bolt and bumper bolts with penetrating lube - especially the bed mounts, don't be surprised if the bed bolts need cutting. And some bumper raising brackets need some bumper cuts to fit right, usually not much if any on fords. I have the rustiest truck in AZ, Michigan was hard on it.

Hollabakzach23

Alright man thanks for that advice it'll be parked probably this week anyway so would it be a good idea and just hit em with some pb blaster a couple times a day maybe? Do you personally have a bl on your truck? And I'm sorry to hear about the rust man I've heard horror stories of michigan causing rust so I could only imagine lol

2000fordf1504x4

Its not too hard my bigest problem was the bed bolts we ended up torching them all off