Body lift good or bad?

jsquier91 · #1 02-16-2010, 04:01 PM

Okay i think this makes no sense to me but my brother was trying to tell me a body lift is bad for my truck. it will make the ball joints and suspesion in general wear down faster than what it would usually. i know this seems like a stupid question but i just wanted to hear what u guys said. thanks.

Tom · #2 02-16-2010, 04:03 PM

A body lift doesn't affect the suspension in anyway, good or bad. So you're brother is wrong. However, the bigger tires that would accompany the bodylift could indeed cause faster wear and tear.

STL · #3 02-16-2010, 04:11 PM

Ya body lift is not gonna tear the suspension up any faster.

Larger tires will also wear your breaks down since your trying to stop a larger tire

jsquier91 · #4 02-16-2010, 05:14 PM

haha okay i thought so i just wanted to make sure thanks alot. but tires wouldnt really wear down the lower ball joints tho would it? it would just wear the brakes more?

camodown · #5 02-16-2010, 05:17 PM

bigger tires are just more stress on the front suspension but it really isnt going to do much unless you are really hard on it or start getting in the 35 inch and bigger range

jsquier91 · #6 02-16-2010, 05:29 PM

okay i think ill be okay than. thanks

2007BlackFX4 · #7 02-16-2010, 08:35 PM

well everyone i have talked to says that body lifts are bad for your truck to. i tend to agree. my local truck shop won't install body lifts because they say there such crap. u'll probly be fine with one tho

90fordranger · #8 02-16-2010, 08:53 PM

not to sure, but from what ive heard body lift wouldnt do anything.
i actually want one, because the tires i got on mine are up in the fenders quite a bit.
anyone know any good cheap ones?

tcmills3 · #9 02-16-2010, 09:00 PM

Performance Accesories

Tom · #10 02-16-2010, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2007BlackFX4

well everyone i have talked to says that body lifts are bad for your truck to. i tend to agree. my local truck shop won't install body lifts because they say there such crap. u'll probly be fine with one tho

What is your reason for agreeing? I don't believe I've heard any educated person say that a body lift is bad for your truck. All I've heard is that a suspension lift is superior to a body lift, which I agree with, but I can't see how someone could believe a body lift would somehow be detrimental.

bigcountry · #11 02-16-2010, 09:23 PM

ive heard they were bad and i have had one on my previous truck and i didnt have problem out of it and that was on a 20yr old truck. this is how i look it at ask yourslef these questions. 1. do you want it? 2.can you afford it? if you answer yes to both of them go for it whocares on what everyone says?!?! ask them if they can give you a good reason that makes sense on why they are bad and if they cant then you just shut them up so do it if it makes you happy and its what you want

2007BlackFX4 · #12 02-16-2010, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom

What is your reason for agreeing? I don't believe I've heard any educated person say that a body lift is bad for your truck. All I've heard is that a suspension lift is superior to a body lift, which I agree with, but I can't see how someone could believe a body lift would somehow be detrimental.

i guess i get "suspension lift being superior" and just a body lift being bad in general mixed up.
but i was under the same thoughts as you.. how can "a body lift..be detrimental"?? i thought it would be the same as stock but my local truck shop people tell me IF your gonna wheel it, ur better off with no body lift. he might have just said that to convince me out of a body lift because i wheel my truck pretty hard and i definitely need a susp. lift.
P.S. - i'm really good friends with the co-owner of my local truck shop so he's straight with me and doesn't just say crap to make me buy stuff from him.. he suggested that i order the 4" superlift online and install it myself versus going thru him because he said he has to charge me too much, so trust me when i say were friends

Even with all that being said.. ur right, logically a body lift wouldn't really change anything but at the same time i don't like them and i doubt i'll ever put one on my truck

Thats just my 2 cents. if i didnt wheel my truck i'd probably get the BL and spend the money i saved by not buying the susp. on trying to hide all the crap that BL's create

Fx4wannabe01 · #13 02-17-2010, 05:11 AM

I "LOL" at this thread...

Body vs Suspension. Both do the same thing: make room for larger tires. Both don't add or lose any ride quality or travel(on this application, 98+ Ranger).

Someone says suspension period bcause they're a shop that sells products and they want to sell you an item that a: they make ALOT more money on it compared to the $30 they make off a bodylift and b: they'd make even more money on it because installation takes less hours to install compared to the bodylift...they're out less and they profit more by selling suspension lifts.

Alot of the misconception of bodylifts is based on the old days of lifting. Like 70's and 80's. Where all you got is a block and a bolt and ran into radiator shroud issues, bumper issues(no brackets), steering issues, gastank issues(steel gastanks are now visible and unprotected by the body and rockers anymore), etc.. An era when suspension lifting was CHEAP AS FUCK because everything was solid axle and IFS wasn't thought of for a 4x4. Fast forward some 10 years...IFS and 4x4 are almost common place. Lifting those required a ton of drop brackets to drop the suspension down to create lift, and with all that extra crap and r&d, the price skyrocketed. In comes the bodylift. In recent years, bodylifts have evolved ALOT and all bases are covered. radiator drops, poly undeteriorating blocks, steering extentions, fuel extentions, electrical extentions, bumper brackets, etc. Total and complete instructions for a given application. There's fixes for the negatives of bodylifts(frame to fender gaps) and on the BL'd Ranger, the frame only shows as much as a STOCK toyota or s10!! It's not that noticeable compared to other rigs. Gone are the old days of hackjob lifts, the BL's of today are really a great product and a great affordable way to get new found height on IFS trucks. All this coming from a former Bodylift hater, myself. All my old trucks, were solid axle...xj, toyota, chevy, international. Cheap to lift and make suspension parts for. Bodylifts were NOT an option. Stupid option was my opinon until I got an IFS rig(the Ranger) and put larger tires on it. I needed more clearence of those tires because I keep beating the hell out of my fenders. In comes the 1" bodylift. Did what I wanted it to do: make better clearence for tires. Now look at me...3" BL and 4" SL and 35's and have 4 BL installs under my belt. And still a former BL hater.

John, you just a few weeks ago was all about doing a bodylift on the truck. What happened? Talked to a parts distributer

Jake, you're brother is an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about. As already said, bodylift have NOTHING to do with suspension components. If anything, the bodylift allows for larger tires(as does a suspension lift) and bigger, heavier tires adds some wear to components. But the additional wear is minimal until you start getting into 35" sizes...and even at that, if it's a DD that gets wheeled every now and then, it's a non-issue. If beat to hell, yeah, shit'll break. Bottom line on this point: extra wear will only be minimal.

Balljoints are shit by 75K for even a STOCK truck. My CV's are still perfect. My wheelbearings lasted me 120k(50k of that with 35's and heavy 15x10 steelies, and 20k with 32-33" rubber on steelies or alloys). TRE's are still stock and just now starting to show signs of wear.

/end rant of blah.

prestidigitizer · #14 02-17-2010, 06:04 AM

Great summary Shane! Very clear and succinct, and a few things I hadn't heard before.

2007BlackFX4 · #15 02-17-2010, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fx4wannabe01

John, you just a few weeks ago was all about doing a bodylift on the truck. What happened? Talked to a parts distributer

You make a good point i was looking into the body lift because i thought there was no other option. Before i even bought my truck or even considered a Ranger i was a BL hater. I started searching for susp. lifts for my truck and was like wow BL is all i got. So i tried to convince myself that it wouldn't be that bad and i guess its not but then i found the superlift. to me its worth the extra 1400 to get the suspension lift. To me the BL is the cheap way out and not the "right" way to do it.
Honestly the parts distributor didn't make my decision at all. I was recently talking to them about the Coil-Over conversion and he said its sketchy to say the least and he doesn't understand how just having coil-overs could change ride quality. He says an UNCRANKED stock torsion bar suspension will be the same as an uncranked coil-over system. He says that all of yall are getting the superlift and just cranking the t-bars on top of the lift therefore making it rough once again. Makes since but I will probably still end up getting the coil-over conversion because i trust yall (the ones that have installed the product themselves and have first hand experience with it)..
Now with all that said i will conclude by just saying that i have over the years made a personal decision to think that BL's are bad COMPARED to a suspension lift. I once thought they were bad in general but you all have changed my mind some what on that. Personally the body lift just doesn't cut it for me. Just the idea in general is kinda cheap.. i mean 3" cylindrical pieces of plastic? It way worth the extra money to have the suspension lift because i will be able to drive my truck around knowing i did it the right way and i will be able to drive down trails knowing i have a full suspension lift under my truck instead of 3" blocks of plastic... I'm extremely picky about that stuff. Wow i said was gonna conclude along time ago and i kept going on. I will just shut up now lol

EDIT: ^^^ agreed, great summary Shane. You have changed my thoughts on the BL slightly haha.. i do still think the susp. is superior tho