Thoughts on a body lift?

[cbradley]

I am still dealing with a lot of rubbing with the 33" tires, even after a 3" suspension lift. It appears that a 1" body lift and either more backspace on the wheels or wheel spacers will fix much of the problem. Does anyone have any words of caution on doing a body lift? Is there any compelling reason to avoid it?

2004 4Runner
285/70/17 BFG KM2s
~3" Icon Suspension Lift
Stock 17" Sport Wheels

 

[Momrocks]

Myself, I don't have issue with body lifting. Be conservative and be prepared to mitigate all types of issues to be in order to be well sorted out. Wire loom lengths and slack, steering, radiator shrouds, breathers, actuator cable lengths and routings, etc. etc. Sometimes there's more than meets the eye.

 

[hillbillyjake]

+1. personally i like a 1 or 2 inch body lift. had one on an old dodgeand it seemed so omuch easier to clean under there. maybe just me. i whole heartedly agree with the above. be prepared.

jake

 

[Tucson T4R]

Here's a great write up on installing a 4Crawler body lift. There is also a lot of other detailed discussion on the topic, just do a search on 4Crawler.

http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3393

 

[washington taco]

I have installed a 3" doby lift on my 2000 Taco extra cab with no adverves effects. This was performed about six years ago. It was by far more difficult to install than a suspension lift but not out of the capabilitys of a good shade tree mechanic. I would not go that high again due to the fuel line extension and large gap caused by the lift. That being said I run a 2 inch suspension lift and a 3 inch body lift and 315-70R17 (33.65" tall 17X8 wheel) BFG allterains and have rubbing at almost full lock. I did not notice any real issues with handling either. If you intend to load your vehicle storage area with alot of items it is obviously that much higher.

 

[cbradley]

Thanks for the link Brad. It doesn't sound too complicated, though it does sound a bit intimidating. Anyone in the So Cal area interested in a little body lift party?

 

[BLKNBLU]

They seem to be a love 'em or hate 'em proposition. So far we don't seem to have any haters in this thread. Chalk me up as another fan of a modest BL. Obviously a different animal, but I've had a 1 inch on my 1st gen without issues for several years now. Also agree with Momrocks to be ready to make other adjustments, but the less the lift, the less the side effects.

 

[Hilux_Max]

nothing wrong with bodylifts....they are very popular here in australia....Im going to bodylift my 07 hilux very soon....have a 3" suspension on it already, am tossing up whether to go 1", 1.5" or 2".....plan on running these offroad in 35/10.5x16

me mate wants to do the full 2" on my truck, I think it may be a 'tad' bit too much......1 or 1.5" I reckon is the way to go.

by the way...where are you rubbing? on the chassis mount or the body? if the chassis mount you can trim that to gain clearance, if the body, then bodylift will help.

 

[cbradley]

I have several rubbing locations. In the front I am rubbing on the upper control arm at full lock as well as the frame. I also want to be able to get chains on the tires if I need them, which is definitely not possible now. The wheels spacers should fix the rubbing, but then the tires will hit the front bumper and the back of the fender well. In the back the tires run on the back of the wheel well at full compression. I am pretty sure that the wheels will hit the top of the fender under full compression with spacers and no body lift.

My theory is that the body lift will ameliorate the problems the spacers are going to cause. I'm not 100% sure though. I have tried to measure approximately where the spacers will put the tires, but it is hard to tell since the arc of the rear wheel under full compression doesn't seem to follow a simple arc.

 

[BKCowGod]

I had 3" on the Jeep and I gotta say steering was TERRIFYING. Partly because the PO never bothered to install a drop pitman arm. I just went down to 1", but I managed to melt my ignition box while I was at it so I haven't tried it with 1" yet.

Not sure about on a yota, but on the Jeep 1" only required me to adjust the shift linkage and move the radiator so it would still clear the fan.

 

[Tucson T4R]

On the 4th Gen 4runners anything 1" or less only requires a minor adjustment to relieve stress on the steering coupler. Installing over 1" will get you into radiator relocation and a few other mods. I personally only installed 1/2" body lift and that was only to increase the clearance between my body and front winch bumper. It was an easy install and no problems in the last couple years since I installed the lift.

I guess I'm in the camp with body lifts are OK as long as you keep them to a minimum and use a quality lift kit. 4Crawler makes a great product and will work you to customize something if you don't see what you want on the shelf.

 

[cbradley]

I'm looking at probably getting a 1.25 inch body lift. I'm still trying to work out the measurements, but it seems to be the most likely solution to my issues. Thanks for all the advice everyone. I imagine I'll be back to this thread as I find more body lift questions.

 

[SAR_Squid79]

I, personally, would not put more than a 1" body lift on my truck. There are tons of discussions on the things that a body lift can damage once you go over 1".

If you're going to do a body lift 4Crawler is the only way to fly: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/BodyLiftKit.shtml

 

[ntsqd]

A little late now, but way back in the last eon there was a sporadic, on-going debate on the ORC yota Mini list about BL's. Drew Persson (father of the famed yota IFS idler arm bolt-on gusset) was a proponent of them, and sometimes was the lone voice in the wilderness. His main point was that only the relatively light stuff got moved up. All of the heavy parts (engine, trans, etc.) stayed in the same place relative to the ground (less any change in tire size).
From a CG point of view that's a pretty valid point.

 

[bat]

I just did a Tacoma very easy to do and at 1" all he had to do is remove the lower plastic part on the radiator. I would recommend doing one side at a time so as to not shift the body to much.