Body Lift Questions

98GMC_20 · November 6, 2006

Hey...I'm new to this forum, but neways I'm considering a small body lift of about 2 inches or so. I have a 98' GMC Z71 and I'm wondering if a 2 inch body lift is noticeable on my truck and if it looks like crap. Will my truck ride poorly if I crank up my torsion bar to get the lift I need. If anyone out there with the same truck as me has an opinion on this that would be great. Also my brother in law has a 92 GMC single cab short box step side and he did the same thing that i want to do to my truck and his truck was a very poor ride and I don't know if It was just cuz his truck had such a small wheel base.

vxaxv17 · November 6, 2006

Hey...I'm new to this forum, but neways I'm considering a small body lift of about 2 inches or so. I have a 98' GMC Z71 and I'm wondering if a 2 inch body lift is noticeable on my truck and if it looks like crap. Will my truck ride poorly if I crank up my torsion bar to get the lift I need. If anyone out there with the same truck as me has an opinion on this that would be great. Also my brother in law has a 92 GMC single cab short box step side and he did the same thing that i want to do to my truck and his truck was a very poor ride and I don't know if It was just cuz his truck had such a small wheel base.

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Cranking the torsion bars at all will alter the ride of the truck. How much worse it gets is determined by how much they are cranked. Personally I'd try to keep it under an inch.

As far as the lift goes, why would you ask if it looked like crap? Have you noticed ones that do? Im just curious... But anyway, a 2" lift isnt that significant and im sure some people will notice it and others might not. With my 6" lift i still have some friends that say "nice tires" or "oh you got new rims?" and completely miss the fact that the truck is also 6" higher than it used to be. I think the number 1 thing with lifts looking good or not is if they are proportional to the rest of the truck - namely tires.

Jim

98GMC_20 · November 6, 2006

I am just saying that I have seen a truck just like mine with about a 4 inch body lift and you could really notice the truck lifted off the frame, it looked kind of corny. I think it had a lot to do with the small tires he had on it also, if he had bigger rims and mud tires it may not have been as noticeable I suppose.

Sunoco · November 7, 2006

I am just saying that I have seen a truck just like mine with about a 4 inch body lift and you could really notice the truck lifted off the frame, it looked kind of corny. I think it had a lot to do with the small tires he had on it also, if he had bigger rims and mud tires it may not have been as noticeable I suppose.

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They don't make a 4" BL. 3 inch is the biggest. If you are going to do a BL I'd go with a 3". There are ways to hide the gaps and frame rails. NFAB nerf bars bolt onto the pinch weld of the body and hide the body lift very well. You can also get regular nerf bars and they hide it some. If you clean up the frame rails and paint them it helps too but the NFAB nerf bars are the best for hidding a BL. You can also get the performance accessories gap guards that cover the front and rear fernder well gaps from lifting the body from the frame.

vxaxv17 · November 7, 2006

Ah sorry i didnt realize you had meant body lifts. I was speaking of suspension lifts. But anyways, yes, i have seen some body lifts that didnt quite look right. This makes sense since the body is meant to sit on the frame and not 3 inches above it. If you are going to do a body lift i'd keep it to a minimum.

-Jim

MountaineerTom · November 8, 2006

I am just saying that I have seen a truck just like mine with about a 4 inch body lift and you could really notice the truck lifted off the frame, it looked kind of corny. I think it had a lot to do with the small tires he had on it also, if he had bigger rims and mud tires it may not have been as noticeable I suppose.

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They don't make a 4" BL. 3 inch is the biggest. If you are going to do a BL I'd go with a 3". There are ways to hide the gaps and frame rails. NFAB nerf bars bolt onto the pinch weld of the body and hide the body lift very well. You can also get regular nerf bars and they hide it some. If you clean up the frame rails and paint them it helps too but the NFAB nerf bars are the best for hidding a BL. You can also get the performance accessories gap guards that cover the front and rear fernder well gaps from lifting the body from the frame.

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Full Throttle Suspension makes a 4 inch body lift. At least a couple years ago they did.

chakis24 · November 8, 2006

i dont know how much of a help this is because my truck is 8 years newer- but i cranked the front 2" to level it and fit my new tires (285/70/17) and handling is a little different, but not much. ride quality has stayed the same for me- i dont feel a difference goin over potholes and the like. the main difference i noticed is that my fronts would squeal when turning sometimes and that never happened before, but has since stopped since i put the new tires on.

ihaveatahoe · November 9, 2006

perhaps it is a custom 4 inch body lift, ive seen an old chevy with something like a 8 inch body lift, made with square tube. a friend of mine had a 3 inch bl on his 97 and it didnt ride to bad, you couldnt take turns a 70mph, but it wasnt bad. make sure you get gap guards though, otherwise it will look like crap

98GMC_20 · November 10, 2006

I was maybe gonna go 2" max with a body lift so it may not look so bad, my main concern was the torsion bar being cranked and having a bad ride but like I had said with my bro in laws truck it was such a small wheel base where as I have an ext cab. which may make it better than his.