Body Lift Vs. Suspension Lift

[danielop18]

This will sound as if I'm stupid but I am fairly new to 4*4. What is the difference between a body lift and a suspension lift, do you need both to lift up a truck, which is better, and whats the best names in the industry to use?

 

[broncoshell]

First thing, it's not stupid at all!!! That is what this forum is all about... The body lift is where you just lift the body. the suspension lift is where you are lifting the frame & body to add big tires & ground clearance. Some good lifts are Superlift, Sky-Jacker. You can go to the broncograveyard.com & find out a lot more about lift kits... Welcome to the Zone & feel free to ask any question... Good luck with your truck!!! >-

 

[Freewheel Burning]

Just to clarify things a bit, envision this:

The frame of your Bronco is the center point, with the body bolted to the top of it, and the suspension bolted to the bottom of it. With a body lift, you put spacers between the body and frame, thereby raising the body while the suspension and frame stay in the same place. This is good for giving you extra fender clearance. With a suspension lift, you are putting in taller springs which adds space between suspension and frame. This raises everything but the axles. The axles only get raised when you put the bigger tires on that you now have room for!

I just put the Superlift 4" suspension lift in my 79, which I highly recommend. I did it in my driveway, with basic hand tools, and it took me about three weeks of evenings and Saturdays. Broncograveyard.com and 4 Wheel Parts got most of my business. Good luck.

 

[billybroncojr]

Usually cost is a factor between the two. Cheap body lifts start at around $80. Suspension lifts get more complicated and costly when you start looking at newer trucks with IFS setups. That's what the good thing about having an older straight axle truck is, you can get 4" lifts for a couple hundred bucks. Kits vs. systems are sometimes confusing. Kits are usually bare bones and missing things like shocks and rear springs. Systems are more expensive but are usually more complete with everything you need, like rear springs as opposed to lift blocks or helpers. The more componants in a lift kit the better it is, you may not need it but better safe than sorry.

Later,

Jeff

 

[battered_bronco]

suspention lifts give you more suspention travel but shift all but axle/tire weight upwards making a higher center of gravity

body lift raises the body but the motor/trans is only lifted by the increased tire size

so with the stock~29 inch tires swaped for 34s and 4 inch lift is like ~9 inches

personally i would go with both 2 body/2 suspention unless its only for "looks" then stay with body(but 3 inch body lift on a 78/79 bronco will reck your lower column

i think you can put 33s on a ol bronco with a body lift it will just look better

start with a cheap/"easy" 1 1/2(pref) - 3 body lift and new body mounts

most suspention lifts seem to bee real soft too

and stay away from axle block

 

[Jonne78]

so with the stock~29 inch tires swaped for 34s and 4 inch lift is like ~9 inches

actually swapping from 29's to 34's will only give you a 2.5 inches more lift plus the 4 in. susp. lift which only makes 6.5 inches more of lift. the best way i can think to explain it is to measure form the center of a tire and then to the outside of it, do the same with the other tire, then difference it the ammount of lift/loss on the tire swap