need some opinions about body lifts

01cummins

01cummins

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Apr 6, 2008
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I was wondering if anyone on here has opinions about body lifts on their CTD, right now I have leveling spacers but I thought maybe to put a body lift on it instead of lift spindles and blocks.
 
I don't like body lifts. I don't like the idea of lifting my cab any higher off the frame than it has to be. With that being said, people have done them sucessfully for years.
 
well also to lift my truck about 3 inches, its about the same price for a body lift and lift kit
 
Lift kit is actually gonna get the frame up higher and you won't have all those gaps between the frame and body. Also, you won't have to extend your steering shaft with a suspension lift. Just a new pitman arm, control arms, shocks, springs, a few brackets to lower brake lines, and maybe an add-a-leaf in the rear. Suspension lifts on these trucks are easy.
 
I might have to go with lift spindles since its 2wd and I already put spacers in the front and I have like 1 inch factory lift blocks in the back
 
Its a 2 wheel drive, unless your gonna run the desert, your going the wrong way, Slam it to the ground and put some 28inch rims with low pro tires, Other than that a body lift will make you have more sway from the hieghtened center of gravity,and its probaly not the way to go for the same reasns BGBL said pluss you have toraise your bumpers and lenghthen your shift linkage ect.
 
I had the thought about lowering it down at one time but I'm not all into lowered trucks, and I dont wanna get rid of the tough suspension if I ever did tow anything
 
With a body lift on a diesel, what do you do about the intercooler? You know, intercooler goes 3" higher... Motor doesn't?
 
you can extend the cooler tubes. I think a 2" requires less mods and such.

the ONE thing that's nice about a body lift is the engine is easier to work on :o
 
Rob24vCTD said:
Other than that a body lift will make you have more sway from the hieghtened center of gravity,and its probaly not the way to go for the same reasns BGBL said pluss you have toraise your bumpers and lenghthen your shift linkage ect.
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Actually, the biggest advantage to a body lift is that you are not raising the center of gravity as much as a suspension lift. Further, your suspension will not sway as drastically, since you are not modifying the height or springs. The original sway bars will function just as they were designed, where with a suspension lift you are changing the geometry of the links, steering, and sway bars. That said...

They have their place. But, for a few inches of lift, go with a suspension lift. You have to deal with a lot fewer variables with a suspension lift then with a body lift on a CTD truck: Intercooler, radiator, exhaust hangers, fan/fan shroud, shift linkage, etc. etc.
 
Forrest Nearing said:
you can extend the cooler tubes. I think a 2" requires less mods and such.

the ONE thing that's nice about a body lift is the engine is easier to work on :o
Click to expand...

Well I think I can be of some assistance here.....seeings how I have one on my '01! I'm not a fan of body lifts either, but I decided to try one on my truck since I already spent a crap ton on my suspension lift and didn't want to REDO everything to go to a larger tire.

With that being said, I've had ZERO issues with my body lift. The only thing I had to do to get it to work on the diesel, is remove about an 1 1/2 off of the driver side intercooler pipe and trim the bottom of the fan shroud. Other than that everything with the kit worked. You have the steering extension, and the shift linkage extension....other than that it's all bolts. Very few lines or wires had to be messed with. I took my dear sweet time on it and I had it installed and everything put back together in about 4 hours. It was extremely easy to put on.

I have ZERO gaps that you can see from looking at the side of the truck, and honestly you can't really tell it's on there. I do however LOVE the access that it gave me for working on the motor. Swapping injectors is a flippin breeze now and when I rebuilt my vacuum I was able to pull everything apart from the fender well which made it almost TOO easy!:rockwoot:
 
MD-LUCKY said:
Actually, the biggest advantage to a body lift is that you are not raising the center of gravity as much as a suspension lift. Further, your suspension will not sway as drastically, since you are not modifying the height or springs. The original sway bars will function just as they were designed, where with a suspension lift you are changing the geometry of the links, steering, and sway bars. That said...

They have their place. But, for a few inches of lift, go with a suspension lift. You have to deal with a lot fewer variables with a suspension lift then with a body lift on a CTD truck: Intercooler, radiator, exhaust hangers, fan/fan shroud, shift linkage, etc. etc.
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My 4.5" lifted truck doesn't sway anymore than a factory truck and actually handles just as well if not better than a factory truck and that's without the sway bars.
 
BgBlDodge said:
My 4.5" lifted truck doesn't sway anymore than a factory truck and actually handles just as well if not better than a factory truck and that's without the sway bars.
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I'm betting a trip to a skid pad measuring lateral acceleration would suggest otherwise. :)
 
Last I checked I didn't build my truck for skid pads but I'd be willing to do it. Let me throw my sway bars back on, tighten the ladder bars up on it, and let's go for a ride. I think what helps mine is the 10" wide wheel, 12" wide tire, and the 4.5" back spacing that pushes the wheels out so far.
 
Mine is also stable as hell for being lifted.....I think it actually corners better than it did stock. But I'm running sway bars front and rear, 10" wide wheel, and 15.50 wide tire.
 
BgBlDodge said:
I think what helps mine is the 10" wide wheel, 12" wide tire, and the 4.5" back spacing that pushes the wheels out so far.
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Exactly. Now imagine if you had a 12" wide tire, 10" wide wheel, and 4.5" back spacing without modifying the suspension height at all. All of the factory geometry was in place... Plus, that 2000 pound motor, 500 pound transmission, and 100 pound transfercase were all closer to the ground.

That is the difference.

I'm not bagging suspension lifts at all. That is what I used on my truck. But a body lift is not all bad.
 
I have now 3 inch body lift with 5 inch suspension lift.

To lift bed and cab is very easy, but .... :

1. you have to cut driver side intercooler tube (I cut off 2 inch)
2. you have to modify fan housng !! (because no fan is 3 inch lower than radiator)


I do not like cut fan housing and I found very easy solution. I rised fan bearing bracket from block to cylinder head. To do this you just have to modify little bit bearing braket and I installed new longer fan belt.

I will look like directly from factory :rockwoot:

If somebody want, I can make pictures of my setup

:evil
 
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