What’s The Difference Between These Two Truck Mods?

If you happen to’ve been considering lifting your pickup truck or body-on-frame SUV, know that some people won’t like your taste in mods. Personal taste aside, you’ve got probably heard tell of multiple ways to attain that sky-high stance. 

Suspension lifts elevate the whole vehicle and increase various clearances for off-roading. Meanwhile, body lifts simply space a vehicle’s body higher off its frame, leaving the chassis at stock ride height. Body lifts accomplish this trick by replacing the stock body mount bushings with a much taller hockey puck-like spacer. Common sizes for body lift spacers range from roughly one to 3 inches and kits include the essential longer body bolts. 

So if body lifts leave a truck’s frame at stock height, what is the point? They’re mostly for looks and the flexibility to suit larger tires, which actually does increase ground clearance. For instance, a two inch taller diameter tire increases ground clearance by one inch. Body lifts are inexpensive to buy and get installed than suspension lifts. Additionally they maintain a vehicle’s stock suspension and comfy ride characteristics. As well as, the middle of gravity stays lower by elevating only the body and never the whole body-on-frame assembly, which may end up in higher handling versus a suspension-lifted truck.

If there is a downside to body lifts, it’s that there is many mechanical and electrical connections between the body and frame that will grow to be stretched depending on the peak of the body lift. For instance, extensions to air-con lines, radiator hoses, and shift linkages may very well be essential, simply to name a couple of. Also, frame-mounted bumpers may require relocating or some form of filler panel to avoid a clumsy gap between bumper and body height.

Although a suspension lift kit is dearer to buy and have installed in comparison with a body lift, truck owners are getting lots more functionality. Suspension lifts primarily utilize taller springs to distance a vehicle’s axles further down from the frame. Due to this fact, the whole body and frame assembly is raised from stock ride height. Typically, a suspension lift is accompanied by longer shock absorbers also, though it’s sometimes possible so as to add extension pieces to existing shocks.

Ground clearance is measured between the bottom and the bottom point on a chassis, which is continuously an axle. By that measure, the bottom clearance between body- and suspension-lifted trucks with the identical diameter tires might be equal. Nevertheless, in real life, the suspension-lifted chassis has benefits for off-roading corresponding to greater approach and departure angles to navigate steeper inclines. Likewise, the section of undercarriage between the front and rear tires is more elevated, which could avoid high-centering the vehicle on obstacles.

So far as suspension lift drawbacks, a better center of gravity makes suspension lifted vehicles more liable to rollovers. As well, handling and ride quality will differ from the stock suspension. Depending on the standard and intended usage of the kit, you might encounter a much firmer ride. In all cases, an alignment goes to be required, too.

Suspension lifts vary from roughly two inches as much as six inches or more. Larger kits would require changing out much more components than simply springs and shocks. Things like control arms and track bars will have to be replaced with specialty components to keep up proper geometry and CV joint angles. That adds to the value and complexity of the endeavor.

Note that for some unibody trucks, like Ford’s popular Maverick, a suspension lift often is the only option toward larger tires and a taller stance. That is because there isn’t any strategy to separate the body and integral frame. Finally, it is not unheard of to mix each a suspension lift and body lift on the identical vehicle to sidestep potential negatives that exist in counting on only one sort of lift for big changes in ride height or ground clearance. For instance, a 3 inch suspension lift combined with a one inch body lift for 4 inches total lift.