Anyone know whats involved with installing a body lift kit on a 95 f-150? Can it be done in the driveway with common hand/air tools? I'd like to run some bigger tires (33s) on my truck, And this looks like a cheap way to do it. Let's hear some pro's, con's of a body lift kit.

Donate: I noticed in your sig you have a body lift. Did you install it yourself? how did it go?

thanks,
scott

 

I bought a 4inch for my truck for $15..long story about the price but I ended up taking it off after I put it on...I'll wait for a suspension lift cuz it just seemed to show to much frame...maybe if it was a smaller lift it would look ok to me.It was prety simple 2 man job putting it in...just loosened all the body bolts,used 2 floor jacks and alot of blocks of wood and lifted the body up,put the spacers in and same went with the bed...only thing that went wrong was I forgot to disengage the parking brake so when I got everything back together and went to move it it wouldn't disengage,but you have to get a extention for that...prety easy..

 

i installed my lift with a friend of mine. between the two of us, it took us about half a day (taking our time). its a pretty easy and straight-forward install. if you have air tools then those will help a lot in removing the old bolts and installing the new ones. pro's fo the lift: cheap, easy install, works great for clearing larger tires. cons: not as much ground clearance as a suspension lift. overall, im really happy with mine. hope this helps!

 

fivept0...I've seen plenty of body lifts and they always seem to show too much frame, engine, etc. I'm not a big fan of them but it's all personal pref. I can't tell from your sig if you have 4x4 or 2wd but if you like to go off road you would be much better served with a susp lift as these give you more articulation going over rocks, ruts, etc. These trucks are much cheaper to lift than the new IFS trucks. I've seen a guy running around town here with a bone stock 94/95 F150 w/Michelin 33x12.5 (at least it looks bone stock, no body/susp lift visible). He parks near me and I've been trying to catch him to see if he gets any tire rub turning or carrying a load. They look nice and really fill up the wheel well. I plan on getting 31x10.5 soon as I don't do much offroading but I would love to have 33x12.5 for the looks.

 

Thanks for the replies.

My truck is a 4x4. I'm really just going after the "look" more than anything. I rarely go offroad with my truck, thats why the body lift looks so attractive to me. I've also seen body lifts that look bad, but would a small lift (2or3 in) show alot of the frame?

Drm7: let us know if you talk to the guy with the 95,95 with 33s.

thanks again,
scott

 

fivept0,

It really is personal preference as to which lift to go with since your main concern is looks. However, a few more things to condsider, unless you do some custom bumper work, your bumpers will sit x inches below your body, with x = height of body lift. And there are few things that look tackier than offset bumpers! And your chassis will be more exposed, as well as some of your engine components up front. You can get body lips, or frame lips (I'm not sure exactly what they're called) to cover up the exposed chassis/engine in the wheel wells, you can get nurf bars to hide the side frame exposure, and you can get some custom bumper work done for a couple hundred dollars to remedy the off-set height, but as you can see, to get a clean look, you're gonna have to spend more than just the $150-$200 bucks you paid for the kit. Also, they are some bushings that sit under the cab you might want to replace as well.

As far as tire size, I fit 33x12.50's on my truck with nothing more than a leveling kit, but it was too close for my comfort so I ended up getting a suspension lift-- which is one of the best mods. I've done to my truck so far. My only regret is not going with a 6" lift. They really aren't that expensive and eventually,you're going to have to replace your shocks, springs, bushings, etc. when they start to sag and age any ways. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. IMHO, suspension lifts not only perform better, but they look better, with the colored coil springs, shocks, and brackets and have a tidier, more stable look than body lifts, which is what you're after any ways right? Well, it just depends on how much money you want to spend I guess. If there is any way at all you can scrap the money together to get a susp. lift, I would definately say go for it. Just my .02.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.
I've got some thinking to do now

TF: whats a leveling kit?

scott

 

a leveling kit will raise your front suspension so its even with your rear (a lot of fords come lower in the front than in the back). as far as the bumpers, thats no problem, you just get bumper relocation brackets and move them back up (i think they were around $20 bucks for mine, but a lot of body lifts include them in the kit). like TF said, it really is a matter of personal preference. in my case, i couldnt find any suspension lifts for my truck back when i went to lift it (except fabtech, but theyre wayyy too much $$$ for me), which is why i went with a body lift. i have no regrets, however. the frame does show a little bit under the body, but im going to be getting nerf bars soon to cover that up.

 

I would go with a suspension. Body dont look to good. I never install them till I have to. You can do a suspension yourself too if you are inclined and have the tools. And I have done them in the yard before.

 

if you can afford it, then go with the suspension lift, they are better in almost every aspect. but, if you cant afford it (or dont want to spend all the $$$), then go for the body lift. it really does not look that bad. you can look at my gallery for pics of my truck, or look thru the member's galleries, that'll give you a good idea what a body lift will look like. if you dont like it, then just go with the suspension lift.

 

Donate
did you do a 3" body lift? how much did it cost? also how much was your leveler springs/kit? total what did you spend to lift it like ya did including the bumper brackets? also what size are your tires? i'm wondering . i think your truck looks bad a$$ the way it is even for a 2x4 it looks tough . i liked my 67's f250 i had the best . it was 2x4 but looked like that . i had 31x10.50x16.5's on it with a centerline style wheel . i was thinking bout getting some tires and wheels for my truck but the way it sits only thing that'd look good on it would be some "hod rod" type wide low profiles. but i dont want that . i like to have traction .lol.. well duh thats what i get for not reading your sig .lol .ok got tire size and the lift being 3"'s ..lol

 

Thanks guys,

If the truck had fewer miles on it, (it has almost 150K) I would defenitly go with the suspension lift, but I'm not sure i want to spend $800 on a truck with so many miles. But I plan on keeping the truck even when i get a new one, so I dont know....i'll have to think about it.

Donate, does the leveling kit just consist of the springs? I think your truck looks real nice.

thanks,
scott

 

i spent $90 on the body lift, $20 on the bumber relocation kit, $120 on the springs, and did all the work myself. there is one thing i have learned about the ford 87-96 front suspension, however (whether 2x4 or 4x4). after i installed the leveling coil springs, nobody could align my truck because the camber was unadjustable (even by changing bushings). what i had to do was get some axle relocation brackets to lower the front twin I beam axles in order to be able to adjust the camber. ive asked around and this problem isnt very common with the 2WD, but some 4WD lifting kits have footnotes thqat say camber MIGHT be unadjustable after the lift (the rancho unit says this on their webpage). so if youre going with the suspension lift, make sure you ask the manufacturer if you will have any alignment problems or issues. anyways, teh bumper brackets ended up costing me around 100 bucks, so in total i spent around 300 bucks to get it exactly the way i wanted it (a littel cheaper than the 1200 bucks that the fabtech lift costs). hope this helps!

 

so did you get your camber worked out right?

 

i havent installed the brackets yet, ive been way too busy with school. i got spring break coming up in 2 weeks, so ill attempt and fix my camber problem then. but from the research ive done, the brackets should work perfectly. i got my fingers crossed...