I'm considering buying a 3 inch body lift for my 02 f150 (Don't tell me that I need a suspension, cause I already know, but being a minor money is a bit tight feel me?) for 200 bucks. Which sounded like an excellent deal to me, only problem is, as with all body lifts, installation is a pain-in-the-*** so they are gonna charge me 450 for that. Well, I have a little experience around vehicles but I'm not gonna lie, I'm not exactly and apprentice mechanic either. But my best friends dad is a mechanic (tightwad that wont cut not deals though ha) anyways. But he would probably give his son and me permission to use his shop for the installation, and his son is slightly more experienced than me, but still not exactly a stud. Well I'm presuming that if any big tools are needed the dad would probably help, he just wont do it all himself. So I ask you, as a sixteen year old kid with so/so skills, but alot of perserverence, not to mention a tightwad mentality. Could I do this myself, with my friend, my dad, and possibly a little help from his dad? please and thank you!

 

Yes. DO IT

 

Pretty straight-forward, ha. So theres really not much to it? I know its a long, tedious time-consuming project, but as far as difficulty goes its not too bad?

 

With all the help you should be able to figure it out. It comes with pretty detailed instructions and probably pictures. Just take it slow and do it right. You'll probably have parts left over, which is fine. Im not sure with your body style truck but we have to cut off pieces of the frame horn with a die grinder but other than that you should need a drill and hand tools and you should be fine. And if you get stumped have a computer near by and post up questions on here.

 

Yeah it'll be in a straight up mechanics shop so tools shouldn't be too big of a problem. and its the model before yours. It should be in my signature now

Edit: I just realized you said I'm not sure with your body style pick up. I thought you said im not sure of your body style pick up haha. I was wondering why someone who had made 400 posts on a ford website wouldn't know what body style an 02 was haha:P I feel dumb now haa

 

You should be fine. I put mine on in a driveway with hand tools. Just take it slow and do it right.

 

alright that gives me a load more confidence! thanks man, I think imma do this.

 

No problem. Good luck.

 

also, is an add-a-leaf a good investment? I've read a little about them and they sound too good to be true! haha.

 

Yes, but it depends on the add-a-leaf. They have longer ones and shorter ones. The shorter ones tend to be much firmer and make the ride a little stiffer but also lifts the truck. They have longer ones, but those require you to actually take your leafs apart and add them to the leaf pack(way too much work). Larger lift blocks would be the way to go IMO. Lift blocks should be cheaper, and will provide just as much lift. Trust me, I have 5" blocks on my truck .

As far as body lifts, there are boo-koos of people on here that have them including myself. There are plenty of people to help ya out just incase something comes up. My advice to you would be to get you a buddy or something to lay under the truck with channel locks when you break the cab bolts loose. They have loc-tite on them which can be pretty stubborn sometimes. Everything else can be done with one person, but having one person work on the interior while the other does the rest makes it go alot faster .

 

Thanks a ton man thats real helpful! by the way your truck is legitt ha. Wanna be real nice and explain the concept of lift blocks for me? I know what they are and all, I'm just sorta confused, I thought they were a part of a lift, didnt know you could use them alone ha. let me add again that your truck is great!

 

no need to kiss up man! I really do appreciate it though, thats my money pit. Lift blocks are what goes inbetween the leaf springs and the perch on the axles. You can buy them by themselves, and turn the torsion bars on your truck tighter to lift the front up to match. Provided your truck is 4wd then I would assume you would have a 2" block in the back already. All you would need to do is search the web for a 4" or 5" one. Replacing the 2" block with a 4" one would give you 2" of lift and so on. The body lift isnt going to make the front or rear any more level than what it is so if you are wanting the truck alot higher and level then my suggestion to you is cranking up the torsion bars as high as you want them to be. This can be done for free of course, but its recommended you get an alignment afterwards. Once the front is where it needs to be then lift the back to match it. That can be done just by simply replacing the blocks with larger ones. The body lift should have everything that you need to install from beginning to end. My body lift was like 175 when I bought it, and it was probably the best way to spend 175 on my truck at the time.

 

Yeah, I keep hearing people trashing body lifts. But whats a poor high school kid supposed to do? haha. I'll definitely look into getting the lift blocks. That would be 5 inches of lift (2 for block 3 for BL) for like 300 dollars! good deal haha! althuogh it sounds like a hell of a weekend.. Ahh well. Its definitely worth the money doing it yourself. Do you have to get the T-bar keys to do it or can you make it work with some other kind of tool? I'm not that cheap, but it something else works then it works, haha

 

Yeah people the trash body lifts either don't have them and are just ignorant or just dont like lifted trucks anyways. Body lifts done right look just as good as any suspension lift. You can use just a regular old wrench to tighten them up. Just jack the truck up off of the ground and tighten them up a few turns but mark the bolt with a bright colored marker or something so you can keep count of how many turns you have made. Just incase you ever need to turn them back down or who knows. DO NOT get torsion bar keys. Keep your stock ones. Torsion keys allow you to put way too much preload on your suspension which makes for a horrible ride and makes all your suspension parts wear out faster due to awkward angles and all that amazing-ness. I wish I would have had the money to lift my truck in highschool . I was pushing it trying to pay for gas and food in the mornings before school. Breakfast tacos

 

Haha well thankfully I've discovred the wonderful world of the dollar menu, I'm lucky enough to have parents that pay for my gas as long as I dont go crazy. and i get grossly overpaid to mow a few yards around here and there. which is why its depressing that its just a couple months more of yard mowing weather. then I might actually have to get a job to pay for all of this junk. But yeahh, this is expensive stuff. Butt, as a high school kid I can either waste all my money on girls, or get some good experience and end up having a bad *** looking truck. I pick option 2... maybe a little money here and there on option 1 though.. haha