Hey guys,
I wanted to lift my truck, Its got a v6 with v8 torsion bars to give it an extra 2 inches.
Right now I am using hockey pucks as a lift.
I had to cut my fenders to fit 33 inch tires.

I was telling my boyfriend I want to get a lift kit, or lift it higher, he said I cant unless I go solid axle....why is that?

Right now I have IFS, so i guess with that there is no way I can make it bigger, unless I go soild axle?

 

You can go about 4-5 inches higher safely with IFS, but its either expensive, or tricky to build. What you will need to do is make drop mounts for the lower conrol arms. To keep the upper control arms parallel with the lowers, you will have to make a spacer to go between the upper ball joint and steering knuckle (the ball joints are tapered, so your hole will have to be also). To keep the torsion bars at the factory angle, you will need to make drop brackets for that crossmember. To keep from overflexing the cv axles, you will need to drop the front axle as well.

I've priced out the steel for a design I came up with and it came out to be about $150, but you will need access to a metal band saw and a 240 volt welder.

The other option is to buy the trailmaster 4 inch suspension lift, which includes all the parts I listed, plus rear blocks and shocks. It cost $1800.

 

There are plenty of other options avlible. Check out the FAQ2 for them all. I guess you need to answer, How much more do you want to go? For 2in get lift keys. For 2in more get the 2in body lift kit. For 4in more get the full suspention lift kit or design your oun. One guy made his own 6in custom body kit. Lots more options. Check out FAQ2 and that has links and all the info. If you have more questions after go ahead and ask. And post up some pics.

 

I really want to lift my truck but my boyfriend keeps telling me i cant go higher than 3 inches other wise it will screw up my ball joints and basically throw everything steering etc. out of whack is this true even if its done liek that military tire way? I mean just lifting the truck from the frame with **** underneath it shouldnt make it less durable? It would be the same but higher? Anything you guys have to say about that? Is he right? Should I swap for a solid axle ? or what i wanna do this but the right way and he doesnt believe me that i can go 6 inches safely on IFS.?

 

If you do a suspension lift like I descriped, your lowering the control arms with respect to the truck, and it will keep the ball joints, cv axles, etc at the factory angle. If you crank the torsion bars, it will put accelerated wear on those parts, because your changing the angle of the control arms with respect to the truck.

A body lift, like Blue_12 did for his tires, makes no changes to the suspension and therefore does not harm the parts. The only point of a body lift is to allow the use of bigger tires without changing the suspension. The bigger tires are what give you the extra ground clearance.

LOL, no offense, but it really sounds to me like your boyfriend has no clue what you are capable of doing with a truck. There are some ways to lift it that will harm the truck in the long run, but there are also plenty of safe ways to do it... they just usually cost more. My point in getting into this is to say don't let him stop you from doing what you want. If theres something that strikes your interest, there are plenty of people here that can guide you through it!

 

LOL, after all that info, I just realized I should have started by asking you what kind of offroading you're going to use this truck for (ie trail rides, mudding, rock climbing)? Knowing what your going to use it for will help determine what kind of lift you need.

 

 

Unfortunately without looking at the truck, I can't give you any advise as to what that problem is.

But, now that I know what kind of offroading you want to do, I can suggest that you lift the IFS. In the mud, IFS will give you less drag, cause you don't have the low differential to push through the mud, and on trails, it gives you more ground clearance. Most people who do SAS use the truck for rock climbing because a solid axle is stronger than a cv axle, and you can get a lot more flex out of a solid axle, so you are less prone to having tires up in the air when your climbing over rocks.

If you don't want to take my word for it, take a look at a humvee Those things have independant suspension on all 4 wheels cause they are designed for going through water, mud, rough trails, but not so much rock climbing.

 

That sucks you dont live in Calgary you seem to know everything and always answer my questions so quickly, Thanks!

 

LOL, yeah Calgary is only like 2500 miles away from North Carolina! And I don't claim to know everything, I just spend most of my free time either under my truck, reading offroading articles, or on here. Lol, I've probably spent about as much time under my truck as I have in the drivers seat, and I've probably turned 95% of the bolts in my truck.