[sm=bounceybounce.gif] Ok now I'm confused ( which does not take much!)...lol, I would like to know just how many ways are there to lift a truck?
My hubby says it cost too much to do a suspension lift, and a friend of mine did a body lift to his and he said he'd never do it again.
Someone else said to put bigger springs on it and bigger tires which I got the feeling he was just pulling my leg. What all has to be done to get a 2" to 4" inch lift? and as for tires I only want to step up a little... after all I am 5'4" with short legs and still want to reach the brand new nerf bars

 

Body lifts are DEFINATELY the wrong way to go. It's cheap, pretty easy to do, but gains you no extra frame clearance and creates undue stresses on the body of the truck that it was not designed for. If it's a truck you plan on keeping for more than a year or two, you'll wind up with more damage than it's worth.

Full suspension lifts are expensive. If all you want is a couple inches and slightly larger tires, a full suspension lift is overkill and not worth the expense. Since you have a '98 1500 (1/2 ton), you CAN get a set of 3/4 ton springs from a junkyard (usually $30-$50 a set) and install them in your truck. You will gain about 2-1/2" of lift from this, and it is a direct bolt-in swap. You will have to put a set of Add-A-Leaf springs in the rear to raise that to the same height as the front. That's a relatively easy job also. Only downside to this is that the ride will be noticeably stiffer.

If you want to keep the same ride quality you have now, you can get a 2" Coil Spacer kit. You can get one from www.jeeperzcreeperz.com for a pretty good price. I've dealt with those guys quite a bit in the past, always really cool people. In fact, here's a link to their Ebay auction for that exact part! CLICK ME This spacer lift will retain your stock springs, so the truck will ride the same. You will have to install 2" Add-A-Leafs in the rear with this kit also. You can get those at www.jegs.com or www.summitracing.com pretty cheap.

Both methods will clear 285/75r16 tires, which is about equal to a 33" x11" tire. A lot of people even run 33x12.50's with these setups. They will both raise the truck to about the same height as a 3/4 ton, and they can both be done for under $200.

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to PM me. I'd be happy to help talk you thru it.

 

I did the 3/4 ton spring swap on mine and love it... It actually looks pretty damn good with just the springs in the front but decided to add the AAL's a month down the road.. The only thing is when you change out the front coils to the 3/4 ton coils you'll have to add some different shocks.. Be sure to pay attention to where you get the coils though.. the 3/4 ton gas coils won't lift it but up to 2 inches.. the 3/4 ton diesel coils will lift it 3".. That's the ones I used of my buddy's truck... If you do go with the AAl get the long ones though because it will lift it 1.5-2.0 inches the short AAl's wil lift it 2.5-3.0 inches which is to much...3" custom suspension lift for $115, not bad at all. Coils were free, rancho 5000's were $35 a piece for the front, AAl's were $35...

 

I did the same to mine... 3/4 ton springs and got 2.5" out of it. there is a chart somewhre on the web with the different coils and the amount of lift you can get from them... I'll take a look for it. it was a cheep mod since I only paid $25 bux for my springs...

 

spring chart....

spring chart

 

Sweet, mine raised it 3" exactly,, love it.. Hands down...Can't complain at all...