o man as i was thinking about my front tow hooks what does the BL do for those ? will they go up ? are they still functional for a tug or tow out of the ditch or are they just for looks , or will i ahve to take those off all togeather ?

 

Sorry to tell ya...they gotta come off.

 

thats what i was affraid of .! thanks

 

Yeah this is why I haven't added a BL to my suspension lift which was the plan when I bought the truck new. I can't have the winch mounted to the frame unless I make up some custom brackets to allow the winch mount to sit 3" higher. That's not a problem for me, been welding since I was a kid, but what IS the problem is the front bumper would have to be hacked all to hell for the grill guard and winch mount. With the projects I do around the farm property that uses a winch plus the fact that I have gotten the truck stuck hog hunting and even fishing a couple of times, I NEED the winch a lot more than I need any more height over the 4" it's raised now.

You'll have the same issue but not as extreme since the hooks are smaller than a winch mount. You could line up where the holes are and where they will sit behind the bumper being 3" higher and cut the bumper for them to stick out OR fab up some brackets that allow you to mount the hooks 3" higher while still connected to the frame...

 

why would the tow hooks not work> There are a ton of holes on the new bracket, and the Zone kite is thicker than the stock brackets. The only thing I would worry about is the things bending down.

 

im sure i could fab a mount that i could mount to the frame and go up with. then they would be more for looks than serve a purpose , i would be a little nervouse to give someone a tug with them mounted on a fabed piece , i cut my plastic piece so the hooks can go through there now i didnt like the way it looked with it left off so it either buy a new one or fab a bracket so they can go back on ... man o man , what to do ?????

 

hammer thanks for the great reply , i have thought about cutting the bumper that would just e into the metal part and not sure if the hooks will stick out enough by the time im done . maybe ill look into the suspension lift ? who has a good one ? and more money . darn .

 

There are 4" lifts out there that are in the $1000 range with shocks. My Rancho 4" was as much or more than a good bit of the 6" kits at $1700 (at least I got in on a free shipping deal and a special buy with the four RS90000x shocks for free.

Gotta do some research on suspension lift kits, they are of varying designs and quality. Better ones keep stock angles the same, are ALL inclusive, have a full, boxed sub-frame instead of just a cross-bar and replace a good many stock components with larger, beefier components. Some give you just what you need to lift the truck and replace very few parts and leave the CVs and other components at poor angles.

I do however, think that a suspension kit is easier to install now that I've done one myself, unlike a body lift there is no cutting/fab'ing or anything like that (at least on the better ones). It's basically just a remove and replace process...

 

You know what you could do that would look awesome.

Insead of cutting holes in your bumper for the hooks, you can cut them for a set of D ring mounts . You would only have to cut two 2x2in slits for them and the d rings are better, anyways. It would also look badass

 

If you do the body lift, don't forget the gap guards. PA makes them, and they'll keep water and debris out of the engine, in addition to covering up the gap. They are not much money, and if you go through 4Wheel Parts this month they are offering 10% off body lift/gap guard combos.