goods and the bads about 3" bodylift

LarrySmith89

LarrySmith89

New Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Location
Conway NC
Whats good or bad about a 3" body lift for a 93 4runner 3.0 Auto? Express your feelings here about bodylifts! Because im thinking of installing one.
 
3" is too much stress on the body and the bolts. 1" max. Also when I see one that big, I just laugh cause it looks dorky. Too much space between the body and frame.
 
on a 1" body lift do you need to extend the shifter linkage?
 
i read on 4crawler that on a 1" you dont have to modify nothing, unless you want to. bumpers, radiator, shifter etc.
 
85TrailRunner said:
on a 1" body lift do you need to extend the shifter linkage?
Click to expand...

No
I put a 1" on my '89 Runner (it has the AT) and added nothing.
Probably shuould have loosened/adjusted the power steering linkage first though, the seal leaks now.

IF you use high-grade hardware and tighten it sufficiently, the "stress" really is not an issue. It's not liek you really have a lot of bending/sheering forces on it (under normal circumstances).
You do ru na chance of breakage in the event of a really hard collision, but a normal body mount can break from that too.
On a well-designed lift, the contact patch between body/frame is exactly the same, if not greater, than the OE contact... even on the normal setup, the body does not ride ON the frame.

That said - 3" lift LOOK pretty stupid.
If you are clever you can hide it pretty wide, but it takes work. E.g., nice big thick rocker panel gaurds hide the frame hanging down below belly, move bumpers, add plastic covers aroudn all the wheel wells, etc etc.
Just not a fan of them though.
If it's just for clearance - sawzall the fenders - good chance to cut out the famous Toyota rust anyway!
 
More summary

good:
added wheel clearance
easier to get to things underneath (due to added space)
cheap/esy

Bad:
Look goofy
Exposes belly
no added ground clearance
parts alignment problems
Some concern about safety
 
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