I have two options for my 1996 truck lift wise, if anyone can help me out.

1) a 4" Rough Country suspension lift (this would be more expensive but i know this would make my truck look solid) only problem is wouldn't i have to get extended brake lines and extended drive shaft since its a SHORT BED?

2) a 3" body lift with a 2.5" suspesion lift(this is cheaper and would give me 5.5" of lift total over the 4" lift) this would not require brake lines or driveshaft extended due to the frame and truck undercarriage would only be up 2.5"s higher.?

any suggestions or comments? also which would be the worst gas mileage option of the two?! THANKS guys

 

its a 1996 ford f150*!! totally forgot to put that

 

It all depends on what you want to do with the truck and your budget... If the trucks going to see nothing but the pavement i would go with a body lift, its keeps your factory ride feel and you get the lift that you want for not much money. If your planning on four wheeling the truck i would go with suspension lift, it gives you more travel and better offroad characteristics, but again its going to cost you more.

 

yeah i understand the more money will be needed. but will i have to extend the drive shaft is a main concern of mine?

i will be doing typicall off roading no crazy boggin' tho.

 

I'm no expert with F150's but I'm 90% sure the 4'' suspension lift will allow you to use your existing d/s with no probs... some one correct me if I'm wrong.

You won't find too many fans of body lifts here... I got a 2'' body lift in mine and although I'm ok with it being there I don't think I would do it again. From what I remember the 2'' is the easiest of them to do and the 3'' adds a bunch of extra stuff you'll have to deal with.

Body lifts may seem like there easy to do and for the most part they are. But they can be a pita too... rusty bolts and rotten cab mounts can add many hours to what seems like a easy bolt in mod. And there's the issue of new bumper brackets to lift the bumpers and dealing with the shifter mods and fan shroud...

Plus body lifts look ugly IMHO...lol

 

Your brake lines and your driveshaft will not have to be extended.
Hope your budget does not revolve around a 100 dollar set of brake lines. If this is the deal threshold, you may hold off of the entire thing.
The body lift has zero advantages. Yeah, thats a stretch, but zero is about right. We might say zero performance advantages.
The suspension lift increases ground clearances as well as breakover angles. The more aggressive springs will perform far better off road and provide a more stable platform.
Im just not a huge fan of the body lift. Hypocritical statment, because I actually have a body lift on one of my rides, but I hate it. I needed some firewall and trans tunnel clearance. I regret using the lift and should have cut the areas that needed clearance.
Dont have regrets down the road. PLan your build and do it right.

 

Yeah I'm not much of a fan of body lifts either. I'm 16 it's my first truck so im just tryin to get it out of stock form and have some fun off-road! Those two options i posted were what my dad had given me to think about. I would rather do it right and know it's legit by going for the 4" suspension. He thinks the body would be easier.

But i understand the suspension will be a better ride and more solid for the long run? thanks for the answers, def helped!

 

I put a 4inch lift in my f150 with the exetended radius arms and i couldnt be happier. The truck looks great and drives a lot better than the 170k mile stock stuff. Depending on your ability plan at least a full weekend to do it and dont be in a hurry. I have mine sitting on 33x12s and 15x10inch wheels.

 

i would go suspension lift for the same reasons you have already been given...BUT there is one advantage to a BL over a susp. lift...a body lift keep the heavy stuff (engine/trans.) closer to the ground rather than moving it up too keeping the center of gravity lower hahah but i imagine the more aggressive springs would make up for that

im not an expert but from what i have heard rough country is hit and miss, that alone was enough to keep me away from them, suspension is one thing you do not cut corners on and rough country has quality problems and ***** for warranty...i bought BDS best warranty out there and best lift IMO but again i have not tested everything else...yet

 

For a pavement pounder and occasional mudder, body lift. As my buddy just said, it keeps the heavy stuff closer to the ground. I have a 3'' body lift on my rig. No regrets, no complaints. Truck looks good and I still have my factory ride and handling.

 

Body lifts never look good, they appear cheesy and hacked-up. (sorry Ed) They are also not as safe. The increase in leverage on the mount bolts is too much, they could bend or shear in the right situation, probably at a time when you don't want them to.

A guy I went to high school with had a toy w a 3" body lift on it. He had a head on collision with another pickup. All of the body bolts sheared off and the cab landed in the ditch. I can't say that it would not have seperated from the frame if it had not had the body lift on it, but it sure appeared that it was an issue. Probably what saved his life though.

Just my 2 cents, do it right. Don't ruin that pickup going the cheap route.

 

You dont have to apoolgize for anything Scott. I dont like them and was forced to actually raise the body to make additional clearance for later model transmissions. Still I dont like them.
When I re-built the getter and did all of the tube work, I moved the engine back, quite a bit so cutting the firewall was necessary, This much work actually permitted me to lower the body on the frame to achieve a much better COG, and still use lift springs to achieve a better breakover angle.
By all means, stay away fromt them of one can. There are some excetions, and I probably could have or should have looked at a better approach but it had to be done. Crew cab only has a small BL, but since the underside was being painted and I was not interested in cutting the trans tunnel to clear the ZF trans, this seemed to limit my options.

 

That's your opinion. =) I don't think body lifts look cheesy or hacked up if done right. I've seen suspension jobs that looked like crap. It's how you do the job when it comes to cosmetics.

-shrug- Suspension is always better unless you're really worried about COG, but for a simple and cheap route to a more aggresive stance, body lift.

 

I have a belly button also.

I probably sounded harsh there.

My dad built a supercab on a regular cab frame and extended the wheelbase to look right. He had to run a 2" BL for the rer of the cab floor to clear the cross-member. He didn't like it, it was the easy way out.

I want to see more pics of this 4dor, Ed.

 

It's hard to tell when someone is sounding harsh. Regaurdless, you weren't hostile! I guess my point is simple; if you can afford it, go suspension, but body lifts aren't all bad. Just think about it and know what you're getting into. Body lifts keep the COG lower while enabling you to run larger tires to gain axle clearance.

I would have done a suspension lift if I could have afforded it (for one thing I couldn't find any until recently).