Thinking of a bodylift!! any points of view?

[simon15]

Well im thinking of doing a 2" body lift pretty soon and was just wondering how involved they are and are they well rated?

im going for a 2" sus lift eventually too i like the height :)

[clbarclay]

They arn't as easy as they might sound, theres slightly more to it than 10 spacers, but its not that difficult you just need to be methodical and keep checking that nothing catches as you lift it.

The alternative is to cut the arches and fit wheel arch trim extensions. This is probably better for fitting bigger tyres, but is rather extensive irreversible moddification to the body work.

One advantage I find of the body lift is it makes cleaning all the mud off the underside of the car easier.

For fitting bigger tyres I would rate a body lift or arch cutting above a suspension lift due to the potential adverse affects on the cars handliing (and potentially off road performance) raising the ride height can have.

[simon15]

never thought of the cleaning factor. :)

would make it a lot easier. :)

going for a 2'' body lift then BUT......

do I go for a 1'' sus lift so to not have to mess with the radius arms or 2'' to give it the monster look but then having to buy radius arms too????????

[Thrasher]

Just remember the higher you go - the easier you are to tip. The Discovery is *awfully* heavy above the plimsol line .....

[rollazuki]

Why a body lift, you building a monster truck?

They serve little purpose other than moving the tyres away from the wheelarches.
Better to fit suspension kit, then trim the wings(dead easy on a disc if youre brave). At least then you can fit in bigger rubber, and not turn it into a tippy beast.
All that jacking the body shell up, pipes barely long enough, steering column issues. Just to make it roll over easier???

2 cents worth. Rolla

[simon15]

So a 2'' sus lift will be a lot better and safer than a body lift?

Bodylift is not very good for off road use mainly for show then really if its more liable to tip!

[thermidorthelobster]

They serve little purpose other than moving the tyres away from the wheelarches.

You missed out the all-important "Hey! Cool!" factor.

So a 2'' sus lift will be a lot better and safer than a body lift?

Yes, and a damn sight easier too.

[clbarclay]

They serve little purpose other than moving the tyres away from the wheelarches.

You missed out the all-important "Hey! Cool!" factor.

So a 2'' sus lift will be a lot better and safer than a body lift?

Yes, and a damn sight easier too.

With a body lift you don't raise the chassis, transmission, engine fuel tank etc. so inch for inch a suspension lift raises the vehicles centre of gravity further. (assuming both on same size tyres)

Without doing something like extending the bump stops then a suspensions lift doesn't increase the tyre clearence at full compression. A body lift will increase the distance between the bump stop and top of wheel arch but not the size of the wheel arch so unless you lift it a reduculas amount (3" is about the practical limit) then the edges/sides of the arches will still need some trimming if your fitting much tyres than are too much taller, wider or on increased offest wheels.

[clbarclay]

So a 2'' sus lift will be a lot better and safer than a body lift?

That depends on how well the 2" lift is done. The potential is to use lots of after market products which arn't necceserily compatible. The result can be a suspension system that is less effective than the factory setup and the risk of damaging it.

Personally I would not look to reduce the upwards travel of the suspension (ie if posible i use standard bump stops and raised shock mounts), which is why i'm not a fan of some of the off the shelf suspension upgrades avalible.

A supension lift can be better, but could also be worse and you get a lot more problems with vibrations and bushes working under greater stress etc. with the suspension mods.

[lee celtic]

Your car do what you like.  :twisted:

I put +2" bearmach springs and +2" procomps on two and a half years ago along with 235 85 muds and nothing else it was fine it corners well it drives well and works off road fine and it feels a lot safer than the soggy standard setup it had when I bought it.This year after covering 37000 miles I had to change the brake lines for the mot and I had to fit a new hardy spicer on the front prop and thats all. I have heard that when you do the body lift the biggest jobs are things like coolant pipes (the rad goes up but the engine dosn't) earth wires hoses things like that .

as soon as I finish my latest project (roof rack) I am seriously thinking about a body lift and adding wheel spacers to compensate for the extra height.  Only for the wow :shock:  look at that reason and why not it's my car


ps Thanks to Gords for the photo hope you don't mind me using it.

[gords]

ps Thanks to Gords for the photo hope you don't mind me using it.

No problem Lee :)

By the way, where have you been? I haven't seen you post on here for ages!!

[birdy]

got both on the old disco suspension/body lift.
3" on front end and 4" on the rear
plus 2" body lift.
no probs doing body lift just a couple of hours work but i do have a full workshop  
as for the suspention lift that took a little longer.
and lots trial and error to get it right .
its not a case of just fitting springs
but got there in the end and still runs on standard front prop
now sits on 33x12 x16 muds
drives spot on with no vibration/etc

[barmiebrumie]

go for it & then let me know how easy/hard it is  

[thermidorthelobster]

no probs doing body lift just a couple of hours work but i do have a full workshop  
as for the suspention lift that took a little longer.

That surprises me, I've done suspension lifts without any drama, but I'd baulk at doing a body lift.

[birdy]

it took a little longer to do the lift as i moved the spring/shock/ radius mounts on the axle to get the castor angle right.as the qt arms i had only had 3 degree correction.
plus turn up a spacer for the front prop

[clbarclay]

no probs doing body lift just a couple of hours work but i do have a full workshop  
as for the suspention lift that took a little longer.

That surprises me, I've done suspension lifts without any drama, but I'd baulk at doing a body lift.

Times do varry, the first time I changed the springs on a range rover I spent a lot of time repairing one braket on the rear axle that was showing its age :x . That compares to the amount of time I spent trying to remove rubber body mount bushes that had corroded in place :x . Neither body of suspension lift were as quick as i would have liked. The worst i've had was removing well corroded front damper bottom mounts . For removing old suspension your not going to use again there is no sudstitute for a gas axe :twisted: .

Both body and suspension lifts are largely nut and bolt jobs to fit (apart from modifying the airflow meter braket) but can varry a lot with unexpected delays due to rust.

[lee celtic]

Hi all

Hi Gords

By the way, where have you been? I haven't seen you post on here for ages

I don't
know if you re member but my misses missed a couple of days out at the mud fest doo 2005 and she didn't come out to to play at the night time either well the reason was that she was not too well . Therefore I have put eveything on hold for the last 12-16 months ,

Good news is that Mags is now fighting fit again and we are back online and offroad  :D next weekend we have a trip to bala planed and with a bit of luck I can get on with the car again as it needs some attention.

Hope your tribe are all well ,shocked to see how small ryan looked in the mud fest piccies I bet your lads have grown too.

[Bean]

I have a 3 body lift on my disco,

It was not too hard to fit, just make sure you have everything disconnected, and only loosen the steering column don't disconnect it as its a real pain to re join, if you loosen it it'll just slide far enough, but i wouldn't go further than 3 inches as that seamed to be on the limit.

as for performance, Yes it looks the part! it helps with tyre clearance although i still catch the inner arch a bit, (although i do have a lot of travel and 35 inch simex)

Its cheaper than a spring lift and doesn't upset the handling etc,

The only thing is if you have a lift as well then your getting very high, but if you just want a lift to look good or clear tyres and keep your road manners, its ideal

I wish i had only gone 2inches, but i still like mine.