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Big lifts are big business these days, just like theyve always been. Biologists noticed a long time ago that male animals fighting for dominance in the wild would often rear up as tall as they could to appear larger and more threatening to their adversaries. These days, a vehicle lift is the automotive equivalent of standing on ones toes to look down on a rival, a way of showing the world just how impressive and awesome you really are. However, its worth remembering that lifting a vehicle is only the means to an end, and that doing it well and on the cheap means allowing form to follow function.
Step 1
Measure the inner wheel wells from front to rear; this will be your maximum tire diameter with a given chassis. For instance, if the front-to-rear measurement of a Ford Expedition is 40 inches, then that is its maximum tire diameter. Dont worry about the vertical measurement -- well deal with that shortly.
Step 2
Attempt to fit the tires onto your truck. We say "attempt" because they almost certainly wont fit past the sheetmetal, which is where your Sawz-All, grinder and welder come in. Start hacking at the sheet-metal fender lips until you can fit the tire into the opening, then weld the exposed seams back together. This "radiusing" procedure will allow you to get the maximum amount of lift from your increase in tire diameter (which is good) without lifting the body excessively (which is bad).
Step 3
Screw on a set of plastic aftermarket fender extensions to give your truck a more finished appearance. Odds are good that no one will make a set of fender extensions to fit your newly radiused wheel wells, so youll need to look around to find something that comes close. Take a look at the huge fender extensions offered for Ford Broncos and Jeeps, both of which have fairly large wheel openings and are commonly radiused for off-road duty.
Step 4
Have a couple of heavy friends push down as hard as they can on the trucks fenders and check the clearance between the top of your tire and the wheel-well. Subtract one to two inches for any additional spring compression. Your adjusted figure should be no less than three inches. If the tire contacts your wheel-well, youll need at least a four-inch lift.
Step 5
Check under the vehicle to make sure that the suspension or axles arent sitting on the bump stops. If it is, remove the bump stops and re-test.
Step 6
Install a set of longer front springs and rear lift blocks that will give you the clearance that youll need under full suspension compression, and check with your manufacturer to ensure that the new springs utilize the same spring rate as your old ones. Dont worry about overall vehicle height, since that will take care of itself. Focus only on tire clearance within the wheel well.
Reinstall your bump stops. The bump stops should do exactly that: stop the suspension travel just before the tire hits your inner wheel well. You may be able to cut down your stock bump stops to set them at the correct height, but odds are you wont need to unless your tire hit the wheel well during your suspension compression test.
Tips
- You may want to pick a set of fender extensions before trimming so that you dont leave yourself with a wheel opening that wont fit anything. However, bear in mind that wheel-wells themselves are almost always semi-circular once you cut the sheet-metal away; dozens of companies make universal-fit extensions to fit semi-circular openings of all diameters.
- A body lift kit may be a little cheaper than longer springs, but its going to require a lot more work and youll probably end up wishing youd just paid a little more for the springs. The longer springs will pay dividends not only in increased ride height, but in suspension articulation -- and thats something that a body lift cant offer. That aside, you can probably keep the stock shocks with a relatively small 1- to 2-inch lift, so you shouldnt have to purchase an entire kit.
- Fitting huge tires and radiusing the wheel wells might seem like a slightly milquetoast approach compared to just jacking the thing sky-high with an aftermarket suspension, but theres no reason to let a little bit of sheet metal dictate where you put the trucks body. And youll still get plenty of lift -- a 6-inch-taller tire and a 2-inch suspension lift comes out to a net gain of 5 inches in ride height -- but youll have done it the right way by keeping your trucks mass as low to the ground as possible.
