How do i Lift my Truck
How would it feel to mash the gas peddle of a monstrous pickup truck, propelling it through a muddy bog like a bull through the streets of Spain? Imagine the exhilaration from technically navigating a near vertical rock face in a Jeep, of which the suspension can be described similarly to the legs of a gigantic tarantula? Possibly a mild modification is your preference, something to increase the function of your vehicle for farm or hunting duties. Or for some, a lift that is only necessary to allow clearance for large chrome wheels intended for on road use only. What ever your intentions, lifting your truck, SUV, or mini-ute can be an arduous and time consuming task. Not only will it require work, but it will drain your wallet as quickly as your can thumb through a parts catalogue.The best solution to your low altitude woes is to seek out professional help. Research 4x4 garages in your location. Look outside your city as well. Don't skimp on quality, inspect their facilities, and try to look over some of their past projects. Using a 4x4 shop to improve your rig is like buying a house and, depending on your desired level of modification, can cost about the same. Alternatively, you may want to do all the work yourself. In this case you will need space, equipment, and material.Start your venture by enrolling in a few welding courses at your local community college or tech school. It is best that you finish these courses with a welding certificate. You will need to purchase all the necessary equipment to TIG and MIG weld, as well as cut and bend just about any metal. You will also want to equip your workspace with a level assembly table that you can work on. The obvious mechanics tools will also be necessary, along with a few specialty tools depending on the vehicle and the scope of work. A good set of lifts, and jack stands will also be necessary.To start you must make a plan. Determine the amount of lift and for what purpose you will be lifting this vehicle. Typically, a mild lift between 1 and 4 can be done with relative ease. Depending on the vehicle, these lift amount may provide clearance for up to 35 tires. Most popular trucks and SUVs made in the past 20 years have aftermarket support for suspension modifications. You can purchase ready made kits that in most cases bolt in, some kits require minor welding. For more extreme lifts, those in the 6 and up range, major modifications to steering components and the chassis will be required. Consider what you will use this vehicle for when the modifications are complete.There are several suspension configurations found on trucks. Older vehicles can sometimes be found with solid rear and solid front axles connected to the chassis with leaf springs in both locations. Late model trucks are usually found with solid rear axles and independent front axels and suspension. Some SUVs have both independent front and rear suspensions. Most OEM suspensions use either leaf spring, coil spring, or strut assemblies. On high end builds coil-over suspensions are common. Some trucks use a torsion bar to act as a spring as well.Typically a lift kit will require you to remove stock components and replace them with the components included. Some kits will lift the truck by use of blocks added to the leaf springs. Some vehicles will remount the axels below the springs for the desired lift. In independent suspensions, things get a bit trickier. Longer coil springs may be added, but typically this alone will have adverse affects on camber. Most well designed IFS kits will include components to accommodate for this change in camber. Torsion bars may simply be twisted slightly to increase ride height.Let's look at a simple example of an early model Ford Bronco. This is considered a full sized SUV, and was typically found with both front and rear solid axles and leaf springs. As a foundation vehicle, these SUVs are extremely well suited for mudding in an extreme sense. As mentioned before, this SUV can be lifted with simple blocks. For mudding purposes blocks may be insufficient. We will begin by choosing a tire size, for mudding the bigger the better. This means we need clearance and lots of it. Longer, beefier, higher arched leaf springs are easy to find for this vehicle. Throw in some new bushings and we are done, right? Incorrect, by increasing ride height we place the drive shafts at extreme angles that will cause them to wear much faster than they should. There are many fixes for this problem. The cheapest is a set of axle shims coupled with shims to mount the transfer case and transmission at slight angles to compensate for the drastic driveshaft angle. The ideal approach would be to install a kit that drops the transfer case slightly, and then make use of CV drive shafts that withstand drastic driveshaft angles, finally convert your front and rear axle housings to high pinion housings. A good compliment to any tire size increase will be a brake improvement and a change of gear ratios.Another scenario is that of a Jeep Wrangler, a common vehicle used in rock crawling. Depending on the year of manufacturing, this jeep may have leaf springs and solid axles similar to the Bronco, for this example let's assume this jeep is one of the newer models. Most recently made Jeeps are still solid axle set ups, however these days, those axles, are kept in place by control arms and coil springs. For a rock crawler, of the extreme kind, long suspension travel is a must. Not only must we lift the vehicle to allow for more upward suspension travel, but also incorporate components that will allow increased downward suspension travel. The geometry of this suspension should maximize not only travel, but assist in traction by distributing weight appropriately over the wheels. A similar approach to the issues with driveshaft angle should be taken. In this situation the control arms should be replaced with arms designed to, not only, be longer but properly shaped to accommodate a longer suspension travel. Finally a set of longer springs can be added to improve ride height.Other accessories are commonly found in lifted vehicles. Typically most applications will benefit from a set of steering dampeners. With the addition of larger tires and extreme conditions these dampeners will lessen the impact on steering components while traveling at high speeds over rough terrain. In high dollar rigs double, triple, and quadruple shock absorber assemblies can be found. Axle straps are also common; these restrict downward axle travel to prevent damage to those expensive shock absorbers.By perusing web boards for information, ideas, and inspiration one will discover a multitude of problems and difficulties in lifting a truck. One common denominator is that the individuals involved are passionate, and never get discouraged over the slightest problems. In fact most will find greater inspiration when presented with a challenge. That's the nature of offroading, facing conditions that would turn most people around in their tracks and conquering those conditions with ingenuity and effort.
How would it feel to mash the gas peddle of a monstrous pickup truck, propelling it through a muddy bog like a bull through the streets of Spain? Imagine the exhilaration from technically navigating a near vertical rock face in a Jeep, of which the suspension can be described similarly to the legs of a gigantic tarantula? Possibly a mild modification is your preference, something to increase the function of your vehicle for farm or hunting duties. Or for some, a lift that is only necessary to allow clearance for large chrome wheels intended for on road use only. What ever your intentions, lifting your truck, SUV, or mini-ute can be an arduous and time consuming task. Not only will it require work, but it will drain your wallet as quickly as your can thumb through a parts catalogue.
The best solution to your low altitude woes is to seek out professional help. Research 4x4 garages in your location. Look outside your city as well. Don't skimp on quality, inspect their facilities, and try to look over some of their past projects. Using a 4x4 shop to improve your rig is like buying a house and, depending on your desired level of modification, can cost about the same. Alternatively, you may want to do all the work yourself. In this case you will need space, equipment, and material.
Start your venture by enrolling in a few welding courses at your local community college or tech school. It is best that you finish these courses with a welding certificate. You will need to purchase all the necessary equipment to TIG and MIG weld, as well as cut and bend just about any metal. You will also want to equip your workspace with a level assembly table that you can work on. The obvious mechanics tools will also be necessary, along with a few specialty tools depending on the vehicle and the scope of work. A good set of lifts, and jack stands will also be necessary.
To start you must make a plan. Determine the amount of lift and for what purpose you will be lifting this vehicle. Typically, a mild lift between 1 and 4 can be done with relative ease. Depending on the vehicle, these lift amount may provide clearance for up to 35 tires. Most popular trucks and SUVs made in the past 20 years have aftermarket support for suspension modifications. You can purchase ready made kits that in most cases bolt in, some kits require minor welding. For more extreme lifts, those in the 6 and up range, major modifications to steering components and the chassis will be required. Consider what you will use this vehicle for when the modifications are complete.
There are several suspension configurations found on trucks. Older vehicles can sometimes be found with solid rear and solid front axles connected to the chassis with leaf springs in both locations. Late model trucks are usually found with solid rear axles and independent front axels and suspension. Some SUVs have both independent front and rear suspensions. Most OEM suspensions use either leaf spring, coil spring, or strut assemblies. On high end builds coil-over suspensions are common. Some trucks use a torsion bar to act as a spring as well.
Typically a lift kit will require you to remove stock components and replace them with the components included. Some kits will lift the truck by use of blocks added to the leaf springs. Some vehicles will remount the axels below the springs for the desired lift. In independent suspensions, things get a bit trickier. Longer coil springs may be added, but typically this alone will have adverse affects on camber. Most well designed IFS kits will include components to accommodate for this change in camber. Torsion bars may simply be twisted slightly to increase ride height.
Let's look at a simple example of an early model Ford Bronco. This is considered a full sized SUV, and was typically found with both front and rear solid axles and leaf springs. As a foundation vehicle, these SUVs are extremely well suited for mudding in an extreme sense. As mentioned before, this SUV can be lifted with simple blocks. For mudding purposes blocks may be insufficient. We will begin by choosing a tire size, for mudding the bigger the better. This means we need clearance and lots of it. Longer, beefier, higher arched leaf springs are easy to find for this vehicle. Throw in some new bushings and we are done, right? Incorrect, by increasing ride height we place the drive shafts at extreme angles that will cause them to wear much faster than they should. There are many fixes for this problem. The cheapest is a set of axle shims coupled with shims to mount the transfer case and transmission at slight angles to compensate for the drastic driveshaft angle. The ideal approach would be to install a kit that drops the transfer case slightly, and then make use of CV drive shafts that withstand drastic driveshaft angles, finally convert your front and rear axle housings to high pinion housings. A good compliment to any tire size increase will be a brake improvement and a change of gear ratios.
Another scenario is that of a Jeep Wrangler, a common vehicle used in rock crawling. Depending on the year of manufacturing, this jeep may have leaf springs and solid axles similar to the Bronco, for this example let's assume this jeep is one of the newer models. Most recently made Jeeps are still solid axle set ups, however these days, those axles, are kept in place by control arms and coil springs. For a rock crawler, of the extreme kind, long suspension travel is a must. Not only must we lift the vehicle to allow for more upward suspension travel, but also incorporate components that will allow increased downward suspension travel. The geometry of this suspension should maximize not only travel, but assist in traction by distributing weight appropriately over the wheels. A similar approach to the issues with driveshaft angle should be taken. In this situation the control arms should be replaced with arms designed to, not only, be longer but properly shaped to accommodate a longer suspension travel. Finally a set of longer springs can be added to improve ride height.
Other accessories are commonly found in lifted vehicles. Typically most applications will benefit from a set of steering dampeners. With the addition of larger tires and extreme conditions these dampeners will lessen the impact on steering components while traveling at high speeds over rough terrain. In high dollar rigs double, triple, and quadruple shock absorber assemblies can be found. Axle straps are also common; these restrict downward axle travel to prevent damage to those expensive shock absorbers.
By perusing web boards for information, ideas, and inspiration one will discover a multitude of problems and difficulties in lifting a truck. One common denominator is that the individuals involved are passionate, and never get discouraged over the slightest problems. In fact most will find greater inspiration when presented with a challenge. That's the nature of offroading, facing conditions that would turn most people around in their tracks and conquering those conditions with ingenuity and effort.
