How to: 1.5" body lift for less than $50

[fofopirata]

Great, I will look for that tool in AZ today... I saw that it was cheap on the internet...

 

[gamecocks]

Are you gonna do it in El Paso Gamecocks? this sat, the 25th?

Sure am!

 

[jad2411]

Hmm interesting, if I have nothing else to do (planing daughter's bday party and fixing stuff around the house) would you mind if I take a look? :

 

[gamecocks]

Im gonna be on fort bliss at the shop right off cassidy rd and 54 feel free to stop in but if your not military you have to get a day pass ( its free ) just a heads up!

 

[fofopirata]

Finally did it!

After a couple of days with no luck, yesterday I finally finished the BL...

I had to use an impact gun and a bigger pipe wrench that opens up to 3" wide to loose the last front bolt and after that, everything went pretty smooth...

Just a couple of notes from my experience:

All original bolts except for the "A" ones, had the same size so I couldn't re-use the "B" bolts in the rear passenger side, I had to buy some larger ones. Not sure why this happen...

The new "A" bolts (12mm x 1.75 x 120mm) fit well just didn't left much thread after putting the nut, hopefully there's no problem with that, just a note.

My front bumper gave me more "problems" than the rear bumper, I have the tow hooks and probably that was the reason but the issue was that I couldn't put the bolts that are under the center of the bumper. I will have to drill new holes for the bolts. I didn't do it yesterday because I was pretty tired, yesterday was a sunny day and I did the job in the morning right under the sun. The rear bumper fit without trimming the plastic just installing it from one side to the other.

Trimming the fan worked great, unfortunately I had to disconnect one of the hose that goes to the radiator to take it down easier so made me had to change the antifreeze, which is not that bad. Disconnecting the steering shaft was easy...

Definitely applying heat to the mounts and posting questions here helped me A LOT!! Thank you everyone for your comments... even those that wanted me to get a GYM membership

I will post pictures on the 3rd Gen pics thread once I wash my X...

 

[02EBEX]

fofopirata- you said u had to replace some bolts that were supposed to be reused...
what size are the new "A" and "B" bolts... cause from the get-go i wasnt too sure about re-using the stock bolts...

 

[fofopirata]

I used the size that Ronin specified at the beginning of this thread for the new "A" and "B" bolts. The ones that I bought were the "D" bolts, you were going to be able to reuse the old "B" but mine were too short for this place...

The ones that I bought were around 2" larger than the originals I had, my father in law took the old bolt and just ask in the hardware store for a bolt 2" larger while I was finishing the other places of the car, sorry but I don't have the exact size that I used. The "C" bolts worked great though...

 

[gamecocks]

Definitely applying heat to the mounts and posting questions here helped me A LOT!! Thank you everyone for your comments... even those that wanted me to get a GYM membership

I will post pictures on the 3rd Gen pics thread once I wash my X...

congrats man!!!

 

[fofopirata]

congrats man!!!

Thanks dude! I feel better now that I beat the spinning mount...

 

[Ronin8002]

Nice work!

After doing both the 1.5" and the 3" body lifts, I am glad that I won't have to do either of them again!

 

[02EBEX]

well since the the longest bolt that seems to be used when doing the the body lift is 12mmX1.75X150mm, would any of the stock bolts be longer then that, or if i can just order 6- 12mmX1.75X150mm bolts and just used the extra four bolts that are that length for the replacement A and B bolts... does that make sense.. and would that work on the lift... im just not trying to drop my truck off at my mechanics then having him call me and say that half of the lift will go on but some of the bolts arent right... Someone please help me out... id much rather have longer bolts then shorter bolts, they can always be cut down if i need too...
And for the nuts that should be used on these bolts... yall are using lock nuts right????

 

[Ronin8002]

Weird that it didn't work out quite right for Fofo. Not having a lot of extra thread on the front ones isn't a problem. What matters is having enough thread to tighten it down all the way. I don't know what was up with the bolt on the rear passenger side Fofo's truck...I just know it worked on mine and at least one other persons

02EBEX if you are worried about the lengths just get all 150mm bolts that are threaded down the whole length and then you could just cut off the excess. That way they'll all work for sure. The reason for getting bolts that are threaded all the way is if you get bolts that are just threaded on the end and they are too long you could run out of thread on them on some of the mounts and have to stack a bunch of washers under the heads to take up the slack.

The whole point of re-using the stock ones was to save money and they are plenty strong but it's not going to hurt anything to get new ones provided you follow what I said above.

No need for lock washers for any of the bolts. If it is a concern then just use threadlocker and they definitely won't go anywhere.

 

[Kazer]

I will post pictures on the 3rd Gen pics thread once I wash my X...

Great job! cant wait to see the pictures

 

[fofopirata]

Hey guys quick question... how much the 1.5" BL will affect in the mpg? it looks like I had to ask this question before doing the BL but now that I have it, I just want to see how much impact has to the mpg on some of you that already have the lift...

I'm asking this because I'm seeing the gas going down faster than before and I'm just curious (I haven't finished my tank but it looks like it will be over pretty soon)...

I also did a fast flush to the radiator and installed a Flowmaster 40 at the same time of the BL if this helps...

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciate it...

Thank you in advance,
Fofo

 

[gamecocks]

Shouldn't affect it, at least i wouldnt think so.... my bet is your liking the sound of that flowmaster and keepin her revved so you can hear it! lol

 

[Ronin8002]

Agree with gamecocks. it shouldn't be that noticeable, if at all. Especially if you are still running stock tires.

 

[lynchy wa]

Every time I've changed something to do with intake or exhaust there seems to be a learning curve for the computer. It always comes good after a while.

 

[fofopirata]

Shouldn't affect it, at least i wouldnt think so.... my bet is your liking the sound of that flowmaster and keepin her revved so you can hear it! lol

That it's first thing that I read on the net, it looks like every flowmaster newbie see this kind of things until notice that heavy foot kills the mpg...

It's good to know that the body lift shouldn't affect with my stock tires, I hope that it has to do with what lynch mentioned and a little bit of heavy foot :...

Thank you for your quick response guys...

Gamecocks, how's your taller X doing after the 3" BL??

 

[gamecocks]

About 3" lol!! I didnt take any measurments but its BIG

 

[renzAy34134]

I dont know if its because I am driving safer but I just installed a 3" bl on my 4th gen x and i actually am getting better gas mileage. used to get 12-13mpg now im getting 15-16. Wierd.