Help lifting an 01 sport

[churd69]

Ok guys, I am new to the world of lifting trucks. I was thinking of lowering my 01 sport, but then I woke up. After seeing a few picks of some newer style sports lifted I decided that was the route I wanted to go. Now onto my questions.

I will soon have a PA 3" body lift. Will I be able to mount the bumpers without a welder? I have searched the posts and it seems like most welded.

I am also looking at doing the shackles and an AAL. Is this process as easy as the write-up makes it seem? Also many people seem to have varying opinions on whether or not you need any special tools, so will I?

Now, while searching through the post I have discovered that many people who run a lift with bigger tires regear? Is this necessary? I just like the looks better of the 01 sport lifted, although once it is I will probably do some off roading, but not too much since it seems there isn't too many places to go in the detroit area. If I do need to regear what would be the best to regear to and how would I go about doing that?

Lastly, many people also talk about lockers? Is this something I would need to do also?

Basically I want to lift my ex for the look, but I don't want to do it and have mechanical problems. This being said I also don't wanna throw boatloads of money into it since it probably won't see much time off-road. Sorry about the long post and thanks for all the much anticipated help.

-Rich

 

[badgett]

People regear their trucks to get some of the power back they lost with the bigger tires. If your tires are a lot bigger than stock , it will seem like you dropped in a 4 cyl. engine. A lower gear will bring the power back up. A locker is not nessary unless you are taking it off road most of the time. If you are lifting it just for the look, don't worry about a locker.

 

['97 V8]

The write ups on the AAL install and shackles are easy as they appear. Also you dont need special tools for the body lift. The brackets in the 883 kit will work with your bumpers so they should be bolt on. If you above 33" tires and have 3.73 then you would want to regear as fuel economy will go down. If your sport trac has 4.10's then you will be in the idle rpm range with the 33's. Again, anything above 33" tires you would want to regear as the power loss really is unbearbale.

You dont need a locker. You said you wont off road a lot so there is no need for you to waste money on it.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

if your only going to be taking it off-road once in a blue moon then look into a good limited slip.

 

[churd69]

[QUOTE='97 V8]The write ups on the AAL install and shackles are easy as they appear. Also you dont need special tools for the body lift. The brackets in the 883 kit will work with your bumpers so they should be bolt on. If you above 33" tires and have 3.73 then you would want to regear as fuel economy will go down. If your sport trac has 4.10's then you will be in the idle rpm range with the 33's. Again, anything above 33" tires you would want to regear as the power loss really is unbearbale.

You dont need a locker. You said you wont off road a lot so there is no need for you to waste money on it.[/QUOTE]

How do I tell what my gears are?

-Rich

 

[hiridin]

check the tag on the rear diff... or look at the sticker inside the drivers door and find the axle code. then check the site to find out what gears u have. if u atleast have 3.73's u can squeeze by with 33's. won't be the best setup but its doable.

 

[churd69]

check the tag on the rear diff... or look at the sticker inside the drivers door and find the axle code. then check the site to find out what gears u have. if u atleast have 3.73's u can squeeze by with 33's. won't be the best setup but its doable.

Axle code is 46, so based off a search it means I have a 3.73C? If I want to run bigger tires then 33" which should I switch to and how difficult/price?
Thanks guys.

-Rich

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

it will usually run about 1grand for the gears the install kits and to have evreyting installed.

 

[hiridin]

Axle code is 46, so based off a search it means I have a 3.73C? If I want to run bigger tires then 33" which should I switch to and how difficult/price?
Thanks guys.

-Rich

if u have 3.73's u can get by with 33's... u want 35's look into 4.56's or 4.88's maybe even 5.13's. i say 4.88's if u have a manual tranny. maybe even the 5.13's but you'll be gearing it pretty low then. which isn't a problem. its not like it geared too low for highway driving. i drove mine like that for a while. good power with that combo. with an auto tranny you can squeeze by with 4.56's but alot of people are running 4.56's and 33's so imo u need to step up to lower gears than just 4.56's for 35's. all in all i say 4.88's would be a good choice. your sohc has more power than my ohv so u shouldn't have to gear quite as low as i did (5.13's)

 

[badgett]

You have a pretty good gear but you will notice power loss. The cool look of the tires make up for the loss , I think.

 

[davidmmm69]

Lastly, many people also talk about lockers? Is this something I would need to do also?



-Rich

just crack open the differential cover and weld the spiider gears..
it makes a cute noise when going around corners. and that is the ultimate in lockers...

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

in your rear diffy if it is an open diff then the two tires can turn independintly at diffrent speeds. This is badd for wheeling because you esentially have one tire turrning per axle. a locker forces the two tires to turn with equal torque to each.

 

[churd69]

I am looking to complete the body lift tommorrow in 8hrs or less, any tips?

-Rich

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

good luck....lots of BP blaster and an impact.... hope...mabey pray...lol

 

[21robbie21]

have a few friends who think out of the box, things never go as smooth as you would like, find apiece of tubing you can fit your socket wrench into to make a big breaker bar to loosen the body bolts. the front bumper reinforcement will NOT work with the lift, unless you dont put on the exterior fiberglass/plastic bumper/grille piece on, which will bolt back without anything from the kit. To fix the rear bumper you will have to make custom brackets.
check out mine

 

[churd69]

have a few friends who think out of the box, things never go as smooth as you would like, find apiece of tubing you can fit your socket wrench into to make a big breaker bar to loosen the body bolts. the front bumper reinforcement will NOT work with the lift, unless you dont put on the exterior fiberglass/plastic bumper/grille piece on, which will bolt back without anything from the kit. To fix the rear bumper you will have to make custom brackets.
check out mine

how did you fab up the rear bumper?

-Rich

 

[21robbie21]

i didnt, thats just the only option, im working on a sold axle swap right now and will remove my Body lift upon completion of the swap and i am glad i never changed the bumper, i dont think it looks THAT bad, but it is noticeable

 

[churd69]

i didnt, thats just the only option, im working on a sold axle swap right now and will remove my Body lift upon completion of the swap and i am glad i never changed the bumper, i dont think it looks THAT bad, but it is noticeable

So you just left the rear bumper as is and have some gaposis between the body and the rear bumper? my guess is about 3"?

-Rich

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

if aqll the rear bumpers are the same here is the diagram for the braket

 

[churd69]

I don't know, guess I wont be able to find out today anyways, still waiting on the directions for the body lift, gotta love the speed and service of the USPS.

Did you get the shackles put on your truck? I am thinking about putting a set on from autozone, just went and looked at mine and they are starting to flake rust. Only problem is I don't have a welder to put a brace on them, Will that matter?

-Rich