my sons new to him 98 lifted

[alakers]

Awesome truck, but with that wheel tire setup its dangerous. Like mentioned above it may be a bit of a tippy stance. I once saw a writeup on here about 1.5" body lift done by cutting the body spacers in half with a bandsaw, and only using half of them. you could look into it, as it would cut the body lift down a bit, still fit some bigger better tires, and would be cheap as hell, you would have to buy some hardware... best place i can think of ..
Page=25http://http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fex/full.aspx?Page=25
hope that worked, if not lmctruck.com
if you want to take the body lift off completely, you can buy new bushing and hardware very reasonably at lmc, and im not sure about having to change your steering column length, but i doubt that'd be an issue going down 1.5 inches.
down three you can, but its a fairly easy job.
Your suspension lift is pretty badass and i'd bet would be way more work and hassle, as well as money to replace
good luck with the new truck !!

 

[tomsteve]

still got a lil work to do on the rims.

 

[tomsteve]

from front

from right side. notice any bolts missing???

from right side again

ok, heres a picture of one of the body lift bushings. is that the factory bushing under the lift bushing???

 

[tomsteve]

this is another one of the body bushings.

 

[wantedexplorer]

Correct. The 3" Body block goes on top of the stock body bushing.

That paint came out GREAT! Needs some touch up's but over all its come along way!

You should sand/wire brush the frame and IFS system and paint them black/por15/ ect That would make it look very clean.


I wouldnt worry about your tire rim combo if there 33's. There fine. Just tell your son to drive it like a lifted truck and not a sports car and he will be fine.

 

[sport97]

Looks like a superlift or the other brand of suspension lift. I think they are both 4 inches. It drops the front end, and the torsion bars down for the front lift, and uses lift leaf springs in the back. If you pull the suspension lift it could be sold for money that could be put toward new tires or something. You would have to grab a set of stock springs from a junkyard though.

Then you could leave it with just 3" body. Or you could do a torsion twist up front and lift shackle in the back to pick up a 1.5" that was taken off with the superlift and ensure you fit 33"s.

Then again it may be easier to just ditch the body lift and run that suspension lift with 33"s

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Correct. The 3" Body block goes on top of the stock body bushing.

That paint came out GREAT! Needs some touch up's but over all its come along way!

You should sand/wire brush the frame and IFS system and paint them black/por15/ ect That would make it look very clean.


I wouldnt worry about your tire rim combo if there 33's. There fine. Just tell your son to drive it like a lifted truck and not a sports car and he will be fine.

I swear that stuff ONLY sticks to rust. but for sure, paint the underside, it would make it look A LOT better, not saying it is bad, but I hate the sight of car cancer.

Also great work cleaning up the paint.

 

[tomsteve]

thanks all. used all meguiars products on the paint. m105 rotary buffer and wool pad to start, followed by m105, orange foam pad and porter cable 7424 for second pass, m205, orange pad and 7424 for 3rd pass, the glaze. yeah, the frame and under carraige are gonna get some attention.
now, to determine which way to lower it. hhhmmm. body lift removal seems easier, but with removing the suspension lift we can sell it and get some extra $$$ for other "stuff", like the supplies for the bodywork!!!

 

[1996BLKBauer]

thanks all. used all meguiars products on the paint. m105 rotary buffer and wool pad to start, followed by m105, orange foam pad and porter cable 7424 for second pass, m205, orange pad and 7424 for 3rd pass, the glaze. yeah, the frame and under carraige are gonna get some attention.
now, to determine which way to lower it. hhhmmm. body lift removal seems easier, but with removing the suspension lift we can sell it and get some extra $$$ for other "stuff", like the supplies for the bodywork!!!

I would suggest keeping the lift, unless there is something wrong with the truck while it is on there. Also many of the parts, may have fused into place. which requires some persuasion with a large hammer. In the end it is up to you.

 

[sport97]

I did the body work on my sport, good luck. It requires some custom work, but can be done. Here is what I did: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=342936

 

[tomsteve]

i have a friend that is really good runnin his mig welder. talked to him yesterday. he saw the truck a few months ago. mentioned the plan and he said," i'm in!" he's a man that loves projects like this. if it was up to him, we'd be doin a frame off resto! but i told him just replacin the rockers and patchin up in front of the tires. after tinkerin with it and lookin it over as i tinker, it's actually pretty solid. lookin at gettin a needle scaler and spend a while gettin rid of the rust underneath and shootin something under there to clean it up.
lookin right now at tweakin the torsion bars to straighten up the front tires a bit. off to do some surfin! the sons really wanting to go on a roadtrip, but it aint ready yet. still needs tires, which hopefully will be happening this week.
and we are gonna leave the suspension lift and pull the body lift.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Based on your cleanup of the paint, this sport is going to see some Better Days Ahead! Seems like the better choice to leave the suspension lift on. Based on the rust, start spraying the body belts well in advance of removal. I need to google needle scaler! Been trying to keep the undercarriage clean, winter and salt makes it next to impossible. Looking forward to seeing pics of the repairs in action!

 

[tomsteve]

Based on your cleanup of the paint, this sport is going to see some Better Days Ahead! Seems like the better choice to leave the suspension lift on. Based on the rust, start spraying the body belts well in advance of removal. I need to google needle scaler! Been trying to keep the undercarriage clean, winter and salt makes it next to impossible. Looking forward to seeing pics of the repairs in action!

funny you should mention that. i had to shoot some pb blaster on the torsion adj bolts and ened up emptying just about a full can on the underside. stopped dinkin with the torsion bars as i see a bad lower ball joint ( opposite side of the bad upper),so i think i may help him out a little and get new uppers and lowers and tie rod ends.
a needle scaler is pretty sweet!



they make quick work of removing crap!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Yup- spray some PB on there, go have breakfast at Mac's, and get to work when you get home.

 

[tomsteve]

Yup- spray some PB on there, go have breakfast at Mac's, and get to work when you get home.

hmmm, you must know west branch to know macs and their awesome breakfasts.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Been through there one or ten thousand times...

We have hunting property in Whittemore, used to have a cabin on Little Long Lake and AuSable Lake also...

 

[tomsteve]

ahhhh, good ole whittemore. home of the oldest race track in michigan. got a good friend that lives on 80 acres out there. good hunting land. he's the one thats gonna help me with the bodywork.

 

[LONO100]

clean!