Lifting a first gen

Hey,

I am thinking about lifting my first gen and I have to discuss with some people that did it. I want to lift it because I need the ground clearance since I work in forestry ( 40% and 60% gravel road, old trail and creek crossing) and I also liked the look of my lifted 1st gen that I just sold (it had a 2" or 3" front coil spacer and same for the block and stock shock).

What type of combination should I use? Is it a good idea to stay with my stock shock?

I do not have a big budget, maybe 500$ max. canadian dollars. lol.

Thanks !

Here's some picture of the stock truck.

 

Look under the suspension forum. There are a ton of stickies there that will help you make a decision. Getting people to reply to a general "what lift should I get?" question will be difficult, as all this has been discussed a million times. Sorry to say that. I will tell ya that if you want a 2-3 inch lift you should replace your shocks. Avoid lift blocks if possible in the rear. It seems to me that the basic budget build is the OME kits, and they are good from what I hear. (Search them as I'm not familiar with them) Also browse vendor sites and see what they offer. They will offer complete kits and have good prices for the full setup.

Good luck hunting!

 

With that kind of budget I think 5100s are your only option. But do some research there's plenty of info on this site!

 

A lift will give you 0 additional ground clearance. What you want is larger tires. $500 won't do both, but 31s will fit without a lift.

 

^actually a very good point. lifts only raise the "truck" and not the axles so if you're hitting the pumpkins and skids you need taller tires, which in turn you'll then still need a lift depending on how big you wanna go

 

Ya, it's a vicious circle. Almost every stuck I've been in, I was sitting on the diffs with nothing but air under the rubber. Which is one of the reasons why so many of the OMG high lifts are so ridiculous. You trash any handling characteristics for no reason and still get stuck on the same bumps you were stuck on before. You need the tires to clear the ground but then you need to lift the truck to clear the tires. And the higher the truck goes the worse it handles and the easier it is to tip. There's a reason that seasoned off roaders cut fenders instead of lift. Get the clearance but keep the cog as low as possible and you end up with a pretty capable rig. My samurai was my last real build and it saw quite a bit of time under the plasma cutter. Thing was awesome off the pavement when I was done. NOT what I would do to a DD though

And OP needs to remember you only gain about 1/2 the height difference between the old and the new tire. So if you go up 2" in tire you only gain 1" in ground clearance. Decide on the clearance you want, but tires accordingly and only lift the bare minimum needed to keep the rubber clear. I ran 31's on my 96 with no lift, doing the same on my 02.

 

Thanks for the answers. I already looked at some sticky post that were very good to give me the facts. I just wanted some opinions of more experienced people.