for those of you with body lifts, how sturdy do you think they are.

??

heres my thoughts.
I have a relatively large engine and drivetrain that will be going into my truck eventually. and was kind of thinking that a body lift would allow the engine to go in much smoother and would allow me to tuck as much of the drivetrain up as I could. and with a link suspension it would allow me to set the ride height correctly so that it shouldn't sit too high. But will the pa body lift hold up to the abuse??

heres the info. cummins 4bt-nv4500-np203-np205 d60/d70

what do you all think?
good idea? bad idea? someone have a better way to accomplish the same goal?

thanks all.

 

umm,


Engine attaches to the frame of your vehicle, not the body. So PA body lift is not affected by engine weight.

 

yeah.. but it will be affected by a 400 ft/lb torquey beast on 39s being tossed around in mud and rocks..
I understand where it all attaches.

by large I meant dimension wise.. its pretty tall so the extra three inches would give me some more clearance putting it in.

 

guys with big mud trucks often run body lifts

And like said the drivetrain is not going to affect the body. The body attaches to the frame. The strength is in the frame. The frame is what needs to handle your torque and tires.

Reread previous post.

The body lift should hold up to any mud you put it through. The rocks will push your truck to its limits so a body lift changes things.

A body lift should hold up okay on the rocks. But then again when rock crawling things are going to break.

I have heard of guys jumping trucks with a BL and no problems but the more you put them through the more chance you have for it to fail. I trust my body lift in mud everyday of the week. but put the truck in a frame twisting rock crawling situation and there is going to be some extra body flex due to the body lift.

The body lift will get you what you want and I say you should go for it.

 

the frame will be boxed.
im not worried about that. without boxing the frame the cummins would twist it like a pretzel.
and I know the body isn't affected directly by the torque.. im on a roll really.
Im worried about the indirect effects, the thrashing the whole truck will be taking overall, if a body lift will hold up to it. Ive heard they hold up to rollovers ok so Im thinking I would be ok with it...

 

awesome.. preciate the response. now with a boxed frame, do you think the body will be flexing more than normal? would machined aluminum blocks with different bolts be a much better way to go? or not really worth it.?

 

I think a boxed frame will do good. I think that will take out much of your body twisting as well as frame flexing. And like you said a body lift will hold up to a rollover so I think you will be good. The PA lift blocks are sturdy and I think machined aluminum would be over kill but it would be a cool custom job if it wasn't too expensive.

 

if you roll it then the body lift will not be an issue. I really don't know what situations you'd **** your truck up with a body lift. It gives more room and blahdy blah it's a safe solution.

 

my body lift made it easier to get at things swapping an engine in.

 

off topic, but take lots of pics of the 4bt swap

 

I dont think the body lift will make the truck weaker.

The bed has a lot of support for the rear frame. IMO box the rear frame asap because when you lift the bed up a little higher the frame looses some support from it.

 

thanks for the replies guys. . . sounds like its a go.. . step one even. I think the body lift will be the easiest part..

 

how long can you wait for em lol.. its sitting in a storage unit waiting for a rebuild aka money and time. collecting other misc parts right now. trying to get all the parts together and built in good condition so in a year or two I can rip the bad mamma apart and insert the goodies. Got tons and tons of ideas and plans..a few parts now.. and im lying in wait like a cheatah for an antelope waiting for that mysterious windfall of cash...
seriously though.. it will be a while. I was throwing the body lift think around in my head and wanted some opinions. I got a couple links for 4bt swaps though if your interested..

 

i'd be interested in seeing some of those links for 4bt swaps if you wouldn't mind posting them up

 

sure..
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...=428552&page=2
http://www.mooktank.com/automotive/myrig.htm

http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/index.php
http://www.fordcummins.com/
that last one is more for full size stuff.. 6bts and such but some ok stuff there.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302523

those are probably the ones Ive used the most. the 4bt forum is pretty darn good.

 

For a mudder I can see a BL. Its when you get into Pre runners and race machines is when I would be werry of a BL

 

i have jumped my truck twice, and im not very nice on the throttle when it comes to off roading some times, its been a little over a year now with the body lift and it hasn't let me down...



on another note.. i want to see this biach when its done!!! sounds wicked

 

And why are you stealing my EXACT driveline plans??!!!!!
And I wouldn't worry about the body lift, your/mine main concerns will be that the frame is gusseted and boxed.

-TJ

EDIT:
And for anyone interested I am a member over at 4btswaps.com and it is a great forum, much like this one.

 

I was chevking those out a while back. seems like you could put the 700r4 behind the 4bt and then maybe run the ranger stuff (if it holds up) kinda like the setup graniteguy has.

anyway would be cool to have the 4bt but i will never do it.

 

A non-built non-hd D44 can't hold up to a 4BT if it is stuck (think rocks or similar) and needs help from the go pedal. Some people on 4btSwaps are running front D44's, but I know when I asked it was highly reccomended since I needed a SAS to support the weight up front that to just save time and build a D60 from the start. An 8.8 may survive if you can get a 31 spline with chromo shafts, I don't really want to be the test pig. I know in this specific engine case I would rather overbuild the driveline before the motor goes in so you don't even have to worry about it a bit. There was and is still lengthy dicussions on using a 700R4 which is an option I may research further here.

-TJ

EDIT:

For anyone interested my current project guide looks like this:
Phase 1 - D30 and 7" Lift (4" suspension, 3" body) with 35's
Phase 2 - D60's
Phase 3 - Diesel

 

an 8.8 wont hold up if you say a D44 wont.

all depends on the driver and your wheeling style if its going to hold up.

 

with that much power/torque i wouldn't even try a D44 and 8.8, they are too small for hard wheelin on 37's as it is... IMO

 

lol.. serious? damn. its genius thats all I can say..
were you going to go with a ford or gm np203?? I can't seem to decide.. i hear the ford will only need one hole fudged a little to mate to the nv if clocked upside down. but the chevy version can be redrilled no problem to match just fine, but the input splines have to be changed out to match...
and yeah we are going to have to box the shiat outa the frame. I think I might throw my 8.8 under there momentarily just to get a video of it snapping..

 

i like how you think

 

i dont plan on getting rid of my truck for a long time, and i plan on sticking around here, so i can wait.