I've beefed up the tires and will soon get rock sliders and traction bars.when my warranty is up i'm going to do an abs disable switch.kc lights also on the to do list. where do i go from here ? whats next ?

I'm really on a tight budget and looking for mods which will run between 100 and 400. I'm only intersted in increased off road capability and improving durability / reliabilty by upgrading parts which are likely to fail and leave me and my girl stranded in the middle of nowhere. I don't want to do any mods that may decrease the life of the vehicle. Even a k&n filter may eventualy lead to oil getting on your mass air flow sensor and damaging it. dont' think so ? this happened to my s-10 but that was 100,000 miles after it was installed. I am not really interested in power since it seems i have plenty. I'm more intersted in better fuel economy than power.so yeah romping and reliability without sacraficing any driveablity is what i'm after . oh yeah and i have already extended diff vents front and rear . do you guys think the tranny and transfer case are worth extending ? I generaly try to avoid water and mud but certainly alot of dust.

the only mods i can think of are expensive and not something i need to do anytime too soon ..i want to upgrade the limited slip in the rear end to a torsen or the detroit version. possibly limited slip in the the front but worried about handling problems in the rain etc and damage to front end parts.would also like custom front bumper with winch / rear bumper that wraps around the side and provides protection just behind the wheel.all this stuff is too much money for anytime soon my girl will kill me.

this is probably a stupid question. can a 4x4 have a spindle lift ? I can't find one and i figure even if it is possible you would have to change a bunch of drive components. I really want to add some more clearance but i'm out for performance not looks so i don't want a body lift can't afford suspension lift. don't want to do it half *** with something like a t bar crank etc that may end up causing more wear on other parts . I wish i could just get both axles up a few more inches or something. not sure what other mods can improve my trucks ability to romp without compromise performance or reliabilty

some parts i've considered upgrading are the front drive shaft , the hubs ,but man i like the auto locking hubs cuz i'm lazy lol, alternator, brake rotors, cooler running thermostat.

what else could i do ?

 

no there is no spindle lift for 4x4.... may i ask why you hate body lift? i used to hate them till i installed about 5 of them... let me grab a few pics. honistly you just sayed your out for looks...

body lift 15x10 and some 33x12.5x15 buckshots best thing you can do..

 

all body lifts except my silver one....

 

need we say more..lol..

 

lol nothing wrong with a body lift..cheap and easy.

 

thats why its wrong.... its cheap

i would never put a body lift on my truck.... i'd be afraid to load up my bed with those spacers in there. i dont care who says what about how good a body lift is, it doesnt make the truck any more capable, in fact makes it less capable than before. how could separating your body from the frame that much be a good thing?

 

If you dont end up getting a lift, then get some Bilsteins (and even if you do get some 5100s). Also crank your damn t-bars... just dont max them. And inch or so wont make a single bit of difference on your ball joints, etc with off-roading

EDIT: here's the link to the Bilsteins
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BILST...spagenameZWDVW

 

For the type of off-road i do, i think a body lift is totally fine.
Im not saying I baby my truck at all, but i dont go climbing rocks and banging my body around.
Yes, you are right about a suspension lift, its way better in every way except price.
I think if you check the body mount bolts every so often, it should be fine.

 

alon PLEASE for god sakes just stop it. dont Bring which i know you will desert style offroading and JUMPING a truck MOST people dont have that and never will do it. and using the grade 10 bolts its fine for mudding. and with the bed comment there is crush blocks you put in i think there is 6 of them you weld to the fram to give support to the bed and its rated fine for hauling. so please lay off for once..thanks

 

zach, PLEASE for god sakes just listen to what i say. i said i would never put a body lift on my truck, i also said i wouldnt trust those blocks for what i use the bed for, i also questioned how it could be go to separate the body that far from the frame.

i didnt mention deserts or jumping, i only mention that when people who have body lifts are in the deserts or jumping.

also, i dont like hearing the word "crush" when associating it with my hauling capacity.

so please stop acting like you are all mighty for once.. thanks

ps. i'm tired of people who dont know what they are talking about AT ALL (i'm not saying you dont know what oyu are talking about) give BAD advice to people just because they dont know what they are talking about.

If i see something that i dont think is safe, i'm going to say something about it, like people cutting and welding their tow hitches or saying a body lift is totally safe. Of course i may break my spindle, i never said its perfect, but i feel much more confident in my spindle than i would in a body lift.

i understand its more expensive to lift a 4x, but that doesnt justify doing a half assed job to me.

[/rant]

 

well i guess we have totally different opinions.
Why is it so that a hitch that is welded by yourself is weaker then a hitch that is welded by the company? Both places welded the hitch together, right? they dont necessarly have a stronger welding job.

I will not change my opinion that a body lift is good lift. If done right, it is totally fine for mud and other types of off-roading. Yes i will say it is not good to climb or jump with a bodylift. I will deff reccomend it to someone who wants to lift there truck and does not have the money for a suspension lift.

but we should stop taking over the thread, and let it get back on base.

 

wow...... comparing a place that makes hitches, an established company to some joe wanna be fabricator's modified hitch.

if you and zach would like to make another post to bash me or my ideas or proving that body lifts dont suck go ahead and we can debate there...


now... back on topic,

Dave, i'd say upgrade to the bilsteins from the fx4 level 2. i had them on my truck until i got the 7100 resovoirs up front and it is a very worth while investment. when i get home from school this may i am going to be having some meets, i hope to see you there

 

Exactly The LVL2 bilsteins are the ones i posted the link to earlier. And this summer (when we're all back from school) there will be many meets

 

Alon once agian taking it personally. i am not attacking you bro... honistly if body lifts where that HORRIBLE 99% of people with them would be having huge problems. there not...plain and simple. if its for mudding. some offroading. city driving, a body lift is perfectly safe. BTW "crush block" is just the name of it...plain and simple...

 

anyways all. if you want better fuel economy go to bamachips.com and get a tuner from doug. ask rangererv, 04lvl2, and zabeard. they can give you more info on that.

 

Stockranger you wrote a lot with lotsa details so i I didn't completely read it but here's my opinion,

If you want you can upgrade the limited slip to some type of locker. don't put a locker in the front as you will quickly break stuff.

As to a body lift, listen to people like Zach Stone. He's done a huge amount of body lifts. Alon obviously knows VERY little about trucks and thinks body lifts are weak. Those body lift blocks are rated to 50K lbs each if i remember and that means with 4 blocks on your bed the actual bed is going to break before those blocks.

I don't understand why but there are people who dog body lifts who know nothing about them. They make up lies about them, saying they wouldn't trust them. Well hey, if you plan on jumping bridges and sand dunes all the time then don't do a body lift. But since you have a 4WD vehicle it is the only cheap option. The Superlift just moves the torsion bar 4 inches down, lifting your truck 4 inches but still leaving that bar in an easy position to get damaged. So A body lift allows you to fit larger tires.

For body lifts reputation. You will find many desert racers don't want them. Makes sense, they're jumping their vehicles and that could be dangerous. Don't worry about any normal offroading, a huge amount of suspension lifted trucks have body lifts and have no problems. People say that they're weak but I think in my 2 years on ranger forums I've heard 1 bad story about body lifts.

Aaron

 

you're so quick to say that i dont know anything about trucks, but you are too lazy to read his whole post before writing your lame post. He said himself that he doesnt want a body lift, he wants function not looks. I already said why i dont like body lifts, i dont need to say it again.

but, you're right... i know little about trucks, especially fabrication and suspension. before you say anything else about my knowledge and credentials to be talking about this, i've had 3 semesters of welding classes, i worked for a year in an offroad fabrication shop working on race trucks and jeeps, since i moved out here to school i had to leave there, but i just got a job at a shop that builds rock crawlers and does solid axle swaps, etc... i know plenty about trucks, and i'm sure i know more than you do, so please watch what you say

 

Don't kid yourself newbie. I've forgotten more about trucks than you know. Little did you comprehend that I read his post. He said that he wanted fucntion over looks essentially. I explained the price of the 4WD lifts weren't worth it because they leave the torsion bars low and the RCD lift is too expensive to be worth it. A body lift allows bigger tires, which is important in offroading.

3 semesters of welding classes? I guess it took you 3 tries to pass? Last summer I went to the local welding company and bought two tanks of acetalyne and oxygen for 110 dollars and taught myself to weld using a book. I've worked as a marine engine engineer and done a lot more with trucks than you have. Ten bucks your job at the fab shop was "tool *****". You know it was that.

But hey whatever, you're a wannabe 4WD kiddy. Get a front axle before ya start dissing body lifts and you'll see the benefits.

 

*sigh*

you yourself said.... "Stockranger you wrote a lot with lotsa details so i I didn't completely read it but here's my opinion"

3 semesters of welding classes, yes, passed all 3 semesters with flying colors.
first semester was intro to welding, doing the basics of oxy/acetlyene, mig, tig, but mainly arc. second semester was intermediate arc welding focusing on the different rods, arc patterns, metallurgy, and all the different welding positions. The third semester was advanced arc welding along with a greater focus on mig in all positions, tig on steel, stainless steel and aluminum. I would have been certified if i had another course, but i moved out to arizona for school.

"Ten bucks your job at the fab shop was "tool *****". You know it was that."

tool *****? its actually known as shop ***** around here, the one who sweeps the floors, grinds what nobody else wants to etc.... and no, i was not the shop *****. I built a trailer from scratch, surfboard racks for prerunners, swapped out front and rear axles from the race jeep more times than id like to think about, widened and lengthened the flatbed trailer for a 4 seater buggy, made custom mounts for the fuel cell on pictured buggy, helped with the mounting of the fiberglass body panels (its a 2 man job), i've built bumpers front and rear, on rock crawlers with 38's to doing an eyeball alignment on a stock jeep, and got it in spec might i add.

wannabe 4wd kiddy? I'm 18, not a kiddy, and i never tried or wanted to be a 4x4. It doesnt matter that i have a 2wd for me to think what i do about body lifts. you dont have to agree and you obviously wont agree with a kiddy that doesnt know anything about trucks.

believe what you want, its your truck and i dont care what you do with it, but dont ever try to bash me and call me names when you dont even know half of what i do.

btw, how am i a newbie when i've been around here longer than you have?



sorry for going off on such a tangent from the original thread

 

Alon OMG lol....look who your agruing with its Aaron...he's one crazy ****....lol it aint worth it...

 

this is getting locked because it got stupid. sorry stock ranger, if youd like, create another thread.