Pros & cons of 4x4 body lifts

[matty]

Its Winter and i am doing a few indoor projects and getting round to fettling my next hunting bus a ancient 2004 mitsubishi (K94)Shogun sport or Montero sport to USAs Or challenger to Oceanians .
Its got a great clean solid frame, but the body is close to it in places and i have thought about a 1.5 inch body lift to aid cleaning out caked mud and help with corrosion / maintainance.
I do not intend putting big wheels on it and it will either stay on the stock 15s or i will switch to some Modular 16s if i come accross any . So this said i do not need wheel clearance. its not got a suspension lift but is a comercial van so has heavier / higher springs on the rear coils and it sits well as it is.
So its just the extra gap to help stop caked up mud and salt between the frame and body no other reason practically.
Now what are your views positive or negative on a bodylift , i am non to happy about raising the centre of gravity even a little on an allready tallish 4x4 , will it make any real world compromises to the handling.
If i go ahead with this, i can b uy a kit of polurothane spacers and bolts for £70 delivered, but would it be better if i made my own from aluminium bar and turned the cups at the end to match the original body mount bushings.
Ideas and thoughts please i need convincing one way or the otheri can not make my mind up and never done a body lift on a 4x4 before.

 

[woods]

Cut first, lift later.

 

[BDKW1]

Pros, cheap and easy.
Cons, just about everything.

 

[Shinyribs]

I put a 3" body lift on a '98 K20 I bought new out of highschool. IFS lifts were about $1,200 and the body lift was $100. It came with brackets to relocate the front bumper and an extension for the steering shaft.

Only thing needed was to unclip the ABS front the front fender wells and reroute them, spring the brake lines apart where they were pigtailed at the master cylinder and add a sleeve of PVC to lengthen the fuel filler hose. Truck had about 2,500 miles on it when I installed the lift and I sold the truck 5 years later with a little over 100,000 miles on it. Zero issues.

No weird length shocks or funky steering stabilizers/braces because the chassis was untouched.

Years later I did a suspension lift on a '01 K20 ( basically the same chassis) and couldn't keep u-joints in the thing even though the lift was done "right" with angled axle blocks and drop mounts for the transfer case. Aftermarket shocks were expensive and didn't hold up like over the shelf stickers. But I lifted that truck 6" and you can't go that high with a body lift.

For 3" or less I prefer a body lift.


I was unwilling to cut the fenders on my pretty trucks 😁