can anyone give me a body lift 101 course ?

[Bbad]

I am thinking about doing a body lift, i have friends that have done it, i am thinking about a 3'' lift on my 2wd 2000 silverado 1500. I want to know any info that you have that a new comer would understand and any complications that might occur.

[07 redrado]

ive done one and found out that even with my automotive knowledge, u will need and weekend to do it, unless u have another car to drive. every thing went smoothly and i would suggest having two floor jacks, they come in real handy. there is just alot of brackets to undo and move this and unbolt that, but they are pretty straight forword. hope this helped

[Pete95Sierra]

my friends and I installed mine about two years ago. It was a whole day project and kind of a pain in the butt but you can do it. Just follow the directions CAREFULLY and make sure you do not forget anything and tighten everything down properly. I too used floor jacks to do it and those seemed to work ok. As for any problems after the install i have not had one (knock on wood). Everything went on smoothly but just took a little time. I would suggest buying the rear bumper brackets if your kit does not come with them also. If you can get a use of air tools and an impact gun and sockets I highly recommend it, it will cut down on your time tremendously

[finalday7]

Performanceaccessories.com has install instructions on their site.

[Crunch]

I have done many dozen body lifts from many different brands. The nicest ones with the best directions are from Performance Accessories. The one on your truck should be fairly easy. Like everyone said, follow the directions to the"T".

Pay attention to the grounding straps, hoses and lines. Make sure you have enough slack in all of them. Also, I remember the steering extentions on different trucks giving me a hard time. Your truck is still pretty new and you shouldn't have any problems with frozen bolts, but just in case, make sure to spray all the body and bumper bolts with penetrating fluid a day or 2 before getting started. Can't hurt.

Lastly, I'm not sure if your kit is going to have the bed support brakets. In the performance accessories kit, they are gold rectangle pieces that should be welded between the bed crossmembers and the frame in the spots where you do not have any bed bolts. I guess they could be left out if you aren't going to haul anything, but they are pretty easy to install.

Crunch

[cao88c]

IMHO you should not go over 1" on a body lift.

Fist reason, it looks ugly!
Second reason - and most importantly - it is very unsafe. God forbid you get into an accident, with a 3" body lift, the body could come right off of the frame. The higher you lift the body, the weaker the supports are.

Also, with that high of a body lift, you basically have to re-do all of your hoses and fittings, relocate the radiator, fuel lines, etc. Not to mention that your engine is going to be 3" lower so working on it is gonna be a PITA.

If I were you, I'd save my money and do it right and go with a suspension lift.

BTW: I am not some average joe who has no experience with trucks, I work on trucks and jeeps doing axles and suspension work.

[Bbad]

what brand and lift kit do you recommend i get for my 2wd 2000 chevey silverado 1500?

[tillyb1989]

if your gonna lift a truck my suggestion would be to buy a 4x4. body lifts are ok but i agree on going with a suspention lift. its alot safer and IMHO easier to do (i could be wrong though!)

[cao88c]

what brand and lift kit do you recommend i get for my 2wd 2000 chevey silverado 1500?

Fabtech makes a good 2wd lift for your truck. Other than that, search the big names, rancho, skyjacker, procomp, They mostly make lifts for 4wd, but I'm sure that there are lifts for 2wd trucks from those manufacturers.

[sierraman]

they have a cheap 2wd 6 inch lift kit on ebay from springtech for about 500 for your truck, probably not the best offroad system but if you wanna lift your truck for just looks this is the way to go