Body Lift Concerns

AgDoctor · September 28, 2004

this quaestion pertains to 2004 and earlier chevy z71(silverado). just say you had a grille guard that bolts to the frame or between the tow hooks and frame like the aries and westins do, can you still bolt them on after a body lift without fabrication? and the same goes for nerf bars, how to make them not have such a gap under the doors. are the kits bad about mashing spacers and causing body sag like if you do alot of dirt road driving and hauling a atv. and what about the fan shroud? what becomes of it. i have a 04 z71 and was considering a body lift but i am hesitant because of things like the gap in the back between the tow hitch and bumper and the other things i mentioned. also what about the fuel tank spout what do you do there after moving the body up do you have to add a piece of pipe? after writing this post i think i will just keep on low riding on factory z71 car-truck. gm engineers are losers. they made the z71 low so posers could say they own a 4wd. but i like chevy and i do alot of traveling wiht my job so i have to get a dependable fuel friendly 4wd.

silverado1128 · September 28, 2004

this quaestion pertains to 2004 and earlier chevy z71(silverado). just say you had a grille guard that bolts to the frame or between the tow hooks and frame like the aries and westins do, can you still bolt them on after a body lift without fabrication? and the same goes for nerf bars, how to make them not have such a gap under the doors. are the kits bad about mashing spacers and causing body sag like if you do alot of dirt road driving and hauling a atv. and what about the fan shroud? what becomes of it. i have a 04 z71 and was considering a body lift but i am hesitant because of things like the gap in the back between the tow hitch and bumper and the other things i mentioned. also what about the fuel tank spout what do you do there after moving the body up do you have to add a piece of pipe? after writing this post i think i will just keep on low riding on factory z71 car-truck. gm engineers are losers. they made the z71 low so posers could say they own a 4wd. but i like chevy and i do alot of traveling wiht my job so i have to get a dependable fuel friendly 4wd.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

pineland,

I'm no expert but to my knowledge most high end body lift kits contain brackets to move the front and back bumpers up, that said I beleive origionaly the grill guard would have been bolted to the frame with the manufactures brackets.

So if you raise your front bumper with the body lift bracketry, I don't believe the grill guard will fit without some fabrication.

As for the nerf bars, do a search here, I thought I read a post a few days ago that had some good pictures by someone who did a body lift then custom fabed some brackets to raise the bars up closer to the doors.

Check out Performance Accessories web site, they have some very complete kits.

They use premium spacers that should hold up to most anything without sagging.

As for the back bumper if you choose not to raise it with the body lift kit brackets, I've seen some people use a piece of diamond tread to fill the gap. The local 4x4 shop near me stocks the material and can have it cut to siize.

Most kits I've seen include fule filler extensions, steering link extensions (if needed), etc:

If your just looking for a moderate amount of lift, I have a 2003 1500 Z71 4x4 extended cab, I just put on the Victoria (Ford) keys, cranked up my torsion bars (about 2") and put on 285x75x16 Bridgestones. I like the look of the leveled front, and the slight hight increase from the tires, (had 265x75x16).

Hope this helps, maybe others will have additional info.