I have a 97 chevy ext cab and I want to give it a little lift. What would be the best way to go as far as cost and ease of installation? I have found several body lift packages and also add-a-leaf kits, and suspension kits but I was wondering what would be the best way to go? Thanks
One major factor you should consider is what you will be doing with your truck. If its street driven only and you want something cheap and fairly easy to install you should consider a body lift kit w/ new bumper brackets. The hard part about this is that you need to lift the body up enough to clear the lift pucks. If you have the money to spend and you want to do some moderate offroading, you can go for a suspension lift kit. They're more complicated to install (compared to body lift) on IFS trucks like yours, so if you have a 4wd I would recommend having a shop install it. If its 2wd its easier to do, just make sure you get the right tools, like a good coil spring compressor. Add-a-leaf kits are rear only for your truck. They will make the rearend stiffer, so I would stay away from them. Go with lift blocks or lift springs.
Okay the most of my driving would be street driving other than some hunting that I do. I have been looking on ebay and they have what they call torsion cams that say they are easier and cheaper to install than a body lift kit and they can get you another 2" to 3". Would this be the way to go or would it just be best to get the body kit? Now, if I were to get a body kit would I need to get the kit that has shifter linkage, extender hoses, fan shroud brackets, and fender gap guards or would I just need the kit with the blocks, u-bolts and mounting hardware? Is all that stuff necessary, or if I go with the more simple kit will I need to possibly get this stuff in the long run anyway? Any and all info is helpful to me on this subject. Thanks
[updated:LAST EDITED ON Mar-29-05 AT 08:50 PM (CST)]As far as I know, all you really need for the body lift is the disks that go between the body and body mounts and new bolts, but most of what I know is for '73-'87 trucks. I'm not sure if you need the shift linkage, there shouldn't be any hoses that need to be extended, and the fender gap gaurds are mainly for looks, to hide the obvious gap between the bottom of the body and the frame, although you may need the fan shroud brackets so that the fan shroud will work properly, and bumper brackets which are also for looks. However, depending on where you will be driving the truck while hunting. Any mud or rough trails and you may want to go for a suspension lift.
