Most Popular Sports Cars

A body lift or a suspension lift are essentially two ways to lift your Jeep, truck, or SUV. Both methods have their pros and cons that are typically focused on price, performance, and ease of installation, but let me explain the difference between the two.

A suspension lift can use taller springs, spring spacers, lift blocks, differential drop brackets, cranked up torsion bars, or any combination thereof to raise the vehicle’s frame (chassis) away from the ground.

A body lift is much simpler in that it raises only the body away from the frame with spacers. The frame remains in the same location relative to the ground.

A suspension lift is recommended for anyone planning to use their vehicle off-road while a body lift is recommended for anyone that wants to make their vehicle look lifted without the real desire of ever driving off-road. Is this to say a body lifted vehicle can’t go off-road? No. It’s perfectly capable of going off-road. It just won’t perform as well as a suspension lifted vehicle because it hasn’t gained any ground clearance.

Suspension lifts are most often made between 2-inches to 6-inches, while body lifts range between 1-inch to 3-inches.

Suspension lifts are more complicated than body lifts because they alter the suspension components that give the vehicle its factory ride characteristics. Taller springs are typically stiffer than factory springs so the vehicle will have a harsher ride quality than with original equipment factory engineered springs. Longer shock absorbers will be needed. The vehicle will also have a higher center of gravity because the entire weight of the vehicle (everything except the axles) will now be raised further from the ground. Depending on the vehicle, the transfer case may need to be lowered and the rear differential repositioned to minimize driveline vibrations. This is especially true for short wheelbase vehicles such as Jeeps because of their short rear driveline that isn’t readily accepting to increased u-joint angles.

Pros: Higher ground clearance, raised approach and departure angles, allows installation of larger wheels and tires.

Cons: Costs more, longer installation time, driveline angles are increased (more likely to vibrate), brake lines need to be re-routed or lengthened, new shocks needed, increased center of gravity.

A body lift is relatively simple in that it primarily consists of a set of spacers that are inserted at the mounting points between the frame and body of the vehicle. This leaves all the heavy parts of the vehicle (frame, engine, transmission, transfer case, etc) at their factory locations so the vehicle’s center of gravity (though increased) will not be increased as much as a suspension lift.

Pros: Inexpensive, can be installed quickly with basic hand tools, allows fitment of taller tires, simpler (all parts necessary come in a small box).

Cons: Appearance (there will be a noticeable gap between the body tub and the frame), additional leverage is placed on the mounting points, ground clearance is not raised.

Bringing all this information together, a body lift’s sole benefit is to allow the installation of larger tires whereas a suspension lift is designed for improved performance off-road (while also allowing the installation of larger tires). If you’re on a budget and want to make your vehicle look like a big off-road rig with no real intentions of ever going off-road, then a body lift would be adequate for you. Contrary, if budget is not a concern and your true intention is to make your vehicle more off-road capable, then a suspension lift is the only way to go.

Body lift kits are a popular choice for people new to the off-road community. Their ease of installation make them great starter projects for anyone just beginning to get into off-roading and can be used in conjunction with a suspension lift should you decide to move up to something bigger in the future.