Upon installing my safari bar yesterday we came across the fact that one of the front body mount rubber gaskets were rusted away. I was looking into a 2" suspension lift for my Blazer but she's a notorius ball joint eater and I am worried I'll just fly right thru them.. So, after yesterday my bf suggested I go with a body lift instead?

Now, I've been doing my research on lifting the truck but mostly it's been on suspension lifts until now. This site has been a great help(especially the pics!) but I'm wondering how the ride is on a body lift? What kind of precautions regarding handling do I need to worry about? I have a 5min drive to work everyday but I make a 6hr trip across Pa to visit friends and family multiple times a year. Currently have stock tires and wheels at the moment, is that gonna throw off the handling? Anything I'm overlooking?

 

I'm speaking not from first hand, though in the past, I've had both raised and lowered cars but as an engineer; the body lift is the way to go to retain best ride qualities. All the suspension geometry remains the same, and oyu dont have to worry about picking different size/length shocks, just on ride qualities.

The one caveat though is that handling DOES change, especially fast reaction handling -swerve-

The lift means that your truck now has a higher center of gravity and is more prone to rollover than if it were stock

Google 'Explorer rollover.'
While the bulk of the cases could be traced to crap tires, the conclusion is the same, if they had been on a standard sedan, most rollovers wouldnt have happened.

- Worst Case Visualizing is the best solution: something runs in front of you, you are far safer to just hit the brakes than try to avoid it. That I DO have experience in and it always worked out best. May even have saved lives on the last occasion.

PS: You are probably eating ball joints because you are buying cheap ball joints. Like gasoline they are NOT 'all the same'. Service grade means replace to sell. Some cheap 'lifetime lube' dont even have enough lube to go 10,000 miles.

 

While i have had a body lift on for sometime now...pettyfog is dead right on having a higher center of gravity.
while it all pretty much felt the same..cornering is def different now. I drive for work so i would say aslong as your aware you will be fine. I would recommend the lift...besides the height it makes working on the truck easier to...more room for handa in tight spaces.

 

Yeah, +1 to what they said. The body lift is the way to go imo. It has stock ride quality and is the cheapest lift you can get besides t-bar crank and shackles. I would definitely go body lift over t-bar crank and shackles though.

Like mentioned above also, it will be easier to work on your truck afterwards.

A couple cons though... there will be a space in your wheel well where you can see the inner workings of the blazer. Some people think the space is ugly, I don't actually mind it because my rig ain't built for beauty. But to remedy this, if you really think that space is ugly, they sell gap guards.

One more thing... bumpers... even though my front and back bumper are pretty close to the body, there will mostly likely be a little bit of a space in between. It is hardly noticeable unless you get right up on the blaze.

And the last thing to mention. Handling isn't much different imo. Last night I swerved pretty hard with my blazer to avoid a possum (I know, I know... better to run over the animal then to avoid injury to everyone in the vehicle), but I still don't like to hit any animal. So I swerved into the on coming lane and luckily there wasn't a car coming. But it scared the chit out of people in the car apparently. I'm glad my sway bar is new lol. Don't be mistaken, the blazer can still swerve well if needed and I didn't feel like at any point I was going to tip over. Maybe my wider stance now helps this a little though.

But all in all the body lift is definitely the way to go for some lift and bigger meatier tires!

Plus, I can physically touch most body lift pucks with my hand lol. Just thought that was kind of cool haha.

 

That's exactly my point. What kind of moral values are kids raised with.. well, not exactly RAISED. More like indoctrinated.

Like I said, I have experience on both sides.. at about 17 I swerved to avoid a dog and narrowly missed doing a major barrel roll in a farm field. And that wasnt long after I saw a corpse in a car who'd apparently done the same thing. HArdly a mark on him and dry road good visibility.

Made me think.
My last NON-Swerve- SUV with 3 ppl in it lost control entering I 70 in heavy traffic went across two lanes bounced off guardrail and rolled back into traffic incl assorted semi's. I hit brakes hard and tried to stay in lane, hit the back corner and knocked it back onto the shoulder, giving room for the truck behind and beside me to get by as I luckily caromed across and scraped to a stop.
Natch it happened too fast to think about it but I had determined for long time to never do the obvious swerve.

 

pettyfog....i like the exp you bring to the forum and the delivery is cut and dry....just the facts ma'am.
i appreciate how your engineering background has influenced your input as well.

also have to say...sometimes your signatures say it all.

just one more skill set they should teach in drivers training....reaction skills.

 

I kinda figured that any hard lane changing or swerving was going to be bad. I'm just looking to retain the current ride of my truck now possibly better with updated shocks. My biggest concern though is the rollover factor. I've seen/read somewhere that the Blazer was very poor with the roof support in the event of a rollover. Now I'm wondering if I'd be considered one of those "high profile" vehicles and have to worry about the wind? Haha.

As far as the lifts themselves, should I wait till I have the larger tires/wheels or will my stock rims be ok for now?

*Side note* My ball joints were all replaced under warranty, haven't replaced them since 2010, when the warranty expired. Lol

 

Well for me personally, I rode around a few days with the body lift on and my stock tires and it kind of looks silly. Looks much better now with bigger, meatier tires. But there are no problems riding around on stock rims with the body lift on.

But speaking of the roof, I had a friend who was the passenger in a jimmy. Keep in mind, I wasn't in the jimmy at all, this is what he told me happened. Ok, so one of my friends was in the passenger seat, and one of his friends was driving. Well apparently the guy took a left turn way too fast and barrel rolled the jimmy. My friend had a tree come through the roof on the passenger side and come within an inch or two of his head. He is 5 foot 6. I'm 6 foot 2. If I was in the passenger seat that day or anyone my height, that person would of had a tree through there head and probably would of been killed instantly. Long story short, this was a stock jimmy. My point is it doesn't matter whether you have a body lift or not, it won't cause a wreck any more than a stock one would. Just my .02.

I still drive my blazer as hard as I did without the body lift. Only difference is, the sway bar got replaced while the body lift was put on so I can take corners faster and with more stability now.

 

Being a tall chick myself (I am also 6'2) that doesn't instill confidence, BUT, I may look into replacing the sway bar as well. I like the current handling my Blazer has when I have to get around the NJ and NY drivers who can't get out of the left hand lane.. :|

 

Cars are like guns
Give an idiot either and someone is getting hurt