I was trying to decide if I want to put a two or three inch body lift on my 2003 F150 FX4. I haven't done anything like this to a truck before so I just know i want a little hieght so I can put 305r17s on it. If anyone has any pictures of their trucks with a 2 or 3 in body lift would u please post them

 

You might as well go with the 3". The price difference between the 2 lifts are negligable. The installation is the same whether you go 2 or 3". The big difference between the kits is that the 2" does not include any bumper relocation brackets and the 3" does. If you want the bumpers to match up to the rest of the lines of the truck you have to fab up your own brackets.

 

Powerstroke is right, get the 3 inch kit. Here's a pic of my Screw.


https://www.f150online.com/galleries...gallery705.jpg

 

Wandell, do you have a pic of your receiver hitch location after the bumper has been raised? Does it look goofy being three inches lower from the bumper than it was? And did you do it yourself, or have it done?

Thanks, I'll try to think of more questions to keep you busy...

 

Hillbilly, I think the receiver looks like the one's on about 80% of the trucks I see around. It is no longer hidden. It looks like the stock hitch on most trucks. I installed the body lift myself. It's not hard, just time consuming. It took me a whole weekend, basically working by myself. You can do most of it by yourself, but you CANNOT loosen the body mounting bolts by yourself. Ford's body mount bolts go from inside the body and bed into a round combination nut/bushing. Someone has to hold this round nut with a big pair of Channel Locks while someone else loosens and removes the bolts. Here are a couple of pics of my hitch.


https://www.f150online.com/galleries...2999-66432.jpg


https://www.f150online.com/galleries...2999-66433.jpg

 

One more question for you. Did you have to pull the seats out when you did it? 4 Wheel Parts was telling me you had to, just checking to be sure. I was planning on doing this with the help of a couple buddies who owe me favors. I'd heard 1.5 to 2 days to do it.

Thanks for the tip on the body bolts, got any other hints?

 

The 2 inch is only 1 inch lower than the 3. From a distince it is hard to tell the differnce unless you look at the bumpers. Gap guards make it look better as they fill the gap, hence the name, left when you lift it 3 inches.
With the proper tools it takes a day. Super strength loose nut helps a lot. So does an air compressor with air tools.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Got the compressor and tools, and I've got one of those "Super strength loose nut" things, but he's generally worthless after a couple beers. We just have him get tools for us.

 

If you have an extended cab the rear seats need to come out. If its a regular cab you shouldn't have to pull the seat to get to the bolts at the rear of the cab. For tips start soaking the bolts a minimum of a week before you want to start and make sure you have other means of transportation if things go wrong. The bolts in mine were siezed in and I broke 3 ratchets (all craftsman) and 2 of them I had to use a grinder and grind the head off inside the cab and put the whole body bushing in a vise and use a torch to heat out the bolt. Make sure you have a VERY good 1/2" breaker bar and a cheater bar for it too, you'll prob end up needing it. Mine took a little more than 2 days to do but I had all sorts of crap going wrong (siezed bolts and tranny bracket didn't fit for some reason). Average is 1 to 2 days depending on mechanical ability.

 

I didn't have to pull the rear seats out of my Screw, but I did have to loosen the mounting bolts on the front of the rear seat so I could reach the mounting bolts under the carpet. I had to pull the 2nd and 3rd row seats out of an Expy that I installed a body lift on but it was no big deal.

 

thanks guys for all the replies I iwll probably go iwth the 3in then because of all the extras and I like the looks of Wandell's screw. Now I jsut gotta wait till the first of the year when I can afford a lift to get it done. I will post some pics when I get it finished

 

And I'll say thanks too. I've got an heavy duty impact, and Craftsman ratchets and a Hi-Lift handle for the heavy stuff. It's going on a SCrew, and I'm running amp wires and air line for an air horn all at the same time, so pulling the carpet up won't be an isssue. I was looking at pulling the rear seat anyway to mount my amp, air compressor, and sub box.

Thanks again for the help.