Body Lift Kits

[Dutch]

Hey all,

Does anyone make a kit for replacing worn out body mount bushings to stock height? It's a little confusing to me since the kits I see available are for a 3" lift but the individual pieces (bushings) don't look any taller than the OEM bushings I would be removing. Am I making a bad assumption that I would be removing the existing or do the new bushings mount on top of the worn out pieces?

Thanks,
Dutch

[The Anti-Chrysler]

Body lift mounts replace existing mounts, not stack on top of them. If you're looking at pieces the same height as stock, they are replacements only. It is as simple as a 3" body lift has 3" more of material.

[Rent-A-Cop]

you can get stock polly body mount bushing from espo starting at $60. ive got a catalog i can look up ones for your rig, just need the make and year. espo doesnt list prices for them on their site, or you can go to the site and email them or get their number and call them.

[Merc69]

Dutch

Lift kits are nothing more that a spacer made from a very stout material. They mainly seem to be some kind of plastic. They stack on top of the body bushings. The factory body bushings are made of rubber and depending what they are exposed to can rot pretty badly.

ProThane makes replacements and can be had from several sources. ESPO is where I bought mine. There are a couple of other sources. These will bring the vehilce to the stock height. The units have metal supports molded inside...I spoke to Prothane and they advised you need to use the metal parts from the original body bushings. Someone else on the board has installed them without the original metal hardware. At the least you will have to replace the bolts. Mine were rusted real bad and I had trouble removing them. I soked then for several days in PB Blaster but still had to use a little blue tip persuasion :(

I used a 3 inch lift and what an improvement in being able to get at things under the vehilce.

Check out River Beast's web site he does a really good write-up on doing a body lift.

Good luck

[Dutch]

*** "Body lift mounts replace existing mounts, not stack on top of them. If you're looking at pieces the same height as stock, they are replacements only. It is as simple as a 3" body lift has 3" more of material" ***

*** "Lift kits are nothing more that a spacer made from a very stout material. They mainly seem to be some kind of plastic. They stack on top of the body bushings" ***

Help... I'm translating this as the new bushings completely replace the existing pieces. I also should count on having to replace the bolts (safety says to do it anyways) and probably look forward to getting at some blind nuts in the rear frame. BTW, "Krypt" the truck is the 84 J-10 you may see in some of the Ouray pictures... PO was Ralph (better known as Mister "I like the sound of the exhaust pipes laying on the axle"). If you wouldn't mind I'd appreciate any price/info you might have for a stock height full replacement poly bushing kit from ESPO.

Thanks,
Dutch

[Rent-A-Cop]

ok Dutch, for an 84 j-10 the price is $60. the catalog only lists the price, doesnt say if it comes with new bolts or not. im gonna shoot them an email because i forgot about having to get new bolts. also it doesnt say if is a full bushing kit or just for the cab. ill let ya know as soon as i hear from them

[talntar]

they do not come with hardware from espo.got them and did it

[Rent-A-Cop]

dang if i would have waited a bit i could have got that info without emailing them. where did you get the hardware from?

[Merc69]

The body lift kits: A 3" kit has three inch spacers. If you remove the body bushing you are removing approx. 1 inch and will have a net lift of 2". You will also have the vibrations from the frame transmitted to the body with no dampening.

The ESPO body bushings only replace what you see there currently...approx. 1 inch.

If you buy a lift kit, longer bolts are normally included and most of the time. I only had to buy 2 that needed to be 1/2 inch longer.

Hope this sorts out the confussion.

[Ralph]

PO was Ralph (better known as Mister "I like the sound of the exhaust pipes laying on the axle"). You're kidding here, right? Is that what was causing the rattle?

[Dutch]

Well... the "rattle" was the pipe laying on the axle. Now... the "vibration" was the front passenger U-Joint saying bye-bye. Don't sweat it... it's a Jeep. I do have one question though, what did they use to balance those tires? Not one of em' could be balanced because the balance points and weight kept shifting, sand?

Dutch

[Ralph]

The tire shop couldn't get any kind o weights to sty on the rims, so they used some stuff that they injected into the tire. I'm not sure if it's a sandy substance or liquid, but it seems to work pretty well.

Also, I had the front passenger side axle out just a couple of weekends ago when I replacd the ball joints. The U-joint seemed fine, and I had a new one handy to replace it but didn't bother.

[Dutch]

I understand what your saying. The U-joint had alot of movement on the passenger side so it got replaced as well as the front driveshaft into the differential U-joint. Jeff Kennedy's package arrived yesterday with the manifold gasket's and the truck plugs you recommended so today I will be working on that. I ordered the body mounts from ESPO on Thursday so I may see those in this weekend also. BTW, what was that rattle noise from the engine you told me about. Only happens sometimes, usually hard acceleration, maybe the heat riser?

Dutch