so i just ordered my TF 2.5 inch BB with shock adapters. i also wanna run a 1 inch body lift, no more then 1 inch though. are there negatives for body lifts other then doin to much of a body lift that theres an enormous gap? i dont think 1 inch will be an issue

 

I am running that set up with the exception of my 2.5" being a TF coil lift. As other will chime in a 1" BL will not due any harm. I have been running my BL for over 1.5yrs with no problems...I dont know if you would consider this a negative, but if you have a manual trans, you may have to cut the shifter boot to allow the JK to shift through its gears w/out any interference...If you do a search you are going to see a mixture of those that love having a BL as a low cost way to add that little extra clearance & provide functionality with out having to change out their existing suspension lift VS those that hate it and will say to just stick to a suspension lift all together.

 

yea ive got an auto. so the hole drive boot issue doest even apply to me

 

No one has mentioned raising CG slightly (of course, so does a suspension lift). But, regarding the exposed pinch seam: Raise it 1" and the entire pinch seam is exposed. Raise it 2" and the entire pinch seam is exposed. 2" body lifts aren't particularly popular on the JK's, probably with good reasons I don't know, but whether you raise it 1" or more, you're going to pretty much expose the pinch seam about the same amount. So, one inch is either an issue to you, or any number of inches are not an issue to you. At least, that's how I see it. It looks pretty ugly, really, with even a 1" BL. But plenty of folks don't mind that. Certainly, some of the fixes to cover up the pinch seam are more practical with just a 1" BL.

 

The shifter boot? I helped TORN to install a 1" BL on RescueX's JK a long time ago and we didn't cut the boot. We did replace the foam/whatever spacer/seal that rests between the top of the tranny and the bottom of the center console with one that was taller. And he did have some problems shifting, so I think he planned to trim that spacer/seal a little bit. But, trim the boot? I don't remember that.

 

You have to trim the inner boot.

The BL does not help your breakover angle, but can give you that extra little something to clear the next size up on tires.

 

In the old days, especially when body mounts were fewer, and rust was more of an issue, etc...there would be bodies that came off of the frames, etc...so BL's got a bad rap, even though bodies were coming off of frames with just the stock mounts, etc, too.

On more modern jeeps, they use a lot of mounts, and they don't corrode anywhere as fast like they used to...so its a much more reliable solution.

There also used to be a prejudice against BL's, as if only a suspension lift was a "Real Lift", and it was "Cheating" to use a BL somehow.

Over time, the myths were supplanted by the realization that - especially to fit larger tires, raising your COG to fit tires was not cost effective, or, effective off road, compared to simply removing the parts that the tire might hit.

So, fenders came off, were trimmed/modified, or, were raised out of the way with a BL, etc.

For an equivalent amount of tire clearance, the BL is a LOT more reasonable, both in cost, and effectiveness.

The body only weighs a few hundred pounds, the frame on up weighs a few THOUSAND pounds....

...so raising the FRAME on up has a large impact on your COG, making you more likely to roll over off camber, in emergency maneuvers, etc.

Raising the body on the other hand has relatively no impact on your COG, closer to adding a passenger than to what happens with an SL.

Also - When you use suspension to make tire room, that room only exists at RIDE HEIGHT....going to the mall and back, etc.

When you compress the suspension, going over a bump, when braking or turning, going over an obstacle, etc...that room disappears, and the tire hits what ever it would have hit WITHOUT the SL.

SL kits add evil, uptravel robbing bump stop extensions to make room for tires (And to prevent over compressing shocks too, etc...)...so you sacrifice uptravel to run larger tires, if your extra tire room is only from an SL.

A 1" BL simply moves the fenders up, out of the way by 1", which, tends to make room for a 2" larger tire. A 1.25" BL makes room for a 2.5" larger tire, and so forth.

So if 33's just fit on a stock JK with no lift, etc....2.5" taller = 35.5" tire height clearance with a simple 1.25" BL

1" would get you from a 33" to a 35" tall tire, all by itself, as far as tire height clearance in the fenders, etc.

So - Almost no increase in COG, and you can run 35's with about the same clearance as you had with 33's stock.

Make it a 2" BL, and your tires can be 4" taller than what cleared stock, as far as height clearance goes.

As far as aesthetics go, sure, some people have more gapanoia than others, and, there are various ways to compensate for the gaps if they bother you, like Lift Lips, flat black paint, sliders, raising bumpers, and other gap treatments.

And this is room that DOESN'T go away on compression...its a FIXED CLEARANCE MOD....unlike the coil compression variable clearance from an SL.


This leaves you free to do the suspension mods that work best for your terrain, instead of just your tire size.

Again, its simply ONE way to get fender clearance for larger tires, the least expensive way is to remove the fenders, the BL is second, followed by modifying the fenders, followed by using enough SL to make enough room....with HOW MUCH rub being ok, to you, as a variable that can shift the order around.




As far as ground clearance, the BL doesn't do much for you in of itself, but, if you move the bumpers up into the extra room, it can improve your approach and departure angles where they were limiting factors, and, of course, the larger TIRES you can now fit raise the Diifs and Axles too, something an SL can't do as well, as the SL only raises the frame....the diffs, etc, stay at the same ground clearance with a suspension lift.


Food for thought.