I'm wondering what the best way to do this is. It sounds like with SLR you can use the new shackles and the torsion bar adjustment and get 2 inches, more than enough for most people. Add some new shocks, Ranchos or what-not, and perhaps tires as well, and you're good to go. It's true, you can spend more, get higher quality, and greater versatility, but I'm wondering what is a realistic way to get a poor man's lift.

What are the disadvantages of the poor man's lift. Are the front A-arms and CV joints screwed this way, or is it just a tad less robust than the full aftermarket package.

Also what's better if you're cheap (like me) and primarily intersted in increased ground clearance: shackles, add-a-leafs, or both. Does the shackle addition alone stress out the stock springs, i.e., do the add-a-leafs help a great deal?

Well this should be food for thought on the time-honored topic. Let the games and flames begin! : )

From what I have been told by the people in my club who have the shackle lift, it will flatten your stock springs over time. That is pretty much the only downfall I have heard of, but some other people might know more. Don't know much about the effects of the add a leafs, don't know anyone personally who has used them, but in the past it has sort of been a toss up between the two on this board. I don't know if either add-a-leafs or shackles improve ground clearance much, my understanding was that they would enable you to fit bigger tires on, which would then improve the ground clearance.

The poor man's lift I was looking at for myself since I am 4x2 and don't need a lot of lift is the 2' shackles with torsion bars cranked, and adding 31' tires. I have seen this on at least 3 trucks and it looks really good and the only high cost part of that is the new tires, which I am going to need in the near future anyway.

Hope this helps, but there will be more people along who have more knowledge then I do.

You can get shackles, AAL's and torsion bars from almost anywhere, you don't have to go through SLR.

Torsion bars will get you about 2" of lift in front; shackles or AAL will get you about 2" in back ... both will get you about 4" in back. I have torsion bars, shackles and AAL with 32's and I am installing control arms up front next week.

If you don't care about having a rough ride and having almost no downtravel, and don't go off-road much at all, then this is all you need to do. But you'll really want some control arms when all is said and done either way. There is no real "Poor Man's Lift Kit".

[ 08-10-2001: Message edited by: Philosopher ]

Publius, for about a $1000 (some how it doesn't sound too cheap now) here is what I did. I got the shackles in the rear, but you can go with the ad-a-leafs for a bit more $ (both would be a bit too much lift unless you have a lot of weight in back, or your leafs have really started to sag already), this gave me 1.5" of lift. I then cranked the t-bars 1.25" in the front (I wouldn't go much higher unless you are prepared for alignment problems). While I was under there I swaped the shocks for Bilsteins, which I must say have improved ride quality, and removed the rear swaybar (take caution when doing this). Finally I added 32" tires, the most costly part.

Hope that helps.

Almost forgot, you will need to do a bit of trimming to get the tires to fit! I am happy so far, but will need to get new t-bars (probably next year) as I just got my ARB bumper and the front is starting to sag a bit with the additional weight.

[ 08-10-2001: Message edited by: Huey ]