Automotive Customizers 2" Body Lift (aka 4x4parts.com)

So here began my journey into growing this rig just a teensy bit higher. I already had the Old Man Emu 2" suspension lift put on. I initially kept that lift modest as I wanted to increase my ground clearance to return back to stock (effectively) after having added the front receiver hitch to the snout of the truck. The cross-bar of the receiver hitch drops down 2" or so. The rest of the body would be clear even greater with the addition of the lift, but that low point would still be a limiting factor. I was also looking for more trail-ready performance from the upgraded shocks and heavy duty front springs and added support from the rear add-a-leaf. 

As for a body lift, there aren't any performance benefits of which I am aware. I liked the idea of the stock intake being a few inches higher. I would also be looking to add the snorkel; so, given that added feature, the 2" is kind of a moot point (or so I thought. I learned a bit more about the snorkel once I had my hands on one and began the install of that concurrent with this build.). 

Basically, I just wanted to be 2" higher. I wanted the look of a more open wheel well front and back although I do not have any intentions at present to go to a larger tire size. 

The main exercise of the first 20 or so steps of the accompanying instructions has to do with making allowances for the increase in height of any components (electrical, hydraulic) which may become stretched or kinked if their mounting points are not relaxed to allow for the movement invoked in the process. Largely, many of the relocations or measures were regarded by most on the various forums I checked as being unnecessary. Nonetheless, I diligently went through each step, verified the location of the perceived 'threat' and evaluated whether or not I thought there was sufficient slack or if I needed to release any mounting points to alleviate tension. In many instances, you have more than 2" of slack. But bear in mind that you'll be lifting the truck body a bit higher than 2" to allow clearance for the lifting blocks. Also, once one side is jacked up, it also creates stress on components that are lower on the non-jacked side. Having a helper to spot these things while jacking would be helpful. I managed to tackle alone.

Although the steps indicated removing the stock airbox, Mass air flow sensor, and filter elements, it is possible these components could have been left in. I decided to remove them anyway, as the steps for installing the snorkel required this as well. I didn't start to tackle the snorkel until the lift was complete. I didn't want to put the snorkel in, only to find that a clearance change occurred which would necessitate re-work. There is STILL a fair amount of red Utah sand trapped throughout the truck. I took the opportunity during these builds to try to remove a bit more of it.

Final note on the airbox removal;
  Lower 3rd bolt. Person that installs this is part martyr, part saint. Really tough to get to.

 I probably should have marked up this photo first. there is a point down at the frame rail which connects into the cooler unit. I believe this connects back up to the power steering unit. This did look to me to be a point where lifting the body from the frame might put tension on this line; so, I released the set screw. It was TIGHT.

I did remove the lower fan shroud. The radiator will travel up with the body although the fan will stay in its fixed position with the engine which is mounted to the frame. The idea is that the lower shroud gets pulled out to allow you to lift the body up. Then you are supposed to drop the radiator back down using these 2" offset blocks. Although I was all for it, the work itself looked to be a major PITA. So I got a longer radiator hose and left the shroud off. Another guy on Club Frontier came to that same conclusion. I intend to monitor to see just how important this little piece of plastic is. The fan itself is protected by the radiator skid. Now, it might help to channel/funnel airflow, but I'm just going to trust it is fine without it. Worse come to worst, I did retain this component and could go through the steps at a later point. I was trying to get everything buttoned up before we had to leave to visit the wife's parents. No special tools needed. Literally tug firmly rearwards and the thing unclips without damaging the upper shroud. Pull on the driver side, and then pull on the passenger side. Then slide underneath the truck and pinch the two tabs which come down from the upper shroud through two small openings in the underside of this shroud. Then it is free.

This harness was tight to begin with. Ultimately, I was able to reinstall half of the mounting components. The upper half is where the tension would have been observed had I not freed this up. Pay special attention to this point. It is on the passenger side fender/wheel well beneath the the wheel well cover which I removed from both sides as a first step.

This junction box behind the passenger side front wheel well is also a bit susceptible to tension. I disassembled and released the potential for strain prior to jacking anything up. I may return back to this and come up with a more stout/robust enclosure. If you have a 2011 Frontier, peer beneath your ride. Given where it is located right behind the wheel essentially, I think it could use a bit more protection. The top is also open which allows for collection of grit and grime. There had to have been a better place for this to go. Either way, I recommend loosening it so as not to snap any of the wires going into this harness.

 This is a shot with the first spacer in and the wheel well guard out. Quite the jumble of wires, hoses, and tubing under there. I really like that the trucks are set up for you to do a bit of modest lifting. The brake lines, for instance, already have several 'switchbacks' in the routing which reminded me of how refrigerators' copper lines are coiled in the rear to allow you to slide the fridge in and out of the cabinet niche without fear of kinking the coils. They did this with our trucks as well. There is one spot for which I should have gotten a photo where, although the switchbacks are present, the mounting bracket is a potential stress point where the lines make a 90 degree bend from the frame up to the bracket, and then make another 90 deg bend from the fire wall to continue horizontally up to the brake control module. All of the slack in the switchbacks is just past this bracket. The kit came with two relocation brackets which seemed perfectly suited to reattaching the stock bracket post-lift. Pre-lift, I removed the two bolts that held the brake lines in place against the fire wall.

 Not sure if this picture does it justice, but I was trying to show how the body, with respect to the bed, is off kilter. You are supposed to loosen the body bolts on the driver side, then go to the passenger side and completely remove the bolts and then jack it up. Slip in the new longer body bolts and spacer pucks and then hand tighten. Complete the operation on the driver side. Then jump back to the bed and repeat the same operation. Loosen driver side on bed, remove on passenger side, jack back up on driver side.

 So for the body relocation, I was able to loosen all of the bolts by hand with a ratcheting socket wrench. When it came to the bed, however, no amount of might that I could muster seemed to even budge these things. So I pulled out the electric impact wrench (which regrettably didn't generate enough torque for the removal of the lower shock mount on my failed attempt at installing the OME suspension lift at home). Fortunately, this guy was able to do the job on these bed bolts. The first removed bolt revealed the cause of the difficulty: these bolts are fastened using the Blue threadlocker (presumably by Loc-Tite or comparable offering). There's only 4 of them, but they required probably no less than 250 ft-lbs of torque to remove as that's the rated max of my impact wrench and it was putting in some serious work (not by the true physics definition) to bust these things free. If you can remove these by hand, you are truly Herculean.

 The steps called for removing the rear bumper. I wasn't feeling like doing this as I am already in the midst of redesigning a rear tire carrier and only intend to remove the bumper once I have something fabbed up and am ready to do the relocation. I'm already driving around without a true front bumper. I'd like to retain some semblance of a complete vehicle. Anyway, this picture reminds me of why this step might be beneficial. The rear two bolts are difficult to access with the impact wrench. The frame rail is notched out so that one could get a tool in there and have it seat around the bolt properly without removing the bumper. But one needs to have a suitable extension. The extension setup I used is NOT impact rated. And I did so at great personal risk to myself. Be advised that it may be beneficial to remove the rear bumper, or you could go the risky way I did and jury rig a similar extension. It did work and there were not exploded pieces of metal flying at me. All the same, I put on my big padded welding gloves, safety glasses, and combination face shield-hard hat to protect my vitals.

 Jacking up the truck.

Good time to talk about how to go about jacking up the truck. First, if you have Nerf bars, you'll probably need to remove them. I was getting to a point where the whole truck was lifting, not just the body after about 1.5 inches. The nerfs made contact with the bed and started lifting the whole truck! So, yeah, take those off. Duh moment number one.

I ignored the recommendation to set the frame on jack stands. Why?!

Well, the frame sometimes would get caught on the threads of a body bolt and would again provide sufficient bond to lift up the whole truck again! Man.

Honestly, I jacked and lowered the truck probably 10 times before I got it right. Jack up the truck by the frame first and setup the jack stands on both sides. That way the truck can only pitch so far before the jack stands resist the moment of the truck frame and allow the body or bed as applicable to begin rotating independent of the frame as it is being lifted.

Many people report using a 2x4 and a floor jack for the lifting. I couldn't figure how they would keep the 2x4 from kicking out. I used a 2" receiver hitch extension as the jacking post. I found that the open receiver end fit perfectly over the round lifting base of the floor jack and made for a secure connection once under load. That worked great for me when jacking the body. For the bed, I used a cut piece of 2x4 and my high lift jack positioned in the rear well. First I tried notching a section out of the 2x4 and mounting it vertically to the jaw of the lift. Like an idiot though, I made the notch along the direction of the grain of the wood. It of course started to splinter free. Idiot! As soon as it started I recognized my folly. I then turned the 2x4 section horizontally so that it made two points of contact through the arch of the wheel well. Maybe like a secant if I am recalling geometry correctly. I positioned the high lift jack along the midpoint of the wheel and the 2x4 piece and jacked up against that which was sufficiently stout to lift the bed free of the frame.

 Now the bed is off kilter.

 So mad at myself for this bonehead play. So I did the passenger side with no problem whatsoever. I get over here to the driver side and went to repeat the same work. I was clear of the body panel when I set up the high lift jack. Then about 3/4 of the way through, I notice this gouge. So mad. I lowered the bed, repositioned the jack away and then rejacked. Still came dangerously close to repeating the gouge in another spot. Moral of story: put some sort of cushion or moving blanket in between there to prevent this. I used some appliance epoxy that I picked up for use as a rust preventive for the snorkel install to temporarily patch this nick in the paint job. Still not pleased.

 This is the bracket relocation I spoke of earlier. The black rectangular metal piece with the two bolt studs is what I used from the kit to accomplish the relocation. Actually, only one stud is welded into the bracket. There are then two holes drilled through it which can receive the existing stud which is welded to the body. Presumably, this bracket can be used for the 2" or 3" lift kits. I used the middle hole.

This picture just shows that the gas filler did not, in my case, need to be unbolted and then reattached. Everything looked fine before and after.

There are bed brackets that can be bolted or welded into place. I found today upon returning from my trip that the bed liner sprayed on the underside of the bed is very flammable. Welding was not working out too well for me even though I had attempted to grind away a good portion of it. I worked on the passenger side first as I was weary of welding in such close proximity to the gas tank, the fuel pump, etc.So I just went ahead and bolted two of the recommended 4 brackets in. I generally do not have my truck bed that loaded down anyway. I think it will be fine. Final pics of the truck with the lift will be available in the Snorkel page.

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