Why Can't I Find A 2" Body Lift For A 2004?

[Justinj360]

Been looking everywhere for a 2" kit for my 2004 Yukon. There's a ton of 3" kits but I don't want quite that much lift and I don't want to mess with extending radiator hoses and stuff. There's a bunch of 2" kits for ones up to 1999. What's the difference with mine? Anybody know where to find one?

 

[SRTH8R]

Why not just do some keys and spacers since you don't want to go crazy.

 

[Justinj360]

Why not just do some keys and spacers since you don't want to go crazy.

I might consider that. But my biggest thing about keys is that they stiffen up the suspension and I would like to keep the stock ride. Maybe it wouldn't be very much different with only 2" keys? And I kinda wanted something I could do myself as a little project. I'm not comfortable doing keys and spacers myself.

 

[hoss08]

I might consider that. But my biggest thing about keys is that they stiffen up the suspension and I would like to keep the stock ride. Maybe it wouldn't be very much different with only 2" keys? And I kinda wanted something I could do myself as a little project. I'm not comfortable doing keys and spacers myself.

I wouldn't consider a body lift a little project. They are a real pain in the ass, even more so if your truck has spent any time in the rust belt areas. The body mount hardware tends to hold a lot of moister and rusts themselves together, break one and your going to hate life. Worst case scenario (I personally have had this happen) you don't break the bolt but you break the nut off the welds inside the body. If that happens, your only option will be cutting it out with a torch and figuring out how to fix the damage. Most body lifts don't come with some very important components such as bumper brackets. It will be up to you to fabricate your own bumper brackets so you are not left with an ugly gap between the bumper and body. You'll need to extend things like the fuel filler neck and sometimes wiring and brake lines. I'd really recommend just going with a set of keys and spacers. They are really not that crazy difficult to do, you just need to be careful when unloading and loading the bars. I have personally done both kinds of lifts on different trucks and the body lift was 10x more technical to install in the long run. I have only done one body lift and ill never do another one period. Keys wont stiffen up your ride too bad as long as you don't go crazy with them. Put a good set of extended length shocks on with the lift and you'll be happy with the ride.

 

[SRTH8R]

Keys and spacers is a lot less work. Back is super easy if you have some jack stands and a jack. Front isn't bad if you get a good torsion bar key tool. Then you can do shock extenders or some bilsteins. I personally like the ride better since I did keys on mine.

 

[Coatwolf]

I did the Readylift keys and rear spacers, very easy to do and it did not change the ride at all. Just a thought for you

 

[jough]

Adjusting up your original keys does stiffen the suspension. However, installing say a 3" key should have the same stiffness as your current keys. That is why people use them...to have lift with the same spring rate. Lift keys are indexed differently.

If you have say 3/4" of adjusting bolt protruding as stock, then with lift keys at the same bolt adjustment, you should have the same spring rate as stock.

 

[hoss08]

Adjusting up your original keys does stiffen the suspension. However, installing say a 3" key should have the same stiffness as your current keys. That is why people use them...to have lift with the same spring rate. Lift keys are indexed differently.

If you have say 3/4" of adjusting bolt protruding as stock, then with lift keys at the same bolt adjustment, you should have the same spring rate as stock.

Stock or aftermarket keys are going to stiffen the ride up. Aftermarket keys are just "keyed" at a different angle, they will essentially let you crank the torsion bars even further than you could with the stock keys. Basically a 2" lift key is going to ride the same as a stock key cranked 2". Basically you can't change one piece of geometry and not have it effect the next piece.

 

[Juiceman74]

How much do the key and spacers run ya?

 

[hoss08]

Keys and spacers can be bought for about $100-$120 as "kit". You still need shocks if you don't want your ride quality to suffer severally. Plan on another $320 or so for a good set of shocks. You will also need a torsion bar unloading tool to install them, those are around $80-$100 last I checked. Unfortunately Autozone ect does not rent those out, at least not around here. A lot of people have rented a ball joint press and used that successfully to unload the bars. Just don't try to use a regular C clamp, that's just asking for brain damage...