How to do a 2" Body Lift

Lifted TruckI wanted to lift the body to gain more off road clearance and to allow room in the wheel wells for 40" diameter tires. For the 1996 TD AMG raised the Body & the Hood. As part of that process they added foam spacers around the cooler stack, air lift hooks, and even raised the splash shields to "fill gaps" created by raising the hood. Primarily those measures were taken for cooling purposes by keeping incoming air flowing "through the cooler stack" and not escaping past the created gaps; and secondly, to help keep mud, debris, etc. from getting into the engine & battery compartments also through those gaps. If you decide to raise the hood on your '94 via spacers at the hinges, you will need 4 hood hinge spacers, but will also need all those additional/revised parts just to maintain AMG's design for proper cooling and sealing with your now raised hood.

Body lifts change the handling characteristics (center of gravity) of a vehicle. The vehicle will have an increased chance of rolling over and may void some portion of your warranty. Do this at your own risk.

The larger diameter 40" tires will introduce speedometer error. When you are going 70, your speedometer will read 65. You should adjust the speedometer to account for the error.

Trucks with 6.5 turbo diesels are already lifted 1" to make room for the turbo. You can lift these trucks 2" more without having to do major work on the shift linkages and steering column. Trucks with the N/A diesels can be lifted 3" (more below) because they don't have the 1" lift that the turbo trucks already have. The new H1 Alpha which is due out early next year (2005) has been lifted 2" over and above the 6.5 turbo diesel to allow room for the Duramax diesel.

Over the last few weeks I did two body lifts, a 3” lift on a 6.2 ’93 wagon, and a 2” lift on my ’99 6.5TD open top. I lifted the ’99 first, which took about 14 hours. I expected the second lift would be easier, but the ‘93 with help, took about 24 hrs. total labor – every bolt seemed to be rusted. While you can buy a lift kit, I bought the parts for about $45.