You guys realize that I'm not arguing with you, right? The whole point is that people's experiences will vary and telling them anything otherwise is a disservice.
I have yet to this point ever had the body flex enough to where the bed has come in contact with the body, and I have been in some sever angled situations where you almost have to change your pants. Many times. Zero contact.
Here are four different threads about beds making contact with the cab. It's a known problem. Running sliders seems to mitigate the problem, though some people have had varying experiences. Adding a body lift would decrease the amount of flex required for the two to make contact.
http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/frame-flex-29066/ http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f15/frame-flex-37035/ http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f15/wtf-bed-hitting-cab-50067/ http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/whats-word-bed-hitting-cab-40715/
I would also like to add, that I installed my BL with no prior experience of ever putting a BL on. With a floor jack, a 2x4 and some wrenches. No special tools required. If one would read all of Mr. Bungle's thread, then they would see where he determines that you do NOT need to remove the power steering reservoir, OR doing any welding at all. Whatsoever.
I did. That's why I only listed things where he stated specifically that the instructions that came with the lift told him to. It's not safe to automatically assume that whoever is installing the lift has read his tutorial and learned all the tricks. And I said very specifically that the welding was of his own prerogative.
Feel free to PM me, if you want to talk to someone who has actually put a BL on a FRONTIER, and not just making assumptions based on past experiences, or something their buddies told them.
The logic in your statement is that a mechanic who's never worked on a Frontier couldn't possibly list potential problems common to most engines?
I see you read the word buddy in my post, though. That must be worth something.
Let’s break this down logic style like we used to in 3rd grade...
- Do most body lifts for trucks consist of spacer blocks and bolts, among other components? YES.
- Do FRONTIER body lifts consist of spacer blocks and bolts, among other components? YES.
- Can bolts seize for a variety of reasons? YES.
- Can bolts on FRONTIERS seize for a variety of reasons? YES.
- Can seized bolts break? YES.
- Can seized bolts on FRONTIERS break? YES.
- Can broken bolts require special tools to remove? YES
- Can broken bolts on FRONTIERS require special tools to remove? YES
- If you don't have a correct tool, will it take additional time to go find one? YES.
- If you don't have a correct tool for your FRONTIER, will it take additional time to go find one? YES.
- Can lift kits be delivered with parts missing? YES.
- Can lift kits for FRONTIERS be delivered with parts missing? YES.
- If parts are missing from your lift kit, will it take additional time to find replacements? YES.
- If parts are missing from your FRONTIER lift kit, will it take additional time to find replacements? YES.
- Is it possible that your truck could have been modified by a mechanic or previous owner so certain wires or hoses won't fit properly after your body lift is installed? YES.
- Is it possible that your FRONTIER could have been modified by a mechanic or previous owner so certain wires or hoses won't fit properly after your body lift is installed? YES.
- Are all trucks identical? NO.
- Is your FRONTIER identical to everyone else's? NO.
- Is it possible for things to go wrong when doing ANY work on your truck? YES.
- Is it possible for things to go wrong when doing ANY work on your FRONTIER? YES.
- Is it possible for an inexperienced person to make a mistake requiring additional time to correct? YES.
- Is it possible for an inexperienced person to make a mistake, on their FRONTIER, requiring additional time to fix? YES.
- Is it possible for any combination of the above problems to result in a significantly longer, more difficult, and more stressful body lift install? YES.
- Is it possible for any combination of the above problems to result in a significantly longer, more difficult, and more stressful FRONTIER body lift install? YES.
- Will your experience vary? YES.
- Will your FRONTIER experience vary? YES.
I'm not saying any of you are wrong. I am one person, among the millions who have installed body lifts, who has had a series of bad experiences. Does that mean everyone does? NO. Does that mean you should pretend that bad things can't happen just because they didn't happen to you? NO. Will every install go just like yours? NO. Will most of them? Yes, actually. I expect the vast majority of installs go just as smooth as yours did. But that doesn't mean they all will.
It's entirely possible I just have terrible luck. My Pathfinder was the worst of all. The lift kit (from 4x4Parts) showed up with only part of the instructions and missing two bolts (that we didn't know were missing because the parts list was in the missing instructions). We got all but two of the bolts off the body, but the last two were seized and broke when we tried to take them out. This required us to put the whole thing back together and drive to a nearby (read 30 minutes because I didn't live anywhere near the city) shop where the owner helped us extract the broken bolts (one of which was so bad we had to drill it out). About half way into installing the blocks, we discover the missing bolts. Add another hour of driving to go pick up new ones. All the blocks in, we discover that the radiator had some non-OEM hose which would no longer reach with the lift on. ANOTHER trip to the store, which is now closed... If you're keeping count, that's how a 1-2 hour install becomes a two day project in a shop. Something that COULD happen to ANY vehicle.
You can learn a lot from people's successes, but you can learn even more from their failures. I'm about to install my suspension lift in the next few weeks, and I've been way more interested in the threads where people have had problems because I WANT to know the nightmare stories. I WANT to know what can go wrong and how to overcome it so I can anticipate how I'm going to handle that situation should I find myself in it. You want to know how to do something when no problems arise, read the instructions. You want to know how to do something when everything goes wrong, ask someone who's failed and recovered more than once.