I don't understand this "lift thing" As if these don't corner bad enough, the center of gavity is raised?
Well, I’m pretty sure that (almost) nobody lifts their Bronco, or Jeep, or any other older truck, to make it better handling on the street.
Although with good shocks and spring and tire/wheel choices, they can handle reasonably well for their design.
And they really didn’t handle that bad at all to begin with. Unless you’re comparing them to low lung sports cars of course.
What kind of vehicles are you used to driving? Back in the 60s, these actually handled pretty well.
Very maneuverable around town and in parking lot. But more importantly, off the road where they were expected to spend at least some of their time.
Extremely well in fact, for “trucks” or “utility vehicles” of the day.
But they were a compromise at best.
Nothing like modern vehicles.
Even my 2019 pickup handles better than most passenger cars did back in the day.
So fast-forward to today, I’m willing to bet that most are lifted simply to create a look that the owner desires. Again, nothing at all to do with handling.
Although, if one was already lifted by a previous owner, and the new owner changes all the suspension, but leaves it at the same ride height, they might’ve done it to improve the handling and comfort over the older components.
Not to mention, upgrading brakes!
But ultimately, most suspension lifts installed over the years, we’re done to gain ground clearance, for better off-road capabilities.
This includes clearance for mounting larger tires, which ultimately were also for overall ground clearance and traction as well.
So in a very small nutshell, that’s probably what most lift their Broncos for. But every owner does it for potentially a different reason. Likely just a variation on the above themes though.
Up to them entirely.
Anyone doing it for better handling however, as you are suspecting, was barking up the wrong tree.
Which leads back to my first paragraph.
I mentioned “almost“ nobody does it to improve handling. But back in the day, I remember many customers coming into the shop who specifically said, almost to a word, this exact same thing:
“Hi. I wanna lift my new truck so I can tow my boat to the lake” or “hi. I wanna lift my old truck so I can tow a travel trailer around the country“
Made me grimace in pain and angst every time.
