I suppose I will be in the minority on this. Don't lift your vehicle. IMO it will lessen performance and safety. Suspension lifting will do little for actual clearance instead raise the center of gravity and changing the vehicle's carefully engineered handling characteristics.
Is the lift so you can use larger diameter and width tires? If so it will accomplish very little differential clearance gaining half the diameter increase of the tire. At best you may get 1" more ground clearance. Larger width tires are more prone to hydroplaning. The IMO only use for wide tires is to "float" on sand. Thinking there is not much sand in your part of the country. The tires will float in snow and mud the opposite of what you want to do if you want to maintain traction when offroading.
I use a stock 4 x 4 87 suburban for all my hunting offroad needs here in S. Az. I use a 235/85 16" tire and have no issues with ground clearance and traction. The tires work well on the highway which is where most of the driving is done. Oh the occasional deep sandy wash slows me down some but I still get through it. When going up a snow choked jeep trail when elk hunting my tires cut deep and help me maintain traction. The tires wear evenly too.
I know these opinions are different from most offroading enthusiast's views. My views are based on putting over 400,000 miles on two 4 x 4 suburbans going back to 1984.
retired automotive vocational teacher
Last edited by Azshooter; 02/17/21.
