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A body lift (kit) will not raise the car (create additional ground clearance). It will raise the body off the fenders. It in itself is a good thing but you have to ask yourself if it is in your case worth the effort for the advantage gained.
There are little things to be considered when doing so. Your steering will no longer just hook up. Your seats will be too low. Or winshield too high depending on how you wish to view it. Your wiring loom will need to be taken from the metal piece that hides it on the tunnel. The hoses from the master cylider to the reservor will need to be extended. Your speedo cable is no longer long enough. All sorts of interesting little stuff one has to consider will come about as a result. Is it worth it? Depends on your needs I suppose. I did it to my Thing as a matter of neccessity. At the same time I widened the beam by six inches and installed 2X3 rear arms,a bus trans and T-4 pancake engine so there was a lot of adapting to do. Relocating steering box , new shock mounts,ect ect.
If you are going for an all out Thing then it certainly has a part in the process as the benefits combine with others to give a total package.
If you just need two inches then a pr of coil overs will do it. Better yet is to install the adjusters. They will give you one and one half inches. They claim to give three inches but that is total adjustment from one and one half inch lowered to one and one half inches raised. You can do as I did and do a cut and turn in addition to the adjusters. That will give you all you need.
As far as (raised) spindles go the thing has them from the factory. If you buy raised spindles you`ll get what you have now. If you want to really raise the car install a body lift with a turned and adjustable beam. You`ll have all the clearance you need. In fact if you lift the body you will not need the glass fenders. Remember they break. Good luck. Bob Ingman

There are shocks available that use an external coil (hence coil-over). They will raise the car about 2" just by installing them. All off-road shop carry them.
Adjusters are welded into a removed , disassebbled and sectioned(cut into pieces) beam. One into the upper tube and one into the lower tube. This will also give you a lift plus the ability to undial it if desired.
Just remember for ground clearance use adjusters. For fender clearance use a body lift. You decide which is better for you. With the body lift you can enjoy the comfort of a stock ride and still have fenders that will not rub oversize tires. With preloaded torsion settings you will eliminate bottoming out in rough stuff due to increased travel. For best of both worlds use both methods in conjunction with each other. Good luck. Bob Ingman

Gentlemen,
Your timing with this discussion is perfect for me. I'm doing a body-off on a 1974 and am wrestling with the same decisions. Maybe you can help me with a few additional questions:

If I use a kit to raise the body does someone make a roll-cage (roll bar) adjusted for the increased body height or will I have to make a complete custom roll bar? I have seen some roll bars for Things but doubt they would be adjusted for the increased body height and windshield/roof line.

What company makes the best kit for raising the body?

I understand the multiple little changes (from Bob's comments) that have to be made if the body is raised. My question is how bad is the steering geometry affected? Can the stock steering assembly be adjusted (box re-positioned on tube) to work appropriately?

Are new shock mounts requred if you raise the body (I'm not sure from Bob's comments)?

A lot of questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks folks. Kent

nthang I know of a complete 181 front end for sale which includes welded in adjusters long travel shocks and all the bells and whistles . The price is $350 . Yours is worth about $250. For around $100 you can get it all. contact thingow181@aol.com
Kent as far as the roll bar is concerned I used the same rectangular tubing as in the lift to space the front of the roll bar up . Was no big deal.
I bought raw materials and fabbed my own lift. Was very inexpensive that way. Also used rectangular tubing to make new seat mounts. Same tubing welded from the tunnel to the new tubing under the bodys sides. Very strong.
The steering was not too bad. In my case it was a little complicated by the fact that I had widened the beam by six inches. So the new location of the box was three inches over and three inches below its previous location. I went to the buggy shop and purchased two universals and three couplings . By adding a six inch rod I was able to hook it back up . Works very smoothly. Also used bushings from a super beetle steeering column up in the tube above where I had to cut the column off.
As far as the rear shock mounts go here is what I did and why. Since I had installed longer wider rear trailing arms new shock mounts were needed. However the rear body mount needs to be refabbed to accomodate the body lift so I combined the two. I removed the rubber bump stop mount from the head of the rear tower. Then took one eighth inch plate and reenforsed the subframe. Drilled through that ( one inch drill) and welded drilled one inch rod through this. What I came away with was a combination body mount and shock mount. Very strong . All of this was done for the cost of materials and labor. Nearly free.
Who makes a KIT for the Thing? I think there are two but I recall the name of only one. Up Your Bug.
After the lift is installed you may wish to install some sort of panels to cover it. I used aluminum diamond plate to hide the lift and incorporated my own fabbed runningboards and also fender extensions since the fenders will appear to be a little short afterwards. The running boards are bolted on with the new body bolts and I can stand and jump on them without even flexing. I call them runningboards because they appear to be that but actually they serve more as mudflaps since my tires are well beyond the fenders. This reduces the spray thrown onto the curtains in wet weather.
If you have more questions just ask. Soon as my car is returned to me here in Alaska via barge I will be able to send photos. As they say one picture is worth a thousand words. Good luck. Bob Ingman