1990 Terrano Body Lift Help

[Dirtydog]

Hey guys,

Just surfing on trade me and found some rather cheap body lift blocks, and now i am interested in how to put them in.

Ive got a 1990 terrano, and i have counted ten Chassis mounts on it, 3 on each side, plus 2 at front and rear.

so i was wondering what accualy needs to be done to the truck for it to be raised using these spacers about 50mm, for $120 for ten of them, im not complaining as i have been told that it costs about $1000 to get it done normally.

Any hints/tips or tutorials welcome.

[kiwipete]

Take a look here

[albundy]

You will need to put in one side first then the other. If you do from front to rear you will bend the floor at the weld on the rear cargo area and this will cause shit loads of rust in no time. The radiator will have to go up and the power steering hoses will need to be lenghtened. That's all I had to do for mine, only did 50mm though. If it has original bumpers you will have to get the mounts for it modified to get it back on as the protrude though the bodywork.
Al

[Dirtydog]

hey cheers guys,

so it looks like simple things to modify, apart from the bumper mounts, which will have to get done by someone else.

So all in all, i have a few things that i will have to adjust/modify:

Bumper mounts
Power steering hoses lengthing
Radiator raised with the body
Im not too worried about the rear bumper, i mean, its only a bumper
Generall placings of hoses like radiator will be Re positioned.

And tips:
Lift from side to side, not front to rear,
Use big jacks
loosen the bolts on the opposite side rather than take them all out at once,

and well, coman sense is always handy.

Luckily i will have my mechanicly minded brother to help me, and i will only be raising it by 50mm. it wont happen for some time yet though, i have to accually buy the spacers, and get the neccesary tools to do it first.

p.s Cheers for that Kiwipete, gives me something to refer to and use as a guide.

[marrco]

I'm thinking about doing the same to my terrano, this guy on tardMe has lift kits,http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=239847218 i asked him if truck needs certifing with a 2" lift kit he says never has any problem but anything over 2" will no doubt need cert, my understanding is you need it certifed regardless of lift height, anyone on here clear this up. cheers

[albundy]

This was discussed in depth last week. Search. It will be your insurance company that will have an issue whether it will needs certing or not, irrespective of what the law says.
Al

[marmel]

Does the kit you were looking at for $120 include longer bolts?

If not you would be better off buying a kit that includes them, you can get a kit off trademe for $135 plus about $15 post.

If you had to purchase bolts on top of the blocks it could add another $50 or so.

With regards to the cert if you read the LTNZ info then yes technically you would need one which would set you back about $350. However, how many garages would fail you on a WOF without a cert is the issue. You would probably get away with it at the local garage n Mataura.

As has been mentioned it could cause issue with insurance if you fail to notify your insurer (if you are insured) although if you had an accident the insurer would need to prove that the bodylift contributed to an accident before they could refuse to pay out.

Send me a PM when you are planning on doing the mod and I will come and lend a hand.

[darinz]

As has been mentioned it could cause issue with insurance if you fail to notify your insurer (if you are insured) although if you had an accident the insurer would need to prove that the bodylift contributed to an accident before they could refuse to pay out.

If you fail to disclose the modification to the insurance company then you insurance is void. No need for them to prove a thing! It is simple, if you modify the vehicle and don't tell them then you have no insurance and legality, cause etc has nothing to do with it! It is just a simple disclosure issue!

[marmel]

As has been mentioned it could cause issue with insurance if you fail to notify your insurer (if you are insured) although if you had an accident the insurer would need to prove that the bodylift contributed to an accident before they could refuse to pay out.

If you fail to disclose the modification to the insurance company then you insurance is void. No need for them to prove a thing! It is simple, if you modify the vehicle and don't tell them then you have no insurance and legality, cause etc has nothing to do with it! It is just a simple disclosure issue!

Thats not actually true. I worked at State Insurance for 4 years so I do know a little about insurance.

If an insurance company can prove that the mods have in some way contributed to the accident then sure they have grounds to decline a claim. If not they will struggle, no doubt most would decline a claim out of hand but if you argue the point and involve the ombudsmen you may be OK.

I guess if the insurance company can say that due to the mods they would not have provided insurance at all then perhaps they could decline but most insurers would not have a problem with 50mm lift blocks as long as you tell them.

It's a little bit like a restricted driver having an accident whilst carrying passengers against the terms of the licence. Most insurance companies would instantly decline the claim but in fact they actually have to prove that the fact the driver was on a restricted contributed in some way to the accident. So if they were distracted by passengers then yes that would be grounds to decline.

A lot of insurance companies sepnd quite a bit of time in the disputes tribunal sorting these issues out and in my experience most tribunal judegements tend to go the way of the "little guy".

[marrco]

Thanks for the advice guys, firstly i plan on turning my own blocks, but the question is how long a bolts do i need for a 2" lift? and whats the diameter? i think if i remember they are 10mm diameter or is that 8mm, and yes i will be using high tensile, i want to get this all sorted and get the correct bolts etc before procceding with the lift.... marmel are you local?

[Tuigod]

Thanks for the advice guys, firstly i plan on turning my own blocks, but the question is how long a bolts do i need for a 2" lift? and whats the diameter? i think if i remember they are 10mm diameter or is that 8mm, and yes i will be using high tensile, i want to get this all sorted and get the correct bolts etc before procceding with the lift.... marmel are you local?

Just measure one of ya existing bolts and then just add 50mm to it that to me would be the easy way about it just had a look at mine and the bolt size is a M8 1.25

[darinz]

As has been mentioned it could cause issue with insurance if you fail to notify your insurer (if you are insured) although if you had an accident the insurer would need to prove that the bodylift contributed to an accident before they could refuse to pay out.

If you fail to disclose the modification to the insurance company then you insurance is void. No need for them to prove a thing! It is simple, if you modify the vehicle and don't tell them then you have no insurance and legality, cause etc has nothing to do with it! It is just a simple disclosure issue!

Thats not actually true. I worked at State Insurance for 4 years so I do know a little about insurance.

If an insurance company can prove that the mods have in some way contributed to the accident then sure they have grounds to decline a claim. If not they will struggle, no doubt most would decline a claim out of hand but if you argue the point and involve the ombudsmen you may be OK.

I guess if the insurance company can say that due to the mods they would not have provided insurance at all then perhaps they could decline but most insurers would not have a problem with 50mm lift blocks as long as you tell them.

It's a little bit like a restricted driver having an accident whilst carrying passengers against the terms of the licence. Most insurance companies would instantly decline the claim but in fact they actually have to prove that the fact the driver was on a restricted contributed in some way to the accident. So if they were distracted by passengers then yes that would be grounds to decline.

A lot of insurance companies sepnd quite a bit of time in the disputes tribunal sorting these issues out and in my experience most tribunal judegements tend to go the way of the "little guy".

I own a business that is an acredited Genral insurance provider with agencies with Vero and Lumley my advice to all clients is very simple.
Disclose everything or you will have problems in the case of a claim! Knowingly not disclosing something is either fraud or misrepresentation so roll the dice and take your chance. When you sign an insurance proposal there are clauses about disclosure so you need to be very very careful if you modify a vehicle from standard and then don't say anything!

My own 4x4 that is extremely modified has full insurance cover that I do througha different company as it is a speacialist 4x4 policy. I provide them with copies of LVVTA cert and list everything I can even if you think it may not be relevant.

At the end of the day why take a chance when it won't really effect the cost anyway? There is no point having insurance if it doesn't cover you for what you want.

Any other advice is asking for trouble!