Guard chopping and WOF legality. (LC 70).

[Slideways]

I'm going to fit some Creepy 35x12.5's to my BJ73 MWB Landcruiser.

I've read that I'll need to fit 50mm body lift blocks to stop gaurd rub, I'm not too keen on this because LC's are already quite tall and narrow.

My 33's already rub the front gaurds but this is probably due to the lack of front bumpstops (have now fitted some). They also rub inside the rear tubs but only at full flex (does have rear bumpstops)

The leaf springs are in good cond and about what I'd expect standard ride height to be.

To avoid doing a body lift, what is the deal with cutting the gaurds?
I was thinking of doing this:
- move front axle forward 25mm.
- fit some 15x8 steels and get the centres cut out and add some more offset.
- cut out the rear wheel arch 90deg lip, weld up then fitting rubber flares.
- cut out some clearance in front gaurds and either bend the inner part or cut and replace most of it with rubber sheet of some kind.

Will this make the WOF man cringe?
Am I better off just doing the 50mm body lift (have PTO so lever might not have enough room anymore)?

[Pedro]

I'm going to fit some Creepy 35x12.5's to my BJ73 MWB Landcruiser.



The leaf springs are in good cond and about what I'd expect standard ride height to be.


- move front axle forward 25mm.
- fit some 15x8 steels and get the centres cut out and add some more offset.
- cut out the rear wheel arch 90deg lip, weld up then fitting rubber flares.
- cut out some clearance in front gaurds and either bend the inner part or cut and replace most of it with rubber sheet of some kind.

Will this make the WOF man cringe?

Not once the LVVTA plate goes on

will need tobe certedfor larger tires, brakes upgrade possibly, modded wheels etc

Pedro

[Slideways]

Not once the LVVTA plate goes on

will need tobe certedfor larger tires, brakes upgrade possibly, modded wheels etc

Pedro

Good point, hadn't thought about the wheels needing a cert.

Will the guard 'trimming' also need a cert?

Technically changing factory wheels to anything, even alloys need to be cert'd so the certification business is owed $450 from a LOT of people

I've been through the certification process on two of my cars but not on the LC, I planned to do it once I've fitted some WRX seats and some other stuff first so I only have to do it once.

[Pedro]

Not once the LVVTA plate goes on

will need tobe certedfor larger tires, brakes upgrade possibly, modded wheels etc

Pedro

Good point, hadn't thought about the wheels needing a cert.

Will the guard 'trimming' also need a cert?

Technically changing factory wheels to anything, even alloys need to be cert'd so the certification business is owed $450 from a LOT of people

I've been through the certification process on two of my cars but not on the LC, I planned to do it once I've fitted some WRX seats and some other stuff first so I only have to do it once.

the guard trim affects the center hieght of wheel hub to the guard cut, so i guess yes, makes no odds to height of vehicle but for measuring purposes you have "lifted the truck"
when i did mine i did the tyres, guards and everything that needed cert in one hit, bull bars even, the sidebars and rears was done after cert. even had beadlocks fitted, suggest when you go for cert you have or even borrow a set of beadlocks and get it added to the cert for futre use etc

pedro

[UBZ]

Guard Chopping is just rust removal , as long as you replace with metal and take lots of photos ,in-case they want to see the welds for WOF.

[Pedro]

Guard Chopping is just rust removal , as long as you replace with metal and take lots of photos ,in-case they want to see the welds for WOF.

not alot of point guard chopping if you have to put steel back, mine was measured from hub center to top of wheel arch for ride height, if i was to remove more metal and had to do a recheck for wof, pc plod or what ever it would fail as the numbers would not match, resulting in re certing. you could try and bullshit ya way thru but if you got the guards cut and also certifiable mods certed with paper work then life becomes alot simpler. you can try to beat the system if ya want.............

pedro

[Sadam_Husain]

even with doing all the stuff your looking at you'll probably still end up with some sort of rub but just a lot less than you would if you did nothing. I went through all that stuff with my flatdeck 70 series cruiser fitting 35" tyres (I only know about front guard rub coz I dont have any guards at the back ). I found a body lift alone was the easiest way to get reasonable clearance and now all I get is slight touching under hard articulation, you can cut the guards but a lot of the rubbing is the inner guards and it starts getting hard when you have to start modifying them, a common chop on the front guards is to take a wedge out (yellow lines in the pic below) and push bottom corner of the guard back and weld the wedge back up, I never did that to mine I just gave the bottom corner a couple of taps with a club hammer and it clears fine.







Some people just stick 35's on and get away with it, beer cruiser sticks his kumo 833s on with extended shackles and it gets some rub but he seems ok with it, we just stuck my old simexes onto Nurse's truck with flipped centre rims without any other modifying than the truck having OME springs in it, I dont know how she got on with it in the weekend but it looks like she didnt have had too many dramas with them, doing the centre flip on you rims helps with clearance and is worthwhile doing on a 70 cruiser for a wider track anyway, if you dont want to spend the money and go through all the certification process 2 sets of tyres and a few basic mods might be easier

If you want to come down one night and try my creepies on your truck for a trial fit send us a pm but there on 10" rims not 8"

[UBZ]

My Zuk has had the guards chopped 30mm with the inner guard lifted up to match.
The measurement from hub to guard it still less than fitting a 50mm lifted spring so no Wof / Cert drama.

What I meant by replacing with metal - was instead of cutting out the inner guard and filling the hole with Rubber , you should rebuild the inner guard with metal.

This retains the structural integrity and factory look of the guard.

If your doing a whole load of mods Cert is a must , but if you want to stop a little tyre rubbing just cut and effect "rust" repairs

[Slideways]

Some good info cheers guys, interesting to know that some are able to fit 35's without too much hassle.

I think I'll talk to Howat Engineering about flipping the centres on some 15x8's then see what the clearance is like.

My mate fitted some OME front leaves and it came out the same height as mine so maybe mine aren't standard height.

Sadam, cheers for the pic's they seem to fit Nurse's swb really well! Once I'm done making some sliders I might take you up on the offer to test fit. I have the creepy's but no wheels (on the look out for some 2nd hand 15x8 rather than chopping news ones).

Another thing about a 50mm body lift is that my front bumper lines up with the gaurd nicely and will be a bit stupid being 50mm lower. Maybe I could just fit a 25mm body lift, if available?

[Slideways]

Re: my comment about front bumper position not suiting 50mm body lift.

This is the best photo I have hosted...ignore my dog You get the idea but can't really tell what the ride height is like:

[Sadam_Husain]

Another thing about a 50mm body lift is that my front bumper lines up with the gaurd nicely and will be a bit stupid being 50mm lower. Maybe I could just fit a 25mm body lift, if available?

yeah I see what you mean about your front bar work, it worked out the oppersite for me coz my ARB bar hung down to low anyway so it made a good improvement to my approadh angle lifting it up 50mm to match the body , I think my centre flips were $30 plus gst each about 4 years ago and I think they were about $50 plus gst a couple of years ago so maybe a bit more than that now, only thing you have to watch is the skinny part of the rim bead will end up on the outside of the rim when its flipped so its a bit easier to knock tyre beads off when your running low pressure unless you get them beadlocked as well

[Slideways]

Another thing about a 50mm body lift is that my front bumper lines up with the gaurd nicely and will be a bit stupid being 50mm lower. Maybe I could just fit a 25mm body lift, if available?

yeah I see what you mean about your front bar work, it worked out the oppersite for me coz my ARB bar hung down to low anyway so it made a good improvement to my approadh angle lifting it up 50mm to match the body , I think my centre flips were $30 plus gst each about 4 years ago and I think they were about $50 plus gst a couple of years ago so maybe a bit more than that now, only thing you have to watch is the skinny part of the rim bead will end up on the outside of the rim when its flipped so its a bit easier to knock tyre beads off when your running low pressure unless you get them beadlocked as well

Hmmm that's interesting to know about the bead difference, I wasn't planning on the cost of beadlocking. Have heard that the Creepy sidewalls are pretty thick so should be OK on a relatively narrow 8" rim. In saying that I've also read people commenting that Creepy's don't bag very well so probably not much point in really low pressures?

Maybe I'm better off with some 25mm bolt on spacers and a cert. I have a set of TINY 30x9.5's for the road anyway, kept them for better braking while towing.

I think I saw your 40 at supercheap a few weeks ago too, you weren't in it though

[Sadam_Husain]

um you better disregard that bit about the skinny part of the bead ending up on the outside after you flip them coz I'm talking shit and its already on the outside without being flipped so if you flip them it'll probably make it harder to knock the outside beads off at lower pressure

[Slideways]

Mmmmmm 15x10's..... drool

I'm surprised the paint wasn't damaged too much. I'll still keep an eye out for some 2nd hand though, have 2 from my road tyres, just need 3 more then I'll paint them lime green or something Will hold out on new since budget shrank after BHG on LC and expensive wof on the daily driver !