half a body lift?

[mfrsr]

silly idea probably....


i'm body lifting my Surf for steering clearance, at least 2 inches. the back of the damn thing's high enough already, wondering if i could get away with only putting blocks in the front 2 or 4 cab mounts? would level the body out a bit, dont know if it'd look gimpy.

(more than it does already anyway)

cheers

[bruntonjm]

it may have raised springs in back with front torsion bars left as is. maybe lift the front 35 mm to level it out. also with gear in the back they sag....

[mfrsr]

it does have raised springs, i know because i put them under it a month ago. They're 80 series fronts.

gives it a 6-inch spring lift at the rear, front has been wound up 3 inches, maxed out the factory spline adjustment on the torsions. Could take the ends off and rotate but i'd rather not, not worth the risk of snapping a CV.


edit: tyres are 33x12.5's btw. and the springs don't sag even with 200kg of scrap metal in the back.

[uptomynutsinruts]

Hi there,

Get a bar of Nylon or similar for the bodylift blocks, Then get all (10 I'm pretty sure) body blocks spun up on a lathe. get 2 of each at the same height e.g. 5 different heights (big to small) whack the bigger ones in the front and smallest in the back. That way you don't have a huge step from 2 inches to standard which could give problems.

Just my 2c, feel free to ignore

[Lynx]

Just out of curiousty do you need 6 inches of lift at the back, could you just bring that down to 3 inchs so it levels out abit?

[KIWI_TERRANO]

Or remove rear springs and put 80 series rears stock old ones in it will give just over about 3 inch lift. Never heard of 80 series fronts being used before? Did they seat properly?


Ive have 3 mates witth ifs surfs with factory rear 80 and have given 3 inch lift

[mfrsr]

they were supposed to be rears. and nope they don't seat properly, they're about 40mm smaller diameter. though the surf has those big locator cones on the chassis..

i dont really need 6 inches of lift at the back, but hey, it's there, i've already made new top links, and i simply can't arsed pulling the springs out again. i was aiming for 3inches all round.

none of this is answering the question though, is there any point in only lifting one end of the body? using staggered block heights. I'm sorting out these ideas now before i go and buy bar stock.

[muddyhilux]

if you were you'd need to calculate the height drop for each pair of blocks as previously said and to be correct the blocks would need to be spun square then the tops of all blocks milled to the correct angle to line them up properly, orientation would then need to be correct for all mating surfaces to be as they should be.if you were to do quick and nasty the body will crack and i doubt you'd even get it passed a cert.my opinion as an engineer who mods vehicles regularly would be forget the body lift,more hassle than its worth and swap in a pair of standard 80 rear springs

feel free to ignore my advice but do not drive vehicle near my family or i if you do modify it in an incorrect way

they were supposed to be rears. and nope they don't seat properly, they're about 40mm smaller diameter. though the surf has those big locator cones on the chassis..

this is exactly what i mean by incorrect,they are not locating cones,they're bump stops and to use them as locating cones you're simply asking for trouble

[DaveM]

if you were you'd need to calculate the height drop for each pair of blocks as previously said and to be correct the blocks would need to be spun square then the tops of all blocks milled to the correct angle to line them up properly, orientation would then need to be correct for all mating surfaces to be as they should be.if you were to do quick and nasty the body will crack and i doubt you'd even get it passed a cert.my opinion as an engineer who mods vehicles regularly would be forget the body lift,more hassle than its worth and swap in a pair of standard 80 rear springs

feel free to ignore my advice but do not drive vehicle near my family or i if you do modify it in an incorrect way

they were supposed to be rears. and nope they don't seat properly, they're about 40mm smaller diameter. though the surf has those big locator cones on the chassis..

this is exactly what i mean by incorrect,they are not locating cones,they're bump stops and to use them as locating cones you're simply asking for trouble

Bet me to it.
Going by the pic, I take it this is a farm hack? I hope so anyway.

[KIWI_TERRANO]

If they dont seat properly your truck is UNROAD WORTHY and this is why they are now cracking on to 4wds with mods n making cert harder.

Just change your springs make life so much easier

[Sadam_Husain]

none of this is answering the question though, is there any point in only lifting one end of the body? using staggered block heights. I'm sorting out these ideas now before i go and buy bar stock.

Probably no reason why it wouldnt work but to me its doing a dodgy fixup to try and fix an existing dodgy fixup, sounds like those rear springs have to come out so why not do it properly and stick some correctly fitting springs into it

[pruggerdore]

If they dont seat properly your truck is UNROAD WORTHY and this is why they are now cracking on to 4wds with mods n making cert harder.

Just change your springs make life so much easier

It's ok to do unroadworthy mods to a truck that will never see the road again. Its a farm, track truck .

I reckon an even body lift only . change the springs. it looks bloody ridiculous

[mfrsr]

and none of you noticed the lack of plates? it's dereg, i'm not a complete muppet. i know it's not the proper way to do this shit, it's why im doing it on this truck...



would the blocks need to be square though? i'd have assumed the rubber in the body mounts would be enough to take up the angle.


meh. full set of blocks it is


@muddyhilux: they're seated far enough down on the cone to be called a locator. It's not as bad as it sounds. see pic, photo was taken straight after fitting, they've since settled another 20mm or so.

[mfrsr]

while i'm at it, can someone tell the the usual lift heights you need for a 93 Surf to fit 33x12.5's? i'd assume it's about 4inches total + a bit of a trim around the front arches?

cheers

[muddyhilux]

yes had noticed no plates but that's not always an indication of weather its used on the road,good to hear it wont be

and yes can see what you mean by pic of spring,if they have settled down another 20mm or so then that probably would be fine for offfroas stuff

as for the blocks,no in short,however this depends on how much difference you want,the rubber on the mounts are there to absorb and should only be used to take up minimal difference in surfaces

looking at picture id say you'd want a 50mm block in the front going down to nothing in the rear to get truck looking level so the blocks will definitely need milling to suit angle,rubbers will not have enough give in them and you will crack the body.effectively and magnified your trying to bolt a flat plate on top of a set of steps

another option you have is ball joint spacers like what i have in my surf and am about to remove,they along with front diff spacers gave me another 25mm lift in the front and relatively nice flat cv angles.im about to remove these as I'm sas'n my surf so they'll be up for sale/swap soon

as for heights required i had 90mm body lift in my surf and still had slight rubbing in front on the twisted stuff with 35s.you running 33s should get away with 2

hope that helps mate,if you want more info on ball joint spacers let me know

[mfrsr]

cheers for that. while it does look good from the front with the big lift, it was never going to be permanent, i guess i'll track down another set of springs (they're waaay too solid at the moment, it's a handful on gravel), then the smallest - complete - body lift i can do without having to chop the arches. (2 inches?)

it's not the most stable truck at the mo

It basically gets used just on the farm. fair bit of flexing but not getting bashed around on trails. im a nana driver at the best of times. Theres sas in the long term plan but for now i just want to get it useable on the 33's.

do the ball joint spacers go on the upper or lower arms? and also diff spacer blocks, does that affect the front mount? (behind the factory skidplate, memory is a bit fuzzy)

[MK1TNA]

they go on top arms and idealy you would want to drop the front mount down 25mm aswell but many people dont heres a link on the install process for them as you have to cut into the top arms to get them in:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Doc ... owTo.shtml

[muddyhilux]

mk1tna,that's why i made mine 25mm and shaped to bolt strait in,no cutting required and yes they bolt under top arms

id say you'll get away with a 50mm body lift and a small amount of hammer work to the arches

and no change to front mount of diff,diff spacer blocks go under the 2 rear mount points and just push the rear downwards,front pivots, thus correcting the cv angle some what

had the setup in mine for a couple of years now and has been good,never broken a cv or dif,that's with the old 3y and the 350 chev,but i do driver my truck accordingly and not with a lead foot,well not everywhere anyway

in fact look left at my pic ,that's with 2inch spring lift,2inch coil spacers,25mm ball joint blocks and a 90mm body lift and 35tyres

[pruggerdore]

[/quote]

It basically gets used just on the farm. fair bit of flexing but not getting bashed around on trails. im a nana driver at the best of times.

bollocks It's coming out with me and its gonna get the bash big time. red mist takes care of nana drivers every time.

that big overhang is coming off one way or another, the grinder will do a tidier job than the track.

[Lynx]

while i'm at it, can someone tell the the usual lift heights you need for a 93 Surf to fit 33x12.5's? i'd assume it's about 4inches total + a bit of a trim around the front arches?

cheers

2 Inch suspension lift, and a little trim is all thats needed.

[mfrsr]

2 Inch suspension lift, and a little trim is all thats needed.

ok will go back to that and see how things look, will just trim the coils down for now unless someone's got a spare pair of 80series rears they'd like to get rid of?

that big overhang is coming off one way or another, the grinder will do a tidier job than the track.

haha no bloody way. i like the big arse. Adds to the challenge. and i can sleep in it too

[muddyhilux]

if someone did have a set of standard 80 springs you can put in id buy the lifted front springs you've got in there now

2 inch suspension lift and my old 33 bfg muds used to rub like a bitch,thats with heavy massaging from a hammer,put the 2inch body lift in and youll be much happier

[mfrsr]

ok i'll keep it in mind. it's the first new set of tyres i've ever bought so not keen on chopping them out on the guards. they're not lifted front springs btw, not as far as i can tell anyway. theyre just not carrying the weight of the 80-series engine so they're sitting up high.

[muddyhilux]

oh even more reason to lift mine were half worn bfg muds and i still cringed every time they hit .and all good then,2inch lifted front springs are hard to find im finding out .well good luck with it all mate,keep the pics coming

[mfrsr]

on that note it does look better from the front...





but there's a difference between looking good and working well...

[muddyhilux]

mate that looks way more level than the pic on page 1,what does it measure up along the door line?if no more than 50mm or so id be leaving it as she is.after lifting etc have you dropped the panhard rod?i made mine adjustable but didn't really solve all the issues,after making a drop bracket and re adjusting the truck drove as smooth as a car

[mfrsr]

yeah i've fitted an adjustable panhard rod that i had under the bench, ,freebie off a car dealer. It's off an earlier model surf. 2.4l i think. bushes are smaller, went a bit hori on the diff bush, not enough clearance inside the panhard end to fit rubber or nolathane. not going to say what i used It's temporary till i break it or do the sas (not yet...) and get the final height sorted. Shocks are a good second hand pair off the front of a 70series.



was out for a bit of a play the other night, blew the front diff trying to climb a rutted hill backwards. back end of the truck was bouncing a good half metre off the ground and it's what killed my diff, so that's probably a good enough reason to put some proper springs in it


live and learn

(i know the history on this diff, and that the muppet who owned the truck before me ran it for about 6 months with mismatched ratios, so not really surprised)


edit: also made longer top arms from a set of spare lower arms. 10mm longer to correct diff angle a bit.

[tallsam66]

I see you have fitted an adjustable panhard this will help but you really need to lower the panhard ...to work correctly they should be roughley to parallel to the rear diff.
You should also install a spacer the same height as your rear suspension lift to get your brake proportioning valve to work correctly ...at the moment you will have almost no braking at the rear.

[slide]

Shocks are a good second hand pair off the front of a 70series.

I was gunna ask, do you have any suspension drop in rear?
At that height standard shocks would about be topped out limiting suspension travel heaps...

[muddyhilux]

yeah mate,looking at that the first move id be making is to get a panhard drop bracket made and fitted,you may even be lucky enough for your original panhard to go back on and be close enough which will also sort your bush problem then do some test driving,my money says it'll feel a hundred times better and you maybe happy to then leave springs in.heres link to bracket

http://toyotasurf.asn.au/techsite/downloads/PanhardRodDropBracket.pdf