cheap vitara lift

[spanky]

some backed up the ramp. vaughan

[Weemsy]

hey spanky,
how did you go on with the un-chopped falcon ea springs you were going to put in?? ive got some commy springs and some falcon ones here and dont know whether to fit the falcon ones for the extra height or not?? i will be getting my diff lowered a bit soon so the cv's will live but just seeing if you had any problems with them. ive got c33 laurel rear springs and commy air shocks at the rear, getting the rear a arm lifted and some spring packers made to give a bit of extra height at the back too.
cheers
weemsy

[Pico42]

Bumping for reference...

[Nizsafari]

bump

[skid]

bump

did you bump it coz its in your driveway

[Nizsafari]

bump

did you bump it coz its in your driveway

No... Not till next week, kinda ran out oftimethis weeked

[dave_a]

i grabbed some rears out of a laurel and some rears out ofa vl wagon raised perfectly 2 inches front and back, fitted like a glove

[lneil]

i grabbed some rears out of a laurel and some rears out ofa vl wagon raised perfectly 2 inches front and back, fitted like a glove

Hi Dave,

What year is the Laurel that has the right size springs, or doesn't it matter?

And, is it the VL springs that go in the front of the scud, with the C33 springs in the rear?

I've read through this thread several times now and keep getting confused!

[moonhopper]

Yes its the VL in the front, Ihave used falcon ones as they give another 1" over the holden ones. and then the Laurel ones in the rear. mostly fited with Holden air shocks. hope that helps

[lneil]

Yep, thanks Moonhopper.

I've got Monroe commodore rear shocks from Smurf, so hopefully they will do the job, just need to find both sets of springs now.

Back on Tardme I guess.

[ADB]

Great read guys! I've put in VN springs in the front and as mentioned the dont really fit too well at the top. Will VL in the front fit better?

Cheers,
Aaron

[amboguy]

i'm assuming the above combination is it suit the 3dr vitara.
what combination would/could you use on a 5dr for similar lift results?
thanks

[Pico42]

I like this thread....

Have fitted commo springs to the front and c33 springs to the rear.
Strut flip for front shocks.
New OME shocks for the rear.
Noltec camber bolts at front to pull the camber back in; and
A 50mm spacer for the ball joint on the top off the diff.

Measured as a average of 48mm increase in height - and it makes quite a difference out driving.

Next, maybe a body lift and then some bigger tyres (30"/31"?) which will trigger certification. And load up the diffs some more...

[turbo6]

can some one correct me if im wrong please, im been reading this post and im keen to do this lift to my 5dr escudo.

c33 laurel rear springs for the rear?
vn commodore rear shocks for the rear?
vn commodore rear springs for the front?

[daymo]

Can someone please add a pic of the front strut top flip? tried doing it yesterday but couldn't get it to work. Do i need to trim back some of the body so it goes back in from the top?

[spanky]

no need to trim anything,but you need to knock the factory studs out of the top mount and use nuts and bolts when you put it back in,
vaughan

[Pico42]

Anyone have any idea what springs to put in front and rear to get to 3" lift?

Those who tried them, how did you get on with those ea falcon springs up front?

I have had suggested Honda Accord springs for the rear...

Cheers

[Swamped]

Had to heat and bend the ones i had to make em fit as they didn't sit right. Probably gave close to 3in on the swb.
Brake calipers would bind up on the springs giving you no brakes at full lock so had to wind the limiter bolts out a bit.

They were also quite stiff and didn't give much up travel.

I also wasn't real happy with the seating in the bottom arm. I felt they needed a bid of cutting and fizzing to make them better.

They do work alright but if I did it again for a road truck I would buy 3in lift front springs and do the front properly. The rear works well with the laurel springs holden shock combo.

A 1in bodylift seemed to work well with the cheap lift too.

Remember you'll need camber correct bolts in the front and the cv angles can get pretty bad without dropping the diff or doing something to remedy that.

[Pico42]

I have a 2" suspension lift. Have just fitted a 2 1/2" body lift to help fit a set of 31" tyres, but wondering if I up the suspension as well to provide plenty of clearance with minimal guard trimming. From time to time we do have chains on and need to allow for those. With the body lift at just 2" the entire top of the rear wheel was rubbing on the guard lip on a ramp.

Have camber bolts at full adjustment, but if I went to 3" suspension, I was going to put an offset into the strut spacer to bring the camber back into adjustment range.

The other way would be to put a spring spacer on the c33 springs we already have in the rear. Did pick up ea falcon springs for the front, but not sure if they go in untouched or whether to be cutting some off them - thought I would find out if someone else has been there done that before I change them (and possibly back again, and then again for spacers...)

Cheers

[Swamped]

As mentioned I heated and bent the ea springs. They don't fit the top properly otherwise. The seating in the bottom is a bit average also but it does work. 1in body lift, ea fronts, laurel rears fits 31's with a little bit of firewall massage. Fitted 31 mudstars when we did it. still scrapped a tiny bit on full compression.

Do you have a lift kit fitted or did you mix and match other parts to achieve that??

What have you done to fix the cv angle you'll now be getting??

[Pico42]

As mentioned I heated and bent the ea springs. They don't fit the top properly otherwise. The seating in the bottom is a bit average also but it does work. 1in body lift, ea fronts, laurel rears fits 31's with a little bit of firewall massage. Fitted 31 mudstars when we did it. still scrapped a tiny bit on full compression.

Do you have a lift kit fitted or did you mix and match other parts to achieve that??

What have you done to fix the cv angle you'll now be getting??

The suspension was the commodore/laurel springs from here, spacers for the front struts and new OME shocks for the rear.

Body lift was a kit from Trade me - but I added some steel discs between the spacers and the rubbers blocks so the spacers didn't sink into the block so much (the instructions were clear that the spacers go on top of the rubber pads).

When I tried the tyres on with the body lift in (sans those discs) the rear rubbed on the entire edge of the guard. Tyres are 31/10.5r15 BFG KM2's on 8" rims, offset is 19mm out.

Will be getting some brackets to drop the front diff - very likely from Bits4Vits. But they do quite a bit of other stuff and if some of it would be helpful, would like to order it in one go (woulod also mean I can get the vehicle certified and back on the road sooner). Things like spring spacers, shock spacers (or they do have shock repositioners that look very effective) etc.

How well do calmini 3" springs fit with standard A arms in the front?

Really appreciate the help too, by the way.

Might have to put some pictures up?

[Swamped]

I might have a couple pics. Will show the lift but not much else as it was dark. Only other pic is of it wrapped in gladwrap

Dropping the diff does help cv angle but can put the diff more in harms way so its a case of balancing those two evils i think. A steel diff would be cool.

I have bigger offset than you and didn't have any rubbing issues in the rear aye.

Was the bodylift blocks rubber? This truck had uhmwpe discs so never worried about it.

Those calmini bottom arms look the shiz but they are expensive hence I considered modifying the originals by cutting the spring seat and leveling it to handle the extra arm angle. Had thought about adding a small section of large tube for around the seat also but it never got done. Talk to suzolla on here as he brings stuff in and could stick your bits with one of his shipments maybe.

I would guess 3in lift springs would push the stock arms around too far? I was worried about the ea springs doing that and was like 2.5in lift.

[Pico42]

Steel diff is the plan, but as it is not a certification matter, it will wait for a while.

Body lift blocks are MDPE, about 50mm diameter. The rubber blocks are the factory ones, about 70mm diameter and I found that the lift blocks pressed down into the factory ones.

I have the option of a pair of front Calmini 3" springs, but nothing else - wanting some idea how they would fit into the standard A arms before trying it myself. There is a winch bar and winch for the vehicle (still to be wired up) so the weight may match to the calmini springs.

Might just try them and see what works.

[mung]

Hi guys, am planning on doing the c33 laurel/ commy spring lift, with commy shocks.

Was wondering with this set up it clears 235 75 15 or 30 x 9.5 x 15 mud tyres fine? Also any troubles with 31's or is that pushing it?

[lincooln]

31s will fit sweet was.

[rock8man]

Hey guys

Very new to the scene, just picked up a 99 Grand Vit LWB 2.5 V6 last thursday!
Would like to do a 40mm suspension lift on it.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Have been looking at Ironman kit to do the job but like the look of whats gone on here & want some of the action.

Cheers....

[4x4suzuki]

Hey guys.
For the rear with the c33 shocks and VL springs is that without spring spacers?

[Swamped]

I didn't use any.Still ended up being higher in the rear.

[Pico42]

OK, so went with spacers all round on the commodore and laurel springs. Dropped the front diff down with Bits4Vits brackets. Extended the rear shocks with "repositioners". Front shocks still have 2" spacers. Trimmed out the guards to add some space.



And this is how it looks now.
Think the only remaining issue before certification is re-calibrating the speedo - will have a look tomorrow at whether this one has the adjustment screw in the back of the dash...

[kernels]

Nice on Pico, looks mean