Suspension Lift

[Rhino]

Hey all, was wondering if anyone could tell me whats involved in lifting a 1990 bighorn. I had a chat to another bighorn owner who got 33's on his by putting longer shackles in and winding up the torsion bar and doing a something-or-other flip that i didn't quite catch but apprently its pretty important. I'm not much of a mechanic so any explanations/input would be helpful. Also the costs involved if known.

Cheers
Nick

[WACKO]

hey man. im not sure if bighorns are setup the same as pajeros but the flip your refuring to could be a balljoint flip.

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules ... pic&t=1476

shackels arnt much of a major either but i personally havnt had an experience doing them myself...

find us a garage and im sure we can work somthing out...

[H2OLOVA]

the actual lift is fairly easy. You'll have 8 or 10 mounting points where your body is bolted to the chassis. Its just a case of packing these with a suitable height material (Steel/Polycarb round) and buying longer nuts and bolts. The hard part is making sure all your brake lines, handbrake cable, steering, wiring etc are longer to allow for the height difference. The height you want to lift your truck will determine whether any of these things need changing. You may be able to lift the body 25mm without it affecting anything to much(maybe?) any higher you would have to change things. The cost of the lift itself would be around $100 depending on material used, new brake lines you could get made. There are many variables. the best thing is to clamber under your truck at see what connects to what and how much free play you can find by altering mounting positions etc before you go buying anything.

Its a bit of a ramble but hope it helps

[WACKO]

ive got a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it and call it a weazel! you find some suitable blocks, 25mm ish, and we suss you some extended shackels, maybe supralux(4wd stuff), then into the garage on a fri nite and outa gain on sat arvo ready to test some where. sound good? torsions are easy and if its a balljoint flip so is that.

[SupraLux]

Hey all, was wondering if anyone could tell me whats involved in lifting a 1990 bighorn. I had a chat to another bighorn owner who got 33's on his by putting longer shackles in and winding up the torsion bar and doing a something-or-other flip that i didn't quite catch but apprently its pretty important. I'm not much of a mechanic so any explanations/input would be helpful. Also the costs involved if known.

Cheers
Nick

Ok, the longer shackles are easy if you have a 14mm and an 18mm drill bit - if you don't then have them made, because those two drill bits will set you back much of the cost of having them made anyway. I make mine with greasable pins which definitely helps if you are using urethane bushes (they creak and/or squeak when dry)

Winding up the torsion bars is also easy, have a read of the Hilux/Surf tech doc in the Tech Library - different vehicle, same principal.

The balljoint flip is because when you crank the torsions up the wheel alignment goes out. In the Isuzus when they are wound up you can barely get the wheel alignment back... doing this flip allows the wheels to align properly... oh, and as a bonus, you get more travel from the IFS setup, as it pushes the two arms away from each other a bit.

You can also fit 50mm springs (I carry 'em, Warren from 4WD Bits probably has them as well) which will give you instant lift - I'd recommend that as a starting point, as longer shackles and body lifts (the blocks mentioned above) can require (body lifts definitely do) a cert - $350 extra.

I also recommend new shocks when you lift the vehicle, it will help stabilise the truck after the lift... shop around for those... some have more travel than others...

Steve