Offroad-Express

Hi Guys,
newbie here, finally found a swb safari with PTO to replace my LWB auto.

Anyway looking for a bit of advice,

My SWB has the rust in the rear windows like most, not serious but i want to get it fixed b4 it goes further.

Any ideas on how much this should cost? Anyone had it done? Also can anyone recommend somewhere to do it in chch that will do a good job?

I am looking to put 2 or 3 inch lift on it, not too much as still want it fairly stable onroad. (Still havent got used to driving a truck all the time instead of my turbo Skyline )

Anyone have some 2" lift springs/shocks they wanna part with?

I'm an engineer so was thinking i should make some bash plates/guards to protect the vital organs of the truck. Any ideas/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated as am new to the 4WD scene, tho i am a petrolhead from way back.

Any mods that would be a must have for offroading? other than...

Snorkel
Mud tyres
Lift Kit

Anyway any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated.

PTO4WD wrote:Hi Guys,
newbie here, finally found a swb safari with PTO to replace my LWB auto.

Anyway looking for a bit of advice,

My SWB has the rust in the rear windows like most, not serious but i want to get it fixed b4 it goes further.

Any ideas on how much this should cost? Anyone had it done? Also can anyone recommend somewhere to do it in chch that will do a good job?

As you said they all do it. Most people flag the sliding rear window system and just put a single piece of glass in. Try the place that sponsers this site and say your from ORE

I am looking to put 2 or 3 inch lift on it, not too much as still want it fairly stable onroad. (Still havent got used to driving a truck all the time instead of my turbo Skyline )

Anyone have some 2" lift springs/shocks they wanna part with

In a SWB GQ, 50mm (2") is really the max sus lift that is recommended by most. This is due to the complications that arise from the very short rear drive shaft, panhard rod lengths and caster angles.

Most do a 50mm sus lift and a 40mm body lift.

A couple of guys have gone for a 3" sus lift with sucess, but they have had to replace the panhard roads with adjustable ones, space the gearbox cross member down by about 20mm and a whole raft of other spendy bits to make it all work reasonably well. Alot still have to put up with drive line vibration.

I'm an engineer so was thinking i should make some bash plates/guards to protect the vital organs of the truck. Any ideas/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated as am new to the 4WD scene, tho i am a petrolhead from way back.

Alot of the GQ's come out with factory gaurds underneath covering the gearbox and transfer case. they are ok,but i have damaged my gear box one on numerous occasions and had to pull it of and bash it back into shape with a club hammer, and the transfercase one got ripped to pieces being pulled backwards out of a river after getting stuck on a rocks. They may/would be good as templates to make your own stronger and better designed ones. All the GQ's i have seen have had the captive nuts in the chassis to take these gaurds

Any mods that would be a must have for offroading? other than...

Snorkel
Mud tyres
Lift Kit

Anyway any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated.

They go pretty well standard with a set of 33's under them

Better throw a snorkle and tow hooks on if you going out with the boys on their river runs first off.

Start there and see how it goes, throw the sus lift at it, and the rest will fall into place as you go along.

i have a set of new saveros for sale 33-12.5x15 savero mts still have the nipples on them $900 delivered. 027 292 1248.

[quote="PTO4WD"Hi Guys,
newbie here, finally found a swb safari with PTO to replace my LWB auto.

Anyway looking for a bit of advice,

My SWB has the rust in the rear windows like most, not serious but i want to get it fixed b4 it goes further.

Any ideas on how much this should cost? Anyone had it done? Also can anyone recommend somewhere to do it in chch that will do a good job? ]




Hey PTO4WD give me a ring on 0800 422 745 and i'll sort ya windows out.. I have a shorty as well,luckily i must have some of the best window in NZ.. but we do these all the time at work (see website)
Craig

i have a 2inch lift kit(springs,shocks and all bushes) in the garage, for sale $600. i took it out of mine to install 100mm lift when i got the truck

Cheers for the advice and offers guys.

Just gotta sell my long wheelbase so i have the cash 2 play with dammit.

Found your tech post on lifting your safari DieselBoy, answered quite a few questions.

Confirmed what i thought, bout 2" lift max before it starts gettn expensive.

Whats the reason for the body lift? Is it to run larger diameter tyres? any other reasons? and how does it affect handling?

MudBum will definitely call you about gettin the rust done, when i have the cash.

Can i run 12.5" tyres on 8'' rims ok?
without rubbing on susp & panhard rods etc?

yep 2 inch lift you can fit 33-12.5x15 tyres on no problem, and they fit in 8 inch rims perfectly.

Sweet, that's what i wanted to hear!

I run a 3" lift on my swb, with standard panhards, and 12mm gearbox spacers.
Currently have castor correction bushes in the front, but will be taking these out and going back to factory bushings soon.

do you get any powertrain vibration dave?

Very slight vibration, but not much at all.
I will be putting in longer H/D lower trailing arms, and adjustable uppers soon which will get rid of it completely.

It seems to differ between vehicles, I know guys with 2" lifts running 18mm packers and still have vibrations, and yet a mate in oz runs a 4" lift with 6mm packers and no vibrations at all

3" is right on the limit for needing adj panhards, but with the dobinson coils I can run shocks the equivalent length to a OME 4" lift.
I can however pop the lhs rear coil at full travel since removing my swaybar, but will put up with cable ties until I get a 4" in the near future.

Castor correction also comes into play with a 3" and over, but I will be running rubber bushes again, and put up with the slight wandering with the steering to get my front end travel back.

also witha 2" body lift and 2" suspension lift you can run 35" tyres, and they work a lot better with a turbo,.

I run 33x12.5x15 on 8inch rims with only a 60mm sus lift.I have put in 12mm Lexan transfer case spacers but i only have vibration on takeoff not anything over 10kph.That vibration was there when i bought Mudbum in its standard form so might be a universal..The truck goes along the road very smooth considering what i hear about others with a lift.

I run longer lower control arms (18mm longer) with my 4" lift and there is no more drive shaft vibrations that I used to get with the 2" lift and std lower arms.

The vibration occurs when the UJ's on the rear driveshaft are made to work out of spec. Either use gearbox spacers, lift engine mounts or extend lower control arms (or any combination of the 3) to restore driveshaft angle. Try to get the flange of the input to the rear diff parallel with the flange of the output from the transfer case.

http://www.4xshaft.com/driveline101.html

all you need is a magnetic self leveling protractor (available from most engineering supplies)
once you understand why it vibrates , its pretty easy to fix