[Myth8288]

Hey everyone. First post on here but have been looking awhile
I have recently bought a 2004 GV 2.5 V6 and I love it! But trying to keep up with friends in the bush and sand is abit of a struggle due to ride height!. I will be intending to do beach work and light to medium offroad/mud. But still drive able as a everyday to and from Sydney and a day to day drive. I'm totally stumped on what to buy I've had loads of people who recommend all different types and brands of lift kits.
I'm a complete newbie to offroad and 4x4 so any info and help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Myth/Shane

[GeckoXL7]

Guess first thing to ask is budget, have a gyst of what you want to do with your GV.

There is a lot of combinations on here.

Easiest and cheapest to get around 40mm lift is King Springs $ 220and a set of Dobinson shocks around $500 Or spend a bit more and get dob springs. Good thing about king springs if you keep your receipt they come with a lifetime warranty if sag to bellow a certain point. If Get dob springs there is a bit more lift in them so will need a set of camber bolts to correct your front wheels.

Will keep your ride height at a decent height to go on sand and offroad but also a comfortable height for City traffic with little body roll so you can still zip around town.

Good thing about Sydney is you can go to Dobinson Sydney branch

If wana go extreme then there is the Calmini kit but is around 1200 and around 700 for delivery.

and Bits4vits is a good place to look too.

For mud Recommend Larger tyres to give you clearance of your DIFF as thats what gets dragged through the mud because of tyre ruts caused by 4x4's with larger tyres. For Mud/sand would recommend a ATR tire, eg Pirelli Scorpion ATR or Bridge Stone Dueler AT, or some with Mud tires can recommend a good mud Tyre that is ok on sand.

[Myth8288]

Hi Gecko, thanks so much for your input
Sorry I should have mention that, my budget is about $1400 but ive got a mate of mine who has done a lot of fitting kits so we are going to fit ourselves. But I was originally looking at Dobinson, so with you suggesting them sounds good to me. And in regards to tyres having an odd size rim on the only tyres that will fit the current rims are 275-60-16 so I've been told its hard to get an A/T tyres but ill give it a go
I have spoken to a guy at Opposite Lock Newcastle who would do a full Dobinson kit with shocks, springs, camber bolts etc for $1160 just Parts. Sound good?
Anyone have anymore info or exp that would be great
Cheers Gecko

[vitzookman]

Myth8288 wrote:

I have spoken to a guy at Opposite Lock Newcastle who would do a full Dobinson kit with shocks, springs, camber bolts etc for $1160 just Parts. Sound good?

Ouch! just call Dobinson in sydney

[Myth8288]

Should I just spend the extra and get the caly kit??

[Chop]

After owning a vitara that I installed a 3" calmini kit and now own a GV I thought about the calmini kit for it but IMO I don't think its worth the money. Especially when the struts aren't likely to last and rear shocks are terrible. They're better value for the 3" vitara kit but still the struts and shocks are the same.
You could contact one of the sites vendors, Dank from kpd4x4 he does dobinson gear alot cheaper.

[Myth8288]

Hey everyone, thanks for all your input it's been really helpful.
So I have spoken to Dobinson in Dydney and he can do shocks springs etc for $990 plus $120 shipped to Newcastle or buy it from my local Opposite Lock for $1160 with front end camber bolts.
I'm thinking ill be buying be Dobinson from Newcastle dealer
Thanks for all your help ill hopefully be able to put some pics up soon
Myth

[atari4x4]

$120 freight

i've just had 4x 31" tyres shipped from Brisbane to Adelaide for half that cost.

[Myth8288]

Wow, well I don't think ill get the kit shipped, I guess ill either pick it up or just buy in newcastle

[atari4x4]

shoot dank a PM from KPD4x4, he should be able to sort you out quick.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20219

[alexxx]

go the dank!!!! very helpful!!!

[Built4thrashing]

alexxx wrote:

go the dank!!!! very helpful!!!

Dank gets my vote.

Go the dobinson kit. you wont be disapointed.

[Myth8288]

Hi everyone, I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I've recently spoken to my machanic and he was concerned about going to a 2" Dobinson lift kit.
He was worried about the driveshaft being a significate angle and may cause problems with prolong use. Has anyone had this problem or is he nit picking?

[atari4x4]

grab some of these if the CV angles are getting out there, pretty sure the tail shaft will be fine.

http://www.bits4vits.co.uk/store/grand- ... d_311.html

[ninjamoses]

Myth8288 wrote:

Hi everyone, I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I've recently spoken to my machanic and he was concerned about going to a 2" Dobinson lift kit.
He was worried about the driveshaft being a significate angle and may cause problems with prolong use. Has anyone had this problem or is he nit picking?

If you are worried about it just get a set of freewheeling hubs as well mate. The GVs have solid drive flanges so the CVs are turning all the time (despite no power going to them when not in 4WD). Set of FWH will prevent the CVs from getting flogged out from daily use, and should improve economy slightly to boot.

[Myth8288]

Once again thanks everyone,
Would a normal body lift be better than a full kit?
Positives, negatives?

[ninjamoses]

Nope. Body lifts are really just for extra tyre clearance only, unless you are planning on shoving the biggest tyres possible under it I'd stick with a suspension lift.

They are also a bit of a PITA to do on GVs compared to earlier Vits. And being a 2004 model yours will have airbags, which means there is a good chance it'd be illegal anyway depending on which state you live in.

[Chop]

If yours still has the original shocks, struts and spring its highly likely they'll be past their used by date. Aftermarket springs improve the ride and handling where as bodyift won't.

[Myth8288]

Wonderful guys, thanks again for your vast knowledge on Suzuki ( guess I'm on the right forum lol)
Righto ill have a look at the effects and angel the driveshaft is in and if its worth looking at.
Cheers once again
PS: I'am one day intending to put big tyres on

[klutched]

See how you go with the suspension kit and 225/75s or 245/75s first then if you want to go bigger go body lift and 31s/32s

And defs get some diff drop brackets if you're going to run anything over 2" lift. Even with 2" the diff drop brackets will take some strain off.

[Myth8288]

Hey, so I'm going to get a 2" lift over the next few days (Dobinson) so diff brackets will take some strain off the diff and drive shaft and etc?
Thanks for the insite
Yeah hopefully 31 I'm thinking can't wait!!!

[atari4x4]

you won't clear a 31 with only 2" of lift unless you chop & hack the shit out of the guards.

[Myth8288]

Ok well least ill have an idea what else I can work with
Hopefully I can get decent tyres with good offroad ability that will fit with only a 2" lift

[klutched]

Have a talk to b4t hes running 31 silverstone extreme on 40mm lift? Not sure if hes added spacers recently or not.

But yeah 31s will be hard with 2" lift. I have 2" coil spacer and 2" body (soon to have 3" coils under her aswell )and i needed a little chopping all in the front end on the bumper and back of the arch.

IMO go 245/75r16, that'll be the biggest you'll be able to fit without too much choppin. I think it measures in around a 30". Are you going at or muddie? A lot of people recomend federal couragia MTs for the zooks and you can pick them up off ebay for $198 ea i got quoted, but thats for a 235/85 (32") Not sure how much postage would be from up here though. I think they do a 245 or a 225 aswell.

Have a look at jimnybits, they have a 3" kit for the GV. Or you could go the 2" and if you still want more grab some spacers off Bruce on here.

[Chop]

Be sure to ask B4T about the cv smashing and diff problems he's having. Make sure you read about all the problems you will encounter with doing these mods, some on here of late are just throwing crap in there gv's and are about to feel a whole lot of hurt to their pockets and broken cars.

[Myth8288]

Hi again
@klutched: I just thinking A/T not so much muddies. Yeah well 30" will be fine. Hopefully the 2" Dobinson kit will suit and have no problems.
@Chop: Righto so B4T is on here? I will surely get I'm contact with him to find out some info, thanks for that!!

[Built4thrashing]

Chop wrote:

Be sure to ask B4T about the cv smashing and diff problems he's having. Make sure you read about all the problems you will encounter with doing these mods, some on here of late are just throwing crap in there gv's and are about to feel a whole lot of hurt to their pockets and broken cars.

Um...Yeh I will admit ive busted a few Cv's but the latest problem is just from over Use / Abuse. Ive stuffed the Transfer.....Oh well that happends

I run a combination of Dobinson and king springs and GV and Pajero shocks.

Up front i have 40mm lifted King springs, 20mm spacers, 25mm bumpstop spacers,Diff drop brackets, Lockright, lifted Dobinson struts wioth camber bolts.
This gives me about 80mm of total suspension lift. Tyres are 245/75/16's for on road and 31x10.5R16 Silverstone Xtremes for mud work.

I did experiment at one point with strut extensions but i found with all the lift i had the CV's were binding up big time. Without the Spacers they prob would work.... I still have them if your interested..

The reason i went for the king springs up front is they had a higher spring rate to hold up the front end with the winch, winch Bar, and 2 batteries.

Last time i busted CV's (busted both sides in one go) the outer passenger side spat out the inner shaft and it jammed up in the control arm and it transfered all the torque to the other side and it went PoP.


In the back i run 40mm Dobinson coils, 40mm spacers, 40mm bumpstop extensions, and Pajero rear shocks. The shocks are super long and very firm. I chose them coz i tow the family Caravan behind the GV. Because i tow with the GV i still run the front sway bar but with some custom links ive designed and made up.

There are some pics in my build thread.

[Joe]

G'day Mr Myth
On my 03 GV i'm running 50mm dobinson springs front and rear, 30mm coil spacers, dobinson struts up front, camira shocks up back, a set of diff drop brackets up front and a 25mm tail shaft spacer on the rear
ATM i have 225/75r16 on with no rubbing at all but soon ill be getting a set of 245/75r16 so i think ill have to look at bump stops and a bit of trimming




Ill get some pics of my CV angles tomorrow

And then on my 04 GV it's got 35mm dobinson springs front and rear, 15mm coil spacers up front and 30mm up the back, dobinson struts up front, camira shocks up back
This one is running 245/70r16's with only slight rubbing at the back mud flaps

[Myth8288]

They all look great, everyone on this thread has been a big help
For the moment since I have no bill bar, winch etc ill just stick with the Dobinson springs, struts, shocks and camber kit and see where that takes me. And if I want further lift I can add spacers and diff brackets, but for the moment I can get all that off mates rates for $860 at my door
So hopefully this will give me a chance for lift and A/T tyres and this will keep the missus happy for here daily drive and me happy for a offroad/sand basher
Ps: still trying to work out how to put photos up (there all too big :S)

[Built4thrashing]

even with the coil lift you should seriously think about diff drop brackets.....