[hugz]

Hey all,

My 89 sierra tintop has:
- 2" virtual lift
- slightly raised suspension
- 2" extended shackles

I wanna make it 4wd ready on a budget, and focus on just the important stuff.

My thoughts, therefore, are (in order):
- 31" tyres on some new wheels
- front lockrights
- rear airlockers
- new (old man emu?) leafs - mine are a bit sagged

What do people think about these mods? I'm working on the assumption that I'll be able to get the 31s to fit under the body.

I'd like to go air-lockers all around, but my budget is tight. I figure that there's no on-road disadvantage of having lock-rights on the front, because if I keep the hubs in "free" whilst on the road, the front dif wont be engaged? I think?

[steve]

All sounds good to me.

you'll want to save up and get some crawler gears too.

[mrw82]

weld the front and put the saved $350 towards a set of crawler gears.

[royce]

dont worry about the lockers, RUF and some gears

then save up more and get 2 airlockers as 2nd hand ones come up, you can always sell em later when you upgrade diffs

[neil_se]

Sounds just like mine except i've got RUF with EFS 2" lifted rears, lockrights F&R, and Rockhopper gears. Its a great setup for very little $$

[Brett]

i'd swap your lockers around to make it easyer to drive in 4wd, the lock right in the front will lock out when just driving in 4wd, make it a prick to steer and put alot of extra load on the cv's. the locker in the rear you get use to and when you need the front locked just hit the switch

you will get 31's under there pretty easy.

[jkzuki]

airlock the front so you have some steering, weld the rear, buy some gears and run some simex 31's if your chasing mud as they are actually measure 32.

[Damo]

hugz wrote:

What do people think about these mods? I'm working on the assumption that I'll be able to get the 31s to fit under the body.

I don't think you will have too many problems. You will probably have to do a little 'tuning', but those will be minor adjustments.

You might find that if you fit 31s first up you will end up needing to replace your clutch. You'll get away with it around town but off road that final drive ratio really puts some pressure on the clutch. As Royce said you'll really want a set of transfer gears, but then the descision is gears first or tyres? Considering that you're on a tight budget and replacing a clutch is the last thing you want to be doing, i'd go the gears first.

As for the springs, if they're not totally stuffed then I wouldnt really worry too much about losing a little bit of height.

[Dee]

mrw82 wrote:

weld the front and put the saved $350 towards a set of crawler gears.

don't weld the front...
lockright rear, airlocker front, crawler gears, 31's, happy days.

[hugz]

i'm sure as hell not gonna weld the front.

I'm not sure that I want to put lockrights on the rear because then they'll be in action on the road also. I forgot to mention that this car is also my daily driver I dont need a lot of comfort, but I would like it to be drivable on the road

I also wanna try keep it as legal as possible (in QLD), or at least enough to avoid excess police attention. I think i should be able to get away with 31s though.

I'm not gonna do a RUF immediately because
a) i'm unsure of the legality. doing a mod like that seems like the kind of thing that can get you fucked if you're in an accident
b) If I do it, i'll wait until i'm ready to replace my springs anyway
c) frankly it looks like something of a "trendy" mod, so I'm not yet convinced on the actual benefit of it. People claim all types of different things, and I've def heard a few people say that RUF is best for fitting big tyres under the car (which is no use to me if my tyres fit in the first place)

I'll look into crawler gears. I'll wait and see how horrible it is to drive with 31s, but from what people are saying here it sounds like they're one of the better mods for offroading

Based on what everyone has said I might try and save for airlockers on the front and back rather than getting a lockright. If you're gonna do something, do it properly...

[royce]

hugz wrote:

I'm not gonna do a RUF immediately because
a) i'm unsure of the legality. doing a mod like that seems like the kind of thing that can get you fucked if you're in an accident
b) If I do it, i'll wait until i'm ready to replace my springs anyway
c) frankly it looks like something of a "trendy" mod, so I'm not yet convinced on the actual benefit of it. People claim all types of different things, and I've def heard a few people say that RUF is best for fitting big tyres under the car (which is no use to me if my tyres fit in the first place)

simple physics, longer spring = more flex
the spring is legal, most ways of mounting it arent, besides so are your 31's

[steve]

i'd have to agree with what you have said hugz

why bother with RUF for a flies dick better performance, and yeah any chassis extension isn't legal in Qld, and if you go to sell in a few years people will look at thing it's some dodgy car.,

Have you heard about the big twin stick craze? i wonder how that's going

If you have the money get airlockers. But, i had an auto locker in the front and never had a problem. It can get hard in certain spots but who cares, you put lockers in because you want to do extreme tracks, you don't put lockers in because you want to have "more control" on forest tracks like the twin stick thing

I think you're original plan is good, but yeah if you have the money get airlockers all round, but auto lockers are good in the front too.

I had a welded front for a while and it's worth it IF you do extreme stuff alot.

Don't put any lockers in if you don't do extreme stuff.... as you say, lockers of any type could also be classed as one of those trendy things to do.

[royce]

its not a flies dick its easilly 75mm more travel, plus softer so you dont bounce around like a monkey on speed!!!!!!

lockers are overated
31's on stock gears is shit, no control in low range so youll be flooring ti everywhere

[hugz]

royce wrote:

hugz wrote:

I'm not gonna do a RUF immediately because
a) i'm unsure of the legality. doing a mod like that seems like the kind of thing that can get you fucked if you're in an accident
b) If I do it, i'll wait until i'm ready to replace my springs anyway
c) frankly it looks like something of a "trendy" mod, so I'm not yet convinced on the actual benefit of it. People claim all types of different things, and I've def heard a few people say that RUF is best for fitting big tyres under the car (which is no use to me if my tyres fit in the first place)

simple physics, longer spring = more flex
the spring is legal, most ways of mounting it arent, besides so are your 31's

31s aren't legal, but i'll have my stock tyres waiting in my garage for a quick swap if the need arises. The RUF seems like more of a big deal.

If it was purely a bush basher I'd do it in a heartbeat, but for my purpose the RUF seems like unnecessary hassle.

I should add to my list of mods:
- winch

[hugz]

royce wrote:

its not a flies dick its easilly 75mm more travel, plus softer so you dont bounce around like a monkey on speed!!!!!!

lockers are overated
31's on stock gears is shit, no control in low range so youll be flooring ti everywhere

Based on what you say it sounds like the gears may be a better 2nd mod to get after the big tyres.

Having taken it offroad a few times so far (only had her a few weeks), my biggest concern for the moment is when it bottoms out. The tyres should hopefully help that a bit. The gears will make it liveable.

I'm sure from there on i'll get more adventurous and things like lockers may become needed.

[Brett]

a ruf make the car more stable and smoother to drive as well, i'll never put lifted front springs back in a car, its a waste of time imo.

go a set of 31's and gears and get the lockers later if you still want them. you could prob get the gears and a cheap winch from the money that was going into the air locker. lockers are great for driving the hard stuff but you will really need a winch when you end up stuck driving on locked diffs

[grimreaper]

jkzuki wrote:

airlock the front so you have some steering, weld the rear, buy some gears and run some simex 31's if your chasing mud as they are actually measure 32.

how will the rear axsl hold up with it welded are thay strong enught to take an beating in the bush /wet road ( not the diff has an bad growning sound so it will be time to replace it soon so i want to weld it )

[Rockhopper]

My 2 cents. For what they are worth just go a set of OME fronts. Too much frigging around with RUF. Yes you get more travel, but the way I see it is in reality it's really not going to get you any further down the track. Don't know what Brisbane is like, but in Sydney, whilst the 31's are illegal, they are a hell of a lot easier to have engineered than longer shackles or a chassis extension. As for gearing you could go 5.38:1 diff gears to correct the tyres or if you plan on doing a lot of crawling do the transfer case. Each of those method have their benefits and pitfalls. As for lockers, my personal preferance is air lockers, but they are more expensive than the other methods. If you plan on driving it on the roads air lockers are by far the best way to go.

[Dee]

you said you were working on the assumption that you'll fit a 31" tyre. first thing I'd do is find out whats wrong with your springs, ie are they definetly rooted. If yes, get new ones. I'm happy with my longer springs and won't ever again buy a suspension as a "lift kit"... But then agian my car is more of a bush basher, definetly not daily. So understand it may not appeal to you.

Then check clearance for 31's. If they fit, order your gearing to suit. Slap on a winch. Have fun 4wding, until you realise you want a locker.

Have a drive of someone elses auto locked sierra. Weigh up awesome traction with shit handling for $200 or awesome traction with good handling for $1200. Dont worry bout the front if it's you DD. you probably wont end up driving hard enough shit to need it.
Only thing that stopped me last time I went 4wding with just a rear locker was my lack of wheelbase & the worry of having no 6pt cage.

[hugz]

DEEV8 wrote:

Have a drive of someone elses auto locked sierra. Weigh up awesome traction with shit handling for $200 or awesome traction with good handling for $1200. Dont worry bout the front if it's you DD. you probably wont end up driving hard enough shit to need it.

Good call on both counts. I imagine it's only a matter of time before I end up at a zook meet

A friend has a feroza with 31s and, as the stud pattern is the same, i'll do a swap someday to see how it all fits