[Charlie Brown]

So I was planning to do a 2" body lift once I found the cash to fit my 30" tyres. but now im thinking i may put in 1" spring spacers and do a front diff drop which may give me more tyre clearance My 97 LWB vit? is this true or am I better off with a body lift? I currently have a 2" dobson spring lift in it from dank and im pretty sure the shockers will take the extra inch.

thanks guys!

[ninjamoses]

Longer springs or spring spacers will raise the ride height but do nothing to help tyre clearance mate as the suspension will still compress the same amount as before. It is longer bump stops which will give you the extra clearance as they will prevent the suspension (and hence the tyre) from compressing as far. Usually they are done at the same time as fitting longer springs or spacers, but there is nothing stopping you just extending them and leaving it at the current ride height.

Front diff drop is only needed to fix CV angles if you've done a big suspension lift (ie. 3"). Doing it for anything less is counter productive as you will reduce the ground clearance for no gains.

Body lift will give you tyre clearance and sill clearance, but won't help with ground clearance under the diffs/chassis (apart from obviously any gains you would get from bigger tyres). If you are only going to run 30" tyres I'd personally avoid the body lift mate and just trim/bumpstop space as required. Should be able to get them to fit without too much effort and you keep the COG low and avoid unwanted attention

[banga]

i ran a similar setup in my lwb before the calmini but with king springs i did find the front end very stiff with the lifted spring and spacers so i put the bigger spacers with stock springs in the front which i found was a better setup. i had 235/75/15 on stock rims they only just rubbed the chassis when flexed up just scrubbed the paint off on the back and on the front full lock just rubbed the chassis the chassis which can be fixed with adjusting steering lock. so if you got the right rim offset with 30s they wouldn't scrub i reckon. or just do bump stop spacers.

[SierraDan]

Don't spring spacers help more because the spring binds sooner, so the tyres a "bumpstopped" to a degree?

[Bugsta]

SierraDan you are correct. A spring can only compress so much. Once it binds, that's it. So if you add a spacer, that lowers the relative maximum height the wheel will travel. However, if the wheel touches before the spring has reached its maximum compression, you need to consider the remaining travel the spring has, in the size of spacers you install, plus a little bit for the clearance you want.

[got_bar_work]

The spring should never bind U shoud hitt the bump stop first or it is going to tear shit out of the car and ride like a paint shaker

[SierraDan]

Bump stop or spring it's going to ride rough haha.

[JrZook]

SierraDan wrote:

Bump stop or spring it's going to ride rough haha.

Bumpstop is not solid
Spring bind is.................

[Charlie Brown]

So then it would provide an "unchangeable" distance between the car and the tyres? As the spacers aren't going to compress. So how does a 3" lift go on the stock front independant suspension?
Thanks

[SierraDan]

JrZook wrote:

SierraDan wrote:

Bump stop or spring it's going to ride rough haha.

Bumpstop is not solid
Spring bind is.................

Yeah but I wouldn't call bumpstops comfortable.
Like a punch in the head is better than a hammer to the head, but they're both gonna hurt.

[Charlie Brown]

Yeah I agree sounds pretty bumpy!

Also how would I check that my shocks would take the 1" spacers? Thanks

[Bugsta]

If you have more than 1" of spring compression left avaialble at kerb, then your shocks will still 'work' with a 1" spacer.

Now the flip side of adding spacers (and changing nothing else) is that you are lowering the suspension upper compression point, but you are not lowering the lower extension point, hence reducing your usable suspension range (in this case by 1"). If you want to not lose any of the spring's capable range, you need to extend your shock range by the same amount.

This could be done by...
1. A slightly longer shock (this will also increase the compressed length, so if you remove the spacer, you may bottom out the shock, and damage it).
2. Add some kind of shock bracket top or bottom (depends on vehicle and shock mounting type)

[Charlie Brown]

Thanks for your advice mate, Yeah Ive heard you can get shock spacers does anyone know if I can get 1" ones of them? also does anyone sell diff drop brackets on here?

[Bugsta]

I really couldn't tell you any specifics about Vits. All my automotive knowledge is based on Jimny and old Holdens, and a bit on Merc Vans. Other than the general knowledge of course which applies to any vehicle.

Take a look at:
Bits4Vits
JimnyBits
BigJimny
Toughdog
D&G Tuning
Off Road Armory
Rhino Rays
ODA4x4
KAP
LROR

And other general equipment:
Piranha Off ROad
Iron Man
ARB
TJM
UV4x4
Auto Barn

There is a few users of this forum that do specialty products to suit Aussie Zooks to.

[Bugsta]

Just had a browse on zanfi.it as well. Some nice gear there.

[Charlie Brown]

Thanks mate! Your helps been great!

[Charlie Brown]

Ok one more question, because my shockers are made for my 2" lifted springs (which havent sagged cos they are only 3 months old) if I put in say 20mm spring spacers in the back and 10mm in the front, will this actually increase the ride height? or will it just compress the spring against the fully extended shocker? if that makes sense

thanks guys, again =P

charlie.

[got_bar_work]

It will sit 20mm higher

[Charlie Brown]

sweet, is this cos when the weight of the car is on the springs it will push it down a bit and this will kind of counteract that? thanks again =)

[DarkHorse]

Wot ee sed - your shocks shouldn't be anywhere near fully extended if they are to suit a 2" lift.

Springs will compress exactly as much as they do now, but spacers add 'space' between chassis and axles, so ride height increases.

[Charlie Brown]

Sweet thanks mate and you dont wreckon 60mm lift will blow out my cv's? sorry alot of questions but you guys are awesome thanks =D

[DarkHorse]

You'll be starting to push your luck without diff drop brackets, depends how far your struts will let the wheel drop.

[Bugsta]

Charlie. Just to give you some crude analogies away from a car that may help you understand what a spring spacer is and does.

Take a coil spring of some description. (Say like a pogo stick type) Place it on the floor in upright position. Stand on it. It will compress an amount determined by its design and your weight. That's your ride height.
Take a 20mm book. Place it on the coil spring. Stand on that. You are now 20mm higher off the ground, barring the negligible extra weight of the spacer itself. So, in a vehicle, you have not changed the function of the spring. Back to the car - You have however changed the angle of drop arms and drive shafts, kerb/ride height of the chassis and working range of the shocks.

Shocks - As I mentioned in an earlier reply, adding spacers and changing nothing else, you are extending ride position of the shocks by as much as the thickness of the spacer you are adding. The spring will not be any more compressed at this amount. It means that at full extension, or wheel droop (which is set by the limit of the shock absorber), the spring will be more compressed than it was without the spacer. Meaning, you are gaining 20mm of ride height but losing 20mm of overall suspension travel (depending on bumpstops and when the spring binds).

[Charlie Brown]

thanks for that Bugsta that makes much more sense now! =) and yeah DH im not sure, they are for a 2"spring lift so I think that it wouldnt drop any more than it would before.

thanks guys =)