Body lift - Worth it? - 4WD Trip | Your 4WD Trip Companion

28 Mar 2017

I have a 2009 d22. I have a 3 inch snake racing suspension lift in early on & now running 33 Mickey T muddies. I still get a little scrub when going hard at full lock. I still have a 2 inch body lift kit brand new sitting in my garage. Not ......

Yeah I looked into that kit. Was it easy install and how do you find it?

Thurstain (Tcm9669)

28 Mar 2017

() wrote:

Some diff drop kits come with new arms that correct the geometry . I have seen a Hilux with the axle attached below the leaf springs and ball joints flipped . It also had taller flexicoil springs up front with longer travel shocks and that gave......

Yeah I have seen some crazy hiluxes out there, but mostly they have some insane illegal shit and I'm trying to keep mine within legal parameters as possible.

The diff drop kit I saw for navara didn't come with new arms but I'd buy after market ones anyway to get extra lift.. My main concern is I hope diff drop doesn't get in the way of my underbody protection

Nathan (MrWolf)

28 Mar 2017

Thurstain (Tcm9669) wrote:

Yeah I looked into that kit. Was it easy install and how do you find it?

Admittedly I had a mechanic mate assist me with it as I had never attempted anything like this on any of my 4x4's before. But it was really simple to complete. I am really happy with the results that the snake kit gave me. But even though it was a 3 inch lift kit, I reckon I have about 2.5 inches as it has dropped a bit when it has settled in over last couple years. It's been about 2 years since I first did it. Only put 33 Tyres on it less than 12 months ago.

Keeps it all legal too

But really happy.

Thurstain (Tcm9669)

28 Mar 2017

Nathan (MrWolf) wrote:

Thanks for your feedback, I want to keep it legal too. Will look into what's involved in getting it done as probably I'll do it myself unless it requires something special.

Did you do any guard chop for the 33s? Any idea what rim offset you have?

Matthew (discomatt)

28 Mar 2017

I have no idea what is involved to do a body lift to your car so no comment re technical stuff but body lifts are illegal end of story so must be engineered, big $$$ for what you want or will get, 1 inch bigger tyre so 12 mm extra clearance under your car, nothing in the big picture.

Another issue, in Australia the laws regarding mods and engineering are only state specific so when for example next weekend we drive into SA your car is now totally illegal.

Another thing to consider, after years of 4wding I still learn every time I go out and hopefully become a better off roader every trip and have only ever met maybe half a dozen people that can get the very best ot of their car. Learn to get the best out of your car...

Lock the front and rear and you will go 99.9 % of places that someone with 35's can go, picking lines is the biggest thing when doing extreem off roading.

As far as trips requiring 33's , there are not that many and once people get to know other capabillity exceptions will / can be made , as far as I know there is only one princess on the site that gets really hung up with tyre sizing... ( a good 4wder in a car on 32's will / can do tracks easier than someone on 35's with NFI )

Another option, buy a Pootrol if you want a weekend toy for tough tracks and it will be more capable than a Navara what ever mods and $$ you throw at it.

Not saying don't do it just think long and hard about all the options...

Thurstain (Tcm9669)

28 Mar 2017

Matthew (discomatt) wrote:

As I mentioned in the first post, I spoke to an engineer already about the body lift. I want to keep my car legal as I mentioned already.

I thought about the state thing, but my take on that is that my car is registered in Victoria and legal in Victoria. I don't see how a south Australian police officer is going to give me a canary as when I go back to department of transport (Vic) they will clear it as it's engineered.

Well sometimes this whole big tyre thing gets quite frustrating, but at the end of the day I want the trip leaders to be confident in the cars they are taking with them and I don't wanna be "that guy".. If a leader wants 33s then I have to pass which is annoying sometimes.

I thought about a patrol, and looked into a few but not really they way I want to go. I'm not trying to turn my navara into a patrol. My navara is my project and hobby and I'm always tinkering with it, this is something I wanted to look into but firstly I'll put the front locker in and see how I go after a few trips.

Nathan (MrWolf)

28 Mar 2017

Thurstain (Tcm9669) wrote:

Once I found out how easy it was to do snake lift kit I would definitely do again. Yes there was minor guard chop.

http://s232.photobucket.com/user/tommy222220_0/media/IMAG0053.jpg.html?sort=3&o=17

this is link to photos of another guy that did guard chop. I used his pics as guide but didn't cut as much off my guard. Just trim the weld joint in half. Remember easier to go back & trim more if required. Not possible to go back if you trim to much. I put plastic guards back on my d22. The rub I get is from plastic mound of guard not the metal as I trimmed enough.

Nathan (MrWolf)

28 Mar 2017

Thurstain (Tcm9669) wrote:

The rims I got are ...

%5BURL=http://s345.photobucket.com/user/MrWolf74/media/IMG_2402_zpspssldgvi.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p392/MrWolf74/IMG_2402_zpspssldgvi.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

As I stated I upgraded to Mickey T muddies. Best thing I ever invested in. Even for road travel I haven't had any issues.

Thurstain (Tcm9669)

28 Mar 2017

Nathan (MrWolf) wrote:

The rims I got are ...

%5BURL=http://s345.photobucket.com/user/MrWolf74/media/IMG_2402_zpspssldgvi.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p392/MrWolf74/IMG_2402_zpspssldgvi.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

As I stat......

Thanks. Your rims link is not working for me saying not found.

As for the guard chop, thanks.

I'm thinking to change the uca its tyres off, shocks off, upper ball joint disconnected, undo uca bolts and should come off? No need to stuff around with CV?

Allan (allanmac)

28 Mar 2017

Thurstain, no disrespect but not sure why you want to make massive changes to your car. I get the impression that you want to 'go play' with the big boys going on what you want to do. Yes, there is the ocassional trip that requires 33+ tyres, lockers big lift etc etc, but majority of trips are suited to vehicles without the big modifications. For example, on most of my trips 31" tyres are suitable and we tend to do the odd hardish track. Admit there is the odd time that I stipulate 32's as a minimum, but rarely. I notice you like participating in a variety of different trips, from touring to sand etc etc, so why go all out and have a vehicle that generally will be a pig to drive just so you can participate in the odd extra hard trip.... Stick with the 32's, forget the body lift etc etc and just get a front locker. Much cheaper and your vehicle will be capable of doing the majority of 4wd tracks/destinations we have available.

()

28 Mar 2017

Allan (allanmac) wrote:

Thurstain (Tcm9669)

28 Mar 2017

Allan (allanmac) wrote:

Well my navara is only a play car but I do want it to stay comfortable as I do long road trips.

I'm not looking at doing Ellis track or anything like that but definitely I would like to handle more technical tracks with confidence. So far the navara has been reliable and never let me down. Always went on trips and did every track and went back home in one piece.. I just want to do things a bit more technical and go up the hard line not the chicken track... Pretty much that's what I'm aiming.

I have a rear LSD atm and front locker sitting in the shed waiting to go in.

()

28 Mar 2017

Matthew (discomatt) wrote:

Couldn't agree more!

just one correction regards interstate compliance - as long as you are visiting another state they can't ping you if they have different rules than the state of registration (as long as it is compliant at home). Different cattle of fish if you move state.

()

28 Mar 2017

Thurstain (Tcm9669) wrote:

Where you can go is always a combination of vehicle capabilities and driver skills, whereby driver skills should be just a touch lower than vehicle capabilities (for safety sake).

i've seen nearly stock 4WDs make big mods 4WDs look like losers. There is much more to off-roading than mods.

key principle is "as slow as possible, as fast as necessary" - combine that with "get out and have look" to pick the right line and you are laughing (and you will be safe)

Matthew (discomatt)

28 Mar 2017

A lot of great advice here, I can see a few good camp fire discussions over the weekend on the " mod toppic "