2inch bodylift on 2nd gen

[JimL]

Author(me) is a pure cowboy and doesnt put himself forward as an expert on bodylifts so read on and let the blind lead the blind...all at your own risk

Tools I used :
Large can of loosener e.g. WD40
2 jacks (bottle jacks are fine, surf jack is great)
Ratchet set, normal 12 & 14mm sockets, extension bars.
Deep well 14mm socket
Breaker bar

I used a Roger brown 2" lift kit: (2nd gen 2" HD/HW)

10 spacers

10 bolts and locknuts heavy duty grade

4 radiator drop brackets

2 front bumper raise brackets

Locate all 10 body mounts on your surf. Taking the passenger side first, the front one (1) is just behind the front bumper on the chassis rail. Next one back (2) is just behind the front mudflap and, inside its where your front passengers left foot would be under the dash. Next (3) is almost in line with the front seat rear anchor bolt. Next (4) is just in front of the rear wheel well and, inside its just below the rear passenger's seatbelt anchor. Last one (5) is just inside the tailgate beside the luggage hook in the carpet.

Locate the body mounts for the side steps (3 per step). Removing the steps gives you space & daylight to make this job tidy.

Locate the radiator 4 mount bolts also locating the radiator shroud

screws.

Locate the 4 front bumper bolts, 2 on each chassis rail mount, can be easily seen from underneath. Also locate the side bumper retainers. They are accessed in the wheel well where there is a hole in the lining thru which you can unbolt the retaining nut.

Locate the steering shaft in the engine bay. There are 2 bolted clamps at either end of the shaft. Mark the position of the clamps on your steering shaft with paint or tipex. There is a slight that the splined bar inside the clamp could slip out altogether and markings would aid refitting correctly. They also indicate how far the shaft has elongated.

.....contd in post #3, couldnt fit whole text in one post

[gemini]

keeping busy then jim, excellent write up, 5 stars, bet you can't wait till its back on the road

[JimL]

contd from post #1

Wirebrush the body mount bolts and sidestep bolts. Spray all the bolts and nuts and screws with loosener regularly for the week prior to beginning your lift. Everything moves freely once this is done.

Remove the front bumper and valance.

Now loosen the bolt on the top steering column clamp (12mm with extension bar). I also loosened the lower clamp at the other end of the column but the top clamp and spline should be enough. I found that for the spline to adjust freely, I had to take the bolt out altogether. For a 2" lift, previous lifters have said that the spline should slip out half and inch and anymore than that would be too much. In that case a modified joint or shaft would be necessary.

Do the radiator now. (I removed mine altogether and did a cambelt change and all drivebelts change while the rad was out.) I opened the drain plug at the bottom of the rad and the pressure cap near the top. Drained into a bucket. I disconnected the bottom and top hoses. I removed the radiator shroud then the radiator itself, 3 screws for the shroud, 4 bolts for the rad. Fit the new drop brackets to the body, then fit the radiator to the new brackets.

Remove the sidesteps on both sides by unbolting the hangers holding each step on. Do this, its worth it.


Inside the surf, you need to get under the carpet to find the tops of each bolt (see the pics at the top of this article). They are accessed thru 3" holes in the floor which have black caps covering them. For bolts 2 & 3 you need to remove the plastic trim strip along the doorway. For bolt 2 you also need to remove the front kickpanel to the left of the footwell - notice the almighty ECU unit on left hand wall! Pull back the carpet just enough to see the black cap. For bolt 3 you need to snap off the grey plastic seatbelt anchor cover. Then pull up the carpet gently to see the black cap, carpet can tear here. Bolt 4 is even easier than the others and is found under the rear seat in front of the wheel arch. Bolt 5 is easiest of all in the very corner of the cargo area, pull the carpet out from the corner to find the black cap close to the slit for the luggage hook.

Its best to lift one side at a time so that all bolts arent loose at the one time eliminating the chance that the body could shift on the frame. Starting at the front loosen mount bolt no.1 on the chassis rail with a breaker bar and 14mm deep well socket. You will need to put a 14mm socket and ratchet on the head of the bolt to stop it spinning. As you do each of the 5 bolts on that side, catch any rubber bushing which comes down with the nut (i.e. on bolts 1/4/5). Washers come down with every nut and must be kept for the new bolts. The bushings and washers are reusable and very strong so leave them respective to their original positions. (On the far side, crack open and loosen slightly the nuts on the far side but dont slacken them off altogether, this minimises stress on the body when the other side goes up).

Now take out the old bolts. Bolts 1 & 2 came out easily, their top captive washers being small. However bolts 3/4/5 have larger captive washers, they might need some coaxing to get them out thru the holes in the body floor. With all bolts out, take off the captive washers. If you place the bolt upsidedown on top of a vice with the washer on top of the jaws and the head loosely between them, hit the bolt end with a lump hammer and the bolt will go down and out after 2 or 3 taps.

Heres a snap of how the old bolts looked complete with their bushings and top and bottom washers.

Lay out the new bolts beside the surf noting there are 3 different lengths of new bolt. The shortest goes to mount 1, the medium length ones go to mounts 2 & 3, and the longest go to 4 & 5. Fit the old top washers to their respective new bolt and leave alongside their respective body mount with any bushings and washers that went with the old fittings.

I have seen past photographs of people jacking up the body with one jack in the middle or even one in the rear wheel arch. Its up to you. You need to find a spot between body mounts where you can put a block of wood (to spread the stress) on top of a jack and then lift. I chose to use 2 jacks when doing the passenger side first. I put one behind the front wheel and the other sitting on top of the rear wheel. (I couldnt do the same on the drivers side though because due to the fuel filler neck there is no reliable strongpoint above the drivers side rear wheel arch. I just jacked between the rear wheel and mount 3, and between 2 and 3 although both jacks kept on outdoing the other.) I noticed no problems as I jacked the body up 2 inches and just high enough so I could slip my spacers in between the body and frame at each mount.

Drop the newly washered bolts down from the inside.Fit the nuts up to each bolt along with any bushings and the washers which go with them.

You can lower the body down onto the spacers now, and remove the jacks. The nuts are locknuts so handtightening isnt an option but dont overtighten with tools because you still need to lift the far side so slight pivotal movement is necessary.

Now you can move over to the other side of the vehicle and complete the bodylift.

Keep an eye on the steering column. The shaft and clamp should have separated approx half an inch, if not find out why. A good way of telling whether the column is under stress is a look at the rubber donut washer between the two halves of the column. The donut should be almost flat in appearance, not wavey or warped.

When both sides are done complete with spacers installed, bushings and
washers, nuts slightly tight, jacks removed, you can now torque up the
locknuts on each bolt. According to Roger Browns research, it seems 20-30 ft lbs of torque should be enough. I used my breaker bar on the bolt head inside to stop the bolt spinning as you tighten. Place the bar close to a panel and it just stops against it. Double check your steering bolts have been tightened up again.

Update 25/2/05:
When I went to stick the radiator back in I had to do 4 grinds on it approx the size of 4 pennies, and bend two hooks back (pics were taken).
Also the clutch slave cylinder hose was tight so I replaced it with a brake hose which is longer than the clutch hose.
Now the fuel tank neck, I developed a leak between the filler and the tank. A rubber sleeve joins the filler downpipe and the neck of the tank. Turned out the bottom clip on the sleeve let go and when I filled at the pump there was a leakage. Its not a big job to fix this its just tight and involves removing the access panel inside the rear drivers side wheel arch. Theres also a clamp holding the neck in place and the clamp is bolted onto the chassis. 1 hours work for this, I have pics which are helpful if needs be.
The gearstick and transfer lever did drop 2 inches because of this mod. Ideally you would want to go to an engineering workshop and get them to weld in 2" of steel vertically at the bottom of the sticks, so that they pass thru the heavy rubber accordion boots. I drove for a year without the boots fitted because they pull the gearstick in unusual ways, even out of gear, hence the need for the weld-in.

[da SLUG man]

i feel so guilty!...

my write up would be... undo old bolts... jack up... put in new bolts... take steering apart (after waiting 6 weeks for dry day!) take it to welder get it welded... undo new bolts and jack up again!... replace steering column... tighten all bolts... drive like you stole it... tighten bolts again... someday replace interior trim...

[JimL]

Yeh I know. I need help, wheres my tablets.

Interior trim, ooooh havent gone there yet,

[Delboy]

Jaypers man, you've been busy. Makes me want to take mine out and reinstall it. : Good work! Any pics of the final result?

[JimL]

Jaypers man, you've been busy. Makes me want to take mine out and reinstall it. : Good work! Any pics of the final result?

well if you want to see it as it looks tonite...

am waiting for BackupBob to swop me his 31's for my 215's, he sold his '89, stuck my rubber on it, and is givin me the half worn 31's off his new '94 3 ltr Also my injectors are in Lanesborough Co Roscommon but they've been given the thumbsup by the lads there who tested them and then theres no battery titter titter (not)

[Delboy]

Should look pretty great when your finished!

[Guest]

Jim.

If you don't mind, I've copied this into a Word document and will post it on the website in the technical files section if that is OK with you.

Cheers

[dandownunder]

Guys, just to let you know there is a very detailed write up on the Assie Surf Technical site that is being created.
Address for the main site http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/techsite/
Address for the body lift http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/techsit...t/bodylift.htm

A good modification
Good write up though
cheers
Dan.

[marky]

Dan very usefull mate love the pics as well (beer is a must) im about to lift my suspension by 2 inches. is that your truck in the photo mate

[JimL]

Guys, just to let you know there is a very detailed write up on the Assie Surf Technical site that is being created.
Address for the main site http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/techsite/
Address for the body lift http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/techsit...t/bodylift.htm

A good modification
Good write up though
cheers
Dan.

Thanks Dan, you've a great truck down there I've seen your website a few months back, even took one of your photos (the one of the sea and cliffs somewhere) and set it as the background on my desktop. I did notice that you forgot to mention the steering shaft stuff

[JimL]

Also, I went to stick the radiator back in the other day and had to do 4 grinds on it approx the size of 4 pennies, and bend two hooks back (pics were taken). Another thing, my fuel filter to pump line is very tight now and in the short term I need to replace it with a longer one. Also the clutch slave cylinder hose is tight too and remains to be seen whether this needs extending.

[dandownunder]

cheers guys, yeah, realise i have forgotten to mention the shaft, will try and add something in there. and yep, thats my surf in the pic for my icon .
Am actually from the Uk, moved down to Aus three years ago, bit warmer !!
keep up the good work guys and keep lifting those surfs !
cheers
Dan.

[vinnie]

does this mod affect the position of the gear levers in any way