Bodylift c/o Animal

[Rustinho]

First up - HUGE thanks must go to Mr Animal for basically doing the body lift for me! I helped out where I could and having been walked through it I'd certainly be willing to help other folks out who want to do the same thing. Thanks Steve - I really appreciate it.

Secondly - equally huge thanks must go to Mrs Animal for providing cups of tea!

Thirdly - and this will be the bit Mr Animal will be waiting with baited breath for - pictures:

Front on, 2" bodylift, still on 265/70/15s



Side on, 2" bodylift, still on 265/70/15s



Rear on, 2" bodylift, still on 265/70/15s



Front on, 2" bodylift, 33s



Side on, 2" bodylift, 33s



Rear on, 2" bodylift, 33s



The photos with 33s on are a bit on the dodgy side because it was going dark but I'm sure they're good enough for now.

From a driving point of view the truck feels absolutely glued to the road compared to the old tyres. Whether that is just the difference between General Grabber ATs and Nexen ATs or if its because the GGs are wider.

[animal]

Thanks mate, I'm glad I could help you. Your trucks looking awesome now.

Was pretty straight forward to do except for it ####ing down for 10 minutes, then being told our lives would be better if we allowed god into them Lmfao .

[VidaMusic]

Woo hoo!! Same tyres as mine brother!
Looking awesome now mate, another trip up our way then?!!

[madmanc]

very nice work there mate

[tintin]

Looking great Rusty!
Nice work Animal.


Alan

[madcampbell]

Hey Rusty that looks great, how much did it cost to do lift and new wheels/tyres ?

Mark

[Rustinho]

Hey Rusty that looks great, how much did it cost to do lift and new wheels/tyres ?

Mark

The lifting blocks were the 2" ones from Xpajun at £56 a set (cheaper than the price on their eBay shop if you want to save a few quid)

The rad brackets were kindly donated by a forum member some time ago (thanks Mr Wishbone!) who had them spare.

The tyres were from Charles at JCS in Nottingham. His eBay item for them is here. He was very friendly to deal with directly and seems to know his stuff fairly well.

Apart from that it was just a bit of fuel to travel to Kidderminster to visit Mr Animal for help.

[flounderbout]

Looking great. It looks so odd with a body lift and 31's, and then just looks perfect with 33s! Nice job guys!

[Apache]

Aesthetically, 33's on a 2nd gen are the best combo. Bigger than 33 just looks out of proportion, but 33's look proper businesslike.

Looks great

[flounderbout]

Aesthetically, 33's on a 2nd gen are the best combo. Bigger than 33 just looks out of proportion, but 33's look proper businesslike.

Looks great

Can't wait to see mine!

[Rustinho]

Looking great. It looks so odd with a body lift and 31's, and then just looks perfect with 33s! Nice job guys!

They weren't even 31s! The previous tyres were 265/70/15s (effectively 29.5s).

It's certainly a bit more of a climb to get into now!

[flounderbout]

They weren't even 31s! The previous tyres were 265/70/15s (effectively 29.5s).

It's certainly a bit more of a climb to get into now!

That explains it then! I thought they looked a bit titchy little! Looks perfect now though.

As for getting in, just use the ladder to climb up on the roof, then slide in through the windows...

[Rustinho]

That explains it then! I thought they looked a bit titchy little! Looks perfect now though.

As for getting in, just use the ladder to climb up on the roof, then slide in through the windows...

(or the sunroof!)

[Tjillard]

Sorry for the late post - Truck is looking very nice with the 2 inch body lift and 33 inch tyres. this is what i want to do to mine but wanted to know if the way it drives has been affected too much? I like the way mine drives in standard form so didn't want to ruin it too much.

also have you left the suspension as standard height?

thanks

[Rustinho]

Sorry for the late post - Truck is looking very nice with the 2 inch body lift and 33 inch tyres. this is what i want to do to mine but wanted to know if the way it drives has been affected too much? I like the way mine drives in standard form so didn't want to ruin it too much.

also have you left the suspension as standard height?

thanks

To get 33s on you will need at least 4" of lift (at least I believe that's what the generally considered wisdom on the forum seems to be). Most folks seem to do that with a 2" body lift and a 2" suspension lift (or 3" suspension lift if you go the Landcruiser springs route).

I have +2" Roughtrax springs & shocks (the springs give a little less than +2" once they're settled - I'd guess something like 1-1½"), 50mm coil spacers (ie just under 2") at the rear and the front raised to match (1" diff spacers at the front as well as manual hubs at the front to save on CV damage/wear)

In terms of how it drives on the road - yes it does make a difference. The steering isn't noticably different but it's definitely slightly lacking in power. Top speed is down and it struggles a little up long steep hills on the motorway (tops out at about 60mph).

As long as you're willing to take it easy and allow extra time for your journeys it's fine. Fuel economy takes a bit of a hit too, although not as much as I first thought.

I used to get about 25mpg before the 33s were fitted. Accounting for the change in tyre diameter (the speedometer used to over-read by about 10% but is now pretty much spot on) that would equate to about 22-23mpg. Initially I was getting about 15 or 16mpg! After adapting to the lower power and changing how I drive (just generally taking it a lot easier with the throttle cos it doesn't make any difference!) I was getting a smidge more than that. Since I've had a new (2nd hand) turbo put on it the truck is returning a bit more like 19-20mpg ish.

It's excellent in terms of extra ground clearance now (probably about 6" extra) and short of maybe re-gearing it (if I can be bothered!) to make it a bit more drivable on the road I don't think there is an awful lot more I'm likely to want (locking diffs maybe?!)

The negative changes I've mentioned ought to be less noticable on a 3.0 - perhaps some of the free leeter guys might be able to offer advice there? If I were to buy my Surf over again I would definitely have held out til a good 3.0 came along so you're starting on a good footing!