Suspension mod

[The Gov]

Hello folkes im new to surfs and know very little about them , i bought my 2.4 manual last year , it seemed a good motor then after couple of months the head cracked in 3 places between the ports as they all seem to do but at the time i thought it was just a head gasket and dumped the motor in the yard and used another until i had time to take a look , well that was october and last month " may " i thought i better take a look so i pulled the head off and found it was naffed . I bought a new one from ebay with cam installed ready to go for around £260 , plonked it on with a new gasket from main dealers £65 and the jobs a goodun , the only problem i had was an injector seal cracked when putting them back so it was drawing air and giving a huge knock on the number 4 cylinder which was very worrying after installing a new head and timing a surf for the first time only to hear this trajic metalic banging sound but its all sorted now with a new set of top and bottom seals from ebay £7.50. Any way im looking to put some bigger wheels under it and have been looking at ways of lifting it , i have ordered a 2" bodylift kit and a pair of +2" uprated rear springs which should sort the back end but for the front end i was looking at balljoint spacers and diff spacers etc , ive seen a set on ebay but they look a bit cheap and nasty to be honest and for £65 ! My plan is to make them myself cheaply using 1/2" ally plate with 1 1/2" of polyethelene board behind , hopefully it will work fine but if anyone thinks its a stupid idea let me know why please so i can rethink my plan before i start lol. The main question im asking is if a put a 2" spacer above the top ball joint does the sway bar and diff have to be dropped by the same amount , also does anyone have a link for step by step instructions on cranking the torsion bars preferebly with pics , many thanks The Gov

[TonyN]

Don't put more that 1 1/2" spacer under the ball joint, 2" is to much, you'll never get the tracking right and it'll eat steering parts and CVs/gaiters if oyu use it regularly.

I wouldn't use anything but steel on the high impact side of the suspension, doubley so on anything that is pushing associated parts far beyond how they are designed to work like spacers do.

[The Gov]

Thanks Tony , do you mean using steel for these pentagon shape spacers as all the ones the i have seen are made of aluminium ,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3306359876...84.m1423.l2649
Im not sure but those spacers look like 5 pieces of 10mm alu making 2" , is this not functional ?

Sorry for the dumb questions but i thought it better to ask now before i wreck something

[TonyN]

I've never seen alloy ones, hard to tell from that pic.

Views on material was my opinion, not fact. They will take full impact from potholes and the like when driving, I wouldn't fancy any squishy material like normal alloy under the ball joint, let alone plastic, maybe over cautious, but on any steering/suspension issue better that than the outside chance of anything going wrong.

What is fact is 2" ball joint spacers are too much for reliable use.

Don't try and save money lifting a truck, do it properly, if anything breaks you're neck is on the line if the insurance co decide it wasn't safe.

[wishbone]

My 3/4" spacers from 4crawler have done me fine for a couple of years. They are an alloy of some sort.

[Growler]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3306359876...84.m1423.l2649
Im not sure but those spacers look like 5 pieces of 10mm alu making 2"

Those are very similar to the ones Outrageous off road used to sell and all five plates do make a 2" spacer. I have a set of these waiting to go on my truck and will not be going any more than 40mm, the 50mm option just looks to big.

I've never seen alloy ones, hard to tell from that pic.

From the state of them i would think they are 10mm Steel plate and not protected against corrosion from the look of things.

What is fact is 2" ball joint spacers are too much for reliable use.

My 3/4" spacers from 4crawler have done me fine for a couple of years. They are an alloy of some sort.

But they are a solid mass not multiple plates as in the advert, IMO I feel they could have a small amount of movement when used hard off roading, given time and abuse

[andy_enuff]

I happen to have 4 10mm spacers sitting about for a Gen 2....

Needless to say, having previously done the lift, analysing the effects of just a 40mm lift and returning back to 30mm, I can say the following:

• The steering ball joints hit almost maximum limit when steering full lock and tend to knock the adjusters on the subframe if they are evn slighty out of place (which you use way more than you realise I bet)... and will ruin the ball joints
• The CV joints reach maximum extension when the suspension at full extension
• The CV joints can be clearly felt to bind when you try and turn the wheels when the car is jacked up (the wheels hardly drop any further if you have tightened up the torsion bars) which means under normal driving they are being hammered all the time.
• When CV boots at this angle wear right through the 1st or second largest 'rib' because of the angles
• Removal of the CV joints to do the boots (after only 2 months of having 40mm fitted) showed that one of the joints had been binding so much that it had rounded off the edge of the receiver cup into which the ball joints fit...
• The tracking and camber were almost impossible to get right too, only JUST within limits if the garage played with it for ages, but it looked kinda wrong
• Larger diameter dampers start to rub on the mountings of the bump stops.
• Anti-roll bar becomes over stretched and becomes a pointless device thus increasing body roll (good for offroad, not necessarily for a daily driver)

All in all, not massively recommended. All in all, rather nasty - the IFS isn't really designed for large lifts tbh, but you can get around some of these.

• Drop the diff using diff drop spacers (but depending on your exhaust set-up you may find that the fron prop shaft then rubs on the exhaust pipe heavily)
• Drop the Anti roll bar using poly or metal blocks
• Don't adjust the torsion bars for extra height
• Don't steer :P

Not saying don't, just saying beware :P

Tony DID tell me, but I wanted to see exactly what he meant...

If you are going to really hard off road it... consider your wallet - if that is not a problem, then fine, but you might be better getting a solid front axle, or an actual hilux pickup with one that you can lift hugely :P

[TonyN]

My 3/4" spacers from 4crawler have done me fine for a couple of years. They are an alloy of some sort.

Yeah, you're right, I've used lots of these in the past, just forgot since they're now available over here easily.



Still stand by the steel ones out of preference though.

[The Gov]

Yeah, you're right, I've used lots of these in the past, just forgot since they're now available over here easily.



Still stand by the steel ones out of preference though.

I have taken your advice and have taken a template to a local engineering workshop to have some steel 1" spacers made , finding bolts for all the bits has been a nightmare but i have found them now , i decided whilst its stripped down i would change most parts so ive replaced the outer cv joints , upper and lower ball joints , drop links , roll bar bushes , ive fitted the new rear springs +2" and the 2" body lift kit , made brackets for the front bumper so its under the lights again but i have brought it forward 3" so i can have plenty of clearance around the front wheels and the full bumper out the front makes a handy place to fix some spots into between the headlights " maybe not everyones cuppa but it works for me " , and the new tyres have arrived , i eventually decided to get 32 11.50 15 and my rims have been dropped off to be powder coated matt black and should be done for tomorrow , just waiting for the ball joint spacers etc to be ready and i still have to drop the rad 2" and pop the tyres on balanced etc and fingers crossed the jobs a goodun

[KERRSURF]

You probably know this already but all you get from lifting is a bit better articulation and with bigger tyres you get a bit of a lift at the diffs. To be honest I don't think all the expense is really worth it.
I off roaded my standard truck a lot, just had decent AT's fitted.
I did all the bodylift, suspension lift, free wheeling hubs, 33" muds etc. The truck looked great but apart from a bit better traction because of the tyres and some more articulation in the really deep stuff it didn't perform as well as I thought it might. If I was going off roading again I would just buy a Jimny and modify it, and keep it for this purpose.
A much more fun and capable truck IMHO.

[The Gov]