3rd gen lift

[kpautos]

hi all a quick first question on the forum, i have just aquired a 96 3rd gen surf and am looking at lifting it up a bit, not interested in body lift so its the suspension that i am interested in, now i know that roughtrax have a kit for my vehicle[4 springs/shocks+2 inches] retailing at £350+ vat, my experience with them in the past has been nothing but good so not running them down in any way its just that i cant seem to find anyone else at all selling these parts or parts that d0 the same job, has anyone else gone around this another way, perhaps with 2" blocks or a different kit from another supplier, all i am doing is trying to get as much as i can for as little as possible, nothing wrong with that is there??!!, thanks for any reply, regards, kirk.

[BUSHWHACKER]

It's safer to buy a matched kit rather than a mish-mash of parts isn't it?


Hello by the way and welcome on board, enjoy your stay.

[kpautos]

It's safer to buy a matched kit rather than a mish-mash of parts isn't it?


Hello by the way and welcome on board, enjoy your stay.

yes its just that i can only seem to find one firm who sell it, not like when i work on landrovers and can choose from several[hundred] suppliers, i just wondered if anyone else had used any other method/supplier, thanks for the welcome by the way!

[Dara]

sorry for the hijack.
id like to know the same myself other than roughtrax i can only find american suppliers who either wont ship or want crazy money for shipping

[surfenstein]

Hi and welcome to the forum,we tried to develop a kit but due to lack of interest we binned the prototype.Basically it consisted of a set of blocks that fitted between the top of the strut and inner wing and for the rear a set of lift blocks for the coils.

[kpautos]

Hi and welcome to the forum,we tried to develop a kit but due to lack of interest we binned the prototype.Basically it consisted of a set of blocks that fitted between the top of the strut and inner wing and for the rear a set of lift blocks for the coils.

yes i could see that working, could be fabricated from some ally or even that really hard rubber, i dont suppose that its still in the bin is it??!!

not only that, the kit is comprised of springs from one well known firm and shocks from another, so out there somewhere are part numbers, at least that way we could try and source them from other places, again i have nothing againsed r/trax its just frustrating that its the only option, at the end of the day i will more than likely buy that kit, its just that i like a grumble!!

[brett_mil]

I believe your only options are Roughtrax (who recently engaged with a swedish company to produce a new set of springs for the kit). Not sure why they did that, but all I can say is I have the previous set of springs and whilst they did give 2" of lift initially, they have settled back down to the stock height after 1 year of use. I have no idea how good the new springs are, but the company that are making them do seem to have a good reputation.

The second option is to go with the OME kit which is probably one of the best aftermarket suppliers, however you do have to pay for the quality. (approx £800 for a full spring and shock set)

There is no OME kit specifically for the 3rd Gen, but the Colorado ones seem to be used by most of the guys on Yotatech:

OME 881 Front Coil Spring Set: 1.75 - 2" lift
OME 882 Front Coil Spring Set: Firmer springs - 2.25" lift
OME 906 Rear Coil Set: 2" lift
OME 890 Rear Coil Set: 2.5" lift
OME 891 Rear Coil Set: Firmer springs - 2.5" lift

Seems the favourite is to go with the 881 & 906 set.

Of course these will need the +2 shocks, of which the following OME versions will do:

Front:
OME 90004
or
OME N91SC

Rear:
OME 60027
or
OME 60028
or
OME N86C

The OME Springs sets are available from TBR and are actually for the Colorado.

Good luck!

[kpautos]

I believe your only options are Roughtrax (who recently engaged with a swedish company to produce a new set of springs for the kit). Not sure why they did that, but all I can say is I have the previous set of springs and whilst they did give 2" of lift initially, they have settled back down to the stock height after 1 year of use. I have no idea how good the new springs are, but the company that are making them do seem to have a good reputation.

The second option is to go with the OME kit which is probably one of the best aftermarket suppliers, however you do have to pay for the quality. (approx £800 for a full spring and shock set)

There is no OME kit specifically for the 3rd Gen, but the Colorado ones seem to be used by most of the guys on Yotatech:

OME 881 Front Coil Spring Set: 1.75 - 2" lift
OME 882 Front Coil Spring Set: Firmer springs - 2.25" lift
OME 906 Rear Coil Set: 2" lift
OME 890 Rear Coil Set: 2.5" lift
OME 891 Rear Coil Set: Firmer springs - 2.5" lift

Seems the favourite is to go with the 881 & 906 set.

Of course these will need the +2 shocks, of which the following OME versions will do:

Front:
OME 90004
or
OME N91SC

Rear:
OME 60027
or
OME 60028
or
OME N86C

The OME Springs sets are available from TBR and are actually for the Colorado.

Good luck!

thanks for that, a lot of effort went in, i would be well dissapointed if i spent 350 plus the dreaded and they sunk back down after a while, i think i have a landy ally block round here somewhere may look into adapting that, will post if succesfull.

[TonyN]

Just remember any block you use is no different to fitting a body lift. You don't get any extra firmness in the shocks or springs as they are still stock to allow for the extra height of the truck to resist rolling on corners.

Don't forget TJM, they do fantastic quality kit :dealer head on: but are expensive compared to the Roughtrax kit, but worth it.

The Roughtrax kit is the best value for money, and I'm very impressed with the Monroe shocks they are now using.

[Bogus]

Ive got the Roughtrax kit fitted and think its OK in terms of value and quality. If you fit blocks, as a cheaper option, youve got the lift but youre still on stock shocks. I suppose that means you could just buy the R/T springs and forget the longer shocks. Same lift for half the price and you still get the effect of some extra firmness from your springs, although you run the risk of the shocks " topping out" under some circumstances. Have you tried R/T to see if the springs are available separately ??

Bogus

[kpautos]

Ive got the Roughtrax kit fitted and think its OK in terms of value and quality. If you fit blocks, as a cheaper option, youve got the lift but youre still on stock shocks. I suppose that means you could just buy the R/T springs and forget the longer shocks. Same lift for half the price and you still get the effect of some extra firmness from your springs, although you run the risk of the shocks " topping out" under some circumstances. Have you tried R/T to see if the springs are available separately ??

Bogus

no when i phoned r/t they said that the kit is only available as a whole kit, i would hope that individual parts could be bought as a seperate item if anything were to break, as my use of this vehicle is mostly for greenlane/off road i am not at all bothered about the ride in terms of cornering ect, i would just like as much ground clearance for as little money as possible! hope that makes sense, regards, kirk

[kpautos]

just been looking at front end and it looks possible to reconfigure the lower arm shock mount into a higher position, this would acheive the lift in the same way as fitting blocks at the top end of the spring, has anyone else tried/owned up to such a mod?

[TonyN]

Not without cutting/welding stuff.

The front struts take a lot of stick, I seen 2 or 3 that the bottom spring perch has ripped off the shock body when under load, one was a Rancho strut and mystery others.

Be sure you know what you're doing when messing with it, or just fit proven stuff. If it breaks at 70mph on the motorway and you wipe out others you'll have some explaining to do and trouble sleeping at night.

The Roughtrax kit really isn't expensive for what you get, and save lots of buggering around.

[kpautos]

yes i will take that on board, the only issue that i have with the r/t kit is that earlier on in this post there was a chap who had fitted 2nd gen lift kit at the rear and after a year it had "sunk" back to the original height and after talking to the last owner of my vehicle and going through the invoices provided it turns out that i have had two front coilsprings +2 inch fitted to mine about 3 years ago, the point is that its now the exact same height as a standard one that a mate owns, in there defence, seemingly they have started to use lesjofors who are a world famous spring company who i have used before so they may be a lot better quality ect, it would be nice to speak to someone who has fitted this kit some time ago to see how it is performing, i just dont want to throw 350+vat+delivery down the spout! thanks again for all of your imputs, regards, kirk

[TonyN]

They've been using Lesjofors for coils at least 3-4 years, maybe longer, Barry stopped using Procomp rear coils for 2nd Gens years ago.



Coils do settle in time, I've had Procomp, lesjofors, and Superlift coils on my trucks, all are lower than when fitted, but I tow heavy trailers, flex the hell out of them offroad and have lots of crap in truck, I regularly see a truck that I fitted Procomp coils to about 4 years ago and it never carries anything in back, and is way higher at the back than mine, when they used to be the same.

TJM ones have stood up well to sagging, but most people baulk at the price, when others are 1/2 as much, but you do get what you pay for.

Look at the stock Toyota ones 10 years down the line, and you won't get better quality than that.

A lot depends on how much you abuse them.

I added an 1" spacer on top of my 4" superlift coils after they settled, so now its super flexy like I wanted, and still high.