Quick wheelbase extention questions (re-drilling perches)

Post by **GRPABT1** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:03 pm

Hey guys/girls, as some of you may or may not know I have a calmini 5 inch lift in my sierra and plan to fit 32X10.5X15" simex pedes soon.

The problem is I think they will foul pretty badly on the outer bottom corner of the firewall. I think a big hammer will sort out most of this but I would like to extend the wheel base if it is simple enough to do. From using the much neglected search button and bible I have learnt that about 22mm seems to be the maximum distance forward without moving the steering box. But being a complete noob at this mod I have a few quick questions.

1: Is it the spring perch on the diff and the bottom one under the axle that needs drilling? If so that's easy.

2: Will this affect the shock alignment? (I think I can fit spacers or and extra bush in front of the bottom eye)

3: Will I require a larger spacer in the front drive shaft? (the calmini kit came with one already)

Thanks in advance for your help peoples.

Post by **Kitika** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:12 pm

Yep you've got it drill the spring perch 22mm back from the original hole and it'll bring the axle forward that distance. The bottom plate that the ubolts bolt thru will have to be redrilled as well for it to work. Last time i did it it took me about 45mins from start to finish

You may have to extend the driveshaft but its not essential i did it on mine because mine went forwards further than 22 mm but i'm sure it 'd still be ok without a spacer.

Post by **bazooked** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:59 pm

why dont you make up a bit of flat bar with the holes at 22 mm centres , the bar needs to be as wide as ur springs the length of ur perches on the diff and the thickness of the locators. its so easy and if u ever want to go back to standard take out the plates.

Post by **Highway-Star** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:23 pm

Mines roughly 18mm forward, shock alignment is not an issue, no drive spacer required. People who do a 'partial' RUF with an inch forward still do not have shock problems it seems, but some do drive shaft spacers.. My conclusions do not worry about the shockies. Drive shaft spacers, I personally would drill it, then measure it up, then order one if need be (just no 4WD till its in :(.

Yes, a total of four holes get drilled. I did my axle with an electric drill, and the plates with the drill press, and checked my dimensions after it was together, and got it perfect

. Just remember to bring the axle forward you drill the holes backward of the originals.

I get what Bazooked is saying, nice idea, my only reservation is (if I'm understanding you correctly) that it would increase the effective thickness of the spring pack, and may even require longer U-bolts.

Post by **nicbeer** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:26 pm

bazooked wrote:why dont you make up a bit of flat bar with the holes at 22 mm centres , the bar needs to be as wide as ur springs the length of ur perches on the diff and the thickness of the locators. its so easy and if u ever want to go back to standard take out the plates.

ditto

works fine this way. i have this in mine.

look in my members thread for pics..

Post by **GRPABT1** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:01 am

So do I have to re-drill holes for the U-bolts or not? I could make up a plate but I don't really see myself going back to stock. Anyone else got pics of their work? The thread christover made in the bible had no pics anymore.

Post by **nicbeer** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:17 am

should be some pics in my members. if not can re post when i find them.

u dont have to redrill for u bolts, only centre pin.

Post by **dank** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:06 pm

i've got a couple pics in my members thread. I moved mine about 27mm forward from memory and so far it seems to be ok. I rushed it a bit and the holes are slightly off line 1/2mm or less but a road test has found that it hasn't made any difference. I have dented my shock on the bumpstop a bit from the diff moving further forward on uptravel but its nothing major as its only the cover on the top section and not enough to foul any uptravel...which i have very little of at the moment in my current setup.

on level ground the steering arms are not touching and everything seems to be ok after a few runs off road. with 34x10.5 swampers i'm not touching the firewall at all in off road situations.

I also moved the rear diff back, but don't go too far or the diff will hit the fuel tank!

Post by **nicbeer** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:12 pm

dank - did u move the back diff back with plates as i have or redrilling perches?

how close did u get to the fuel neck filler hose? and fuel tank?

Post by **GRPABT1** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:29 pm

I don't think I'll have trouble with the shock on up travel as it's a shackle reversal setup and if anything it will move back on up travel. I might move my rear diff back too since it's a ute chop with the fuel tanks higher up I don't think I'll have any issues.

Post by **86slowsierra** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:53 pm

I was wondering about this too. i know its been written about a lot but this is the first time (that i know of) thats it's been explained so simply.
Thanks guys.
I might give it a try once the rain stops.

Post by **dank** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:42 pm

nicbeer wrote:dank - did u move the back diff back with plates as i have or redrilling perches?

how close did u get to the fuel neck filler hose? and fuel tank?

I hadn't even thought of plates or read about it when I did it. I redrilled the spring perch and u-bolt plates. To be honest I didn't really think through the rear diff when I did it and I was just lucky that the diff pumpkin doesn't hit on the fuel tank, so far. As for the fuel filler hose it was scrubbing on the fuel filler guard when going over little bumps on the road so off came the wheel and the fuel filler guard and out came the BFH

.

I made one cut about 2-3inches where the edge of the guard starts going vertical up to meet the bottom of the floor pan and then bashed the bottom in and folded the vertical section over the bottom section until it hugged the fuel filler hose a bit better. bad description but mainly I was just trying to tuck everything up out of the way and it worked perfectly. nothing scrubs but i've been thinking about dropping my shackles back to 1 inch longer than standard but worried that it might affect the other mods! It still feels fairly safe on side angle but not like it did on the 31s and no body lift! might have to take some plastic undies with me when i go wheelin

Post by **dank** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:47 pm

86slowsierra wrote:I was wondering about this too. i know its been written about a lot but this is the first time (that i know of) thats it's been explained so simply.
Thanks guys.
I might give it a try once the rain stops.

yeah give it a go mate, it'll help clear the tyres and make you feel like you've done something cool! apart from clearing tyres the length you achieve from the extended wheel base of around 2-3inchs is just barely noticable...

also are you the guy that came on the zook club come and try day last year at toolangi where you were scaring yourself to death with the new 3 inch bodylift?

Post by **86slowsierra** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:42 pm

lol. yeah thats me. bl's still in there and still scaring the shit out of me. With any luck I'll be joining the club isome time this year, just as soon as i fix a few things.

Post by **Gwagensteve** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:03 pm

Fixing a few things is what lunch breaks on trips are for.

The club has lost many many members this way. They come on a trip, aren't happy with their car, want to fix it up, pull it apart, start the "little" jobs, do some big jobs, run out of time or money, loose interest, sell the car or just give up.

Just come out and drive it. If we didn't go on trips because "we had some things to fix up" there would never be any trips at all.

My car is too tall, too narrow, has crap brakes, too short front brake lines, too long front shocks, too short rear shocks, worn out front springs, flogged rear wheelbearings from changing axles on the track, it overfuels, I have no steering lock, chipped teeth on the ring gear, an open front diff, flogged tyres, a bullbar that's about to fall off..... and I 've never had more fun in a car.

Just get it on a trip.

Just my 2C.

Post by **christover1** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:16 pm

I'm with Steve on this.
(Don't tell him that, tho)

If I waited for the Frog to be fault free, I'd never go any where.

Obviously some things are important, of course.

Post by **GRPABT1** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:30 pm

Gwagensteve wrote:Fixing a few things is what lunch breaks on trips are for.

The club has lost many many members this way. They come on a trip, aren't happy with their car, want to fix it up, pull it apart, start the "little" jobs, do some big jobs, run out of time or money, loose interest, sell the car or just give up.

Just come out and drive it. If we didn't go on trips because "we had some things to fix up" there would never be any trips at all.

My car is too tall, too narrow, has crap brakes, too short front brake lines, too long front shocks, too short rear shocks, worn out front springs, flogged rear wheelbearings from changing axles on the track, it overfuels, I have no steering lock, chipped teeth on the ring gear, an open front diff, flogged tyres, a bullbar that's about to fall off..... and I 've never had more fun in a car.

Just get it on a trip.

Just my 2C.

Hahaha after reading all your educated opinionated posts I thought you would be the last person to shitbag your own rig lol, nice to see some people are still humble.

Post by **fool_injected** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:45 am

Gwagensteve wrote: My car is too tall, too narrow, has crap brakes, too short front brake lines, too long front shocks, too short rear shocks, worn out front springs, flogged rear wheelbearings from changing axles on the track, it overfuels, I have no steering lock, chipped teeth on the ring gear, an open front diff, flogged tyres, a bullbar that's about to fall off..... and I 've never had more fun in a car.

When did you get a Nissan

Post by **Gwagensteve** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:43 pm

GRPABT1,

My junk is junk. I haven't spent anywhere near enough time on it, but at least I know what's wrong with it, and I quite enjoy fixing my junk on the track

It breaks my spirit when I see how many people think their car has to be built, perfect, run X size tyre or whatever to have fun in their car. I quite enjoy building cars (both for myself and with club members) but I'm pretty weird. I'm happy to admit though that it's hard to have more fun than in a car with 31" tyre and a welded diff.

Steve.

Post by **MightyMouse** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:29 pm

And in my time with Vic Suzuki, I don't remember leaving anyone's "junk" behind - no matter what seems to have happened ( and its rarely major failures ) we seem to get them home - one way or another ( TotalCare

)

IMO that's one of a club trips strengths - you don't have to go first, you can watch others lines and decide what's right for you. I've never heard any criticism of anyone who wasn't' comfortable driving something and just in case there's always someone who "knows how it comes apart" or is there to give you a tow etc etc.

If your car has to be better that everyones else's then you will miss all the fun. Mines about as capable as a house brick having a bad day - but I reckon I do more trip km's then anyone else.

Just enjoy what you have.

Post by **86slowsierra** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:54 pm

Wow, i wasnt expecting that sort response. You all raise a very good point; maybe you might see me and my "Junk" sooner than i was thinking.

"Fixing a few things is what lunch breaks on trips are for."

Ill make a deal with you Gwagensteve. we'll split the things i need to fix in half. Ill work on the car during lunch if you call my girlfriend and convince her that joining the club wont mean she gets less 'Us time'. I think ill be finished before you.

Post by **NIK** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:44 am

Thats funny

Nik

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Quick wheelbase extention questions (re-drilling perches)

Quick wheelbase extention questions (re-drilling perches)

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