suspension lift

[presto]

hi all, im new to this site and after a bit of advice for my 74 swb rangie.
iv read a few threads and searched for information regarding suspension lift and whats involved but cant find what im after.

I want to get a 3-4 inch lift out of the old girl but not sure whats involved.
i know i'll need longer brake lines, some sort of caster correction and maybe another uni in the tail shaft. can anyone confirm or deny this? has anyone done a similar thing? does it drive like a pig with huge vibrations? any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
iv read a little about the dobinson flexi coils but cant find any reports on them and how they perform, anyone using these?

cheers,
Gerard

[86MUD]

Gerard

I am running 3 " flexi coils made by Dobinsons and distributed by Shane at 4wdstuff.com.au on my 1986 Rangie.

You can check out my rig in the current issue (number 5) of 4wd Custom Action mag.

I am really happy with the set up with the 3" lift springs. I have not touched my drive shafts and I do not suffer from any vibration at any speed. I do have castor issues, but I have just got used to it. I will deal with it one day by either cranked radius arms or by rotating the swivels. yes you will definating need longer flexible brake lines.

Cheers

Andrew

[presto]

i got the mag yesterday and had a read mate, love the rangie.
you look pretty set up and from the chassis down you've got pretty much exactly what i want. have you heard or do you know if uni angles or drive angles are an issue on a swb rover?
also just curious as to what kind of four wheeling you do? bit of all round? chase ruts and rocks or boggy bits? just i try to hit up some pretty hard stuff so i need suspension that will flex and work really well when copping a pounding and big articulation.
if you have any more action shots of you crossed up id love to have a look if you dont mind.
cheers for the help,
Gerard

[86MUD]

Hey Presto...

Not sure what you mean by a SWB rover. Do you mean 2 door? They have the same chassis as a 4 door.

The springs are very flexy. I run 26" Procomp shocks with 2" lowered top mounts and dislocating cones in the rear. In the front I run toyota 80 series bilsteins with 2" lowered top shock mounts. The front springs do dislocate by about 10mm but the stock spring mounts holds the spring in. Both front and back springs are retained at the bottom with 5mm plate.

I have not modified the tail shafts are uni's. I have replaced the uni at the front of the transfer box, but that was about 12 months ago and it hasn't shown any signs of wear yet.

There will be a DVD of my truck coming out around Christmas. The DVD will be with the 4wd Action mag. There will be heaps of flex shots and some serious winching in the DVD. I tackled a very slippery hill in the wet which took 4 hours to winch.

I have mainly set it up for touring (as I have 2 young kids now), but I occasioning go out and get serious. I have spent a lot of money on it over the past couple of years so I go carefully.

Speak with Shane at www.4wdstuff.com.au and he will set you up the right springs and shocks for a great price.

Cheers

Andrew

[presto]

sorry i think i was confusing myself, we got a longer wheel base rangie (ambulance) and had to shorten it 10 inches to standard length but i was thinking it was shorter for some reason, my apologies.

I have contacted shane regarding the suspension and what he reccomends i do but i dare say i'll be following your lead with alot of the ideas. Moving the steering damper will be a high priority as the old man isnt very impressed that i keep busting them

id love to wait til the dvds out to see how your rangie goes before i commit to a suspension set up but im keen and have money now so i gotta get a wiggle on before i waste it on my falcon

anyone else have a 3-4 inch lift they recommend and any other mods they needed to fit it?
i forgot to mention my rover weighs about 1500kg so i'll need something fairly soft and has no rear overhang so there is very little weight over the back axles.

cheers

[def90]

any pics?

[def90]

any pics?

[presto]

how do i put pics in?[/list]

[bakerboy]

whip a photobucket account, upload pics then it will give u 4 choices of code once they have been uploaded, chose the one that says image (IMG) and copy all the text in that box into here (dont bother with the img code in the reply page)

[presto]

hope that worked[/img]

[presto]

[6.2troopy]

nice truck, though never seen it around canberra.

[matt_w]

hi, does anyone know if anyone has any of these rangies for sale? im after a project

[Bush65]

hi all, im new to this site and after a bit of advice for my 74 swb rangie.
iv read a few threads and searched for information regarding suspension lift and whats involved but cant find what im after.

I want to get a 3-4 inch lift out of the old girl but not sure whats involved.
i know i'll need longer brake lines, some sort of caster correction and maybe another uni in the tail shaft. can anyone confirm or deny this? has anyone done a similar thing? does it drive like a pig with huge vibrations? any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
iv read a little about the dobinson flexi coils but cant find any reports on them and how they perform, anyone using these?

cheers,
Gerard

I run similar lift 3 to 4", and 2" longer stroke shockies on my disco. No problems with drive shafts.

Besides extended brake lines, the main issues are caster and flex of the chassis bushes for the radius and trailing arms.

The only way I recommend fixing the caster is slotted and rotated swivel balls. The alternatives introduce problems like driveshaft angles/vibration and front articulation.

For the chassis bushes, get SuperPro bushes. The alternative is to crank the arms.

Looks a nice Dakar. Usually these use rangie or disco chassis. AndrewE on here was building one on a 110 chassis, but he was extending the glass fibre shell. JDM did build one on a 110 wheelbase but I don't know where it ended up.

I know of 2 others on this forum with Dakars, and a few more with bushies. Bushie555 collects lots of info on them.

[presto]

I'm still doing some research on what can be done to fix any problems that come with the lift but plan on getting dropped radius arms, dislocation cones, panhard rod that kind of thing.
Aiming to have it all up and together ready for testing in January

I know of 2 others on this forum with Dakars, and a few more with bushies. Bushie555 collects lots of info on them.

I've been reading bits and pieces of bushie555 on a few sites for years now, wouldn't mind finding out where the other Dakars or Bushies are near might find out if theres any trips down here they go on.

hi, does anyone know if anyone has any of these rangies for sale? im after a project

I met a bloke at the shops one day a while back he was driving a trayback Bushy, apparently that was the last shell JDM had. Disappointing he doesn't produce them anymore, i reckon they were great. If your really keen you could import the Dakar cage and body from the U.K.

What are peoples thoughts on shocks? I'm using rancho 9000 at the moment but dispite my faith in them, I've heard bad things. I'll need new shocks anyway with the lift, anyone got a particular set they've been impressed with?

[Micka]

I have found the Dobinson shocks to be very good and currently have Lovells springs and shocks in my 3" lifted Rangie.

[chunks]

If you don't mind spending a few $$$ then Bilstein shocks would be nice. I agree with the other blokes on the Dobinsons coils, we sell heaps at work and they are great. Try getting in contact with Les Richmond Automotive in Victoria they do long travel kits for Rovers and know their stuff.