1976 nissan G60 cab/chassis ute suspension mods

[1boofa1]

Hello outer limits 4x4, Love your site & a big thanks for advice on my last post. Now I need to know best suspension mods & cheap priced ones for my 1976 Nissan G60 cab/chassis ute, Im thinking bodylift for easy clearance for big tyres & Im willing to do plenty of guard chopping too, advice please guys?

[1boofa1]

anyone please?

[limited slip]

2 inch lifted springs listed for the mq patrol for the fronts. i hear tell that the 2inch lifted rear springs from a hilux (early series- not sure about IFS ones) will fit nicely too for the rears (catalog part numbers put the eye to eye length as being + - 20mm, only uncertainty is the location of the diff locating bolt, it may be slightly different to the Nissan's springs position).

body lift not recommended due to the construction of the g60 cab, body lift them and they can crack and potentially fall apart, now that said standard mq patrol rubber mounts give you about 10-15mm of lift over the stock g60 mounts and should provide MORE cushioning and better vibration dampening than the stock g60 rubber pads, (i have done this to my ute, it all seems pretty good but only time will tell if even that few mm lift causes problems)

i had no dramas fitting 35's under my Ute with NO lift. just a neg 18- 20 rim would be about as wide as you could go before getting some scrubbing on full flex at the front. the extra few mm of body lift and new standard height spring packs (mq fronts and a spare set of "new" rear g60 springs i already had) mean i get no scrubbing at all. if you were to do a guard trim you should be able to fit 37's- though a 2inch sus lift should guarantee enough clearance.

cheers
ls

[mundy]

ive been ready lots about spring pack lengths and sizes to fit into my ute, rear out of a 75 series cruiser or later will work, they are longer so may need longer shackes depending on how the angle ends up and from what series they are out of, as for fronts the rears out of a non ifs hilux should work again been longer and may require longer shackles. depends how you want to set it up, im after keeping it as low as possible with longest springs as possible, and cutting the front guards to gain clearance.

measure your springs and then read spring catalogs lengths and work out what will work best for your application. only way to know for sure is give it a go.

[limited slip]

got a second hand set of rear 75 series cruiser springs and measured them, all measurements are spot on except width of the spring eyes with bushes. 3 options. you will require either cruiser shackles with spacer shims in the upper bolt to take out play- but im not sure if the shackle bolts will actually fit the troll chassis mount. option 2 is some custom shackles. option 3 is to shave off 10mm of the spring eye with the grinder and shorten the bushes by the same. ill be doing option 3 to my new ute shortly.......after the other more pressing repairs are made

[mundy]

thats good to know, id proberbly go with custom shackles or modified cruiser ones, some thing doesnt seem right about shaving 10mm off the eyes, once i get my ute blue slipped then ill start playing with spring packs,

i was thinking 79 series as they are longer then 75 series, but im not sure if they are going to be to long and id have to move spring mounts, find out when i try i suppose

the hard part it getting the front to move better, once i remove the rebound stoppers it will be better, but the limiting factor is the studs in the drivers side, might be better going for a mq diff swap opens up much better spring options as well as better braking performance.

[Banzy]

Post up pics .

love the old G60s

[mundy]

thats how it was when i got it

this is the most recent one i have of it

[HUSSLN]

ahh the faded green brings back memories of my childhood.

[limited slip]

the 79 series springs are miles too long in eye to eye length (so are the rear springs from the mq/mk patrols), and have the same spring eye width issue as the 75 series springs
i bought another g60 ute a few weeks back now, its had a disk brake conversion done to it on the standard g60 c216 front diff. previous owner said it was a mongrel of a job though as you have to use the mq cv outer/stub axle with the g60 long axles to do the conversion. basically making up a hybrid g60/mq cv. she has a lot of front end flex, the back end is stiff though- the shocks and shock perches position is the limiting factor.
my diesel ute im doing up (the last guard ute on rmp-o and patrol 4x4) has mq diff's front and rear, though still needs custom front shackles to alleviate the sideways tension caused from the wider mq spring perches. it has the standard mk troll parabolic? comfort leaf packs, which have had 2 leafs taken out. they flex to the full extent that the shocks (shocks are the limiting factor again), and are like riding on soft coils- you dont feel any bump. the rear i have played with, getting slightly more flex and more comfort whilst retaining load carrying, but they are still stiff.
cheers
kev

[Banzy]

See the members section, g60 in america.

[stevejl]

Hi guys
I have a new set of 2" g60 springs in the shed I got them for a project but then changed my plans. They have been siting around the packs have been played with eg pulled some leafs out but they should still be in the shed some where if someone wants them let me know.

[grundomat]

Hi there, what drive line are you running in the 'ol g60? I have just dropped a tickled 253, manualized turbo 350, 75 series transferr with 55% reduction gears in my G60, but mine is just a non-reg shooting rig/toy.

[mundy]

im just running the standard driveline for the moment, although plans are under way for some improvements.

sounds like a nice setup you have there, did you bring the engine forwards so you can access the rear plugs or did you cut holes in the footwell? any pics? how does it go?

[grundomat]

yeah, had to do a little cutting on the foot wells just to fit the engine width. but as far as how far forward it can all come is a real balance between radiator gap, tail shaft lengths etc, was a bit of a pain really, but as the rear shaft is so short i really didn't want to muck with it too much. i will get some photos up when i get a chance. goes quite well, will probably go a bit better when i finish the exhaust and get it tuned right.

[RMP&O]

Hey guys I am doing up a G60 Ute and have done some research...

If you want to massage the suspension a lot forget all about stock leaf springs and forget about MQ/MK springs too. Well, at least forget about the front, they are only 40" long, shorter than the G60's! The rear on MQ/Mks are 53" long which is good but they have a big offset as far locating the axle. Longer springs will flex more and offer a bit of a better ride.

There is plenty of room in front to run a spring that is up to 48" long. Maybe longer, I didn't look at going past the body mount outrigger. Thing is you will have to cut off the leaf/shackle hangers and weld on new ones. If you plan to keep the stock steering box and configuration you will also have to take that into consideration due to the leaves locating the axle under the frame. I don't know what you got for springs in Aus., I see talk above of Cruiser springs. I am in the states and from what I have found a Jeep Wagoneer has a 47" front spring which is just about perfect. Rancho makes a leaf spring for this and it is cheap at $175 a pack. These are often used over here by guys doing a SAS.

On the rear, at least on a Ute (110" WB) you can go with anything up to about a 60" long spring. Much longer than that and it will get a bit dramatic. I don't see why it would be any different on a MWB G60 since they all have the same length springs.

I don't know legalities with cutting off the hangers in Aus. Here in the states no problem. We can also only get leaves for the old G60 if they are custom made (or imported from Aus.) and that makes them close to $300 a leaf pack for custom made, more for the import ones. IMHO, the best results to be hard are if you customize the suspension with longer springs. Also modify the shock towers and shock mounts to suit a better shock than the old style pip-to-pin. Stick with stock leaves really limits you and so does the stock style shocks. I personally don't like to be limited when modifying a truck and or making it better than stock.

I am doing it up SoA with MQ/MK axles on my Ute but have pretty much selected my leaf springs for the job. Just need to get $700 or so odd dollars together to buy the springs and I can move forward with building it all.

Cheers

[RMP&O]

and here is a link to lists/charts on leaf springs for a lot of vehicles.

https://www.google.com/search?q=leaf+sp ... d=0CD4QsAQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Patrols are all roughly 2.5" wide. Front G60's are 42" long, MQ/MKs are 40", unladen. Rears on the G60 are 48.5" long unladen. MQ/MKs are roughly 53" long and won't work in a G60 without modifying the hangers location. The G60s the center pins on leaf packs are pretty much centered. Same on front MQ/MK. Rears on MQ/Mk are way off set. I could measure if somebody wants that info, got a big pile of both G60 & MQ/MK leaf packs sitting here. Pins for shackles/hangers on both are 5/8".

Again, don't know what you have in Aus. but over here these guys are popular for hardware/brackets. I use their stuff and it is good gear.

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apologies for the specs in imperial units, just x them by 25.4!!

Cheers

[mundy]

I've read heaps on rmpo about leaf setups you guys in the us are using, the problem is over here cutting hangers and rewelding will require a engineers certificate which keep going up in price each year, you can get away with it easily but its a insurance issue if some thing ever happens, so most just try and work in the original mounts. It also depends on what your after, me personally I like mine as low as possible for the tyres I'm running, so I not chasing height just more travel and a more balanced setup.
That said ill prob end up doing as you said as I won't be able to achieve what I want otherwise. By ill wait to I change to disc front end and get it all engineered at once.

[mundy]

Two more setups I've been toying with are 44" jeep wrangler rears in the front, and 51.5" jeep Cherokee in the rear
And
44" Hilux fronts up front and 51" hilux rears

Both setups to fit in stock mounts with custom shackles

Both theoretical until I register the ute then can start playing with spring packs