60 Series Springs & Shocks

[QIKAZZ]

Hey guys, Ive recently bought a 60 series cruiser, she's a bit beat up body wise but in good mechanical condition, I have a few questions, ive read and read but nothing answers my questions directly.

First up 35 wheels, currently it has BFG 33 x 10.5 Mud T/A's on it, I was wanting some advide on a second set of tyres. The cruiser is a second car and I only bought it for 4wd'in and taking the motorbikes up bush on the trailer.

I was thinking of going to 35's, maybe Simex Extreme Trekker 2's on 35x12.5, I am in Victoria and my main question is, the Trekker 2's how good are the as an all rounder (forget the black top stuff, I already know they are not real great for that) but im thinking more in the way of, gravel roads, in the dry season there is also, hard packed clay tracks and loose dusty dirt hill climbs, and even sometimes just plain old grass hills, how do these tyres fair up to those kind of surfaces? or should I just be going for a 35 mud terrain, I would say at this time of year the mud driving is about 15% of the places I take it.

Second question is, is there any easy way I can tell if my new cruiser has got a suspension lift kit in it? I seems to have a decent clearence still and its already got 33's on it, im 100% sure that there is not enough for 35's, but I just wanted to know if its running and lift at all. I know if does not have a body lift kit because I can clearly see that, but im still learning and not sure about the sus lift kit, maybe I could take some photos of the suspension to show yas, you guys might be able to tell from photos, If I can tell how much lift its got, then I know (from reading here) how much more I need to go to fit the 35's on, I know it has adjustable air shocks in the rear, what do you guys think of them?

Lastly, how high is to high in your opinion for steep hill climbs etc? If I lift it to fit 35's, will this be to much lift that it effects the COG ?

Sorry for the long winded post, hope to make some sence of this fairly soon and any help would be great.

Cheers

Azz

[bad_religion_au]

from your useage description i wouldn't go the simex's until you know you need them. i also think 33's will be enough for what you do, and will give you a good platform to learn from

[QIKAZZ]

So if thats the case, what would be a the best mud terrain tyre once my BGF's Mud T/A are worn out? Maybe Pro Comp, or should I stick with the BGF's.

Cheers

Azz

[Sixty's Guy]

Measure the centre of the hub to the bottom of the guards. Standard height, front will be 19" and rear will be 18".

[QIKAZZ]

Hey Sixties Guy, as I said in the PM, if what you are saying about the stock amount of lift then my 60 has 2 3/4" lift on the front and 3 3/4" lift on the rear, it seems strange that it was done like that, not unless the rear airbag shocks being pumped up have given an extra 1" on the rear, then that would mean by my guess that I have a 3" Suspension lift kit with 1/4" of sag possibly due to the extra weight of the long range tank and under chassis water tanks this thing has on it. Can anyone else shed any light on this?

BTW it seems to have 7 leaf's on both the front and the rear, but on the rear, the bottom (shortest leaf) seems straight and it is thicker then the other leaf's on the rest of the rig.

Cheers

Azz

[hokey]

i would say that the lift would be 4 inch all round and has just sagged. maybe the reason they put the airbags in.
tyre wise: i think MT's are the go if you are going camping and towing trailers around up the bush. if you are doing alot of 4wd'ing then maybe go for something a bit more extreme
my $0.02

[QIKAZZ]

hokey, I have posted the tyre question in the general section and I an 95% sure I am going to go for the Mickey Thompson Radial Claws, that way ive still got the radial for onroad and the onroad saftey factor, and also got the best offroad tyre that you can get in a radial. I will be getting them in 35", so I do think I will have to add a little more lift to fit them in properly. This is how it sits with 33's on it with 40psi in the rear airbag shocks, and over 70 litres of fuel in the tank, and also it has 2 water tanks (empty) underneath bolted up to the chassis. All these things were on it when I bought it a few months ago.

Cheers

Azz

[hokey]

yeh mickey T's should be good. nice looking truck too
i think my ttuck looks better when it is dirty too

[QIKAZZ]

Yeah she is a bit rough on the body, looks like its been painted with a aerosol can, but I picked it up for $6k with a roady, air locker diffs, long range tank, and 2 chassis mounted water cylinder tanks underneath, overall I think it was a pretty good buy, engine is prolly a bit tired, she struggles up the hills in 5th on the highway, but im sure thats normal with a 400k+ on the clock, im not sure how much extra power I would get out of a rebuild, ive still got to get a compression test done, although at this stage its doing what I want and I dont WANT to know that its time for a rebuild, (if you know what i mean) haha.

Cheers

Azz

[bad_religion_au]

So if thats the case, what would be a the best mud terrain tyre once my BGF's Mud T/A are worn out? Maybe Pro Comp, or should I stick with the BGF's.

Cheers

Azz

personally if you don't mind putting up with a reasonably fast wearing tire, you can't go past the radial claws.

[vSAHARAx]

ive asked this many times but who does 3" lift kits for 60's???????

[Cruzer!]

i've told you many times Arctic cool treads at rocklea did mine!

[Henry M]

EFS has a 3" suspension kit for 60 series off the self. If you require any mods to cater for any personal changes, then these amendments can also be done to suit your needs. See Extreme 4x4 Browns Plains.

[vSAHARAx]

i have found a 4" kit to suit my 60, but im just worried is this too high? it comes complete with extended brake lines and all that, do i have to worry about drive shafts? as in if i went for a 4" lift would i have to buy longer drive shafts? what are peoples oppinions in the way of 4" lift compared to, EFS 3" or Old Man Emu's 2" front and 3" rear???