4" or 6" lift for an 80

[sniper]

I have just recently came into possesion of an 80 series TD and i am wanting to lift her up a bit more. It already has aftermarket equipment on it, enforcer springs and shocks but at what looks to be still factory height.

So i will be most likely (99.99%) getting BBM tough dog kit. Both the 4" and 6" are the same price so i am after peoples opinions on what they would think is a better height to go.

Would be used daily for general driving stuff (work,shops) and a weekend warrier.

Will run 35s when lifted.

[Emo]

I would think that a 4 inch lift as a daily driver would be plenty. You'll have no problems running 35's.

[RV80]

I would think that a 4 inch lift as a daily driver would be plenty. You'll have no problems running 35's.

X2

[sniper]

I was actually leaning towards a 6" as it would sag over time and thought maybe the 4" when saged wouldnt be high enough?

But would a 6" put to much pressure on any parts? drive shafts etc....

[crankycruiser]

4" with the 6" shocks..

the rear shocks can be longer than wat they supply.. i ended up moving my shocks mounts up and my springs still dont come loose... and my shocks dont bottom out

[udm]

i ended up moving my shocks mounts up

cranky, we have just done this to one of the cars, haven't checked it out in the bush yet though. They got extended by aprox. 2"

On the 4" lifted car I am already popping front springs without modifing shocks. , will have to lock them in.

Ulises

[sniper]

seeming like everyone thinks the 4", but what about saging????does the tough dogs springs sag? I asumed they would.

[muddy80s]

hi ive recently put a six inch in my 80 its pretty big mate . bare in mind too that if you have constant 4x4 you will need a double cardon joint on your front tailshaft about $500 . castor plates are a necessity too. plus then youll need to extend your sway bar mounts.( just some steel blocks will do.but you will need to do this even if you go 4 inch anyway.) some say to take swaybars off altogether but im shit against it .took mine around the block with no swaybars and nearly put it into a tree the things just steer like crap. so imade up some mounts and its pretty good now. plus another thing is you wont get 100% perfect castor with 6 inch lift. which can cause it to wander a little on the road. plus if your missus wants to drive the kids down the shop she might get a bit tyred of lifting the kids in and out all the time .but hey they look bloody tuf though.

[sniper]

Either way 4" or 6" its going to BBM to fit it up so they drop the sways down anyways. And both heights are not going to let me in the shopping centre undercover car parks. The car is only for me

My mate put a 4" in his but hasnt used it, looks tough though, especially when parked next to mine

So you get wondering steering with the 6" then, is it very bad? What about the 4" does it get the wondering steering? My mates hasnt gone over 70km/h yet, he reackons the tyres will shake his car apart (mudzillas)

I will be running 32s when on the black stuff and 35s when on the rough stuff, if it would make a differnce

Only want to do the suspension once, not do it and say crap i should of gone......

[stinger]

When I boungt my cruiser I was told it has a 6 inch suspension lift and no body lift. They did a bit of bodgey job they actually cut and moved the front radius arm mounts down to correct the castor and lifted the brake lines up from the diff (rather than getting longer ones). They also just took off both sway bars.

Now the car rocks and rolls a bit, wanders a bit, but hey I runs 35s all the time, I do not fit in most under cover car parks (clearance height is 2.1 m). But that is not what I bought the car for. I still find I can corner fairly hard on the black stuff once you get use to the body roll. The back end articulates very well but I am disappointed in the front so I am thinking about adding some mounts to make it a five link. Has Rancho adjustable and no idea what brand of springs.
Cheers,
Locked, lifted, hairdryer and body armoured poverty pack with battle scars.

[sniper]

I looked at buying an 80 in wollongong, had a 6 inch lift in it (so i was told)but they were spacers not bigger springs, then the shock mounts were rewelded lower down so bigger shocks wernt used, The diff was also angled and welded fo the castor correction but the angle was way over corrected.
It drove like a tinny in choppy waters. swayed all over the road and when you braked look out.
It was then advertised on ebay where some poor person bought it. I seen it in campbelltown once and at TT.

I was leaning towards the 6" but seems most people are recomending the 4" so i might be going the 4".

Hopefully more people will give there thoughts.
still no word on saging, and any troubles with the severness of angles with the bigger lift.

[guzzla]

if ur gona get someone to supply and fit then ur not complaining about the cost cos (have you got a price yet)but if you've done ur research you'd know how much ur getting stiffed for not much at all and your just gona cop it sweet.

or you could get good value for money by sourcing your own gear and doing it properly. shortcuts show themselves when you dont need them most . if ur sick of paying full price for everything 4wd, do what i did for my 80's

5in king springs x4 $380 from dr shocks in brookvale

toughdog shocks to match x4 @220 each at rose hill 4x4 show at the BBM stand starts next week i think

snake racing drop arms, adjustable upper and lower control arms, drop brackets for front swaybar, f & r adjustable panhard rods $2500 aprox.

fully fitted and adjusted, wheel aligned and brake extention brackets fitted by straight talk suspension at blacktown for $400.

verdict: drives perfect on road, flexes perfectly with excellent control, fully engineered (you'll need 1 x$500) first go and im not fixing shortcut work cos i did it properly the first time.

regards,

nathan

[sniper]

did you put on a damper?

BBM price is around to just below $2,500 including fitting, 4" or 6" coils and 45m adj shocks to match, caster bushes or plates, RTC damper, adj panhard bars, and sway bar drop down, braided brake ext lines (i think thats the kit complete ) . Not including wheel alignment though.

*special price*

[muddy80s]

sniper try ringing tough dog themselves there in forge street blacktown maybe a better price (not sure). gotta say mine drives pretty good now very minimal wander and roll but if your goin big lift iguess youve got to expect it. as for sagging im running dobinson coils and there still fine, had a mate who had king springs with 4 inch lift and they sagged quite a bit after 6 months with minimal offroad. but the suspension mob replaced them for him for free so this was ok. ive spoken to people who say dobinsons do the same thing but i guess when you think about it all the steel comes from the same place originally(bhp bluescope) and most reputable names will surely fix any probs for you hope this helps wayne

[muddy80s]

also forgot to mention i went to goulburn on the weekend from central coast and it sat on 110 no probs all the way so you should be ok with highway driving anyway.im running 35 inch bfg muds

[hypo]

i had 6" in my 80 with tough dog shox and castor plates, it wasnt that pleasent to drive onroad, i have since fitted 3" HD lovells coils and 30mm coil spacers and castor bushes, it drive real nice now it it clears my 315/75/16(35's) no probs...

[OUTOER]

My 94 duel fuel 80 runs just shy of 6" plus 2" body lift with 35"x16 tyre no sway bars. Drives alright but does wonder a bit, corners fine although with the body roll scares the crap out of passengers One thing you do have to watch is getting your rear brake setup right. If you leave it as stock you will be watching your ass overtake your front as soon as you hit the peddle. I had a pro brake mob ajust mine, it still a bit wonky but no were near as bad as stock.

[crankycruiser]

i ended up moving my shocks mounts up

cranky, we have just done this to one of the cars, haven't checked it out in the bush yet though. They got extended by aprox. 2"

On the 4" lifted car I am already popping front springs without modifing shocks. , will have to lock them in.

Ulises

Mines got 7" spings and the front mounts have been moved up 75mm and i have the 6" tough dog shocks... my fronts only just come loose.. never popped one tho

[sniper]

can you buy a flip arm bracket or do you have to cut the existing mount off and re-weld it at the right camber?

I see this is recomended thing to do with a 6" lift along with high steer. would this be the go you think?

[muddy80s]

better off just fitting the rest first and maybe doing a flip arm later . mines really not that bad with 6 inch. im not gonna bother with flip arm. i had a 2 inch in when i bought the car with no castor bushes and seriously it was worse with that than now.also if you need a double cardon just got mine done at gibson engineering at edgeworth near newcastle only charged me $450 using my shaft.

[guzzla]

looked at high steer for mine and while i believe not entirely undoable you need more that the legal amout of offset to clear the tyre.

i was looking at it to solve a severe wheel shake problem but saved thousands in the end by tightening the front panhard rod

as for flip arm not convinced the benefits meet the costs.

with the snake drop arms my truck is excellent to drive, even the old lady liked it.

[grub_80]

I agree with guzzla. I have 4" Dobinson springs, measured 5" and still hasn't dropped in 3 yrs. 6" toughdogs, never dropped out. Snake racing radius arms, home made 50mm blocks to drop front swaybar. I haven't needed any rear arms and no rear sway bar(will eventually make new brackets if I can be bothered). Extended brake lines etc...
All I can suggest is, Do it once and do it right.
My car handles the same if not better than when I got it, safety is important to me as my 2yr old son my wife and soon to be born baby travel with me.
Originally I just had castor bushes but it wasn't enough and handled like a pig. I got the arms and they fixed the handling problems. all this was through trial and error Ranchos definately didn't work for me.
Dave

[grub_80]

Forgot to mention Adjustable F&R Panhard rods

[sniper]

So, lets see if i have learnt anything, get a 4" or 6" lift kit from BBM and then also get the radius arms from snake


And this will illiminate the need for caster bushes or castor plates, and she will handle sweet.

[guzzla]

if you wanna save some big bucks like i said, get it all yourself independantly and what you'll save is more than enough to have it engineered.

[65Mog]

The benifits that come from doing the arm flip are you can get the castor 100% right, those snake arms are only good for around a 4 inch lift, snake racing admitted to me that the arms should be fitted with caster bushes with a 6 inch lift, but the best part of the arm flip is getting the arms level again, this makes a huge difference off road because the front end isn't trying to fold under the car like a normal 6 inch lift, and it's heaps better under hard braking on the road, and you can brace the front housing at the same time and do it for not much more than a set of snake arms, as for the histeer and level panhards, anyone who has driven an 80 setup with histeer would never go back to having the steering and panhards on such a large angle again, the steering off and on road is way better, and the problems with lifted 80s breaking steering boxes and cracking the chassis around the steering box and panhard mount comes down to the panhard and steering being on such a large angle.
A 6 inch lifted 80(or even a 4 inch lift) with adjustable panhards and snake arms or castor plates will NEVER drive as well as one with the arm flip and histeer because the panhards are on the verge of being useless at that angle, they will drive OK if everything is perfect but the moment you get a bit of wear in the front end they will start to shake, I've driven both and would pay the extra it costs to do it right, forget about the bolt on bandit stuff and do the job right the first time, get the armflip & braced front housing, level panhards and the histeer you won't regret it, it will drive almost as if it's still standard!