Outer Limits 4x4 Board

**new question** what do ppl usually do 'bout the radiator after doing a bodylift? does it need to be raised, or do ya just leave it where it was, or....??



i've had a read thru all the bodylift stuff i could find using the search facility... still got a coupla questions:

mounts - have a look at the attached (hopefully) pic. which of the 10 mounts are the captive body bolts, and which are free? from the look i had, i'm thinking the front two and rear two are free bolts? has anyone done anything 'bout the other points where the body touches the chassis, or are they just left?

brakelines - the hoses for the front brakes don't look like they have enuf give for the 50mm lift i wanna put in. how have ppl got around this? the rear looks ok, anyone had probs?

steering - NAM wrote this: "your steering joint (near the steering box) has a flex joint that is attached to a splined shaft on the box. there is some measure of spare length on this shaft which can accomodate a low body lift. the steering shaft connects to the steering box with a clamp type arrangement onto the splines. there is one bolt that keeps the pressure on the splined shaft. undo this before jacking up the body. when you have put the blocks in and lowered the body down again, you should be able to reinsert the clamp bolt. don't worry it'll make sense once you start doing it."
just wondering if anyone has pics or details/issues of this or anything else they've had to do to their steering when doing a bodylift...

i thought i had another question, i'll prolly remember it later...

cheers ppl

Hi Stumped,

You're quite correct. The end two at each end are the long bolts (free bolts), and all the others are the studded ones.

There's a couple of things you can do in relation to the steering. You can place an extra rag joint in there. This is the reinforced rubbery jointthing where the shaft that joins the steering column to the steering box bolts onto the steering box, OR, you can do what NAM said, which is loosen the bolt on the spline, do your lift, and tighten when finished.

In relation to the brake lines, I think people tend to say it's OK if you're only doing a 2in lift, although you may have to just bend the brackets slightly, but doing a 3in lift you may have to change them.

You're welcome to come and have a look at that one I'm wrecking out if you like, as the 3in blocks and brake lines, etc are all still in place atm.

Gimme a call on 0410-793 323.

Brake lines at the front...

Look under the wheel arch for the front driver's side wheel - you will be able to see the tails of two bolts coming through that hold the brake like bracket...

Undo both these bolts.

perform the body lift.

Then drill another hole below the two holes (same distance below as what the two holes are appart by) and re-attach the bracket now using the two lower holes. The top hole is now redundant.

thanks guys... too easy!

will i need to treat the new holes i drill to avoid rust, or will it all be good?

hey adam, i'll come check out the stuff on the zook ur wrecking if ya get around to selling the tub so i can grab the radiator n stuff prolly not worth the trip down to syd seeing as the lift looks like it should be fairly straight forward. cheers for the offer tho

No dramas mate.

The radiator is yours as soon as somebody takes the body tub (as I'll be able to still start the engine for short periods to show prospective buyers).

No sweat. Will be in contact when I get back from Melbourne on Tuesday and read my messages.

I just did my 3 inch body lift ,as you will see in the members forum.
Under Russels Zook.
I had to undo the brake line bracket in the wheel arch like Love Mud said,loosened the steering slip joint,undo the fuel filler tubes from there bracket (inside the back under a little cover held in by three phillips heads) and take off the cover that protects the fuel filler pipes from hitting the rear tyre.Thats everything i had to do to get three inch blocks in.
The captive bolts are situated either side of the wheels(meaning that they are both inbetween the sill area)What i did with them is went to my local metal shop and got them to cut me out ten three inch lengths of 3''by3'' thick walled metal squared tube.
I then drilled them from one side to the other.so each block has two holes in them opposing each other.The top one is done up as the normal captured bolt is done then the bottom one is bolted to the original hole in the bracket.
Hope this helps

Be carefull if you are doing a 3 inch lift as the rag joint broke on mine when i did 3 inch. It took a few weeks but it did eventually break. I ended up welding a uni in the steering shaft to compensate for the engle.

Maybe impulsive can post a pic of the shaft and what I did to it.

stumped wrote:will i need to treat the new holes i drill to avoid rust, or will it all be good?

I didn't - but then again - i don't expect the body on the car to last long enough for it to matter

greg wrote:I didn't - but then again - i don't expect the body on the car to last long enough for it to matter

lol.. planning on writing the body off soon greg?


thanks russ, i'll go have a look in the members section

the extra 'new' Holes, just use some neversieze goo, not really worth worrying about in the scheme of things....

The body mounting studs, I comprimized (laziness) and since my studs were 55mm, I made my body lift 40mm (as opposed to the common 50mm) which left me enough thread to fit a piece of rubber, some washers and nylock nut with 1 thread left exposed. (note: these studs caught me out because my other s/top bodt was a early 1 litre unit which just used through bolts.

currently trimming gaurds to suit bigger rubber, but my 31's fitted no worries(ie minor rubing when crossing up, but nothing to be worried about).

Steering, as previously mentioned, you will have sufficient spline to accomodate the lift (up to 50mm).

The extra support brackets (which don't use a bolt), wouldn't really worry to much, but if you want just put some 'healthy' tack welds on some pieces of RHS to the chassis (size of RHS to match the lift, cut to suit), positioned with 'flats' on the contacting surfaces, if any gap left, sickaflex some 'belting' to the top face of RHS.

Biggest issue is the size of the lift, your choice of course, bit realistically I wouldnt go any bigger than 50mm as the rotational loading (from the body wanting to moove at speed) on the flimsy mounts may cause them to bend/crack (again depending on how ya do the mounting in the first place, ie with bit's of RHS/solid bar/tube etc). Again just my opinion so
don't get ya nickers in a knot, but realistically I can't see that you would be getting any more benifit from the mod for going bigger, as any larger tyres usually require 'body massaging' of some sorts which kinda negates the need for a large body lift.

Any how, sorry for the ramble, you've probably got the job done by now.

stumped wrote:lol.. planning on writing the body off soon greg?

Not on purpose stumped... It's just at the point where i look at an obsticle and no longer think to myself "am i going to scratch the paint or dent a panel trying to drive that"...

It's a nice feeling to be so liberated from caring about panels when in low range (isn't it big steve? )

Drewfus wrote:Biggest issue is the size of the lift, your choice of course, bit realistically I wouldnt go any bigger than 50mm .... Again just my opinion so don't get ya nickers in a knot, but realistically I can't see that you would be getting any more benifit from the mod for going bigger, as any larger tyres usually require 'body massaging' of some sorts which kinda negates the need for a large body lift.

is all good mate, for the sake of easier install and less chance of problems i wasn't planning on going higher than 50mm... seems to be the common consensus that 2" is the goods

coupla good ideas ya had there, i'll see how things work out...

greg wrote:Not on purpose stumped... It's just at the point where i look at an obsticle and no longer think to myself "am i going to scratch the paint or dent a panel trying to drive that"...

It's a nice feeling to be so liberated from caring about panels when in low range (isn't it big steve? )

one of the advantages of not having a purty rig eh? originally thought 'bout repainting my zook but i'm not fussed now... quite like the "you really don't wanna steal me" paint colour(s). a spraycan of rust converting black is all i need

ttt

what do ppls do with the radiator?

stumped wrote:what do ppls do with the radiator?

The radiator is attached to the chassis, so besides putting water in it, there is no need to do anything with it.

Apparently some other cars have the radiator attached to the body, so you need to make some custom brackets to put it back down 2" so that it lines up with the fan on the motor - this is not the case with sierras.

Hope that answers your question.

greg wrote:

stumped wrote:what do ppls do with the radiator?

The radiator is attached to the chassis, so besides putting water in it, there is no need to do anything with it.

Apparently some other cars have the radiator attached to the body, so you need to make some custom brackets to put it back down 2" so that it lines up with the fan on the motor - this is not the case with sierras.

Hope that answers your question.

cheers greg.... i thought i didn't need to do anything, but a mechanic mate questioned me 'bout it, so i got all worried

stumped wrote:cheers greg.... i thought i didn't need to do anything, but a mechanic mate questioned me 'bout it, so i got all worried

Yep - you've gotta watch out for those troublesome misleading mechanics

No worries mate.

p.s. this is quite possibly the slowest body lift ever performed... Is it completed yet?

i undid my body lift yesty

N*A*M wrote:i undid my body lift yesty

Ah yes, the ol' "body drop"

greg wrote:this is quite possibly the slowest body lift ever performed... Is it completed yet?

lol... slow cos i haven't done it yet, need a mate to give me a hand, and we haven't had time. plan is to do the bodylift and put in a swivel pin kit fri/sat. so sat arvo i should be slooooowly rolling round on my 31s

stumped wrote:... put in a swivel pin kit ...

Swivel Pin Kit?

greg wrote:

N*A*M wrote:i undid my body lift yesty

Ah yes, the ol' "body drop"

next step, drop blocks

greg wrote:

stumped wrote:... put in a swivel pin kit ...

Swivel Pin Kit?

that's what it's called, lol. is bearings/seals/gaskets etc for steering knuckles... mine's leaking muck allover the place, have been advised to fix it

stumped wrote:

greg wrote:

stumped wrote:... put in a swivel pin kit ...

Swivel Pin Kit?

that's what it's called, lol. is bearings/seals/gaskets etc for steering knuckles... mine's leaking muck allover the place, have been advised to fix it

AKA knuckle rebuild

N*A*M: alls you need now are drop hubs for the front and lowering blocks for the rear

SIIIK MATE!!!