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sierra lift

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:29 pm
by Lou
looking at lifting a 98 sierra. not sure what springs and shocks to go with any help ??? looking at 2" spring lift thanx

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:32 pm
by xtreem
Send nelligen a PM he has just done it with good results.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 1:26 am
by nelligen
lou I will pm you with details of what I used ,it seems to work good

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:09 am
by muppet_man67
If its not to hard could you post what you did in the thread Im looking to do a similar thing to my coily.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:57 am
by stumped
RBzook also just lifted his coily, i think he went with a 3" kit... may be some details in his members section, but not much tech i don't think

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:29 pm
by greg
Ironman Suspension make a suspension kit for a coiler sierra - could be worth contacting them for a little chat.

I'm not sure if their stuff is any good - but they do exist.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:47 pm
by jtraf
Notice you have the Simex MT Tyres on the car. Wondering how they go under a zook. Been looking at these cheap muddies for a while and wondered how they preformed on and offroad on a sierra.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:11 pm
by xtreem
Nelligen is away for the day. But what he did was use King springs 40mm lift, Adjustable rear shocks (from suzi sport) about 50mm longer on extension. Standard front shocks with spacers at the top to get more drop. Removed swaybar. Reinforced arms and lower shock mounts. caster correction bushes in front. 2 inch body lift, extended steering shaft etc.

The transformation is unbeleavable for a small $ out lay. Flexes awesome and rides much better on road, no more bottoming on the bump stops when you run over a pebble. Much more plush ride. No tyre rubbing issues either.

The Simex muddies are great we havn't tested them fully yet but I also have them on my leafy and I'm very happy with them so far. Good traction off road not to noisy on road and grip excellent in the wet.

Nelligen will be back tonight to answer in more detail.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:13 pm
by xtreem
He has a air locker for the rear aswell, and is just waiting for his calmini 5.14 gears to turn up from the states.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:28 pm
by RB zook
i got my 3 inch suspention lift from GRP auto in morebank

talk to tony.
in the front i got new struts which are 2 inch longer than standard and 4 way adjustiable.

in the rear it has ranchos 9 way ajustiable
it flexes soooo much better :D

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:31 pm
by RB zook
standard everthing with lift kit installed :D

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:34 pm
by molch
sorry to get a little off topic bar do you knwo where he got that front bar from also have any front on pics of it?

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:39 pm
by xtreem
Yeah Molch he made the bar himself. He will post a pic for you when he gets home tonight or tomorrow.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 3:42 pm
by xtreem
Rb you better reinforce the front caster arms before you snap one, and end up doing heaps of damage when the front wheel slams into the firewall.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:16 pm
by RB zook
already bent one :bad-words: :bad-words:

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:18 pm
by RB zook
wats the best way of reinforcing them :?:


weld rhs to them or sumthin
when i get a new one ill get them all done

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:22 pm
by xtreem
Yeah Nelligen welded some 25mm box section on both sides, come out really neat and very strong.

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:19 pm
by nelligen
molch wrote:sorry to get a little off topic bar do you knwo where he got that front bar from also have any front on pics of it?
2" & 3" PIPE 3MM & 2MM g , 5mm plate brackets

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:23 am
by nelligen
muppet_man67 wrote:If its not to hard could you post what you did in the thread Im looking to do a similar thing to my coily.
Well I havent really done a lot with the suspension just fit king springs pn KSFR 30 & 31 , 60 mm longer rear shocks (cheap suzisport adj ) Standard front shocks with 30mm urethane spacers on the top of the shafts to allow extra drop (theres spare trav), & urethane pads between the axel housing & bottom mounts to take some of the load off the weak bottom mounts & bushes, these few little mods together with the 31" tyres have made a huge difference when compared to the useless standard springs that dont work at all (still dont know how the hell suzuki got those springs to pass saftey standards, they bottomed out on the highway from day 1) I have also fit castor adj bushes & removed the sway bar, and beefed up the radius arms. my aim was to keep it simple, close to standard but make it work , Hope this helps muppet man .

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:35 am
by nelligen
jtraf wrote:Notice you have the Simex MT Tyres on the car. Wondering how they go under a zook. Been looking at these cheap muddies for a while and wondered how they preformed on and offroad on a sierra.
so far Iam really happy with them on & off road but time will tell ??? may be others have had more experience with them ? any reviews ??

Posted: Sat May 01, 2004 3:43 pm
by muppet_man67
Well I havent really done a lot with the suspension just fit king springs pn KSFR 30 & 31 , 60 mm longer rear shocks (cheap suzisport adj ) Standard front shocks with 30mm urethane spacers on the top of the shafts to allow extra drop (theres spare trav), & urethane pads between the axel housing & bottom mounts to take some of the load off the weak bottom mounts & bushes,... I have also fit castor adj bushes .


Im how well do the standard front shocks go with the lift? what are urethane spacers where do you get them? I dont undertand what you mean by pads between the axel housing and bottom mounts? is the mount for the shocker or the coil? why castor adjustable bushes? how much did this setup cost, it sounds really good, any pics? thanks

Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 10:06 pm
by nelligen
muppet_man67 wrote:
Well I havent really done a lot with the suspension just fit king springs pn KSFR 30 & 31 , 60 mm longer rear shocks (cheap suzisport adj ) Standard front shocks with 30mm urethane spacers on the top of the shafts to allow extra drop (theres spare trav), & urethane pads between the axel housing & bottom mounts to take some of the load off the weak bottom mounts & bushes,... I have also fit castor adj bushes .


Im how well do the standard front shocks go with the lift? what are urethane spacers where do you get them? I dont undertand what you mean by pads between the axel housing and bottom mounts? is the mount for the shocker or the coil? why castor adjustable bushes? how much did this setup cost, it sounds really good, any pics? thanks
the front shocks work good with the longer springs, I just slid 2 urethane bushes (from an old sway bar) on the top of the shock rod before fitting the shock back in , so it sits lower in the tower ( less thread sticks out the top mounting) the standard shocks have a little spare travel on compression to allow for this , so you gain a bit more drop. 2. The coil springs seat on the shock tube so all the weight is directly on the bottom shock bush, if you look at your bushes you'll see that the bolt is almost at the top of the bush instead of centre , so as a quick improvement I just cut a sheet of 13mm hard urethane sheet to fit neat in the bottom mount "see photo" so the bush is assisted with the load, I intent to completely remount the shocks & springs in the future in a more conventional way (springs seated to axel instead of shock tube). I hope this makes sense muppet , the castor bushes correct the over steer feel that comes with the lift and bigger wheels ( mine steered like a shopping trolley ) paid about $145 I think at super cheap auto for fulcrum brand castor bushes, you may not need them most people dont worry about it . I also fit urethane bushes to the body end of the arms $65 also fulcrum brand. spring are about $250-$300 for all 4, I paid $210 on ebay

Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 10:12 pm
by nelligen
RB zook wrote:wats the best way of reinforcing them :?:


weld rhs to them or sumthin
when i get a new one ill get them all done
this is what I did

Posted: Mon May 03, 2004 8:38 pm
by Spooky Monster
Trailing Arms are a bit of a weak point. Snapped my rear right arm in half, out fourbying one day. Drove home with the rear axle floating all over the show.

Just have 2 inch lifted springs and suzisport adjustables in the rear but have noticed now after cruiser park this weekend my rear shocks that i fitted new in january are already "shagged" and bottoming out over any medium sized bump off road.

Surely they should last longer than 4 months. :x

Looks like you have done a real good job strengthing those arms up.

Posted: Mon May 03, 2004 11:46 pm
by xtreem
Yeah 4 months is ridiculous. thats 16 weeks. Send them back.

Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 12:56 am
by nelligen
Spooky Monster wrote:Trailing Arms are a bit of a weak point. Snapped my rear right arm in half, out fourbying one day. Drove home with the rear axle floating all over the show.

Just have 2 inch lifted springs and suzisport adjustables in the rear but have noticed now after cruiser park this weekend my rear shocks that i fitted new in january are already "shagged" and bottoming out over any medium sized bump off road.

Surely they should last longer than 4 months. :x

Looks like you have done a real good job strengthing those arms up.
I will have to beef up the rear arms as well then. Yea I was pissed off a bit when my shocks turned up , they look very cheap & nasty, not even painted all over, they work ok now but I dont expect them to last to long ,but 4 months is a joke send them back & see how there 2 year warranty stands up, you should see the total crap locking fuel cap I also got from them, looks like it was made in china 15 years ago, was corroded in the packet ,doesn't lock, doesn't even fit on firmly feels like it will fall off when I hit bumps.

Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 7:25 pm
by RB zook
i got imported shocks which are 2 inch longer than standard ones,and are 4 way adjustiable they are great :D


nelligen i see you took the sway bar off :D :D i took mine off ages ago :twisted:

Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 6:00 pm
by muppet_man67
nelligen wrote:
RB zook wrote:wats the best way of reinforcing them :?:


weld rhs to them or sumthin
when i get a new one ill get them all done


if thse are reinforced whats gonna break instead?

Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 7:32 pm
by nelligen
muppet_man67 wrote:
nelligen wrote:
RB zook wrote:wats the best way of reinforcing them :?:


weld rhs to them or sumthin
when i get a new one ill get them all done


if thse are reinforced whats gonna break instead?
Yea you just keep moving the weakest link till the weakest link is strong enough for your requirerments , the mounting brackets on the diff housing are also a weak link so they will definatly break next ,sometimes these break 1st, Iam reinforcing my rear radius arms next then ill have a go at the mountings. I'll end up getting the overkill coil kit or a similar set up in the future so Iam keeping these mods to a low budget.

Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 8:02 pm
by Lou
Thanx for all your help guys..
im looking in to lifting it now
will let you all know how it goes
i will take all your advice and hopefully it comes out like i want