Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I'm running EFS suspension at the moment, 4" longer shocks and 5" longer coils with 3 degree offset bushes for castor correction. When I was sold the coils I was told that they are very soft and would settle to the correct height and would flex like crazy. Well they flex well but seem to keep on settling. I think I would be lucky to have a 3" lift now. I plan on getting some heavier springs soon but wanted to know if I can go back to standard nissan bushes with drop boxes or do I have to keep the castor bushes with limited flex for a 4" lift. Cheers.

strongly recommend drop boxes for handling and flex. BATC can have engineered and plated.....

So 4" is enough lift for drop boxes, sweet. Yeah I can see the benefits of flex and how they work. Whats BATC though?

Brisbane Axle and Trailer Centre. B.A.T.C. Les's stuff is engineered, and can be approved by DOT......

have you got any cotact details for batc?

hi guys,

I have drop boxes and a 4 inch lift on my shorty.

I was wondering what angle your arms are after putting them in.
Mine are angled down towards the boxes. Which seems strange to me.

Its like these boxes were designed for a 7 inch lift or something.

Do they have different size boxes available for different lifts?

cheers.

my drop boxes are kinda like how u described..my radius arms are now slightly sloping down towrd the box. i ordered them to suit the 4 inch coils i had but the seem to hang down a bit lower than i would like. but im not complaining.. on road now my mav shorty handles so sweet. i now have 5 inch coils and standard radius arm bushs with the boxes. like i said handles like a stocky. and i have regained the front flex that i was missing too..

your arms should sit flat, but slightly down is ok cause it will increase the caster of your front end and that will help with the driveablity of the vehical.


i'm in the process of fitting boxes to my SWB now, i will let you guys know how mine sit tomorrow.

what are the advantages to a drop box as apposed to dropped arms.....im guessing only a price saving??

more importantly ground clearance-more specifically ramp over angle. but a shorty should over come the ill effects of this..but no doubt i didnt have maybe five inches of metal hanging behing my front wheels before i fitted the drop boxes.

Im considering running drop boxes on my lwb mav with 4" lift. Any of you guys with drop boxes and 4 or 5 inch lift got any flex photos you'd like to post? Cheers

Im considering running drop boxes on my lwb mav with 4" lift. Any of you guys with drop boxes and 4 or 5 inch lift got any flex photos you'd like to post? Cheers

BentMav89 wrote:Im considering running drop boxes on my lwb mav with 4" lift. Any of you guys with drop boxes and 4 or 5 inch lift got any flex photos you'd like to post? Cheers

One pic of my set-up. 6" Lovells and drop boxes designed for around 5" I think, works great, much better than plates.

And another one.

BATC drop boxes hang down quite a bit compared to Superior drop boxes so they are not as stream line.

www.suspensionstuff.com.au

Shane

What is required to fit drop boxes. Are the original mounts retained and do they come as a weld or bolt on fitment.

I notice on the pics they are bolted at the rear but what about the front.

Cheers

I would keep the offset bushes. you can gain enough caster correction for 4 inch lift via the bushes you have. Drop boxes will provide too much correction, excessive caster.

Slightly off topic, but sticking to keeping caster etc. with a lift;

Has anyone seen or tried flipping the radius arms so they mount to the top side of the housing?

I have seen pics of some cruisers with this, but not on a GQ/GU Patrol. It allows them radius arm to be straightish with a lift (and therefore have good handling), and would improve clearance a bit.

I haven't had a look under the patrol to see if this is easy to do with all the spring and shock mounts etc.

sootygu wrote:What is required to fit drop boxes. Are the original mounts retained and do they come as a weld or bolt on fitment.

I notice on the pics they are bolted at the rear but what about the front.

Cheers

yes they are bolted up front where your original radius arms are bolted and as well as under the crossmember

Snatchy wrote:Slightly off topic, but sticking to keeping caster etc. with a lift;

Has anyone seen or tried flipping the radius arms so they mount to the top side of the housing?

I have seen pics of some cruisers with this, but not on a GQ/GU Patrol. It allows them radius arm to be straightish with a lift (and therefore have good handling), and would improve clearance a bit.

I haven't had a look under the patrol to see if this is easy to do with all the spring and shock mounts etc.

Coils are in the way.

Area54 wrote:I would keep the offset bushes. you can gain enough caster correction for 4 inch lift via the bushes you have. Drop boxes will provide too much correction, excessive caster.

Yeah my castor is correct at the moment but I don't get much flex out of the offset poly bushes. Not as much as I would like anyway, I would prefer to run standard rubber ones.

Save ya money for a while longer and get the drop arms...!!!!!!!!!!

You do not need seven xtra inches under yer chassis.......

i was toying with the idea of making the toyota radius arms fit up to my mav shorty at one stage..taking advantage of there hinged pin design rather than the standard rod end design of the patrol. still was gunna mount them under the axle but make up a hinged bracket/box on the chassis end to suit. use all factory bushings and make new plates on the axle to mount the radius arms with the correct castor i needed.

i still believe this would work real well on a patrol.. would flex alot better due to the hinged design on the chassis end also would mean standard rubber bushes could be used as castor correction would be made in the plates that would be welded to the diff.

the reason i backed out was i cant weld for shit and i honestly think the kind of driving i do drop boxes will be enough. i have 5inches of lift in a shorty so the boxes hanging down dont really effect me that much..but if someeone is keen to weld for me id be keen in trying the cruiser arm system...

Area54 wrote:

Snatchy wrote:Slightly off topic, but sticking to keeping caster etc. with a lift;

Has anyone seen or tried flipping the radius arms so they mount to the top side of the housing?

I have seen pics of some cruisers with this, but not on a GQ/GU Patrol. It allows them radius arm to be straightish with a lift (and therefore have good handling), and would improve clearance a bit.

I haven't had a look under the patrol to see if this is easy to do with all the spring and shock mounts etc.

Coils are in the way.

Yep the coils are in the way, but if you look at the shape of the nissan arms and the location of the mounting points at the diff end of the arm if you flip it it ends up in almost the same place with the same angle.

BigMav wrote:

Area54 wrote:I would keep the offset bushes. you can gain enough caster correction for 4 inch lift via the bushes you have. Drop boxes will provide too much correction, excessive caster.

Yeah my castor is correct at the moment but I don't get much flex out of the offset poly bushes. Not as much as I would like anyway, I would prefer to run standard rubber ones.

I have seen a few plate welded caster corrections (you can then use standard rubber bushes), but this requires engineering and DOT approval, and it is a pretty permanent modification - meaning that if you change your mind about the height (and want more or less suspension height than the caster is set up for) you are back to square one to set up the caster.

Flex is always going to be an issue with the front end design, you will chase your tail forever to only achieve very little extra flex - it's just not worth the time and money. Go a five link (and put up with the issues that some 5 links suffer from), if you really want a super flexy front end.

Everything is a compromise.

gday fellas, i also want to lift my gu ute,and was going to go for the drop arms, however these drop boxs your talking about, can buy them so their just a totally bolt on thing with no welding? i dont want to weld onto my new truck. i also live in sydney anyone down here make them or sell them?

adamant wrote:gday fellas, i also want to lift my gu ute,and was going to go for the drop arms, however these drop boxs your talking about, can buy them so their just a totally bolt on thing with no welding? i dont want to weld onto my new truck. i also live in sydney anyone down here make them or sell them?

The drop boxes I bought recquired no welding, just to bolt on, minor cutting in the frame.
Bought them from Mannell Motors, he is in Sydney. I think Mannell got them from Wizard performance in QLD. Someone on this forum said that Wizard don`t make drop boxes anymore???

vn15 wrote:

adamant wrote:gday fellas, i also want to lift my gu ute,and was going to go for the drop arms, however these drop boxs your talking about, can buy them so their just a totally bolt on thing with no welding? i dont want to weld onto my new truck. i also live in sydney anyone down here make them or sell them?

The drop boxes I bought recquired no welding, just to bolt on, minor cutting in the frame.
Bought them from Mannell Motors, he is in Sydney. I think Mannell got them from Wizard performance in QLD. Someone on this forum said that Wizard don`t make drop boxes anymore???

wizard drop boxes bolt on but requires some chassis grinding. batc drop boxes bolt & weld on. superior are working on some compact rounded type of drop boxes & will be available in a few weeks