Outer Limits 4x4 Board

OK i have now got a gq wagon as a new toy. What is the best wat to make it capable off road?? I have already got F&R air lockers and want to fit 33's. what is the best lift setup , keeping in mind that i still want this as low as possible. max articulation but a high roll center if possible or at least a very neutral roll axis.
is there a 2 to 4" lift that has these characteristics?? eg.. loooooong soft springs, or are there any other easy solutions.

It's a gq, and it's got f&r lockers?
It's already pretty capable I'd think.
But I'll be watching the thread with interest as mine also has f&r lockers and I'd like to put 33's under mine but not sure about the lift.

4" lift & 35's. Don't forget castor & extended bumpstops etc....

1MadEngineer wrote:OK i have now got a gq wagon as a new toy. What is the best wat to make it capable off road?? I have already got F&R air lockers and want to fit 33's. what is the best lift setup , keeping in mind that i still want this as low as possible. max articulation but a high roll center if possible or at least a very neutral roll axis.
is there a 2 to 4" lift that has these characteristics?? eg.. loooooong soft springs, or are there any other easy solutions.

Greg,

I had 3 inch coils and 2 inch body and i ran 33's which was a nice combination really.

but if you dont want body lift.. go the 4 inch coils which i should have done on mine.... dobinson springs are a good choice, and use good shox.

TOM

2" spring
2" body lift
stronger rear lower arms
rear qtr cut and gaurd cut
throw your sway bars

enjoy

Simon

2" spring and chop rear quarters. Space forward front diff.

If you intend to keep 33"s, shave diff housings for a little extra clearance?

Snake or similar front bushes for extra flex even if they flog out quickly.

Considering the size of the diff pumpkins and the central rear diff... clearance is your main restriction on 33"s.

Greg,

I was lookin through my old photos and i realised i had a few comparison photos.

Here are a few for you to think about.

40mm body lift, 3 inch coils, 33 inch tyres.



40mm body lift, 3 inch coils, 36 inch tyres.



40mm body lift, 5 inch coils, 36 inch tyres



These pictures above should give you a bigger guide on which lift is to suit and how much you'd be able to cut off the guards.

Obviously factor in the body lift which is 40mm which u can add or subsract and factor in the tyre clearances.

Hope those pics helped.

Cheers
TOM

Mate there are a lot of folks on this forum with highly modified GQ's -and it's hard sometimes to not want what they've got! A GQ like yours will be very capable as it is. But if you want to fit 33" tyres [I assume you want the popular 285/75/16 size] but keep the vehicle as low as possible then i'd highly recommend what I had [happy to email you a photo if you like]. I took the advice from Martin Thompson [sydney.sales@dobinsonsprings.com], Manager of Dobinson's in Sydney and He supplied me with Rear: C45-129, Front: C45-108 springs. Although these were recommended as a 3" lift. They actually gave a genuine 2.5" lift which was ideal. They are provided decent flex, gave a good ride and handled the towing i was doing. I mated them with Procomp Explorer ES9000 shocks. I also had the castor correction bushes. With std tyres this lift made the tyres look small but with 285/75/16 they looked ideal. It is a great combo imo and will most likely hit all the right buttons for you.

Hope this helps
Harv.

"how to make a gq capable??"

the answer to that question is turn the ignition on and put it in drive

4 inch springs and drop boxes no body lift and 33 inch tyres and only the slightest rubbing on rear drivers side factory flares when flexed up but adjustable panhards will fix that

A 3" lift will take 33's np without all the need for the extra mods require by a higher lift (adj panhards, could even get away with castor correction).

3" springs, half a day to fit it, no castor correction, no adj. panhards, and strengthened rear control arms. Fit 33's, flex well, under $1000...

On my old SWB. I had 40mm spring lift and 285/75R16 (33's). With Koni shocks. Dont know what p/n the rears where but can get the fronts. Springs where OME.
Only rubbing I got was on inside wheel arch. Bigger rear bump stop is the only fix for this. Bigger springs or BL will not fix it. Stiff springs that dont allow up travel will also fix it.
This setup performed well for years. Used to be able to get a wheel 830mm off the ground, before anything else lifted.
I ran this same setup with 35's and a 50mm BL also.

How the hell are You going to happy with a GQ Greg .....

Id say going off your previous builds .....

Cut it in half/ Ute it , then tube tray , then Exo

Convert the rear to 4 link ( I'm sure you the have the know how to do that) then throw in some coil overs or air shocks

look at a different setup for the front be it 3 link / 5 link or a dobbins style X link ..... same as rear coil overs or air shocks

cut the fawk out the front gaurds....run vertially zero lift throw the 33's away and run some nice sticky BFG's in the 39" size ( im sure you know where some are )

Motor ....stroked 304 ...mmm 355 or bigga .....auto ....to Gq xfer , gears if needed .....


Then sounds about right for somthing you would build

thanks heaps for the info guys, much appreciated!
the main reason for running 33's is so my missus can compete without being penalised. But as a few of you guys who know me would understand there will be a few rather tricky mods happening

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/viewtopic ... light=lift

Read comments by Wendle about 1/2 way down the page

THANKS thats the type of info i am chasing.
Playing with nissans is soooo hard
i am used to building comp luxs and they are so easy, basically give me a stock lux and 5k and i could right a full shopping list and plan of attack to build a comp spec rig that would kick arse, but now i am trying to build a GQ of similar capabilities.
the idea is to keep it really low (max 4") and as we have a variety of tyres to use from 33-40" i would rather compete on 33's.
I keep hearing heaps of crap about castor correction and all the bolt on junk to remedy this, would'nt it be just easier to cut and rotate the knuckles??
we do this all the time and it take less than 1hour once the diff is stripped. Has anyone here done it???


Greg

Greg .........Hypo cut and rotated the knuckles on his lux when he running the GQ's ....no dramas ...I've also heard alot of people are buying bent GU housings and just cutting the balls off and fitting to there GQ housing....



Dan