Is there really any point doing a body lift? and TRUE opinions on suspension/shocks?

[Greazer]

Is there any point in lifting the body other than giving you extra tyre clearance?

Im planning on running 35s eventually, so was thinking of installing a 2+2 lift, ive been told with the right offset rim it wont scrub or much, but that still leaves the chassis and everything bar the diffs 2" lower.

Soo, now im thinking save up for a 4" suspension lift and if i need/want more tyre clearance, bolt a body lift in?

And....What are the real, down to the bone, true facts about certain suspension/shock brands??
I dont want to spend thousands upon thousands but im also not installing King Springs.

Cheers everyone :)

[Bigrig]

Personally don't see the need if not running 35's off road ... my 33's scrub a little in the arches and I run 5" springs, but nothing slightly longer bumpstops wouldn't fix (and I mean 'slightly').


Just tap it in ... taaapp it in ....

[Brendan56]

Nah I wouldn't get it, just stick to the useful stuff that will help you off road, and just work on other fixes to stop scrubbing. Suspension lift is the way to go, just got my 3" fitted and loving it.

Tappin trolls
Brendan

[Ben-e-boy]

Is there any point in lifting the body other than giving you extra tyre clearance?

Im planning on running 35s eventually, so was thinking of installing a 2+2 lift, ive been told with the right offset rim it wont scrub or much, but that still leaves the chassis and everything bar the diffs 2" lower.

Soo, now im thinking save up for a 4" suspension lift and if i need/want more tyre clearance, bolt a body lift in?

And....What are the real, down to the bone, true facts about certain suspension/shock brands??
I dont want to spend thousands upon thousands but im also not installing King Springs.

Cheers everyone :)

I run a 4 inch lift and 35s (10inch rim -44 offset) and dont really have a scrubbing issue. it touches a little bit on the chassis at the rear but it no drama.
The question is how hard do you go? with a quality set of 33's and a 3 inch long travel kit will see go alot of places, diff clearence will always be an issue if you are runnng 31's or 44's

[MQ MAD]

Is there any point in lifting the body other than giving you extra tyre clearance?


Cheers everyone :)
Most do for tyre clearance and its a relatively cheap lift mod
Coupla hours work and under 200 bucks
Anymore than 2 "and you pushing the limits of most factory lines,hoses ect
Ive gone 4 " BL on an MK shorty here

[Greazer]

I run a 4 inch lift and 35s (10inch rim -44 offset) and dont really have a scrubbing issue. it touches a little bit on the chassis at the rear but it no drama.
The question is how hard do you go? with a quality set of 33's and a 3 inch long travel kit will see go alot of places, diff clearence will always be an issue if you are runnng 31's or 44's

Go hard or go home? haha, Half the places i want to go near where i live (there isnt much to choose from) have been destroyed by 35"+ Tyres, really need the diff clearance. Ive been pretty much pushing it to its limits as it is atm.

[Dominator]

JI have 4in coils and 2in body. I run 35s off road and I still get rubbing on the inner rear guards. I have now extended bump stops to try and stop it. The other advantage of body lift is it gives heaps of access to clean under the car after going up the beach, and living 15mins from Teerwah beach and a little over an hour from Fraser Island I do like to hit the beach often.

Also with body lift comes the increased risk of cracked body mounts, i have already done one. If I had my time again I don't think I would fit body lift. But for me to remove it now I would have to remake my winch bar, sliders and rear bar. Not fun!

[growler2058]

For what I do........ NO


Sent from the crapper while on tappa

[makeitfit]

I may put my spanner in the works now ?@
I've gone for the 2" body lift and 2" suspension lift. Two reasons, the body lift is cheap and easy to do AND helps keep the center of gravity low. Side slopes like low c/o/g. Suspension lift (coils) and longer reach shocks allows for the articulation bit but not high enough to mess up the steering geometry .
I'm running 35s Simex and have no rubbing on inner arch but did trim the wheel arch about 10mm. I cant remember the offset on my alloys sorry.

[MudRunnerTD]

Inside of the guards scrub Only, Only if your Rim Offset is too shallow. Fitting a Body Lift will have Zero effect on this scrub. Change your rims.

If you can avoid a BL then go suspension lift over Body Lift every day of the week. A BL is a compromise. It changes nothing but the gap between your chassis and your body, Increases your centre of Gravity without giving you any suspension that may help you avoid calamity.

The bests suspension that YOU can buy is alway better that a Body Lift.

I have a BL in my GQ but all my bar work is modded to suit so removing it is not viable.

Sort out. Good 4" lift the correct way a d change your rims to a 16x8 with a neg22 offset and you will have little trouble.

Good luck



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dominator]

Inside of the guards scrub Only, Only if your Rim Offset is too shallow. Fitting a Body Lift will have Zero effect on this scrub. Change your rims.

Sort out. Good 4" lift the correct way a d change your rims to a 16x8 with a neg22 offset and you will have little trouble.

Good luck



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offset won't FIX scrubbing but it will help. I run -26 offset and still get scrubbing. I can't gat any bigger offset as the wheels already stick a tiny bit past the flares.

Body lift will help reduce tyres catching the wheel arches tho.

[MQ MAD]

Also with body lift comes the increased risk of cracked body mounts, i have already done one. If I had my time again I don't think I would fit body lift.

I think many have issues,could be wrong tho,as the usey tiny body blocks,like 50mm diameter and theres plenty of movement to cause cracking mounts
My blocks are as big as i can go within the actual body mounts,about 75-80 mm diameter,with a spacer plate inside the cab,not just a small washer
The front and rear blocks are 100 mm diameter and solid steel not alloy,heavy yep,and i also increased the bolt size some what
It all helps with movement or hopefully lack of, movement here and there cracks things

[BigRAWesty]

I think many have issues,could be wrong tho,as the usey tiny body blocks,like 50mm diameter and theres plenty of movement to cause cracking mounts
My blocks are as big as i can go within the actual body mounts,about 75-80 mm diameter,with a spacer plate inside the cab,not just a small washer
The front and rear blocks are 100 mm diameter and solid steel not alloy,heavy yep,and i also increased the bolt size some what
It all helps with movement or hopefully lack of, movement here and there cracks things

A lot crack when they remove the rubber factory mount.. you need to leave it in to allow flex..
I ran solid 80mm shaft on all 10 points of my lwb gq and went a m12 bolt over the m10.
Over kill for a 1" body lift. Yes... But I like to guarantee longevity.

Pros of a body lift
Cheap, easy

Cons
Still limited articulation, risk body damage, still need to change brake lines, diff breathers of adding to a 2" spring, throws bar work out of whack and anything more than a 1" body lift and stock barwork looks crap imo...
also front fill pannels need to be remade.

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[nissannewby]

Inside of the guards scrub Only, Only if your Rim Offset is too shallow. Fitting a Body Lift will have Zero effect on this scrub. Change your rims.

If you can avoid a BL then go suspension lift over Body Lift every day of the week. A BL is a compromise. It changes nothing but the gap between your chassis and your body, Increases your centre of Gravity without giving you any suspension that may help you avoid calamity.

The bests suspension that YOU can buy is alway better that a Body Lift.

I have a BL in my GQ but all my bar work is modded to suit so removing it is not viable.

Sort out. Good 4" lift the correct way a d change your rims to a 16x8 with a neg22 offset and you will have little trouble.

Good luck



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I beg to differ a little. Lifting the body instead of your entire drive train will keep the COG lower, meaning more stable off road. A suspension lift doesnt always necessarily net you more travel. It helps yes but the biggest thing that stops everyone is diff clearance. I have always pondered with the thought of running a 2" suspension lift with my current 2" body lift and modifying the top shock mounts to allow the fitment of longer shocks, these coupled with some nice flexy coils and 37's would have an awesome setup. I do like my body lift it makes the car easier to work especially if doing a clutch and before I lifted it could fit 35's with no issues on -22 rims with a 2" spring and 2" body lift. The biggest drama I had with this was down travel, I lifted wheels due to shock length. A suspension lift is also a slight compromise as well, your point of max up travel isnt really changed so your back where you were with standard suspension. I hope this makes sense I can make sense of it myself but may not have conveyed it very well.

[makeitfit]

That's pretty much what I was trying to say. 2" + 2" seems good to me. It must keep c of g lower as the engine and axles are foookin' heavy , as I've just found out lol
Didn't want to shout too loud as new to this malarky ;) but loving it long time xxx
I'm refurbing some axles at the mo and will be modding the shock mounts to get more droop for same shock length (I'm a poor church mouse ) and then use some cheap coil dislocators.

[BigRAWesty]

So will you be raising or lowering the front tower top?
And what's the plan for the rear?

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[makeitfit]

I'm refurbing the axles now. Shock mounts are work in progress. I'll do some pics in the next day or two to try and show you what I'm thinking ;)

[MudRunnerTD]

I agree the C of G will be a little better with a BL over a suspension lift but either way your C of G will rise with either and consideration should be given to that effect when driving after the modification.

If you do go a BL then you get a bonus. Lifting the body opened up the top of the shock tower on the front and allows you to unbolt and remove the upper shock tower and install 50mm lift blocks and fit the tower on top of these. Don't try and modify the lowers on the diff, not required if you have a BL.

I'll see if I can find the pic in my build thread and repost it here for you mate.


http://nissanpatrol.com.au/images/Stripping%20the%20GQ/GQ%20Suspension%20Build/IMG_0318.jpg?t=1277817144

[MudRunnerTD]

Sorry about the size of the pic, on my iPad and had to just grab it out of my build thread

You will find the suspension pics on page 3 of my build thread in my sig line mate

[Greazer]

Havent been on in a fair few days, im drugged up to the eyeballs at the moment due to a broken wisdom tooth, 4 different box's of meds, its pretty average haha

Anyway, even know i wasnt fond of body lifts at all, i kinda picked up a 2" Susp Lift and a 2" BL for $300 today so after hearing the pros and cons and everyones opinion ive decided i will probably fit the blocks after all.



I beg to differ a little. Lifting the body instead of your entire drive train will keep the COG lower, meaning more stable off road. A suspension lift doesnt always necessarily net you more travel. It helps yes but the biggest thing that stops everyone is diff clearance. I have always pondered with the thought of running a 2" suspension lift with my current 2" body lift and modifying the top shock mounts to allow the fitment of longer shocks, these coupled with some nice flexy coils and 37's would have an awesome setup. I do like my body lift it makes the car easier to work especially if doing a clutch and before I lifted it could fit 35's with no issues on -22 rims with a 2" spring and 2" body lift. The biggest drama I had with this was down travel, I lifted wheels due to shock length. A suspension lift is also a slight compromise as well, your point of max up travel isnt really changed so your back where you were with standard suspension. I hope this makes sense I can make sense of it myself but may not have conveyed it very well.

I get you mate, and thats what ive been thinking about, down travel, is there that much involved to fit longer shocks?

[BigRAWesty]

Havent been on in a fair few days, im drugged up to the eyeballs at the moment due to a broken wisdom tooth, 4 different box's of meds, its pretty average haha

Anyway, even know i wasnt fond of body lifts at all, i kinda picked up a 2" Susp Lift and a 2" BL for $300 today so after hearing the pros and cons and everyones opinion ive decided i will probably fit the blocks after all.




I get you mate, and thats what ive been thinking about, down travel, is there that much involved to fit longer shocks?

There is a few ways of getting longer shocks in safely.
As mentioned before, did the previous owner modify or fit longer bump stops?
If not it could be a possible cause for the stuffed shocks.
So that's one, extend the stops so the shock doesn't bottom out. you loose compression but gain a lot of drop..

Or raise the top mounts of the shocks so the bottom of the tube sits at the same height as the original. This allows good compression, but not as much drop as option one due to the shock being higher...
Most go for option one as they are running larger tyres and by extending the bump stops it stops the wheel going to far into the guard and scrubbing.

Now depending on the severity of your shock over length you may need to do both mods. Say you wanted to run a 3" spring and 6" shocks.. that wound need towers raised and bump stops, as well as spring retainers, guides, long as help brake lines etc...

So anything is achievable mate. Just gotta nut out the best plan...
Hope I've made sence now...:D

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[beaST_01-dell]

Soooooo, a 2'' suspension lift, its just shocks & springs??????? Nothing else????

[MudRunnerTD]

Soooooo, a 2'' suspension lift, its just shocks & springs??????? Nothing else????

Yes. That's all mate

[BigRAWesty]

Yes. That's all mate

You can go the whole hog, but not really needed

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[SonOf]

Being still a relative newbie could I ask someone to lob a few pics up of their body lift? I have a 2" suspension lift in my 3.0ltr Patrol, undertaken by ARB but now I have just bought a TD42 GU wagon and I am looking to do the same but a BL is interesting as well. I am on a budget so will be doing most of the work myself but never done a BL before hence the pic request.

I don't go hard on the track, just getting to fishing spots etc in Southern TAS but the extra lift also lets me run 33's.

[Winnie]

Body lift in a GU is stupid! Sorry the main reason people body lift a GQ is to fit big tyres but the GU has much bigger wheel arches so can fit the tyres already. Only good reason I've seen for a body lift in a GU was "to fit the Duramax"

If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[threedogs]

think its illegal to do a body lift on a GU. Too many sensors. could be wrong.
I have seen it done but only on Comp trucks.,
Body lifts are not really necessary 50mm lift two lockers and the right wheel placement will see
any 4x4 go almost anywhere. un reg'd go all out but the more mods
the more can go wrong with stress on different components..
Most guys here have 285s or 33s only a handfull have a body lift.
But IMO totally not worth it, put the money towards a locker
of your choice. not CIG and spend it on beer though

[Winnie]

Bit harsh coming from a 9 year old mate, but we get your point!! lol

He meant everything but the "stupid" part mate. The arches are definitely bigger and unless you're considering 37's I wouldn't suggest much need in a GU.


Scotty (Bigrig)

Yeah sorry, unnecessary would have been a better word choice.


If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[SonOf]

Sweet - appreciate the info. As noted am new to this so still learning, well only until the 5th beer then learning stops.

Will keep it to suspension lift only and work on other projects.

[DX grunt]

Most people over 40 need some sort of body lift. lol.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist that.

[SonOf]

Most people over 40 need some sort of body lift. lol.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist that.

That part is easy, I just stand on my head and my guts get a lift :-)

[TMC]

I have a 2" flexi setup with 2" body. And will be fitting 35s soon. How do you know wheels have the right offsets do you average tyre places know this?

Also what's required suspension wise to fit 37s for play with a 2" body??

Sorry for the noob questions..


Cheers..
Troy

[Lukew]

Just new also and was wondering if any one knows the length the new bolts need to be for a 2 inch body lift?