Getting lifted

[G-Dubya]

Getting a 2 inch Tough Dog lift kit fitted tomorrow. Current suspension is still factory Nissan and has done just over 67,000.

Current heights from axle centre to arch are as follows:
Right rear: 475mm
Left rear: 485 mm
Right front: 525mm
Left front: 520mm

I have rear drawers, third battery and a SMM canopy fitted to the tray. Height measurements were also done with a full tank of fuel.

Rear leafs have looked flat for about 20,000km as shown in the attached pics. I will post up the after heights and pics once done.

 

[G-Dubya]

Rear leafs

 

[G-Dubya]

Left side leaf spring

 

[G-Dubya]

After heights are as follows:
Right rear: 545mm
Right front: 540mm
Left rear: 540mm
Left front: 530mm

Rear has lifted around 70mm and front is not that much different. The place that installed it has listed bigger increases on the receipt they provided. They have measured from the bottom of the rim to the arch. Left front is now 30mm lower than what they listed so I will be keeping an eye on it.

Feels completely different when driving on tarmac, a lot less sloppy. Can't wait to hit the road to 5 rocks to test it off road.

At a tick over $2000 for the upgrade I'm not sure if it is money well spent yet. I will get some pics in the next few days.

 

[mike1303]

Do keep us posted mate.
And yes keep an eye on it for sagging and or bottom bushes collapsing

 

[G-Dubya]

Here are some after pics of under the vehicle. I am a bit concerned with how the brackets for the torsion bars are hanging down out of the cross members. Does anyone else have theirs looking like this?

 

[G-Dubya]

Here is a pic of the torsion bar bracket. The left side is the same.

 

[ShortyNavros]

That is farking ordinary. They haven't been splined correctl and are vulnerable to damage offroad. You can either fix it yourself or take it back to the place who did it and tell them to fix it. In the the and maintenance section I have written a thread on how to index torsion bars correctly and set ride height

 

[G-Dubya]

I didn't think they were sticking out like that prior to the lift. I'm not happy with the ride height at the front left either. They quoted 780mm after the lift and it is already at 745. I expect a bit of settle but not 35mm in 6 days. I'll be getting it back to them to sort it out.

 

[G-Dubya]

I rang Opposite Lock in Rockhampton who fitted the lift kit to advise them of some concerns I have regarding the lift. When I started talking about the front dropping and the torsion bar anchor arm/bracket I got the feeling that they weren't that interested. The guy told me they will go over it at 1000km and that will include retightening/retensioning all the components and will probalby alter the amount that the anchor arm/bracket is sticking out.

 

[bods]

Sounds a bit average to me. It shouldn't be sticking out at all... once they have settled in, they should only need to be adjusted once, there's no way they are going to be able to get them up inside the crossmember without re-indexing the bars. See how you go, but it might be worth a call to their head office if you don't have any joy. The torsion bars are the hardest bit, so if you have to re-index them yourself, you may as well have fitted the whole lift kit yourself.

Good luck getting it sorted out...

 

[G-Dubya]

OK. I spoke with Tough Dog about what had happened with my lift and I sent them a pic of the bracket and they suggested I get back in touch with OL and take it to them for a look. I get the feeling that they "discussed" the matter with Opposite Lock as well. I was over near them for work and dropped it to get the shop supervisor to check it over. He explained in more detail what they do when they install them with regard to settling of the torsion bar and spring and what other things they do at 1000km. The Nav has only travelled 200km since the install and he suggested it should be OK until the 1000km is on the springs. He wasn't concerned with the amount of settling in the front as he said they usually reset them to the original after installation height at the 1000km check (for the fronts I assume).

I then told him it was going to have another wheel alignment on Friday. I said I didn't want the bracket hanging below the cross member and if they were going to fix it up at the 1000km mark I would need another wheel alignment which would need to be paid for.

Long story short it is going back to them on Friday to be "checked over" before they take it for the alignment. Sounds like a win but could have been easier. Might just try to rack up a few more km's on them on Thursday before I take it back to them. Thanks bods and Shorty4655 for your feedback.

The suspension feels so much better than the original stuff. Corners a lot better and it no longer feels like a boat hitting wash after it finds a bump in the road. Lets see what happens Friday.

 

[G-Dubya]

Took it back to OL yesterday. They had another crack at it and the result is attached. They said that they have been trained to leave the anchor brackets sticking out a bit to allow for future adjustment and resetting. Just realised the picture is s$&thouse. It is sitting below the crossmember by about 10mm.

 

[ShortyNavros]

That is stupid. If it sags you can always re-spline it later on. Most of the time they never sag enough to even warrant re indexing them. And if that have sagged that far you are probs due to replace them anyway as they will be fatigued as shit.

 

[bods]

^^yep. I still have the stock ones in mine and from the factory they were inside the crossmember with enough room to be wound up to where they should be. Better than what it was I guess, but still pretty average...