Hi everyone,
I have the 4" zuki nation lift kit installed. I would have liked more info before I bought it but I didn't find much so I'll post a few thoughts here in hopes that it can help some people out.
In a nutshell, I love how it transforms the vehicle's look and performance. In terms of performance, Breakover angle and approach/departure angles are excellent, and best of all you can achieve this without getting huge and heavy power-sapping tires. But installing the kit wasn't a simple bolt-on operation as I had envisioned it and some problems remain to be solved once the kit is in.
The good:
-Heavy duty components. very overbuilt.
-Rear end gets a LOT of flex. Lots. The rear shocks are 6" longer than stock so you get an extra 2" of down travel, and there's definitely more up travel though I haven't measured before and after. All the extra space in the wheel wells from the lift is taken up during articulation.
-lots of extra frame clearance even with small tires (I run 235/75 R15 and there's about 12.5" of frame clearance.)
-softer ride. Much more comfortable.
-With the sway bar disconnected I get 22.5 inches of artriculation on a 4-door, up from 17" in the stock form. 20 degree RTI score goes from 509 (stock) to 673 with the kit, if that's of any interest to anyone. I think the stock 17" figure is also with the sway bar disconnected. All of this is running fairly high tire pressure - something like 28 psi. I like my gas mileage and yes, the ride is still soft!
-I can still get under 9.5L/100km with mixed highway/off-road/city. Much better than I expected.
The bad:
-the front springs are so bowed out that they hit the front struts, which isn't so bad, but also the brake calipers if the steering wheel is turned too much. As a result, I have to watch how much I steer... Nothing more than 1 1/4 turn of the wheel in either direction, and it'll probably get worse as my pads wear down and the calipers move closer to the spriongs. The steering stops won't adjust far enough to prevent this, and even if they did, the turning radius would be nothing short of horrible.
This is a major pain in the ass and probably only fixable by modifying the a-arms so that the springs are seated horizontally.
-The muffler hits the driveshaft when flexing severely. The fix for this is to get a bullet-style muffler. Not a big deal, if you can deal with the noise.
The spring problem can be fixed - it's just annoying that I bought a "bolt-on" kit and now I have to bring my truck into a shop to have some mods done. Just keep that in mind when you order, and you'll be a lot happier with your purchase. I stuck with 235/75 because I didn't want to lose too much gas mileage and power, but there's a LOT of room in the wheel wells for more rubber, and the rear end flex is awesome.
Some notes:
-I didn't need to use my driveshaft spacer. It barely fit so I left it out.
-MAKE SURE to re-tighten all bolts after 100km!!!!!!!!!
-make sure to add washers to the diff drop bracket bolts if necessary. The new mounts are not as thick as the old ones (they're not flimsier - they're almost as thisk, except they're made of steel instead of aluminium).
-equip yourself with an angle grinder with an 8" disc before you begin. You'll likely need to cut out the old trailing arms. I also had to drill out the seized remainder of the bolts from the welded-on nuts. That was a major pain in the ass and it would be much easier for someone with a body lift as the body gets in the way.
-also get a die grinder. You'll have to elarge some bolt holes on the struts to make the alignment work. Some alignment shops will do this for you, but very few as I found out. find out before you send your vehicle in.
Benoit
Vancouver, BC
