ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki Grand Vitara, Vitara, Chevy Tracker (Gen. 2 Platform) 1999-2005 => Topic started by: r3cc0s on September 24, 2006, 08:31:19 AM
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Well as you guys all have probably seen the for sale forum, and I finally got my $300 spacers 6 months after I paid for the lift kit
What I mean by spacers is just that, I never recieved anything more than 4 washers, 2 strut boots, and the 4 freaking spacers.
The spacers are 1 1/2" tall for the front and 3" on the back
Seeing how I spent relative small fortune for spacers and waited half a year to start lifting my trucketlet, can anyone suggeest what I need to do?
I've been told to get either a BDS or boondox strut extender and possibly get some rear shocks with longer travel...
Well maybe someone can explain to my why a strut extener is required? I am not understanding the geomatry for the truck
Also what shocks should I buy for the rear? Rancho's, the Crown Vics... seems like alot of options out there
As for instructions, I know that JDMCRX did finally write something online though some persuation, but if anyone has any better instructions including the strut extender, that would be wicked!
P.S. JDMCRX is a CON ARTIST
6 months, $300 later for an incomplete KIT
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Call me what u want ur front spacers leave when they get here.
The spacers u got were 1.5 front and 2" rear. U can bolt the kit on right now. and the front top spacers bolt in 5min. There is a whole install process i posted on here ill link it
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http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=11189.0
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Call me what u want ur front spacers leave when they get here.
The spacers u got were 1.5 front and 2" rear. U can bolt the kit on right now. and the front top spacers bolt in 5min. There is a whole install process i posted on here ill link it
Listen.... you tell me what to think about you
I gave you my money 6 months ago
You promised a turn around in 2 weeks
You repeatily kept telling me, another week, another week
Until... you decided to change your email address, which was never given to me until I made a stink on this forum
Oh... and the answer is no, your Phone number was never on your website nor on your profile like you said
then I recieve some bullshit answer on how you used Canada post and lost the package, and were getting compensated the full amount for your "lost" package just cause you didn't put a proper returning address
Then I recieve a "bullshit" tracking number for UPS.... that was NON-EXISTSANT!
Sept 19th/06... I recieve a courier package in the mail
Guess what? IT was FEDEX next day express.... hrm... what about the tracking number?
& This was only the result of the fact that I was going to persue legal actions
But hey... it's an incomplete kit... all I really got was spacers and shock boots... worth a Grand total of what?
Yea Josh what can I say "YOU GOT ME"!
laugh away all you want
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Think how u want i screwed up pushing kits delayied in time with the move and all. I got my money back for the two lost kits friday for 683 cdn funds. Im also dealing with getting ripped off for $2300 for a customers parts.
Frank of the matter is i screwed up and ill fix the problem.
These lifts were not easy to do in the last 3 months due to the move. But i got my new garage all back in order and Im sorry for the wait for u and the other 3 guys.
Sorry i do not rip people off. If the kit is a waste of money why did u purchase it. If u want u can go price out all the materials be my guest. 6"x13" piece of 1.5" alum. And the plastics and shock boots. Oh thats right thats about $5 in materials.
Get the kit on the truck .Ill weld u a strut tower bar up if u want and u can exchange it with urs.
Josh
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Josh.... I never got the aluminum strut spacers
I have posted that in the For\Sale thread
Regardless, total time for my lift kit was 6 months and all I got was spacers and strut boots
You're going to tell me that costed you that $300 I paid?
Personally I don't care what your excuse is.... you know damned well that I should have recieved my complete product months ago... Looks like you're getting compensated for your mistakes, how about me?
Regards,
-Paul
Anyone else what to help me with sourcing parts for the spacers I recieved?
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If you want to redeam yourself, refund his money and use the whole situation as a learning experience.
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I'm glad we have people like r3cc0s warning us about bad service like this. I considered getting the kit a couple weeks ago but r3cc0s's experience definately turns me off, I hardly consider moving an exucuse.... it would have been appropriate to inform potential customers that there might be a delay (in magnitude of months) before getting parts and honouring a refund if those terms were not accpetable to the buyers. I can hardly think of anything that I have the ability and foresight to purchase 6 months in advance (except a house).
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well as i stated before i never got any emails from him when i shipped the first kit out and so forth it was all going to spam. he had my home and cell phone.
Oh well its done with stop harping on it. I still have lots of people wanting kits.
And if you think that my kit is a rip off do not buy it go buy something else.
Bump i sent paul a email waiting on a response
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well as i stated before i never got any emails from him when i shipped the first kit out and so forth it was all going to spam. he had my home and cell phone.
Oh well its done with stop harping on it. I still have lots of people wanting kits.
And if you think that my kit is a rip off do not buy it go buy something else.
Bump i sent paul a email waiting on a response
I called the cell phone twice and left VM's both times... I lost your home number through a chain of emails from April
So you're telling me that it was my fault that the packages though Canada Post "got lost"?
Is that my liability to track?
What about the UPS tracking number that was provided? Am I mistaken, but did my package not arrive via FedEX?
Also... I apparently still have to wait for those Strut Extenders?
6 Months for me to recieve your product... which is not even complete
What do I have to say?
p.s. I am pretty sure that you took a pretty good margin from these coil spacers and strut boots that are sitting besides me
I suggest everyone to deal with Digger... he's been getting great reviews
The point of this thread is.... What do I need to install these coil spacers?
Should I order the strut extenders from Boondox and a set of their rear Shocks?
please advise
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I'm pretty sure you'll need those strut extenders if don't have those aluminium strut spacer dealies that were supposed to come with the kit. I don't think the stock strut can extend an additional 2 inches that it needs to in order to accomodate the lift your coil spacer will give. The strut extenders are the way to go from what i've read as JDMCRX's solution will cause trouble trying to get the tower brace to fit because the top of the struts "drop" 2 inches below their normal position whereas the extenders extend the strut itself and mount to the original location.
My take, yes you still need the extenders if you want to use the coil spacers.
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If you get the strut extenders, then it sounds like we are going to do the same lift... my extenders are on the way from boondox, if I had known we could have ordered them together :( After hearing your nightmare story I ordered my coil spacers from Digger and they are hopefully on the way.
When we finally get all our bits we'll have to get together on a weekend and help each other out!
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No offence but the the truth is I ordered a kit 8 months ago and got the same story as the other guy. My kit is supossed to be here on the 26th. I will pass final judgment when it finally gets here......hopefully. Right now I'm running the boondox spacers cause i waited too long and had tires going bald with new bigger ones waisting away on the porch. I will probably put the new spacers on back. I used boondox strut extenders and bought the procomp shocks for 2 inch lift on boondox, pretty smooth so far. So bottom line you just need the boondox strut extenders and
longer rear shocks and you will be good with the spacers. My strut brace got messed up a bit when I did the body lift. What a pain in the ass to get that back on.
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atc_gv, if you slice one of josh's spacers down to 1inch and add it to the back you'll like it.. should balance out nice.
r3cc0s, as for what you need you should just pick up some longer rear shocks, the crown vics or the yote fj60 or whatever it was that ajmblazer suggested, i plan to swap those in for more rear travel.. for the front just the bds extensions should do it for you. and this would save the trouble associated with the strut brace.
for the strut brace i'll post some pics of mine and how it is mounted after the body lift.. just some basic cutting inside and some sealant. i know, i have things to post.... sorry for the delay on pics..
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I think I might try that. You think I should put the two together with some RTV or something?
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it's hard to say what will be best with the 2 spacers, depending on the fit, if i recall the boondox are made to fit to the coil spring, you may have to chop them both to get 2 flat surfaces that can be stuck together. i did not glue my heep spacers to jdmcrx's, they work well as they are now. i'll post some pics when i can of the 2 spacers together among other things.
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For the rear spacers there maxed out at 2.25" in ther rear then u arepassed the rear bumpstop. we did 2.5 in the rear with a different bump stop but the rear brake line is mazed out i had to pull the shocks tight as possible to prevent the rear brake line from getting ripped out.
I have a company making me new brake lines we are gonna try with a 3" rear lift.
I will advise.
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For the rear spacers there maxed out at 2.25" in ther rear then u arepassed the rear bumpstop. we did 2.5 in the rear with a different bump stop but the rear brake line is mazed out i had to pull the shocks tight as possible to prevent the rear brake line from getting ripped out.
I have a company making me new brake lines we are gonna try with a 3" rear lift.
I will advise.
how about sending atv & me the rest of our lift that we paid for well over half a year ago
Honestly Josh I am surprise you have the odassity to show up on this board trying to prosepect potential customers
With the history from myself and others, you honestly have no CREDIBILITY on this Forum and likely none from the other big zuki ones
You tried to establish yourself and well... you did... you showed your ethics and likely your age
To me, this whole ordeal has been more of an anoyance than even an inconvenience. Not only did I have to persue though multiple channels of communication to even get a hold of you, you have the balls to send us incomplete kit? Did you think we'd be that niave?
Just like ATV - I ordered tires, which have sat on my porches for 6 months thanks to you with brand new rims that are collecting rainwater as we speak!
I also wanted to give you a try, as I figured... hey a Canuck, lets support the small guy and give him a chance!
Well you sure showed me and the entire audience on this forum buddy!
just an FYI for everyone:
This is the email paper trail:
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Yeah no prob. Ok straight to get the lift on order a set of rancho RS 5158 shocks i can get them at 79each plus tax see what u can get them for.
Start putting ur stuff on the front the upper strut tower spacers u can wait tell after. Put the front spacers on and bumpstops on and the rear. the rear shocks i use rancho cause there valving is supior to others. ive tried different ones and never had one prob. I have now over 50,000km on this lift. CE1_2NR has over 20,000 on his and loves it.
The front strut spacers i use for a reason. If u look at the points from a geometry point the struts rod spacers they sell the point of ur strut is still the same location and u will camber in too much and when u use those camber bolts to correct the camber the upper top of the strut binds causeing side load on the strut seals and bushing.
All u have to do is cut the strut brace with a hack saw 20mm and get it rewelded. Its supper simple.
Ill send u the strut spacer and the 1.5" strut tower bar spacers hopefuly tuesday.
Josh
"Chan, Paul H" <paul.h.chan|removethispart|@eds.com> wrote:
I do not use my paypal account so just send the strut spacers
I just want what I paid for
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From: Josh Beauchamp [mailto:jpbauto|removethispart|@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:57 AM
To: Chan, Paul H
Subject: RE: Paul Chan - LIFT KIT
Paul just thgouth of something the spacers are on there way back from bc. I can either refund u $60 or i can wait tell the spacers come in. Let me know cause i have the 60 in paypal now or i can just send the spacers
Jsoh
"Chan, Paul H" <paul.h.chan|removethispart|@eds.com> wrote:
I posted all I needed to say on zukiworld.com for sale column
you did not send me the strut spacers (the aluminum ones) nor the nuts\bolts and the instructions
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From: Josh Beauchamp [mailto:jpbauto|removethispart|@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:48 PM
To: Chan, Paul H
Subject: RE: Paul Chan - LIFT KIT
Hey paul.
Have u gotten anything yet??
Josh
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What I have pasted above was an email sent to me the day after he sent me the package using FedEx express... This package was not sent using UPS unlike the "FAKE" UPS tracking number that he provided in the for\sale thread
Also, I have highlighted what he stated about using the coil extenders....
This is where I am weary... as how can I trust Josh's comments regarding welding the strut bar instead of just ordering the boondox strut spacers?
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Allrighty so this weekend we installed the front lift on my trackvit
boy like what everybody said... it was kinda a pain in the ass, but with a couple buddies, some beer and air tools, it was not too horrible
We basically started like this.
Jacked the car up by the center cross member
Removed the wheels
Unbolted the swaybar and let it swing down
Unhooked the tie arm and ball joint
Unhooked the brake caliper (used some wire and hung it around anything we could find that would keep slack on the line)
removed the front hub which required just the removal of the cap, then 6 bolts and a Circlip, -> pain in the butt as we didn't have c-clip pliers so I had to run out to buy them
jacked up the control arm/a arm and unbolted the strut and strut mount
slowly let down the a arm until the spring was unloaded (didn't need compressors and it was acctuality quite safe due to the long bumpstops)
Unbolted the lower portion of the struts
pulled off the "spindle" and had to unhook it from the controller arm
Pulled out the spring, removed the stock rubber isolator, and used a channel lock on the bumpstop
Put in the 1/4" bumpstop extendered, pushed the 1.5" coil spacer in, and finally the spring with the stock isolator
took out the strut --- had the top bolt (of the bottem 2) "filled" 6mm towards the strut
tried mounting in the 1.5" aluminum strut mount -> now this was a bitch...
#1 I used Josh's aluminum strut mount as opposed to the bolt on top extender that boondox has because.... It didn't come in yet :(
Okay well... the 8.8m bolts that came with the "kit" were too short... had to find some longer 8.8m bolts
The 8.8 bolts that came with the kit also were too wide in diameter as opposed to the holes that were drilled out of the aluminum spacer :P
That had to be drilled out and luckily my buddy that helped me out had a drill press readily available
Also with Josh's strut spacer you have to either drill a little hole for the strut notch, or knock it off... I drilled the hole
Okay... so basically from that point, put the strut spacer in, above the stock strut mount, bolt them in and reverse the order of assembily
So far I have this scenerio:
The Lift does look fabulous and has only a little bit of negative camber on the CV's
but I have ran into the following problems
1. I have "positive" camber on the wheels.... obviously this needs to be adjusted, but the scary thing was, following Josh's write up, I filled 6"mm towards the strut, and when we re-assembled the front strut, we pushed the spindle as far into the strut as we could when we tightned the top strut bolt... I am not sure if I can even adjust them any further, or if I need to buy new struts and camber bolts
2. I don't know if this is a car "setteling" issue or not, however the front I belive sits closer to 3/4" higher than the rear lift w/ the 2" coils spacers
3. Well I have no strut bar, I really should have used the boondox bolt on strut extenders... Josh's aluminum strut spacer drops the mount bracket by the 1.5" and makes it impossible to install the strut bar as it has a different angle and sits too low, so the bar cannot clear my intake manifold.
He included these 2" roughly metal sleves to put a longer bolt to extend the strut bar... again he measured too short and they just won't work
So I might use his "engineered sleves and just find some longer 8.8m bolts
OR Do ya'll think that maybe the strut bar is not really required at all?
Seeing how I have the boondox strut extenders on order, is it possible to still install it on the vehicle to have extended the strut another 2"? Steve from Boondox had said that even the vehical in stock form can use the 2" spacers as the struts have enough travel and the bumpstops should be long enough so the weight will not bottem on the strut
Anyways thanks in advanced
Also Kudos to Neil (Ngrover) for helping me this weekend
From Josh's kit I will admit 1 thing
The coil spacers he lathed are fantastic. They are the proper measurements fro the top notch, outside and inside diameters.
Asides from that... well
I am not sure if the bumpstop extenders will do much and the aluminum spacers were nice but not drilled out properly....
For my $300CAD, w/o rear shocks that I paid Josh that I had to wait 6 months for, I really should have went another route..
FYI that was for 4" coil spacers, 4 1/4" bumpstop "washers", 2 strut boots, and 2 1.5" machined aluminum spacers and bolts
Ngrove bought some of diggers 2" rears while he was making them and 1.5" for the front, plus the boondox bolt on strut extenders
which gives him the exact same lift as mine w/ less hassle as the strut extenders use the stock mount height for a grand total
of $70 for the coil spacers from digger and $64 for the boondox strut extenders
Currently I am using Crown Vic sensatrac rear shocks and running no strut bar w/ slightly positively cambered front tires
So far it drives nicely, and it looks like I need to find a solution for my strut bar (hopefully just longer bolts) and to figure a way to adjust the camber on my front wheels
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toss the spacers on the top if you have the extensions, this will just make your life easier. the strut brace stiffens up the front end a lot and you'll wish it were there.