ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: jookycola on June 19, 2004, 01:16:29 PM
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so i see Eibach offers 1.5inch lift springs for sidekicks. does anyone see a problem with adding 2inch coil spacers to this and making it 3 inches?
because to me that would be a nice 3inch budget lift in my opinion, but i'm wary of mixing aftermarket springs with spacers made for factory ones.
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you would need some thing to fix CV angles. :-/
stu
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The problems probably won't lie in mixing aftermarket springs and coil spacers, but rather, as Stu said, with the CV angles.
You could always try to do a Calmini-esque front differential drop by making the bottom cushion on the pinion mount about 1/2" shorter. :-/
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not sure if this will work but the CV's arn't long enough after a tall lift right? to why not just cut them in half and put a spacer in them? it would have to be vary strong but i think it would work.
stu
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STEERING
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ahh who needs to steer anyway! ;)
stu
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You'll need to fit strut spacers and longer shocksor you'll have no wheel droop at all and you'll never keep all the wheels on the ground while cornering
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ok good point....so now my next question is.
if i just do the 2 inch coil spacer lift, on an otherwise stock suspension. am i going to have issues with steering and wheel droop?
And out side of buying and installing the spacers, what other expenses will i incur? also can a truck with spacers still be aligned and camber corrected?
sorry for all the questions but i am 110% buying spacers next week and i plan to install them and just want to be 100% aware of all that is invovled in doing this. and roughly how much more i will spend after all is said and done. I am currently under the impression that all i need to do after the install is get the truck aligned...it is after all only 2 inches.
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I think that the steering might work ok with just 2". The angles might be off, but I believe it will be hard to tell the difference by drive & feel once the alignment is complete, especially with bigger tires. Once you go with bigger tires everything will feel different. You would certinly need to do the strut mount flip up front. I say Go for it...
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big tires are done 235/75/15's installed a month and a half ago, delayed them aligning it because i wanted to lift it first and kill two birds with one stone. my biggest problem is of all the zukis i've owned this one i plan on taking take of...no hardcore trail rig here. it's going to be my solid daily driver and want it to remain comfortable so i've bounced around the ideas of all the different lifts out there and the spacers seem to be the best choice because i can keep my stock ride feel but still be lifted.
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Before dismantling the suspension, measure the coil height at full droop and the stretch in your brake line. Due realize that this length will be shorten the spacer height due to the strut length (the common denominator) or you could add a spacer to the strut mount to equal, or flip the strut mount as it's real easy. After all is said and done, everything is installed and back together, check the droop one more time, looking at the brake line tension. Don't forget to turn the steering wheel. You may have to remount the brake line lower to compensate.
With your taller tires already installed, after front coil is removed to add the spacer, check the suspension and tire clearance by cycling the tire up (you will have to reconnect the strut). You may realize that longer bump stops will be necessary to keep tire off the sheetmetal during compression.
Perform the same on the rear install. The shock length will hinder the droop. Longer shocks will be needed to get the benefit. For binding, assuming you have a 1/2 generation Sidekick, check the center diff mount for binding. You may have to fab a spacer for this. Check your brake line as well as the parking brake cable for binding during droop.
Good luck.
PS. I'm still working on getting my -7's front coils to collapse so that I could add my front spacers....
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From what I've seen first hand with a 2" spring or spacer lift, if you undo the parking brake cable from the rear mounting points on the rear of the frame, you will be fine.
As far as the brake lines are concerned, either get a longer replacement from Calmini, or add on to it using a VW Bug or van short hose from a local VW parts place, very cheap. The front, if you have a problem with front hose length, put a left front hose on the right, and re-route the left to about the same level, problem solved.
The droop issue can be addressed by flipping the strut spacer, and having a 1" spacer made for the top of that. The rear, you need to put longer shocks on it, plain and simple.
From what I've seen with installing the Calmini 3" and using other routes to accomplish 3" of lift, the steering can be adjusted very easily, just a toe adjustment. The Calmini also has a camber fix in the control arms. But that one you could fix with eccentric bolts.
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The calmini 2 inch is a pretty inexpensive lift. It retains the stock front coils, corrects camber, corrects CV angles, and rides very close to stock. Ubove all its durable and long lasting. By the time you buy 4 coils from someone, have a strut spacer made, buy new rear shocks, correct rear driveshaft angle, ecentric cam bolts, and buy some coilspring spacers are you really saving money? Im all for saving a buck or two, but it doesnt sound like it will be enough saved to make it worth all the work.
Mike
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yeah no kidding, does sound like alot of hassel.
but what if all i wanted to do was install the 2inch spacers? forget the springs. is much more to just doing 2inch spacer install than just installing them?
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I think the tallest spacer you can go with is 1 3/4 cause the rear coil will slide out of place. You will still need to get longer shocks and flip the plates and make a 1 inch strut spacer, or buy OME struts.
Mike
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Does anyone know if the full travel is used on the rear shocks. If its like the front and theres some spare then the top shock mount could be lowered with some box section steel or similar. It would be a lot cheaper than new shocks.
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I have been singing the praises of Deldana's lift from Brazil, cheaper than the RRO stuff and very effective - I have their strut & shock spacers, but I went with 1" coil spacers from RRO as I already have +1.5" springs.
Deldana have 2" coils spacers in their kit - see it at
www.Deldana.com.br
there are about 3 Br Reals to 1 US$, and the vendor is honest and fast - shipping is cheap!
go on have a look and tell me what you think!!
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I like what is see, problem is babel fish is having a hard time translating the Brazilian and i can't find where to buy or how much their stuff is. but they have pretty awesome stuff. i've been searching for a front skid plate like Geo used to sell for the tracker for a long time and don't like the look of Calminis...but this place makes one just like the Geo plate.
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you need to find a mate who speaks portugese!!
their previous web site had the prices on, and I cant recall what I paid but it was cheap, like half of RRO prices!!
send them an email in English and they will reply in English right away !!
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Whats the shocks on the rear i heard from a crownvic but what year or what car?
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The calmini 2 inch is a pretty inexpensive lift. It retains the stock front coils, corrects camber, corrects CV angles, and rides very close to stock. Ubove all its durable and long lasting. By the time you buy 4 coils from someone, have a strut spacer made, buy new rear shocks, correct rear driveshaft angle, ecentric cam bolts, and buy some coilspring spacers are you really saving money? Im all for saving a buck or two, but it doesnt sound like it will be enough saved to make it worth all the work.
Mike
THIS IS WHAT I WAS THINKING AS I STARTED READING THIS POST. IT IS WHAT I WILL TALK MY BROTHER INTO DOING IF HE WANTS TO LIFT HIS NEW KICK, BUT KEEP IT MILD. (http://thumb1.webshots.com/s/thumb2/1/67/91/155816791BGfmUP_th.jpg )
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Whats the shocks on the rear i heard from a crownvic but what year or what car?
91 Crown Vic
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ok so i found this using search :o imagine that someone actually using a forum search.
LOL
so it answers alot of good questions. but what i want to know is. if i put on "just" coil spacers and flip the front strut mount.....will the front sit higher than the back?
and how would i correct it if that happened, i'm guessing from this thread you'd install a 1991 Ford Crown Vics shocks in back to even out the lift...that sound right?
because this sounds super simple.
but i read else where that a simple 2 inches of lift can be achived on a side kick by simply installing 4-door vitara/ 2nd gen Tracker springs. any of this true?
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ok so i found this using search  :o  imagine that someone actually using a forum search.
LOL
so it answers alot of good questions.  but what i want to know is.  if i put on "just" coil spacers and flip the front strut mount.....will the front sit higher than the back?
and how would i correct it if that happened, i'm guessing from this thread you'd install a 1991 Ford Crown Vics shocks in back to even out the lift...that sound right?
because this sounds super simple.
but i read else where that a simple 2 inches of lift can be achived on a side kick by simply installing 4-door vitara/ 2nd gen Tracker springs.  any of this true?
If you put in spacers in the front that actually measure 2" and in the back the same spacers the front would be higher than the back, because of the leverage of the arms in the front. But normally a spacer set will be either for the front or the rear (or a complete set front and rear) and the front ones will be less thick.
The crown vic shocks would be there because you'll need to have longer shocks in the rear to let the axle drop far enough to keep all the tires on the ground in corners etc.
The GV springs will give you about 2" of lift on a 2 dr as I've heard but never tried myself.
Don't forget camber adjustment ;)
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Having a little more lift in the front isn't really a bad thing... I find most tracker/sidekick are a little droopy in the front anyway, keeping all your coil spacers the same size would probably level it out.
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rear shock travel..
nice to see this post surface again.
I have 2" extensions on my rear shocks ( with +1.5" springs with 1" rro spacers on top )
what does the full travel on the shock come up to?
it's easy to say get longer shocks, but how much more droop might it give me?
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I have 2 Trackers. On the 90, it sat pretty much level stock until I added the heavy bumper/skidplate and winch up front. I added the 1" RRO spacers up front but then it sat slightly nose-up. So I then added the 1" RRO rear spacers as well. This leveled the truck out nicely and I was just running with the front upper strut mount flipped and stock rear shocks.
When I picked up the 93 LSI, It sat nose slightly down stock, kinda slouchy up front. I made my own 1.5" coil spacers and added them to all 4 corners, as well as the strut mount flip and 91 crown vic rear shocks and it sits level now.
When I swapped out the RRO spacers on my 90 for the 1.5" ones I made and added the crown vic shocks, I picked up 1-1/4" of added front height and only 7/8" of added rear height. It sits slightly nose-up again, but I plan on finding some 2" lift coils somewhere to eventually correct this(basically I'm looking for the back end of a Calmini 2" kit minus the shocks).
If your Tracker is slouchy up front, keeping all 4 spacers the same will help level the truck, but if you're level or nose-high now, spacers will only make it more pronounced unless you make the front spacers shorter than the rears. Running 1.5" spacers up front gives you something like 2" of total lift up front due to the fulcrum/lever situation with the IFS....
Adding more droop to the rear is as simple as adding longer rear shocks- to a point. The 91 Crown vic shocks are about 1.5" longer than stock and ride really nice so far(I have them in both rigs). If you go too high on the rear spacers though, you start to bind the center diff pivot on the upper rear wishbone. Calmini's 2" kit doesn't add anything to address this, so I'm assuming a 2" lift is fine without a rear diff pivot spacer, but any higher and you'll want to space it some so it has room to work.
From the pics and explanations of Calmini's 2" lift kit, the rear basically only uses 2" lift springs, longer rear shocks and bump stop extensions. Everything else in the kit is for the front end...
Since the rear shocks are what limits the droop of the rear axle, however longer you make the shocks or move the mounts just adds that much more to the droop of the axle. Just be sure the bump stops hit before the shock bottoms out on compression...
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Deldana have 2" coils spacers in their kit - see it at
[url=http://www.Deldana.com.br]www.Deldana.com.br[/url]
It looks like tDeldana is no longer around, does anyone know if this is the same kit/people?
http://www.rc4x4.com.br/
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IIt sits slightly nose-up again, but I plan on finding some 2" lift coils somewhere to eventually correct this(basically I'm looking for the back end of a Calmini 2" kit minus the shocks).
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I beleave stock TJ FRONT springs give 2 inches of lift and also give a nice ride. ;)
stu
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Any confirmation on this? How well do they fit the spring cups?
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You can't fit front spacers on the top of the struts longer than about 40mm (1'5/8) anymore than that and the CV joints will bind at full drop, I made brackets to drop the front diff carrier by if i remember 30mm (1'1/4) and have fitted 2" spacers on top of the struts. No problems with the CV's but the chamber is a little out, the zuk's a little twitchy at 70MPH but nothing serious
On the rear you will need a spacer between the diff and the top link to stop the joint getting damaged on full drop.
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no i believe deldana is still around i had the link about a week ago and it still worked.
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can someone please comfirm the use of TJ front coils on all for corners of the 92 2 dr kick....if this is true then I can get some pretty fast and how much will the lift be on the kick 2"?
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no i believe deldana is still around i had the link about a week ago and it still worked.
Is [link]www.deldana.com.br[/link] the right link? I still can't get there.
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Is [link]www.deldana.com.br[/link] the right link?  I still can't get there.
It was the right link it used to link to the RC4x4 site
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can someone please comfirm the use of TJ front coils on all for corners of the 92 2 dr kick....if this is true then I can get some pretty fast and how much will the lift be on the kick 2"?
i ahve never heard of useing TJ's in front but i have heard of useing them in the rear.
http://www.granitepath.com/friends/kd7hcg/pictures/springs/index.htm
stu
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I am looking at just doin a 2" and if there are jeep springs that work than I can get from my friends or any other manufacturer that has a spring that will work.
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i ahve never heard of useing TJ's in front but i have heard of useing them in the rear.
If they work OK in the front then they will be far too stiff in the rear.
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If they work OK in the front then they will be far too stiff in the rear.
no i said they work in THE REAR. they are too weak for up front. i think you just got what i said confused. ;)
stu
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no i said they work in THE REAR.  they are too weak for up front.  i think you just got what i said confused. ;)
stu
So you did, my mistake  :-[ Thats kind of what I meant though they will only work at one end or the other not both ends. It made sense to me at the time, lol.
Its not easy to get an idea of the comparative spring rates from those pics. There are a lot less windings than the Calmini springs but the wire gauge looks similar and they are a larger diameter so the wire length might be similar. It does say it rides like a tank though?