hi my name is lance, im new to the board but have been into suzuki's for along time now, my wife and i have trackers with toy axles  dual t-cases and 36" irocks to name a few things, and we had a baby. We bought a grand vitara for a "family" car, of course we needed to lift it on a budget, so this is what i did.



Ok instead of spending to much $$$ on lifting your truck take a quick read of this and save yourself some cash

Mainly save on the body lift, due to the fact that you can make one useing all the stock parts on the truck already.

Its a bit unorthadox but it works real well

I got 1 3/4 inch body lift, without changing studs or needing any other parts.

All i did was take the bottom body mount rubber off, and put it under the top body mount rubber...

yes its not a 2" but is a 1/4 inch a big deal if u save 130+?
 I modified the bumper rebar mounts to be 1 and 3/4 inch higher and the bumpers fit perfect

As far as the 3 inch susp lift goes all it is is a spacer front and rear and some strut exstentions, it rides the same as factory and cost me under $100.
i even was able to get the ani-sway bar to work by bolting the piece that bolts onto the control arm, onto the inside of the swaybar instead of the outside.

I was able to fit 245/75/16 MT/R's with only slight rubbing on the frame at full crank.....

i cant get my pics to work, ill try and get some up soon

How did you address the bad CV angles?

i didn't, for right now its a pavement pounder, and on the street it has not caused any problems. once our baby is a bit older and we start going camping again ill figure somthing out if it causes me a problem...


what are my options? i heard that the calmini drop brackets cause to much axle wrap and the housing brake, just like on older trackers.....witch was the reason i went solid axle in the first place....

i do have the resourses to make a frankenstein cv shaft, one that can handle more of an angle........lots of work tho...

Looks good. I just bought a 1999 tracker and i'm planning on useing the parts out of my sidekick 3" susp. lift plus I've got the rocky-road "2 lift. I'm really curious to know how you lifted the bumpers. Would it be possible to take some photos. I hate the way the 2" body lift looks with the bumpers hanging down. also wondering what you did with exhaust. i'm planning on putting in a 2.25 borla. Have you done anything yet?Thanks

pragsy|removethispart|@shaw.ca

the bumpers where not hard to modify, IF you have the right tools, all i did was cut and reweld the mounts on the metal rebar 1 3/4 higher, of course without a welder it would have been alot more dificult...but that was the only thing i needed to do to get them to fit......as fot the exhust, i have yet to change it, i was thinking the same as you....i wish i could find headers 

Sir Lance I checked out your truck last week very creative. Nice job

FullDraw

first off i'd like to say that i'm fairly new to 4x4's.

ok that's out of the way now all i have to say is WOW this is is exactly the thread I was looking for!! I sympathize with you sir lance regarding limited funds / baby / family car... etc..

Now, about this homemade lift. I've hardly crawled under my vitara asside from doing the brakes but I have a few questions before i go about doing exactly what you've done. 1st, did you need to get longer shocks or are you still using stock? 2nd, I'm trying to picture what you were saying about flipping the rubber mount from bottom to top... it sounds straight forward but isn't there rubber on both sides for a reason? do you wind up with a steel bold head on metal instead of rubber on the bottom and if so is there any reason to be concerned about that? perhaps i need to actually crawl under there and have a look around tomorrow.

Finally, is this accurate in terms of a complete parts list:

1) Set of 4 Boondox 1.5" Spring Spacers at $100
2) Two strut extenders at $45
3) Two camber adjusting bolts at $20

I'm assuming you didn't need to cut / shave anything to get your tires to fit?

Thanks for putting together this little write up!

Neil

sir lance:  you have PM.

also what make & size rims are those ? 

Hey Sir Lance!

Could you please post a parts list for your 100$ suspension lift, if possible including links to the distributors? (I've searched for Boondox, but damnit, can't find them)

Thanks dude!

It was a good post and I wish I had the creativity to do the same lift buy I don't have a welder (or know how to weld) or the material to make coil spacers (or anything to cut the material with)

I believe he used a welder and some steel to relocate the bumpers and rear shock mounts. I think he also made his own spacers....

Ultimately it's not a $100 lift unless you have a lot of expensive resources. So most of us can forget about the 3 inch part of this lift. The body lift was a briliant idea... I'd just be concerned about not having a rubber isolator on both sides of the frame rails.... could be wrong but by moving the isolator from the bottom and stacking it on the top you wind up with a steel bolt head (or nut) and steel washer against the frame which probably isn't the best thing when your body is flexing / shifting around on the frame rails ??

It was a good post and I wish I had the creativity to do the same lift buy I don't have a welder (or know how to weld) or the material to make coil spacers (or anything to cut the material with)

I believe he used a welder and some steel to relocate the bumpers and rear shock mounts. I think he also made his own spacers....

Ultimately it's not a $100 lift unless you have a lot of expensive resources. So most of us can forget about the 3 inch part of this lift. The body lift was a briliant idea... I'd just be concerned about not having a rubber isolator on both sides of the frame rails.... could be wrong but by moving the isolator from the bottom and stacking it on the top you wind up with a steel bolt head (or nut) and steel washer against the frame which probably isn't the best thing when your body is flexing / shifting around on the frame rails ??

i have'nt been under mine yet to have a proper look so im not sure what goes on under there.

so just a thought with the rubber isolator. what about buying the extra rubbers so you still got them eather side & add longer bolts ?

welder no probs for me (to relocate/lengthen bumpers ?)

front strut spacers ? do i need these ? if i do anyone with a CAD drawing.

toyota rear shocks (wont need to cut-shunt rear shock mounts)

coil spacers: calmini or even on ebay.
F - 1.5 pair
R - 2.0 pair

is this right what i need for a 2003 grand vitara ?