Niiiiice.

I've just recently (last weekend) scored a Widetrack Sierra/Samurai axle to try and fit under my Vitara/Sidekick. Been tossing it up for a while and just found one at the right price.

Due to the unfortunate laws in Queensland Australia, any conversion to spring over from spring under is illegal.

I'm looking at keeping spring under but only running my existing 31"s for the immediate future, as bigger than stock tyres is also illegal but there are only so many sacrifices you can make

How much clearance were you looking at with the sump as SPUA?

Given the very limited upwards travel of a Vitara IFS with 2" spring lift, was it going to be more limited than that?

Have you moved the axle forward at all or would this not provide extra clearance?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Andrew

Damn man.  Laws suck in Australia.

I think anything over 50" tires are Illegal to ride on the street in Canada.  And the cops say you can't have any more than 6" of lift but they don't really enforce it because I've talked to so many guys driving around with 8"- 12" of lift and they have never been bothered.

Yeah, I know.

See... we also raised the gas tank. So, with the way we raised it, (cut off the old stuff)... we will have to raise the floor in the back of the truck 3 inches... or somehow custom fab brackets to lower it back down.

We are still tossing that around, don't get me wrong.
Just might not be done before Moab.

Heather

Heather, you says this:

We threw the idea around a lot of going sprung under in the front.. it would make it so the truck sat lower, but, it was going to be hard to keep the diff from rubbing on the bottom of the motor! We would have had to make some big bumpstops, and would have had to limit the flex. Oh well... We went with sprung over.

Just remove the body-lift!!!

You have enough suspension!

Fredo

awesome buildup mate, keep the pics coming, they're great for inspiration

i live in the same city in australia as suzuki viagra, and like he stated, the vehicle modification laws suck here.

i've managed to squeeze 32's onto mine, but they do rub, so i really need to extend the wheelbase, and get rid of the crappy ifs

Niiiiice.

I've just recently (last weekend) scored a Widetrack Sierra/Samurai axle to try and fit under my Vitara/Sidekick. Been tossing it up for a while and just found one at the right price.

Due to the unfortunate laws in Queensland Australia, any conversion to spring over from spring under is illegal.

I'm looking at keeping spring under but only running my existing 31"s for the immediate future, as bigger than stock tyres is also illegal but there are only so many sacrifices you can make

How much clearance were you looking at with the sump as SPUA?

Given the very limited upwards travel of a Vitara IFS with 2" spring lift, was it going to be more limited than that?

Have you moved the axle forward at all or would this not provide extra clearance?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Andrew

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but I'm the one that built the front axle under Heather's truck. The problem with your idea of using the widetrack Sierra front end is about 5" too narrow! The front axle that was built is 5 1/2" wider than the Sierra/ Sammy front. If you can't do a spring under to spring over swap, then what are the laws of going from coil/ independent to leaf spring??

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but I'm the one that built the front axle under Heather's truck. The problem with your idea of using the widetrack Sierra front end is about 5" too narrow! The front axle that was built is 5 1/2" wider than the Sierra/ Sammy front. If you can't do a spring under to spring over swap, then what are the laws of going from coil/ independent to leaf spring??

Coil to leaf is fine... the method of suspension is not the issue....

Someone just decided here in our transport department that SPOA conversions were dangerous..... (ignoring cars like Hiluxes who have been SPOA from the factory for years in the process).

QLD is the only state in Australia with this law to my knowledge.

Yeah I realise it is narrower, but there's about 3" rim offset to take into it so overall the slight reduction of width will be worth the extra travel.  As a last resort there's also wheel spacers (also illegal but what the heck).

Currently my biggest trail stability problem is although the rear has about 14" travel each side the front has virtually none, so the whole cabin follows the motion of the front.

If it's too much of a problem then I will probably ditch the axles for Nissan Patrol MQ or Toyota Hilux ones.

Consider the Samurai axle an intermediate stage chosen for it's simplicity.

Currently my biggest trail stability problem is although the rear has about 14" travel each side the front has virtually none, so the whole cabin follows the motion of the front.

I don't understand, Virtually none you must need to change
somthing, I have plenty travel in the front, and find the IFS rides
smoother over the rough stuff than the sammys I followed on the
last rocky trail I went on. (read small boulders)

less rocking around and better ride, what have you done to your
front suspension or not done might be more accurate

All Ive got to say is hell will freeze over before my rig gets a solid axle swap. If your rear is flexing before the front then something in your design is wrong. Look at my homepage and look at my rti pics. Front and rear I get almost the same RTI score. I love my IFS.

Mike

Just to make sure nobody is misunderstanding me in the above post... I do like to see the SAS's and the different way they are being done. I dont think IFS is for everybody. There is more than one way to build a rig. Thats why we all build them different. I am enjoying seeing the progress on Heathers rig. I also think the Calmini prototype is really trick, but I like my IFS. I get a little touchy when I see people beating down the "crappy" IFS. I dont care for most IFS systems but the Trackick IFS works. If it doesnt work then something isnt setup right. Thats all Im saying.

Mike

Hey Heather just on another note.. where did you get you tail lights from. As all the online webpages that i have seen for those sorts of lights the do not mention the sidekick/trackker/vitara/escuda....

 She bought them from a vendor on ebay. By the way, I like the pic of your lwb on your header! I own one that was built in Spain. Where were the Aussie versions built, do you know?

it was built in japan and imported in to australia. I am still deciding whether to do a V8 rover engine and suspension conversion or toyo axle and spring over with 1600 supercharge engine (4agze).... and this is going to happen in the next 3 to 4 months.

Mike, I totally agree with you. I LOVED my IFS... and it was hard to see it go. I enjoyed high speed stints across the desert, and some of the air that I got. I also loved zipping around town and around corners with it. That I will miss.

We mainly are going with the SAS for the height, and the flexibility. (sometimes I still look back and wonder why.. but, I think it will all work out in the end)

And I can't wait to see it wheel. Driving it will be a whole different ballgame.  

We will be working on it more this weekend. More pics to come soon.



Heather

Just to make sure nobody is misunderstanding me in the above post... I do like to see the SAS's and the different way they are being done. I dont think IFS is for everybody. There is more than one way to build a rig. Thats why we all build them different. I am enjoying seeing the progress on Heathers rig. I also think the Calmini prototype is really trick, but I like my IFS. I get a little touchy when I see people beating down the "crappy" IFS. I dont care for most IFS systems but the Trackick IFS works. If it doesnt work then something isnt setup right. Thats all Im saying.

Mike

Hey Heather just on another note.. where did you get you tail lights from. As all the online webpages that i have seen for those sorts of lights the do not mention the sidekick/trackker/vitara/escuda....

Yah, bought them on ebay. There always seems to be one out there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33716&item=2461863718

I don't understand, Virtually none you must need to change
somthing, I have plenty travel in the front, and find the IFS rides
smoother over the rough stuff than the sammys I followed on the
last rocky trail I went on. (read small boulders)

less rocking around and better ride, what have you done to your
front suspension or not done might be more accurate

Ironman struts, strut tower flip and 2" spring lift (kings springs). Also  1 1/4" body lift, 31" muddies on F100 15x8 rims.

There is a little bit of travel there but not much... nothing compared to the rear travel.

To be brutally honest there never will be anywhere near as much travel at the front, but a SAS will make a lot more than an IFS will ever achieve.

If I can get half as much travel as I have at the back I would be tripling what I have at the front.