finally got round to fitting the lift kit, so heres some pictures as i went.
i started with the front as i thought this would be the most difficult
no surprises the top nut was too rusty to undo, my method was to fit a ring spanner to the top nut and they turn the top retaining ring with stilson wrench. the top ring is welded to the damper rod so its perfect (although does mangle it pretty good). bottom nut came undone ok with a bit of graceful rust removal.
for posterity i wire brushed the rust off to reveal original 15 year old dampers, isuzu 8)
here's the replacement rough country damper fitted, same length as standard. i did shorten the generic flexi boot by about 4 folds as it kept pushing off the top at full compression
then crawl under the belly of the fronty to access the torsion bar adjuster. clockwise pre-loads the bar and will lift the suspension, anticlockwise will make it drop. plenty of GT85 and it went round pretty easy, i went for a modest 7 full turns in clockwise direction, can always add more i thought. each full turn equates to roughly 1/4 of an inch but you cant go crazy because the suspension will top out, also it has unequal length wishbones so starts going into negative camber any more than 2 inches
onto the back, i removed the damper in the same fashion as the fronts, stilson + 14mm ring spanner. here i supported the back end by the chassis rails and then let the axle drop down to fool droop on a trolley jack, then fitted the spring compressor tools to the old spring (well past their best these springs)
then i got the new rear rough country dampers out, took their wires off which hold them compressed for packaging, then it started extended on its own, then kept extending, then kept extending :wtf: oh, not quite the +2 inches as expect
had a quick mesaure of the damper lengths (included 1 bush thickness) down to the bottom eyelett eeeek
heres the springs side by side, same installed hight but the lift springs have more coils and are thicker diameter.
the drivers side rear damper i couldnt get my stilsons on the top cup because the exhaust is in the way so i just got the angle grinder out
while it was supported and up in the air i took the opportunity to remove side steps, oh no hangon i mean "the styling pack". these have been flapping about and rattling for a couple months and i knew the middle supports were non existent. if anyone has any spare sky hooks for these let me know. :lol:
heres a money shot, very noticeably higher. my experience with new coil springs says the rear will sag a couple of cm's, which is fine as it should level out the current nose down stance
i started with the front as i thought this would be the most difficult
no surprises the top nut was too rusty to undo, my method was to fit a ring spanner to the top nut and they turn the top retaining ring with stilson wrench. the top ring is welded to the damper rod so its perfect (although does mangle it pretty good). bottom nut came undone ok with a bit of graceful rust removal.
for posterity i wire brushed the rust off to reveal original 15 year old dampers, isuzu 8)
here's the replacement rough country damper fitted, same length as standard. i did shorten the generic flexi boot by about 4 folds as it kept pushing off the top at full compression
then crawl under the belly of the fronty to access the torsion bar adjuster. clockwise pre-loads the bar and will lift the suspension, anticlockwise will make it drop. plenty of GT85 and it went round pretty easy, i went for a modest 7 full turns in clockwise direction, can always add more i thought. each full turn equates to roughly 1/4 of an inch but you cant go crazy because the suspension will top out, also it has unequal length wishbones so starts going into negative camber any more than 2 inches
onto the back, i removed the damper in the same fashion as the fronts, stilson + 14mm ring spanner. here i supported the back end by the chassis rails and then let the axle drop down to fool droop on a trolley jack, then fitted the spring compressor tools to the old spring (well past their best these springs)
then i got the new rear rough country dampers out, took their wires off which hold them compressed for packaging, then it started extended on its own, then kept extending, then kept extending :wtf: oh, not quite the +2 inches as expect
had a quick mesaure of the damper lengths (included 1 bush thickness) down to the bottom eyelett eeeek
heres the springs side by side, same installed hight but the lift springs have more coils and are thicker diameter.
the drivers side rear damper i couldnt get my stilsons on the top cup because the exhaust is in the way so i just got the angle grinder out
while it was supported and up in the air i took the opportunity to remove side steps, oh no hangon i mean "the styling pack". these have been flapping about and rattling for a couple months and i knew the middle supports were non existent. if anyone has any spare sky hooks for these let me know. :lol:
heres a money shot, very noticeably higher. my experience with new coil springs says the rear will sag a couple of cm's, which is fine as it should level out the current nose down stance