Lifting the vehicle

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Introduction

A lot of people dream about lifting their 4WD vehicle, as they consider that to be an epitome of off-roading - a main beneficial mod for off road use.

Types of vehicle lifts

Introduction

There are three types of vehicle lifts:

1. Body lift
2. Suspension lift (UK: called a spacer lift)
3. Longer suspension (UK: called a suspension lift)

Notes on lifts and larger tyres

The vehicle can also be lifted by installing larger (taller) tyres, which is the only way to lift the axles as well as the entire vehicle. See the wiki article "Tyre selection and usage - best practices" for full details (especially the chapter "Choosing tyre size").

Beware that using larger tyres introduces its own set of technical issues, like gearing ratio inadequacy, additional load on the wheel bearings, etc.

Maximum ground clearance gain is achieved when the vehicle is lifted AND has larger tyres at the same time.

All three vehicle lifting methods increase the clearance between the wheels and the body panels, thus enabling the fitment of larger tyres. Body lift is the cheapest and simplest method if the fitment of larger tyres is the only goal. The other two lifting methods have other beneficial effects.

Body lift

General info

Body lift is the simplest type of lifts - it consists of installing spacers on the body-to-chassis mounts (on vehicles which have separate chassis and cabin, like the Jimny).

Therefore, body lift does not raise any component of the chassis or the underbody away from the ground. A key benefit is that the steering is unaffected by a body lift.

The only two purposes for lifting the body are:

1. To look cool or mean on a budget (if that turns you on)
2. To increase the clearance between the wheels and the body panels around the wheels. This then enables fitment of larger tyres, which in turn lift the entire vehicle.

Body lift specific notes

When considering a body lift, it is worthwhile thinking about the quality of the product. Kits vary from some square section steel tube through to custom machined billet spacers. Also, the cheap kits drill out the old threads and bolt through the resulting hole whilst some kits have machined threads and bolts that preserve the old threads.

Also, as the bumper is mounted to the chassis rails, a lift creates a gap between the top of the bumper and the rest of the body, the better kits have relocation brackets for the bumper to hide the gap.

With larger body lifts, the steering column may require extending with a spacer.

In summary, the best body lift kits contain properly machined billet spacers and bolts, with bumper relocation and steering column spacers.

Suspension lift

Suspension lift means installing spacers under/on mounts which connect axles or chassis with suspension springs and shock absorbers.

Suspension lift raises the entire vehicle apart from the axles, and is a cheap way to effectively lift a vehicle, but only for small lifts.

Beware that installing longer suspension is commonly wrongly named "suspension lift".

UK readers may be more familiar with this being a "Spacer Lift"

Installing longer suspension

Typically wrongly called "suspension lift", this procedure consists of removing your factory springs and shock absorbers and installing aftermarket-made longer springs and shock absorbers.

Installing longer suspension raises the entire vehicle apart from the axles, and typically significantly changes all dynamic driving characteristics of the vehicle, both on road and off road.

This type of lift provides the most flexibility and choice when purchasing parts and building the lift.

UK readers may be more familiar with this being a "Suspension Lift"

Benefits, issues and risks

Introduction

Vehicle lifts provide one technical and several sociological advantages.

However, vehicle lifts come with many disadvantages, costs and some serious real life risks.

Benefits

1. Vehicle lifts make your vehicle look cooler or nastier (if that turns you on).
2. Vehicle lifts increase the ride height, increasing your self esteem.
3. Vehicle lifts improve vehicle's off roading potency, as well as your own.
4. Vehicle lifts make you feel you've finally done something significant to your vehicle.

Issues

Problems

1. Suspension lift or longer suspension can significantly distort or even disrupt some vehicle's systems (steering, brake, transmission).
2. Suspension lift or longer suspension can financially quickly spiral out of control, as they might require extensive modifications of suspension, steering and driveline components in order to compensate for technical issues.

Remedies

1. Disruptions of the brake and transmission can be remedied by installing extended brake hoses and installing propeller shaft spacers.
2. Distortion of the steering system can be remedied (or only partially mitigated for larger lifts) by installing offset radius arm bushes or (aftermarket-made) offset radius arms.
3. Increased center of gravity (increased body roll / vehicle instability) can be partially remedied by installing wheel spacers (see below).
4. Lack of financial funds can be remedied by buying a new loan at the bank, selling a non-vital body organ or by performing various criminal activities.

Risks

1. Vehicle lifts will make a car more unstable on the road. This is especially pronounced with suspension lift and longer suspensions.
2. In some countries, in order to make the vehicle road legal, it is compulsory to perform some vehicle recertification after applying any modification the vehicle. A vehicle lift is certainly a BIG modification.
3. Larger lifts may not be made road legal in some countries.

UK readers: Most modifications are permitted if your insurance company will insure the vehicle and it will pass the annual MOT test. A rule of thumb is that once you start cutting parts like the chassis then an SVA is required.

Modifying a vehicle can have legal consequences in some countries! The reader is responsible for checking on the local rules in their country.

Additional considerations

The driving benefit of a lift highly depends on the extent (severity) of off road terrain. Jimny is already quite capable in its stock form, and slightly larger tyres might be all that is needed.

It is advisable for the driver to first drive his vehicle a bit, and experience all of his intended off-roading situations before deciding if a lift would truly be required.

For frequent road use, it is recommended to stick with a 2" suspension lift.

If you do decide to lift the vehicle up, then it would be a good countermeasure to widen its stance (to stabilize it) by installing wheel spacers on all four wheels or by using offset rims.

See wiki articles "Wheel spacers" and "Offset rims" for more details.

Lift kit comparisons

Spring comparison
Manufacturer	Model Number	Location	Free Height (mm)		Spring rate (lbf/in)	Notes
			A	B
Stock	41111-81A20	Front	335	335	120	Wire 10.3mm 7.25 turns
		Rear	288	288	120	Wire 10.3mm 7.25 turns
King	KSFR-36EH	Front	365	365	140
	KSRR-37H	Rear	325	325	165
OME 40mm	2965 (petrol)	Front	365	365	146	Wire 11.5mm 10 turns
	2969 (diesel)	Front	360	360	170	Wire 12mm 9.5 turns
	2966 (RHD)	Rear	335	315	176	Wire 12mm 10 turns
	2967 (LHD)	Rear	325	325	176	Wire 12mm 9.5 turns
Dobinson	C57-046	Front	355	355	170
	C57-053	Rear	340	340	165
Trailmaster 2"	76043 (petrol)	Front	368	368	148	Wire 12mm
	75053 (diesel)	Front	353	353	205	Wire 13mm
	76143	Rear	326	326	188
Trailmaster 3"	76086	Front	368	368	228
	76186	Rear	355	355	240

Source:

1. Stock - 2015 OME International Application Catalogue
2. King - King Springs Sales and Technical Services
3. OME - 2015 OME International Application Catalogue
4. Dobinsons - Dobinsons Spring and Suspension International Sales
5. Trailmaster - Maas Group GMBH and co.

Kits

Standard Jimny

Standard Jimny

An unmodified 2005 VVT Jimny (UK) for comparison.

Trailmaster 2" Lift kit

Trailmaster 2" Lift

Trailmaster 2" Lift

The Trailmaster 2" Lift

(see BigJimny Store )

Trailmaster 2" lift and Jimnybits 2" body lift

Trailmaster 2" lift and Jimnybits 2" body lift

Jimny fitted with Trailmaster 2" lift and Jimnybits 2" body lift combination

Trailmaster 3" lift

Trailmaster 3" lift

Jimny fitted with Trailmaster 3" lift components

Jimnybits 2" Body lift

Jimnybits 2" Body lift

Jimny fitted with Jimnybits 2" Body lift

Jimnybits 2" Body lift & 2" Spring Lift

Combined Jimnybits 2" Body lift and 2" Spring lift

Jimny fitted with combined Jimnybits 2" Body lift and 2" Spring lift (AVO shock version)

JimnyBits 2" lift

JimnyBits 2" Lift

Jimny fitted with JimnyBits 2" lift kit (Procomp shock version)

KAP Suzuki 3" lift

KAP 3" Lift

Jimny fitted with KAP Suzuki 3" lift kit

Tough Dog 120mm lift

Tough Dog 120mm Lift

• Jimny fitted with Tough Dog 120mm Lift (Australia)
• Note: I think the 120mm lift is an 80mm lift with extra spacers?

Conclusion

A stock Jimny with no lift nor spacers (apart from slightly larger tyres) can still get to most places where you intend to go, just with more skill or attempts applied (and that's the name of the game).

If you insist on lifting the vehicle, than you are most probably going "off the legal road" and you are probably entering an enchanted techno-financial spiral of re-modding the vehicle to compensate for the lift.

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Page last edited on 14/11/2017 by user Bosanek