4wd Lifts

mongo · Post by **mongo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:02 am

Ok I got an 83 sr5 4wd 6 spd and I'm thinking about making a lift for it. I was gonna get a block of steel and cut it to make spacers. Does anyone know what will have to be extended and how high should I go with the lift?

Thereminator · Post by **Thereminator** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:34 pm

Mongo,did you read "Lifting a Terk" in the General section?

mongo · Post by **mongo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 1:07 pm

I read all the stuff on the suspension lift, and from what everyoone says you can only do about 2" safely on suspension. how much of a body lift can I do before throwing everythiing off?

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:46 am

Since it's a unit-body...you can't really do a body lift. Dirt Magnet's got the best setup you will probably find.

Dirtmagnet · Post by **Dirtmagnet** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 8:36 am

I spent some more time laying under the Tercel again. (My wife and kids have mentioned that I need to to TA, Tercels Annonymous, for this "problem" that I have) But I have gotten all the measurements for suspension pivots, links, drive connection points, etc.. and will be putting these into an AutoCAD drawing.

I realized, as Takza just mentioned, this is a uni-body and a "body lift" is out of the question. I want to do some layouts of the angles of the drive shafts/CV shafts, & front lower arms to see what can be done.

The camber adjustment will be the first problem that will need to be addressed. I think I am borderline(maxxed out) with it on my lift. The front lower arms are not a difficult part, and maybe a longer arm will correct this. I'm not that familiar with the actual adjustment, but i'm learning.

Going any larger on the tire diameter that I have(26") will require cutting away fenders, especially the rear, regardless of the lift height.

I have not pulled off the front struts yet.(to get dimensions on the top spacers) Do not know how big a job that is.

Teddy1 · Post by **Teddy1** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:49 pm

I am having custom shocks and springs made that will provide 2.25 inches of lift, without using spacers. This will radically improve the ride, as WELL as increase articulation.

The founder of Downey Off Road is assisting me in recreating his Toyota Tercel SkiWagon, a prototype he had built for Toyota, and even sold a few of the kits (Toyota decided they didn't want to sell the cars with the SkiWagon package as a factory option, for liability reasons). I have photos of the prototype SkiWagon, along with some of the promotional sales materials from back then. It was BAD ASS!!!

As usual, Toyota totally screwed over another vendor of theirs, by allowing the vendor or aftermarket guy absorb all of the costs associated with development of something like this, and at the end, Toyota decided "nah".

After several veterans of bad ass suspension design explained to me why spacers used to achieve lift is inferior to a true lift, I am going right after the Real Deal... longer springs, longer shocks, and minor camber/toe adjustments. Lift that is achieved via spacers cannot compensate for the heavier tire/wheel combos that are the goal, and spring rates/damping/preload would be wrong, along with NO articulation gained... just height.

The shocks will be either KYB (reasonably priced) or Bilstein (none finer, but spendy). The springs are being manufactured by a place that makes MOST of the OEM springs in this country, and ALL of the "high performance" springs for off road vehicles in this country.

I also have some cool early 80's Big Deal (one of Rat Fink's and Coop's contemporaries) artwork to share with you guys, which I will post on a webserver, when I get back to Seattle (I am in another state, for work right now). The original prints for the Ski Wagon

- Teddy

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 6:29 am

Hey...post those pics and some info on that! I checked out having some springs made...but the cost for all four was pretty high...not to mention finding extended struts & shocks. They are sure right about the articulation...but you can't have everything without paying for it?

If you go too big on the wheels/tires...you run into a lack of torque and into overstressing the suspension with the extra weight? I'm probably going to settle on 185 or 195/70/14s....pumped up to get there...let the air out for offroad.

Post by **Mattel** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 6:13 pm

Thanks for that info Ted

Love to see that Artwork.. and the specs for the Downey suspension mods I wonder if we can get enough people together for a short production run.. would that bring the cost down?

p.s how do I upload to the Gallery is there a thread I haven't found somewhere on this forum?

Cheers.

Matt

takza · Post by **takza** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:26 am

Mattel wrote: p.s how do I upload to the Gallery is there a thread I haven't found somewhere on this forum?

I think you email the head dude.......

Retroloc1 · Post by **Retroloc1** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:00 am

Do you think that some Air Ride from
<a href='http://ridetech.com/' target='_blank'>http://ridetech.com/</a>
could fit in our Tercel with reasonable mod's ? (Tha VW for example have a very similar McPherson system.)

That would obviously be the best issue to lift the car for off-roading and keep it versatile and efficient on neat roads.

takza · Post by **takza** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 4:55 am

Good idea....

<a href='http://ridetech.com/productinfo/airstrut.asp' target='_blank'>http://ridetech.com/productinfo/airstrut.asp</a>

costs a lot though.....