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2" suspension lift install/fab

Discussion in 'Subaru Sambar' started by banzairx7, Jan 24, 2020.

  1. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Yes- Texas roads. The speed limits are very high here. I want to be able to drive on the highway without being a hazard. The 27" tires change the gearing where engine rpm is some what reasonable for 70mph. I know that is not the intended use for these things. If I was in the city I wouldn't have cared. Pretty much every road around me is at least a 60mph limit with some as high as 80mph. I'm figuring out it's not easy to get them to do it too. I don't think I'm at dead end just hit a few speed bumps.
     
  2. cop on my back

    cop on my back Active Member

    I have a set of used axels. I still have to pull them which could be a bit. PM me if you’re interested.
     
  3. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    Ebay seller “thecvman” might have them. Most of the minis use cvs in common with ATV/UTVs. typically there are part numbers stamped on the cv joint, and he can math you up using the part number instead of an application.
     
  4. SAITCHO

    SAITCHO Active Member

    Unless you plan to upgrade the engine, bigger tire wont give you top en speed. The best tire you can use if you want top speed are the stock ones, the truck do not have enough power to turn bigger wheels.....
     
  5. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Power won't be a problem. I have the supercharged version and it will be getting some power upgrades. Should be inthe 80-90hp range when done.
     
  6. SAITCHO

    SAITCHO Active Member

    Cool!!!! A 90HP mini, that thing will move.
     
  7. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Yep. I had the same issue. You would think that bearing would be right where it came out, but nope. Call Derek at G&R imports. He can get you a half axle pretty reasonable, next day if you need it. Nice job on the other stuff. I've got flares on the list for mine as well.
     
  8. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Found the bearing. It was stuck to the top of the control arm in a pile of grease. Bad news is there were a bunch of needle bearings inside and there only three left. Going to try the Justy axle route first. Then I'm going to start hitting up the other options you guys posted up for me.

    Started shortening the spring spacers. Took an inch out and it ends up two pieces. The round part will just be bolted on to keep the spring centered. I'm starting to wonder if the rear of the truck sits high from the get go? Didn't take great measurements when I started this project. This should only lift the rear 1" at this point.....

    [​IMG]
     
  9. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Found this picture of a stock one and it does look to have a bit of rake going on.

    upload_2020-2-11_13-33-1.png
     
  10. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    It probably has one so it sits level with the 300 to 350-kg street legal load in Japan.
     
  11. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    I measured ground clearance prior and post lift, and the front and back were equal before and after. I did not measure body height prior to the lift, but after the lift, I have 27" in the front to the fold near the top of the front bumper and 30" to the same fold near the taillight, so there is a little rake there.
     
  12. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    So the Justy axle is totally different than mine, KS4, except for the inner spline. It uses the drift pin style attachment. You could machine a groove in it but that seems like a lot of work. What I also found out is the 1993 Impreza 1.8 FWD manual has the same spline and circlip attachment as the KS4. I'm picking one of those up tomorrow. Fingers crossed I can swap the joint onto my axle. The impreza axle is much longer.
     
  13. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Good luck. Mine didn't have a pin or a circlip. It could only be removed by disassembling the tranny. Luckily I was able to get it in with a little prying and jacking.
     
  14. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Found something interesting on rock auto of all places in my desperate search for a replacement cv. There are heavy duty CV versions listed for a bunch of the subie cars. In the description of those it lists the stock max operating angles for the OE subaru joints- 23° for a tripod style and 30º for 6 ball style joints. The KS4 uses a tripod style. The earlier and later trucks use the 6 ball style. That angle limit can't be helping things for me. One of the seven avenues I'm pursuing to fix this is adapting an earlier 6 ball joint to my axle.

    https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=6415497&cc=1269446&jsn=2240
     
  15. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Interesting. I think you will be pushing it with 27's and the old tripod joint, even if you lengthen the axles. 45 degrees would definitely help.
     
  16. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    After 4 or 5 days of searching I actually found aftermarket replacement axles! They are made by a company called HDK. I found them on global.rakuten.co.jp. $94+shipping. I've contacted them to see how much shipping will be.

    Here's a list of all the part numbers-
    upload_2020-2-15_7-35-31.png
     
  17. Adam Wheeler

    Adam Wheeler Active Member

    Hmmm, all those parts numbers look to be of front cv axles only.

    Rear left would be: 28021-TA400
     
  18. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Well forget that then....

    I got an email back from a seller on ebay who was selling the inner joints for the KS3. He told me that people typically modify the KS3 inner joint to accept a snap snap ring. Then use the KS3 axles on the KS4.
     
  19. RHamlyn

    RHamlyn New Member

    Love this post, amazing job on all the mods. I have a 1994 Sambar that i want to complete the 2" body lift on. do you happen to have any instructions/words of wisdom to help me with that?
     
  20. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    I'm actually working on a turn key kit. It will be bolt on except for the steering shaft that needs to be extended. It'll have every nut, bolt, spacer and bracket needed. For the steering shaft I'll provide a precut tube you slide over the cut shaft then weld.

    The body lift is the way to go imo for 2" of lift. It avoids all the alignment and cv joint issues of the suspension lift.

    I'm waiting on one part to come back from powder coat(a filler piece that goes above the engine cover) and then I'll make another thread with all the details.


     
    RHamlyn and Limestone like this.
  21. RHamlyn

    RHamlyn New Member

    That sounds ideal. Will you be selling them ? Im interested either way
     
  22. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Some pics of the shock mods. The "ears" are pretty close but they clear. Picture makes it look like they are hitting.


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2020
  23. Kody902

    Kody902 Member

    What kind of engine upgrades can be done to these? Mine does fine on my highway(110km max here in Nova Scotia, and it will stay between 90-120km depending on hills/wind) but a little more pickup wouldn't be cause for complaint. If it changes anything, 1991 carburated without supercharger.
     
  24. Rick Melloh

    Rick Melloh Member

    In 2009, I purchased a 2001 Sambar with a 2" lift already installed. I run it with 14" DRG DR31 S alloys and 175/70R14 Hancook Winter I-Pike mud and snow directional tires. It looks great. I printed out a kph cheat sheet and taped it to the driver's side A pillar at eye height. The alloy wheels drastically reduce the unsprung weight.

    I believe the 2" lift is the reason I keep losing CV joint boots, both inner and outer, front and rear, due to over articulation. I would not recommend a 2" lift to anyone for this reason. I believe that a 1" lift would still accommodate the 14" wheels and I might not have gone through three sets of boots, getting ready for set number four. It's rather costly doing this again and again. To add to the frustration, I only drive the truck about 1500 miles a year or less, if it is not sitting, waiting for new boots.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2020
  25. Rick Melloh

    Rick Melloh Member

    I have had my supercharged 2001 Sambar up to 80 mph on the freeway without modifications. There was a little more range left, but 80 mph seemed scary fast for the platform. Blowing past large trucks and buses at 80 mph is not for the faint hearted. When one hits that bow wave off the front a semi, one realized the inherent instability of the short wheel base and narrow stance. My adventures above 70 mph were purely experimental. A one time thing. The TT2 cruises comfortably at 65 mph, with downshifts to 4th on the steeper hills in order to maintain speed.

    As for standing start acceleration for the Sambar, I'll race a VW Type 2 or Beetle any day. LOL. No one will know we are racing.
     
  26. Rick Melloh

    Rick Melloh Member

    Banzairx7, I had to install rear shocks immediately after purchasing my 2001 TT2. The original shocks still functioned, but the sleeves had rusted off the weldment and making a racket. The Monroe 31000 series worked, but I had to trim the top bushings' outside dimension (length?) to fit inside the brackets. It wasn't a big deal. If I recall correctly, I used my 4" grinder with a 60 grit sanding disc. The sleeves on the shocks are a close fit to the plastic shrouds on both sides. There is a little rubbing going on. Installed in 2009, they are still doing the job in 2020.
     
  27. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Got my CV joint fixed up. Ordered a used left side axle from japan, couldn't find a right. When it showed up it was not the tripod inner joint but a 6 ball type. Guessing it was from a later model KS4. The 6 ball type give s a bit more articulation and has a retaining ring so the joint can't pull apart. Overall probably a better setup IMO. Might explain why Subaru switched in later trucks. Swapped the left inner with some fresh Redline CV grease onto my right axle no problem. Also added a 3/16" spacer to the move the outer CV a tiny bit inboard to make up some of the length because of the lift. So far so good with this set up.

    More importantly I got to drive the truck for the first time! I had to wait almost 2 months to get the truck VIN inspected before I could register it. That happened last week and got my plates yesterday. Drove it about ten miles to go get some burgers last night. Power at lower speeds is actually pretty impressive. It's not til the aero drag starts to build above 40mph that it feels sluggish at all. Only issue I've got right now is turning at over 50mph the steering wheel starts to shake. Could be alignment since the entire suspension has been apart. Also need to check for any loose bushings, tie rods or ball joints. Everything seemed tight but I didn't do any proper checks.

    As far as the shocks go I added 18" ProComp limiting straps to my truck. Didn't want to tear up the CV from over extending it and the CV joint will actually hit the shock if you let it extend too far. I did find another Monroe shock that has a shorter extended length of 17.875" but is identical in every other way. It's Monroe part #32207. They are intended for the rear of a 1983 Honda Civic Wagon. They are also available in a few other brands from rock auto with prices running $13-$28.

    And finally added a boost gauge to the truck. It's integrated into the gauge cluster and after a lot of work came out looking almost factory. Truck runs about 8psi of boost right now.

    [​IMG]
     
    Limestone and Adam Wheeler like this.
  28. Adam Wheeler

    Adam Wheeler Active Member

    I like the work done on integrating that gauge into the cluster, looks very clean and OEM. That area of the cluster actually has a purpose now.

    In regards to the shocks that is a nice find, I haven't had an issue yet with my 31000's, but I don't take it through any terrain other than the street to make it questionable if it would extend too far. If I do decide to lift it, I'll take your word for it on the straps.
     
  29. banzairx7

    banzairx7 Active Member

    Wanted to give an update on the truck since all this suspension stuff is finally done. I've put about 300 miles on it now and it drives great(for what it is). I've been driving mostly highway around 70mph with no issues. It does that fine on flat road. Hills it will slow down to around 60mph and tops out just around 80mph. It's stable at speed and only slightly follows imperfections in the road. No problems with wind blast from semi's either. I was really expecting it to get blown around but almost nothing. I wonder if the issues others have had may have more to do with tires? Small and cheap tires don't like high speeds. It could use a steering stabilizer but that's another project.

    Next up I'm going to start adding some power. Custom exhaust, equal length header & performance muffler, are being fabbed next week. I've got an intercooler coming and two different smaller pulleys to play with the boost pressure. I'll also be adding methanol injection to cool the intake air in the blazing hot texas summers. Hitting the dyno to get a baseline either saturday or early next week. I'm guessing it'll do ~50hp at the wheels stock based on how it drives. Hoping to up that by 15hp or so.
     
  30. Adam Wheeler

    Adam Wheeler Active Member

    The stock small tires definitely play a huge part in the the wind wobble. When I first got the truck taking it on the major highway here, you really had to grip the steering wheel to keep the truck from drifting left and right just from the wind catching it. Since increasing the tire size slightly, its made a huge difference and the drive now is comfortable.

    Looking forward to seeing these exhaust mods, ive been looking at straight piping the exhaust out the side with a motorcycle exhaust, so i'm interested to see what you do.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2020

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