My new to me '96 Carry lift project started last week when I brought the little fella home. After looking the truck over I decided to try a rear spring over, and combination front coils, spacer lift. After hours spent on this forum reading I finally got off my but and went to work. rear spring over first went as easy as could be expected had one front spring eyelet bolt that would not let loose inside the bushing :frustration: Other that that smooth. Now on to the front. The easiest way I figured was to buy 3 1/2" header flanges and some pipe and make my own 2 5/8" spacer lift, Okay that was easy enough. Even built in some camber correction all for around $30.00 from the local hot rod shop and some scrap pipe. Then decided a 1" driveline drop was in order to keep things straight.(Hockey Pucks make great rubber insulators for dropping subframe mounts, other spacers need to be metal.) What I have so far; 1996 Carry 4x4 5spd, diff lock, 14" Geo Prism Wheels($60 local junk yard), Afco 10" 250lb springs, 6x14 tractor tires (25" tall), about 4 1/4" lift total. Thanks for all the help and great ideas in other forums!!!
Finally finished with lift and suspension. I took it out for a hard 2 days on the trails. No issues at all, thank goodness. The lift and drive line drop works flawlessly. Now to start on the camo paint, skid plates, and bumpers. ground clearance was already much better than a buddy's Rhino. Any ideas on skid plates, what type and guage metal to use. Or ABS. Also, on frame spacers. Use Polypropylene, available in foot long blocks. Solid, easy to cut and drill. This worked well when dropping trans and diff. Other mounts made from square metal so bolt size was not overly long. The 25" tractor lugs are a little hard, but awesome in the mud.
I don't think I'd use abs for a skidplate..if it cracks a chunk could slice a brakeline or rad hose,,, Did you find the poly blocks transmitted any more vibration ?
Yes they did, so i used them at the frame to drop the crossmembers. Then used solid 1" vulcanized rubber to make transmission mounts to absorb some of that vibration. The more solid mounts allow for less engine and trans movement that can cause damage in heavy off road use. The constant jerking on the loose motor and trans mount will rip them on these trucks fairly quickly. Thanks for your thoughts on the skid plates. I kinda thought the same way, but so many ATV's use it (not as heavy though). So I will stick with 11 or 12 gauge I think. Thanks for the Help and comments.
Here are some pics of my lift. I hope they help, if you have questions just ask. I'm not saying it is THE way, it's just A way that worked for me. The strut spacers i built w/camber made into them so tires would not tilt out at top. And yes the 1" vulcanized rubber are Hockey Pucks! cheap and effective, will last forever.
Haha that's funny! I thought that he looked like Petey from the little rascals. He had a rough day on the hunting land, I thought he needed a little character. The Carry has proven to be a pretty tough off road hunting, working vehicle. If it wasn't for finding this forum, and viewing all the positive comments and support I may not have bought it. Thanks for looking.
Wow, nice work! How's the camber? Can you take a pic from directly in the front? I like seeing what other people are doing to mod their trucks I'm so impressed with how mine performs when it's more or less stock, I can't wait to do more stuff to it so I can push its limits even further
Ironraven. Not exactly what you asked for, but the best I can do right now. Had that one in my album.
Cool, I hope it works out Axle I got the truck in my shop giving it a camo treatment. Hope to have some pics up tomorrow afternoon maybe.
Axle, That is one BAD AZZ truck! The extra cab is Awesome, paint job as well! I'm gettn there buddy, give me some more time. haha
i have the 2" lift kit front and rear, i need to get more 2" front and revert the leaf rear like you did, do i need to lower the tranny and transfer case? i have rubbing problem in my front wheel when turning left and right even without heavy load. and one thing hows the play of the shocks? thanks in advance
Axle, Yea, there ended up being a little more spacers and bushings than what I initially thought. 4" total lift, 2" subframe, front diff. & motor mount spacers. 1" trans spacer. changed rubber trans mounts to 1" hockey pucks. Cut radius rods (strut rods) in middle and lowered 2" extended 1" then re-welded. used bar stock for the weld. The radius rods need to stay on about a 20 degree angle in relation to the lower control arm so there is not a bind on the rod at all times. Need to move the steering pitman arm below the stock mount, make a metal spacer to keep the mount from bending and get a 2" longer bolt. Sounds like a PITA but its not bad.
viciouscycles, lots of things to be done there, so before i remove any bolt from mini me ,i first need to gather and fabricate all the pcs of mods. i have printed your mods photos as a pattern. thanks a lot. op:
You are welcome. If I can help any at all when getting things together just let me know. I will do the best i can to get back to you. If you send me an email on my profile I can get back to you by my cell phone if you need an answer fast. Looks like you've got this stuff figured out by the looks of your truck. Thanks for the interest. If you need me to explain further let me know and we can talk by phone to clarify things.
vicious my leaf spring shackles is around 4" in length if i revert the leaf on top of differential how tall it would be. i have the 2" inch lift front end. thanks
Axle, My stock shackles are 2 3/4" from (bolt center to bolt center). If your are 4" that would give you 1 1/4" lift on the rear and the 2" lift on front, your truck would sit fairly level. If you did a spring over with those shackles you would end up with about 5 1/2" of lift on the rear, Too much IMHO. Just be sure you measure from the bolt centers on your shackles. That is my best guess without having my eyes on it. Hope I helped.
Yea, just finished cooking a boar roast on the grill. Time to eat then go get in a tree, and hope I don't fall asleep then fall out. Lol