I'm in process of installing a 2" suspension and 2" body lift in my 93 supercharged Sambar. I started out by purchasing the kit from Michigan Mini Trucks. That kit I quickly found is really lacking. I'm not faulting Mi. trucks on this. They are just selling what has been around forever and apparently people were OK with. I personally wasn't so I'm making my own kit from scratch. I will be using the front spacers but that's it. After the suspension lift I'll be making a 2" body lift also. This is all to clear 27" tires. There will be a few engine mods to go along with the tires all with the hopes to make this thing Texas highway capable. Our speed limits are rather high here. So what's the problem with the existing kit? In the front the camber becomes so positive as to become dangerous for a street driven vehicle IMO. For a ranch/hunting truck it's probably OK. In the rear you end up losing the rear bump stop which isn't good and the shock isn't really long enough to work with the extra lift. My solution is to drop the front subframe 2" also. This solves the camber issue by maintaining the stock suspension geometry with the lift. In the rear I'm machining spacers that fit onto the bottom spring perch so the factory bump stop is still there. I also designed up some 2" extensions for the rear shocks. As of right now I've got three out of the five spacers for the subframe machined and installed. There are also spacers for the radiator mount. Here are the main subframe spacers and hardware- Installed- Now for the front diff mount- radiator mount spacers- The lower control arm spacers should be done beginning of the week and all the rear suspension bits by next weekend. Once the suspension is done it's onto the body lift!
Do you think you'd make lift kits to order if there was demand once you figured all of this out? I really want another 2" of clearance on my Sambar and i'm not too mechanically adept. I would ordee the one you said but you mentiones it made the camber in the front weird and I wouldn't want to drive on the road like that.
I actually started on the 2" body lift yesterday and this is probably the easier way to go than suspension(suspension done properly). The modding of the sway bar mounts for the suspension lift isn't an easy task. I could probably make spacer blocks for this too but the design would be kind of complicated and drive the price up. The steering drag link also needs to be modded with cutting and welding. I'll be doing that this up coming weekend. If I were to guess a proper suspension lift would be around $500-$600. For the 2" body lift just the steering column needs to be extended and any welding shop can bang it out in a few minutes. Besides that it's basically lifting the body up(I used 4 scissors jacks) and putting in the spacer pucks. There are a few super simple brackets for the exhaust and two of the bed mounts. I ordered up some aluminum channel to fill the gap above the engine cover. If I were to make a kit for this it would probably be half the cost of the suspension kit. 2" seems like the perfect body lift height. The front bumper still covers the frame. Even a 1/2" more and the frame would be visible below it. Here's the truck with the front lift, body lift and 27" tires. Tire size is 205/75-15. It's not sitting on the ground yet in the picture. I'll need to trim the wheel well front and rear to clear the tire properly. I bought some universal fender flares to make that look right when I'm done.
That looks really nice and much better than the supplied kit. I can't see from the pictures, but if you lower the rear A-frame 2" without lowering the transmission, you will tear up the tripod joint on the short axle side, unless you lengthen the axle, or put up with the shocks being at full extension all of the time.
The CV axle is one problem I haven't come up with a great easy solution yet. It is on my radar for sure. The shocks though... Just finished up my extensions for those tonight. Tossed one on loosely to show them in action- Here is the spacer for the rear of the front control arm- And finally a preview of one of the upcoming power mods- That is an alternator pulley I'm modifying to turn up the boost on this little beast. There will be some other supporting mods going with this to keep it safe under the increased boost.
Forgot this in my previous post- Here is one of the rear lower spring spacers in process. Should be done tomorrow.
It looks like you have some very good tools (and skills) at your disposal. Whatever you do, don't hit a bump without figuring out what to do about that doj.. I speak from experience, it is not fun to find one. I finally met in the middle and put a 1" shock extension on the short side and a 1.5" on the long axle side. I really think that extending the length of the axle 3/4" would fix it, but I need to work out the geometry first. If you are going to run 27's, you might need something more substantial.
I did some staring at the rear of the truck last night to figure out this axle problem. Next step is to modify the transmission mount to drop the trans down. I think I can get a 1/2" out of it. Another idea was to put a spacer between the end of the CV and the hub, effectively moving the joint maybe a 1/4" closer to the trans. The front of this truck at least you can just kind of make stuff to get the lift in there proper. The rear is proving much more problematic. As far as the front goes the steering drag link is a still needs something done. Original plan was to modify it to get the 2" drop. I'm going to see if a new bracket could be made for the end of the steering rack that will get the needed drop instead. I also installed the michigan mini truck strut spacers. The hardware supplied was useless. It came with some button allen screws for the top of the strut. I have no idea how you are supposed to get an allen wrench on it in the truck. I ended up getting some 25mm long 10mm flange bolts at home depot with matching flange nuts. Those worked much nicer. I may end up making new strut spacers. These are fine but there's a little bit more camber to be had with a slightly different design. Last of the front subframe spacers are done and installed- Rear spring spacers are done. I think I'm going to have to drop the control arm to get the spring in once they are in place. They'll also require drilling a hole in the middle of the lower spring mount for a 10mm bolt.
After reading this comment and doing a little investigating it would appear that a 40mm (1.5") lift kit directly from japan for the Sambar KS3/KS4 includes the following, which actually includes extenders for the shocks and the top portion of the rear springs don't involve removing the bump stops:
Sure do. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h451185936 or https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h450126355 The MAX40 (Max Forty) lift-up kit is a "lift-up block kit" with a maximum lift width of ~ 40mm that does not require structural changes due to security standards. The structure and accessories are slightly different depending on the model, but the basics are four points: front strut saucer, camber correction bolt, rear spring saucer, rear shock extension adapter. There is a lift-up full kit and a lift-up coil, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.However, if the height of the vehicle can be satisfied with 40 mm, this kit simplifies the mounting technology and measures after mounting, and offers excellent ride comfort. there is. Camber correction is also considered for each car model and parts are taken as a countermeasure, but please note that there are some vehicles that do not reach complete zero camber due to individual differences etc. .
Company site: http://www.over-tech.jp/ Apparently they are developing a 4" lift kit for the KS3/4 only currently developed for the newer TT1/2 and the SJ models So it looks like your breaking new ground on your lift development for the ks3/4.
My bet is they are only offering the 1.5" lift currently because of the front camber and rear cv joint issues. Really hoping I can figure out the CV joint problem. Going to attack that tomorrow.
Rear lift is in. Had to drop the arms to get the spacers in. Right now it's riding a little high in the rear. Maybe it will settle once it's driven? Rear shock are pretty much just dumping fluid too. Guess they were on their way out when I got it. Someone had shown how to use some monroe shocks. I think I'll try and remake the extension pieces so they are a bolt in affair. Still to do- Extend the steering column shaft 2" and remake the drag link for a 2" drop. Another big thing will be cutting up the body to clear the front tires. Going to be some serious cutting and welding for that.
Changed the title of the thread to just suspension lift. Going to cover the body lift in another thread.
Looking good. I like how you went to the bottom of the rear spring and kept the bump stop. I think the 1.5" kit is on the fence as far as the limits go. Probably fine with 23" tires, but 27's are going to put more stress on the axles and might give you an issue that I might not see with my smaller tires.
I think I'm going to remachine the rear spacers to drop the rear down to that 1.5" mark. The rear is at least a half inch higher than the front. I bounced the back of the truck up and down a bunch and it doesn't settle down. That will make the axles a little happier too. I also have a good amount of positive camber in the rear, 2 degrees. Doesn't sound like much but it's a difference of one inch from the top of the tire to the bottom. I'm going to make some wedges to bolt between the hub and arm. I saw this done on the rear of smart cars of all places.
This is the 2" steering drop set up. Machined a chunk of steel that gets welded onto the existing drag link bracket.
Got the wheels wells cut to clear the tires and fender flares installed in the front- Then paper templates and some 1/16" steel to fill the holes- Tack it in place, weld it up, then grind/sand it back pretty- Then painted the cut up spots and the bottom of the rockers with 3M rubberized undercoating- And finally riveted the flares on-
Got the rear flares on this morning. I'm running 3" flares rear and 2" on the front. Would have liked to run the same at all four corners. The spots for where they attached are slightly different between the two and they just worked better in different locations. The flares run $45 for a set of four off amazon.
Nice job on the flares, where did you get those? Our laws here require tires sticking out to be covered by a flare so I will have to do a similar thing.
So Ohkei's prediction came true and totally my fault. Went to take the truck around the block and as soon as I shifted to 2nd.... bang the left side CV joint pulled apart on the transmission side. I really should have waited til I dropped the rear of the truck down to drive it. I took some actual measurements of how much higher the rear was from the front after my dumbness. It's sitting 1.5" higher! Not sure how it's so high still. I double checked my spacer and it's only 2" but I've got 3.5" of lift in the rear. Not suprising the CV came apart with that much lift even with the trans dropped down. Problem one is to rework the spring spacers. Going to reduce them by 1" and see where I end up height wise. Now on to the bigger problem two- Fixing the CV. When it came apart it tore the boot in half and tossed one of the bearings. Searched the 200' of road I drove on with no sign of the bearing. I did a ton of searching last night and I can't find a CV for anything closely resembling a reasonable cost. Couldn't find a rebuild or replacement just for the inner joint either. All there were was Subaru ones @ $600+ shipping from japan. It should be a couple hundred at best IMO. First plan of attack is I ordered some Justy axles off rock auto(got a front and rear since they are different and cost was only $40ea). Going to see if the guts and boot can be interchanged. Would be nice if they were a direct swap but I think they are different. The inner joint itself looks to be the same as the KS3 design with the drift pin. Where the KS4 has a retaining ring.
