CV shaft lift problem - help

I'm in need of some positive suggestions here. The truck in question is a 2001 Daihatsu S210P.

I finally installed my 2.75" strut spacers this evening. Had a hell-of-a time. Drivers side...not so bad, passenger side...I should have bought that damn four wheeler!

During installation, I noticed that the passenger side strut was hitting the CV shaft when the suspension was fully extended, while the driver's side was NOT. The passenger side CV shaft is shorter than the driver's side, causing them to have two different angles. The only way I was able to get the spacer crammed in its place was to turn the wheels to a sweet spot that gave just enough room, stand on the axle, and force the spacer on top of the strut, which still didn't line up with the factory bolt holes in the cab...that's another story. Sort of barbaric, but at this point, my square peg was going in a round hole, no matter what.

Has anyone experienced this? I know what the problem is, just curious if anyone has found a way around it, or a fix. As it stands now, with the lift, I only have about 1" of downward suspension travel before the passenger strut will impact the CV shaft.

 

i think this is one of the reasons people don't normally suggest more than a 2-2.25" spacer.

even though that is at full droop i would expect there to be a little more travel left in the suspension while traveling over bumps. there is a lot of "unsprung weight" to suspension and with some momentum it will certainly hit the the axle.

my guess is that if you had to beat, pry, pound, hit, cram, jiggle and cuss it into place it's bound up pretty good.

my next suggestion would be to jack it up from the cross memeber in the middle of the cab and see if you can still rotate the front tires. if you can that means your cv's aren't completely bound up. if you feel any kind of clicking, popping or ratcheting i would suggest you remove the lift and shop around for something smaller, as these are signs of a binding cv that is sure to fail.

keep in mind that bigger is not always better.. especially when dealing with a MINI truck. these trucks are certainly more versatile than a four wheeler even though their "liftability" is a little more limited. to avoid premature failures of the drive train and a feeling of being let down by a little truck, you honestly might want to re-think the lift.

these trucks really don't have much in the way of suspension travel but with a conservative lift and a little larger than stock tire i don't think you will be disapointed.

 

I'm going to inspect the chasis today and see what is involved with spacing the suspension cradle.

Not to slam anyone, but FYI, my lift was purchased from FG Procurement.

 

Y not take a little off the strut? Where the lip is Say 0.5" off? With a Grinder. And try that.

Or take off the lift and next time "research before you buy!" and get a 2" lift

 

That would be an easy fix, however I think I would be pissin' in the wind. I've spent all day testing various ideas. As it stands now, when the strut impacts the cv shaft, it's not actually extended to it's full potential, compared to the drivers side. It's just limited by the cv shaft. Shaving .5" off would allow the suspension to extend further, but it would impact again, and again, catch my point? I guess you could keep shaving until you reached harmony, but in the name of Murphy's law, I would rather lower the chassis than do something that I can't undo.

Speaking of chassis, I dropped mine from the frame today to see what would be involved in lowering it. Someone give me a sanity check if I'm off, but seems I can get by with lowering the suspension cross member 2.5", and the front axle cross member/supports 1.5". I shimmed them with wood for those dimensions and the strut no longer impacted the cv shaft. I checked the drive shaft clearance as well and it still had 3/8" between the drive shaft and the engine cross member, with the suspension fully extended. The drive shaft angles didn't appear to be bad, but my eyes aren't certified by the board of weights & measurements.

Any recommendations as far as fabrication materials?? I was thinking .25" wall 2" square tubing for the suspension cross member, and .25" wall 1" square tubing for the axle cross member.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

During testing, when I lowered the the axle cross member to the full 2.5", the drive shaft impacted the engine cross member when the suspension was fully extended. Now, none of this was bolted up true, so I can't say my methods were scientific. I think I will try the 2.5" as you recommended, with everything bolted up true, and see how it looks. If no joy, I will go forward with my original plan.

No complaints on the material line-up??? I'm trying to keep this from becoming an extreme-machines catastrophe.

 

Forgot to include this, yes axle crossmember = differential support.

 

Ok thanks for the help. My steering linkage is nothing more than 3/16" thick 1.5" wide flat bar bent into a U shaped bracket. I figured I could make one that is offset, like I have pictured below. Excuse the elementary graphics, just drew this up in paint a few seconds ago.

 

Well crafted! That looks much better than standard square/rectangular tubing. Is that channel on the top and bottom or flat bar with rolled edges?

 

Do you have power steering?

I don't have enough room between my steering linkage to have a pitman arm that length. Mine would require the arm to basically be vertical.

 

My linkage is setup from the factory similar to the picture I drew, minus the offset. The steering rod on the steering box pivots inside the boot, and the bracket swivels on the factory pitman arm. I will go back just like factory setup, but with an offset.

My setup doesn't have a U shaped bracket on both sides like yours does. Maybe because of the power steering.

 

I will post a picture of my setup this evening

 

Here are the pictures of my steering linkage.