I am running some ITP SS112 with 185/60r 14 tires, as I use this on the steet and the odd light off raod trip. If it was doing more off raod these tires are not the answer. With it jacked the I can feel a little resistance on the left side but being a steet truck it never gets to that extention. If off roading it is pretty slow so I don't let it worry me to much.
My truck is lifted three inches, dirves good and does not bind up... But, looking at it from the front the wheels are tilited in at the bottom, and it is eating up those front tires tires like crazy because I run it on asphalt a lot... Any thoughts on this? It was done bu the person I bought the truck from, who also offered to sell me more tires when I need them, which won't be long!
The lift I had purchased has an adjustable camber. To verify if your is adjustable pop out the seats and look at the top of strut spacers. If these are slotted you are able to adjust the camber. If not I would suggest replacing them with those that can. For less than the price of 2 tires you can replace the spacers with adjustable spacers. In the long run you will have a better ride and longer tire life. Hope this helps you out.
I placed a 21/4" lift from xroads on my 200 Suzuki. No problems with the CV binding but the camber is way off. No adjustment on it either. The kit says adjustable camber but this is not so. I need to call xroads as all I got was the spacer for the top. After looking things over however, I am planning on having my local machine shop "engineer" a spacer for the lower end of the strut and eliminate the spacer on top. This would move the spring /strut up and give significant clearance. Right now there is only about 1/2" gap between the spring and tire. The only problem here is cost. About $350. But, they can build in some adjustment for camber.
I just put the www.xroadsimport.com 3" lift kit on my 94 suzuki carry and 25" tires and every thing worked out great.
Yes the 2 1/4" Stage 1 lift for the 1999 & newer Suzuki is not adjustable camber. We do have two Stage 2 lifts for those same trucks that result in perfect camber. We have them in 4" and 2". They are the way to go.
3" The 3" lift kit I put on from xroads was adjustable to get the camber back right.I was very pleased with the kit and the front after I put it on.The front end shop said it was A ok with the camber,just had to set the toe in.Price was good also.
Just had my 2 1/4 lift kit and long travel shocks from www.xroadsimport.com installed. They definitely made the truck look great and added a much more comfortable ride.
I used a 4" lift from crossroads and went to 25" tires..... very little camber issues.... I work at a Automotive repair shop and we align vehicles, it's not out enough to worry about..... check out my pics in the photo gallery. Archeric
I did talk to Cory at xroads where I bought my lift. I muststand corrected as the lift kit I bought dows not adjust the camber. The stage two drops the differential and then the camber is adjustable. I however put aftermarket 14" wheels and tires on mine. It looks awesome but the camber is way off. I had a machine shop make two attemtps at some corrections but they failed. I looked it over last night and think I have the answer but it will take a little fabrication. My problem is that the truck is a 2000 and the struts are 4-5 diameter. This is nearly touching the larger tire. I would like to be able to place tire chains on it since the tires I have are not ideal for off road. Once I get it figured out, I will post pictures of it all. I did build a front and rear bumper and put receiver hitches in both. Another truck owner asked where I bought them as they look custop. They cost me about $135 for the metal and then it was just a weekend to get em built and on.
Wyothing, Call Cory at xroads and purchase the wheel spacers.... it will give you about an inch extra clearence between the strut and the tire. He might have 4 on 100mm to 4 on 100mm if you are running stock wheels, I'm running 4 on 100mm to 4 on 110mm on my '99 it's the same body as yours. If he doesn't you can purchase they from a automotive shop that hops up Imports and Honda's...... but you will pay more !!!!! Archeric
I just found out that the Xroad lift kit works well as for as the camber but it does bind the cv joints.Will be putting spacers on the front end dif. and I guess the motor and trans.Found it on a post here on how to do it.Thanks guys.James
Guys, thank you for all the input. Let us know what you would like to see. Wyothing, did you install 25" tall tires or something smaller? If you have a 2000 Suzuki then we have a stage 2 kit for them. If you want perfect camber then that is the way to go. We have stage 2 kits available in 2" and 4". The problem you are having with the tires being to close to the strut is probably because it is a DB52T. They have a fat strut bottom. It also leads me to believe that you have a 25" tire since smaller tires would not interfer. There are a couple things you could do. 1) Install a spacer. We have them. 2) Install 62T struts. They have a small strut bottom spring perch and won't interfere with the tires. We have them as well. More expensive but the best option. Cory
James, Do you happen to have any pictures of the spacers you installed? I just put a Xroads 2 1/4" lift on my 97 Carry and noted it is binding the CV joints. I've read many posts but as the old saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words". Any help you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks. ________ Diversion
lift kit One is of the front dif. mount,tho other is of the rear trans mount.But the other mounts are made the same, just wider.They are made from 1 1/4" round stock with a 5/16" keyway cut in them with 1/4" x 3" flat bar slide in between them.I did have to cut room for the air con. tubing and the timing belt cover and make the shifter cable alittle longer also.james
I have an 8inch lift on my Suzuki that has been on for over a year and a half. No problems plenty of ground clearnace with 28inch tires. It gets abused often! I'm in Louisiana where it stays wet and muddy. This truck is used weekly and carries 4 to 6 dogs and a dog box everytime its driven Ice chest and when we are lucky a couple of 200lb plus wild hogs. I know you folks don't need that much ground clearance but where I live and hunt its a must are you would bottum out and get stuck.
the bigger tires you are able to mount up to the truck the more ground clearence the vehicle will have including the diff. the driveline on the other hand may not but i guess i will have to solve that this weekend i am in the process of adding a 4'' lift to add tiger tracks onto my carry. i will let anyone know if i succeed or fail and what problems i have had. this may or may not be more difficult then lifting an ifs chevy
Lifting a Suzuki Carry I have had both bad and good experiences while attempting to lift my 1996 Suzuki Carry Mini-Truck. I first installed the spacers on the front which were 2 1/2" on the low side and 3 1/2" on the high side. The CV joints bound up when I attempted to roll it backwards, and the left (passenger) side made noise 50% of the time. I contacted the supplier who replaced them with a pair of 1 1/2" on the low side to 2" on the high side spacers. After replacing the spacers, the CV joints made no noise, and the truck rolled easily in reverse. I also followed the directions provided in another post and it was great. When I initially installed the larger 2 1/2" - 3 1/2 " spacers, it was very hard to get them in position under the unistrut mounting area, and it required some minor compression of the coil spring to get them in position. (This should have told me something was not right). When I removed them and installed the shorter spacers, they slid right in and in fact the bolts pulled the spacers up to the unistrut mounting area, which slightly lifted the spindle and took some angle off the CV joint. After letting the body come down on the suspension, and compressing the coil springs a tad bit, the angle on the CV seemed slight, but not extreme, and the performance supported that fact. Hope this helps. Captain Ron
Ok; I'm looking for all of your honest opinion's Came across a set of Arctic act 25 x 8 x 12 tires and wheels today for $50 brand new take off's. On my old zuki (late 80's early 90's) carry the rear mounted great no lift Modifcation needed. On the front I know there is modification needed. But I was thinking on going with the earlier suggested but never completed lift for the front. I plan on dropping all the suspension components to get the correct lift and geometry right. Now I'm not going to spend the $140 bucks on a complete 3" lift kit when All's I need is the 3" strut perches. Of all you that have had issues with your lift's do any of you have a set of 3" adjustable perches your willing to depart with? If so pm me. I plan on fabricating an axel over kit as well as a true 3" front lift with all the correct pieces to lower the lower control arm, the diff, and the strong arms. Thanks
Suzuki with 5.5 inch lift and Stock driveline Geometry Check out the pics here of one of our Suzukis with a 5.5 inch lift. We swapped the axle and leafs and have stock geometry on driveline. Will post other pics of underneath soon. http://japanese4x4minitrucks.com/index.php?act=itemdetails&item_id=85 Darc www.japanese4x4minitrucks.com Samurai Trucks Ps we now have long travel struts to replace the originals-6.5 inches of travel and over 2 inch lift
I installed the XRoads 2 1/4 lift on my 92' Suzuki. With the front end jacked up(suspension fully extended), there is a noticeable "rough spot" or binding in the passenger side CV. Putting a floor jack under the passenger side contol arm and raising approx 1/2" make the binding go away. This tells me that 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 is the maximum you can extend the strut without causing problems(without spacing down the front diff and control arms. It looks like it might work to space the front diff and crossmember an inch or so without effecting the steering, etc too much(not sure, haven't actually tried it). Driving the truck with the 2 1/4 spacers on was ok unless in 4x4 and on any kind of terrain that would "unload the suspension"(which is 95% of the time for me). Every time the front of the truck came up it would make a noticeable "grinding/rough" noise. I removed both of the front axle's and took them to an axle shop for evaluation. They told me that there was some unusual wear on both the laft and right and would require some machining to repair/rebuild. I was not sure if there was a prexisting condition prior to installing the lift but figured that this would certainly eliminate that from the possibilities. I installed the rebuilt axles and found that the binding was still there with the suspension fully extended. This time I didn't even drive it. I removed the spacers from the struts and replaced the springs with 10" 250 lb aftermarket units(mentioned in another thread). No binding at all and I still have enough clearance to use 23 x 12 x 10.5 ACT tires. With a 30 minute drive(on varied terrain), no CV binding and no tire rubbing. The front suspension is definately more firm but not excessively. I am thinking I will modify the front spacers to be only about 1-1 1/4" and call it good. It seems to work fine without any spacers but an inch would make the truck level without removing the add a leaf that came with the kit.
Just guessing here, but lets presume for conversation sake, i have a stock Carry with no drivers or extra weight in it. Its sitting on the ground (no jacks or blocks) on its own 4 tires. <>If i "lift the front of the truck off the ground, the front wheels will only uncompress about 2" to max extension. <>If i "press the front of the truck down towards the ground, the front wheels will only compress about 2" to max compression. <>Im guessing the stock suspension only has about 4" +/- total travel. In this i am presuming that the stock vehicle "rests" in the middle of this 4" of total travel (which may not be the case). <>If i put a 2" OTT (Over The Top) spacer above the strut tower, the vehicle will now "rest" at the very top of it's extension (for the ball joint and CV. And there will be Zero inches more for the strut to extend b4 pushing these two components beyond their design capacity. However, b/c this was done w/ an OTT spacer, the strut is still resting at the center of 4" +/- of travel and can still extend another 2" !!! This will put your ball joints and CVs at risk while off roading. IMHO OTT lifts that push the whole strut down to the max stock design extension will eventually destroy it. Conversely, the strut will max compress with another 2" b4 the bump stop and possibly destroy the strut (shock piston). ^^^ now can you imagine a 3" OTT spacer install? Certain Doom IMHO. <> If i ditch the 2" OTT spacer and replace the stock spring with a greater spring constant (keeping the 10" stock spring length)... Now the vehicle will rest higher than before. To what height, is a function of the greater spring constant. Lets assume in this example we find the spring constant that also lifts the vehicle 2" to make it compare well to the OTT lift above. Again the vehicle is resting w/ 0" for exension, and 4" of compression. Only now, the strut cant push past the 4" b/c its maxed out. This is way safer for your ball joints and CVs. However if the load of the vehicle comes off a tire quickly (common in 4wheeling), the stronger spring "could" bust your shock by over extending it. Less risky than above, and near impossible w/ a sway bar installed. (do these things have sway bars?, I dont recall seeing any under there). I believe Mighty Milt had once suggested using a strap to max out the extension rather than letting the said components take the abuse... Which should solve the problem for both lift types. But may require stronger strap system for the OTT as it would be fighting 2" of loaded spring. (Note: there may be a more than 4" total travel on these. Depending on the vehicle, it will not exactly "rest" in the center of that presumed 4" and will vary slightly, vehicle to vehicle). Many people here have 2" OTT lifts and arent complaining about broken CV joints and Ball joints. So im pretty sure my numbers are incorrect. The theory however is exactly correct and has continued to steer me away from OTT lifts as it "un-syncs" the strut travel from the CV and ball joint travel. When i have time to take my carry apart I will make some real measurements b4 deciding on what lift to go with. (Sorry for the constant editing, i keep finding "better" ways to explain this).
For further reading, it anyone is interested... I have adapted the above article i wrote from Here: http://www.tacomaterritory.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Front_Tacoma_Lifts and here: http://www.customtacos.com/tech/index.php?article=137
my daihatsu had 5" of travel in the strut. If that helps at all. Everything you explianed appears to be correct! When it comes to lifting/lowering a veihicle, no matter what kind, these types of problems always come into play.
My zuki gets a little taller... Again! Well my shackle and front spacer lift came in the mail today. And yikes... They hosed me! I ordered the 2" lift and they delivered a 3" lift. Grrr... Well no matter, installed the shackle no prob. the front spacers even at 2" would be more than I wanted so I hacked them down to 1.5" and shoved them in. Note that I already have a 1" lift on the front from AFco springs. So that brings me to 2.5" suspen lift and another 1" from tires. I will post pics soon. (please no balking at my weld job on the spacers. My theory was to get as much lift without un-sync'ing the suspension with too much OTT spacing. The cv does not rub or pop even when jacked up by the front diff (full extension). My only drawback is the dreaded camber issue everyone has with a lift like this. But I have an idea for that too =) Note: the front spacer holes were all uneven and I couldn't exactly tell which way to mount them to help with camber. Pictures:
Has anyone done a body lift? Maybe that would be the answer.Let us here from you if you have done one, and how did it work out.
Lifting Suzukis and Daihatsus We have a 5.5 inch lift we built for the Suzuki we run 15 inch wheels on http://s358.photobucket.com/albums/...uki Hunting/?action=view¤t=DSCF0593.jpg http://azada.smugmug.com/Other/55-inch-lift/12425520_p5RS4#889285353_YguRu -cv angles are stock. Also with our new long travel struts they are adjustable from 2-4.5 inches and have camber adjustment. Darc www.samuraitrucks.com
