how much lift for 35's? (B)

[99RS]

this whole lift business is beginning to do my head in! i can't make my mind up, i'm undecided wether to go 3" on standard rims and 265/75/16's or go balls out and go 3" body and 3" suspension and go for 35 12.5x15 on 15x10's, at the moment there is no inbetween! there is £400 difference in cost between the 2 setups and tbh seeing as the 35's setup include a new set of rims, i think it's a veritable bargain! the way i see it is, i will have to do the same amount of work on a 1.5" bodylift as i will on a 3" bodylift, so i might aswell go 3", and if i go 3" bodylift on top of 3" suspension (OME 912's and a full set of ES9000'S), and if i do all that then i might aswell put some monsters on it! anyone got any thoughts as to wether or not 6" is enough for 35's? and will i have much bodywork to do? it's on a SWB B

[Drift]

The deciding factor will be your differentials .... they wont last long with 35" tyres on.
You will struggle to move the car as the gearing will be so far out and with IFS 35" tyres will be very unforgiving.

There is a lot more work with a 3" body lift as opposed to a 1.5" body lift, gears sticks, steering brakes breathers, props to mention a few all have to be taken into consideration.

[99RS]

hasn't marlbrorman done a 3 inch lift on his green (and hardon blue) SWB B? i didn't hear anything about brakelines etc?

[Drift]

Not sure on how high Ian has gone?

If you lifting and flexing you will need to take the brake lines into account.

[Road Hog]

3" suspension lift on a B will only work with the pucker & stupidly expensive Calmini kit. The standard nearside top link arm will hit the fuel tank after 2"

[Sir-Doris]

I have a 2.2 and trust me, 32" tires are pushing the limits of the gearing. Im going to be changing the diffs soon for lower geared ones to improve acceleration and MPG. Overtaking at the moment is a no no.

[gregster]

My green lwb had 3.5" bodylift, soa rear and torsion bars tweeked to the max (3.5") and that still scrubbed 33-12.50-15's on 10j mods on full lock. They hit the wings on the lower corners, bumper was removed. (Everything still fitted ok with 3.5" bodylift...gearlevers need tweeking...brake lines reached as did filler neck. Air intake pipe from airbox to engine needed extending...binned the fan shroud...)

My theory with massive tyre upgrades is that you need to maintain the same arch to tyre clearance at the rear of the tyre as you have at the top. (this way it also looks right to, and doesnt look like the wheels sit to far back on the front end)

Would be quite a bit of work but if you want 35's I would go with 4 link live axle front which moved axle about 4-5" at least forwards.
Truck will work better then, and have a tough front end...standard fronty front dif and cv's would struggle with 35's if going to used off road.

If not going to be abused then I would think about, when you do the body lift, moving the complete body back a few inches on the chassis.

Will need to relocate rear axle (easy enough...just move the mounts or fit different rear springs so locating points are further astern.-might even be able to get away with turning springs back to front as I think the axle location is normally forwards of centre) and move/extend a few other bits but would then look right and not rub.
Would need to put lecky fan in front of the rad, and remove viscous unit completely
Extend rear prop,
Extend steering column,
Mod rear bumper or make a new one.
Loose front bumper as would rub anyway and use front of chassis as basis for new one.
Reroute brakes lines around bulkhead bottom,
Extend filler neck to fuel tank.
Modify and Bend gearstick/tf box lever.

Bit of a different approach the body lift/slide,I admit. Not too bad to do but then it will look right and not rub. We did this on a surf and it worked great.
Just do a couple of simple sketches of the front wheel arch and where the tyre "should be" and you will see what I mean. If you just lift you will have probably 10" of light over the tyre and 2or3" behind it...wont look right and will rub... you need 10" above and atleast 7or 8 behind it so the tyre sits in the arch right (looks better if you trim arches forwards as in picky below)

As a rule of thumb with serious mods your rear tyre needs to stay central to the arch (unless cutting out behind the arch completely), and the wheelbase needs to grow with tyre size. So a chassis with is 90" say with 31" will want to stretch to at least 91.5 with 33's to at least 92.5 on 35's to maintain reasonable distance from the front tyre rear edge to the rear of wheel arch. (those figures assume the rear axle stays in centre of rear arch)
To extreme...look at a monster truck...if they maintained the oe wheelbase the tyres front and rear would touch!!

Laters

Gregster

[gregster]

I have a 2.2 and trust me, 32" tires are pushing the limits of the gearing. Im going to be changing the diffs soon for lower geared ones to improve acceleration and MPG. Overtaking at the moment is a no no.

You need axles out of an isuzu pickup...much much lower geared. My chevy/isuzu screams its heart out at 70 on 31's. You would need to mod the rear axle if yours is a coiler as all the pickups were leafers...easy enough though, easier still if you have got a spare axle case to cut the mounts off.
(I am assuming it is the axles that are lower geared and not the tranny...its a 2.8td so I would have thought g/box tf box are the same as fronty)

laters

Gregster

[99RS]

sorry, i should of made myself clearer, this SWB B will not see ANY offroad work! it's is for towing a few cars around and general road work, i'll get a late coil SWB A for getting deep down and duuuuurty, and i think now i'm resigned to the fact that all it (SWB B) will have is 2" susp lift and a 2" bodylift, and a set of 31/12.5/15 AT's on a set of 15x10 black mods, with a -32mm offset, so apart from slowing the acceleration down, will it actually help with cruising at motorway speeds? say 50-70mph? or will it still knacker my diffs?

[Drift]

With 31" tyres you wont notice any speed issues, but for just road work and towing I would just get stiffer coils, shocks and road tyres, this will save you fuel and money, that could be better spent on the toy offroad

[gregster]

That will be fine mate...shouldnt have any probs at all...

[Road Hog]

Before you venture into raising the vehicle you first need to ascertain the height of the towball,then check the regulations regarding max & min ball heights & check to ensure that after lift,etc you are within the parameters
Check posts in This Section for more information

[bobbinsjob]

sorry, i should of made myself clearer, this SWB B will not see ANY offroad work! it's is for towing a few cars around and general road work, i'll get a late coil SWB A for getting deep down and duuuuurty, and i think now i'm resigned to the fact that all it (SWB B) will have is 2" susp lift and a 2" bodylift, and a set of 31/12.5/15 AT's on a set of 15x10 black mods, with a -32mm offset, so apart from slowing the acceleration down, will it actually help with cruising at motorway speeds? say 50-70mph? or will it still knacker my diffs?

I am running 2" suspension lift and 2" body lift with 31/10.5/15's on my SWB B and all is great (apart from the knackered turbo )

[99RS]

sorry, i should of made myself clearer, this SWB B will not see ANY offroad work! it's is for towing a few cars around and general road work, i'll get a late coil SWB A for getting deep down and duuuuurty, and i think now i'm resigned to the fact that all it (SWB B) will have is 2" susp lift and a 2" bodylift, and a set of 31/12.5/15 AT's on a set of 15x10 black mods, with a -32mm offset, so apart from slowing the acceleration down, will it actually help with cruising at motorway speeds? say 50-70mph? or will it still knacker my diffs?

I am running 2" suspension lift and 2" body lift with 31/10.5/15's on my SWB B and all is great (apart from the knackered turbo )

did you need to lengthen anything? any major stumbling blocks? how wide are your rims? 8x15's?

[bobbinsjob]

All i needed to do was to undo the steering coupler bolt to allow the steering colum to extend and then shave the lip off the gear stick housing or it jumps out of gear when in 2nd, 4th, rev and 4WD.

The rims are standard A series Leafer alloys that have a deeper offset than coilers, so they stick out further but just inside MOT laws. I think they are 8's but dont quote me.

The only real problems with doing the body lift are:-

1) the front mount bolts have to go in from the bottom as there is no enough clearance from above.

2) the rear mounts are an absolute pig to get to as they are inside the body work. You need a long extension, a u/j and 2 elbows on each arm


3) make sure you unbolt and remove both the front and rear bumper before doing the lift as they are atatched to the body and the chassis and will end up looking like this untill the FOG tictacs sort it out


4) remember to undo the steering coupler before you lift not afterwards we live and learn

Any Q's just shout

[troy]

ive got a set of 35s (new cooper mts) on 10x15 black steel 8 spokes. Still on car as i dont know weather to sell or break the car.