Mud-club
Vehicle & Technical => Range Rover => Topic started by: buster uk on June 27, 2007, 09:10:45
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Hi all,
Im planning on doing a body lift on my rangie.I am going to make the spacers myself and was hoping to get some tips from those who have done it.
What size should i go for ? I was thinking 2" would be a good place to start.
Because mine is an auto i believe the only things that need work appart from the body mounts of course are the high/low lever needs lengthening and the steering coupling , also the radiator needs raising.Is this correct and is there anything i've missed ?
cheers,
andy
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Theres already a welth of information an views on whether its the right choice and advantages/disadvantages. Try a search.
As for what size, I went for 40mm (about 1.5") which seems to have worked quite well. A friend has comfortably lifted his bobtail 3" without any undue problems the main limit of about 3" is that this is what the steering linkages could slide to without modification.
At 40mm lift there is just enough length in my hi/low to wind it off just a couple of turns and still work.
The radiator lower mounts are to the chassis so it stays at the same height as the eingine, you just need to drill 2 holes in the body to mount the top brakets lower. Being an auto box thw pipes for thje oil cooler run under the radiator and then through 2 small holes in the body, to solve this you undo the flex pipes behind the radiator, slide out the oil cooler and then either make new holes or reroute the oil coolers steel pipes. Can post pics if you need a clearer explanation.
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Dont forget the seat belt anchors and the two tie bolts under the body :wink:
Also remember that the bumpers dont move and it leaves a strange looking gap under the front panel.
Steve
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Also remember that the bumpers dont move and it leaves a strange looking gap under the front panel.
That would be another advantage of only doing 40mm lift is that the front end still looks aceptable as the lip of the grill sits just above a standard bumper, though my the bumper won't remain standard for long and will be built to suit, just like the rear bumper which won't fit on a RRC without a lift.
One important question is how much bigger tyres are you planning on fitting, there is not much point lifting the body further than necissery to clear the tyres.
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I made my spacers 37mm to avoid the issues of the tie bolts BUT keep getting put off by how much work is involved :oops:
Also 'er indoors can hardly get in it now :twisted:
One day I will fit them, honest :roll:
Steve
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cheers guys,
I did try a search and read some info,also that link to the tomax range rover build.Just wanted help from people that have actually done the job.
Im planning on running 35" tyres .ive got a 2" lift and thought a 2" body lift and flared arches would do it.
Im not sure what you mean about the oil cooler but im sure all will become apparent when i do it.
Any more tips ? Do i just go and undo all the mounts and things that will stop the body lifting like steering shaft etc then use a high lift jack to lift the body ?
Also the seat belt anchors and the two tie bolts under the body,where are these please ?
cheers,
andy
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Im not sure what you mean about the oil cooler but im sure all will become apparent when i do it.
Unless the pipe layout is different on yours to mine, just watch out for the auto box oil cooler pipes around the radiator as you lift the body.
The rear seat belt anchor bolts are bellow the rear floor just in front of the chassis cross member in front of the fuel tank. The front tie bolts are just inside the chassis rails, along the middle section of the chassis.
A high lift will do or a trolly/bottle jack. Slaken/remove anything like tie bolts or steering shaft and remove all the nuts of the body mount bolts. I then did one side at a time, remove the bolts, lift, fit spacers, fit longer bolts and then lower again before moving on to the next side.
The most time consuming jobs for me were removing the old rubber mounts as I was replacing them and removing the tie bolts to the chassis.
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What are tie bolts ? I've never heard of them :oops:
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Seat belt anchorage tie bolts I believe.
Anyone mention the filler neck yet?
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Ah yes the fuel filler.
Is it rubber or use a rubber coupling at all ? If so i could just extend it i suppose.Something else to undo before i lift the body,thanks for the tip.
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with a 40mm lift there is enough movement in the flexible section of the filler pipe. All I had to was slacken the hose clips and rotate the flexible section because the ends are offset from each other. I dought this would work though for more than 40mm lift as it was on its limit.
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Depends on which model you have and I think yours is a high level filler/plastic tank Buster, so it will be different to the one on the steel tank.
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ah ok,cheers.Need to take a look at it then.
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When did a bodylift on my rangie the worst part and most time consuming part of the job had to be undoing all the nuts and bolt that had never been undone since new. I used one hi-lift jack to raise the body. It was very simple to do, once all the bolts were undone(10 bolts hold the shell down and 4 bolts tie the rear seat belt mount and front floor to the chassis ) I put the jack under the sill just in front of the front door and jacked it up high enough to get most of the spacers in on one side, I then had to put the jack under the rear just to lift enough to get the very rear spacer in, I then repeated this on the other side.One problem you come across is that you cant just put longer bolt through the holes, you have to remove the bushes and put the bolts through at an angle and then resettle the bushes back into place (sounds worse than it is to do ,when doing it you'll find it easier to picture what i mean)the only two bolts I couldn't put back in were the two rear ones as there is just not enough room so I put these up from the bottom but all were secured with nylock nuts so shouldn't be a problem.The only problem Ive encountered after the lift is that mines got a manual gearbox and the clutch pipe is a bit tight and could do with being replaced with a longer one.which ever side you do first you need to take the bolts out other wise they catch and the chassis lifts as well, leave the other sides bolts in so that the shell cant move side ways and extreme but possibly fall off the chassis.When we did my friends he used a hi-ab crane and as he picked up the shell it swung sideways by about 6" so I recommend leaving in some bolts.put one spacer and bolt in at a time and once through put the nut on just a couple of turns and it will stop you displacing the spacers if you need to lift a bit more.Don't forget to unclip your bumper end caps from the body and once the lift is complete loosen all the steering uj bolts and wiggle the steering wheel abit and then tighten the bolts back up.there are several floor supports that need some blocks and you need to drill two new holes for the top radiator mounts and thats about it. I had mine done for several years now and I used it as my daily drive and have had no problems what so ever and is still running around with its newest owner with the lift still fitted. As for the kit you need 10 spacers + 4 extended tie bolts and you will also need to get some 10 3/8 unf x 6"(for 2" lift)
(http://members.mud-club.com/galleryimages/f535e1484ad3bbb886402fd9f3ec3168.JPG)
(http://members.mud-club.com/galleryimages/54886e303b6a7f0e51f5d6ee02407b86.JPG)
(http://snap21.photobox.co.uk/08773899174b7f0eab73719a67a03ed90a991dc4749aa806600147b5.jpg)(http://img2041.photobox.co.uk/33779440862a8aa90f3837313bf888eb30a11a34114d3300370405e668f332f69db2a452.jpg)
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Thats excelent thankyou.
Now i know what the tie bolts are.
I'll update here with pictures as i do it.
Thanks for taking the time to type all that :D
cheers,
andy
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Would it be advisable to change the body mounts when lifting the body ?
I have been looking for a price for some on the internet at the usual places and couldn't find anyone that sells them.
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As in the rubber bushes, when I did mine none of the rubber bushes were actually beyond use, but for the cost I fitten nice new ones anyway. The expensive part is if you want to change the crush tube/washers at over £4 a piece thats £40 to £50 in total, needless to say these I reused.
As time passes rubber hardens so on and old RRC the origional bodymounts will transmit more vibration to the ocupants than a new set of bushs would.
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Im making the spacers this week.
What diameter though ? 1 " ?
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Mine were about 1.5" Would depend on what you making them out of I'd guess.
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Im making the spacers this week.
What diameter though ? 1 " ?
A minimum of 2" 2.5 is better I'm now making kits for pajeros/shoguns from 60mm U.H.M.W. stock
Range Rovers and Disco soon :wink:
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I used 40mm diameter steel stock, which happened to be what I got of college.
I've had no problems with the size. Its bigger than the flat area on the chassis which the bush washers sit anyway.
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so 40-60 diameter then.Cheers guys.
I'll update with pictures as i go. :D
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got all 10 spacers made up.I went for 2 " long.Also got 2 ,one metre lengths of 3/8 unf threaded bar, 10 normal nuts and 10 nylock nuts.Im going to cut the studding to length and weld the normal nuts one end and then use the nylocks to tighten them up.Im hoping to make the job easier by putting the bar in then weld the nut on top in situe to save having to put the bolts in through the top.
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Sounds awkward to me as some of the mounts (back of the sill mounts) are very difficult to get at from above. You could just feed the made up bolts in from below and have the nylocs on top.
Or when remaking the footwells during the sill rebuild I changed the design sligthly above these mounts so that I could get on them through a hole like the ones at the front of the sill.
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Mudlark !
How are those Ultra High Molecular White polyethelene spacers coming ??? :wink: I need a set for the paj and rangie :lol: :lol:
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Mudlark !
How are those Ultra High Molecular White polyethelene spacers coming ??? :wink: I need a set for the paj and rangie :lol: :lol:
See http://xpajunoffroad.com/os_commerce/index.php or I'm at Abingdon this weekend and I'll have some with me
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I've fitted all the spacers.Took me and my dad a day to do them all.What a pain in the bot getting the old ones out.3 of them had completely seized.
Just on with doing the other jobs now.
So far then :
10 spacers fitted
Rad upper mounts re-positioned.
still to do :
Make longer tie bolts.
Sort out the fuel filler to fuel tank pipe.
Make 4 2" spacers to go on the rear floor supports.
Make brakets for rear bumper to bring it back up 2"
Modify the front winch bumper some how. :?
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just returning to the off road scene after a year or so and looking to do this on my 98 Rangie, I have the benefit of having done this once before, some other things to check are the earth strap, if you look at the pics wolfie posted you can see the earth strap in the pic of the second spacer, on the last one i did this strap was connected to the body a short distance away from the mount and can be pulled off easily without noticing giving headaches later on, might not be an issue on all models but worth a look. also the flexi brake pipes, I found the Kit supplied extended hoses were still a little short so lowered the bracket holding the unions to suit, cheaper than getting another extended set the rear one often gets forgotten. An further essential mod if you dont have side steps or rock sliders is for three "NO STEP" stickers for the plastic sill strip!! :lol:
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cheers grunter,i'll take a look for that earth strap.I don't remember seeing one.
Just raised the rear guardian bumper i have up so its back in line.
Need to check and lengthen the brake lines also ,forgot about them :oops:
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How's the lift coming along fella ???? Doing my pajero this weekend (2.5 ") Doing the wife's paj first cos it seem's alot more straight forward and it's already got the bigger tyre's :twisted: Hoping to do my rangie in the next couple of week's tho, ( it'll look on stilt's for a while tho cos it's got the original wheels/tyre's on :lol: )So how is yours coming along ??? Could you do it again now in a weekend ??? or is there just too much to change ? I'll need it straight back on road so I need to know everything that need's to be changed immediatly before hand. Not worried about seat belt mounting point's and bumpers etc cos there is only me using the car ! :roll:
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Single biggest factor affecting how long it takes I found was the state of the bushes and the bolts through them. You could always set about renewing the bushes one weekend and then do the rest of the lift the next.
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Single biggest factor affecting how long it takes I found was the state of the bushes and the bolts through them. You could always set about renewing the bushes one weekend and then do the rest of the lift the next.
You'll need to replace the bolts when your doing a lift anyways.
Buy new nuts /bolts and bushes these are relatively cheap. the expensive part if the metal bush holders the majority or yours you should be able to reuse, but you may need to replace a couple but they are expensive...
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How's the lift coming along fella ???? Doing my pajero this weekend (2.5 ") Doing the wife's paj first cos it seem's alot more straight forward and it's already got the bigger tyre's :twisted: Hoping to do my rangie in the next couple of week's tho, ( it'll look on stilt's for a while tho cos it's got the original wheels/tyre's on :lol: )So how is yours coming along ??? Could you do it again now in a weekend ??? or is there just too much to change ? I'll need it straight back on road so I need to know everything that need's to be changed immediatly before hand. Not worried about seat belt mounting point's and bumpers etc cos there is only me using the car ! :roll:
Hi , yes it could be done in a weekend.I had all the mounts in and lifted in one day.Its just the other fiddley bits that need doing afterwards like moving the rad mounts down and making spacers for the floor supports on the back.I still haven't lengthened the tie bolts either,but i haven't put it back on the road yet.I'll take some pictures when i can get the camera working .
I've modded the front bumper to sit higher now also.
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thanks buster, keep us posted 8)
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Being an auto box thw pipes for thje oil cooler run under the radiator and then through 2 small holes in the body, to solve this you undo the flex pipes behind the radiator, slide out the oil cooler and then either make new holes or reroute the oil coolers steel pipes. Can post pics if you need a clearer explanation.
Oops,forgot all about this.I've lifted the vehicle as you know.Where/what should i be looking for ,damage wise ?
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If it leaks, you bust it if it doens't chances are it's ok, just look at the pipework routing to make sure nothing is chaffing. On all mine the rigid pipes are held to the chasis with a tie-wrap, they pass above the chassis to the hairy sauasage ahead of the water rad then feed back to the in-rad heat exchanger. The pipes from the front of the engine are flexi so the only ones to worry about will be the rigid ones beneath the rad.
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Why don't you just fit 2" longer springs & shockers?
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There are various advantages and disadvantages of both suspension and body lifts when compared against each other.
Here are just a few (leaving dampers out of this)
Body lift
Pros: Potentially much chepaer, no change to steering or suspension geometry, centre of gravity is not raised as much due to heavy componet (engine, transmission, chassis etc.) not being raised, extra clearance makes cleaning the chassis easier, every inch of body lift is garanties and extra vertical inch of clearance for bigger tyres. Nominal maximum a RRC/discc can be easily lifted before significant problems arise is 3" (steering shaft needing lengthening), moving the brake MC up 1.5" allowed enough clearance to fit 11" travel dampers on the front of a RRC
Cons: corroded body mounts are often best left alown, lots of connections (auto box oil cooler) that need to be checked, new brakets may need fabricating (not all people have welders). defenders can not easily be body lifted
Suspension lift
Pros: springs are usually a lot easier to change (but I have still spent half a day making new axle mounting brakets to replace corroded origionals), improves approch/breakover/departure angles, typically looks better (thoguh subjective), All 4x4s can be suspension lifted. Changing to longer softer springs for a lift can improve traction on rough terrain (but at the expense of stability on slopes)
Cons: typically costs more, 1" of suspension lift does not neccisserily equal an extra 1" of clearance on full compression for bigger tyres, raises the height of heavy components rasing CofG higher, nomianally the suspension on a LR can only be lifted 2" before expensive problems start to arise, most suspension lifts useually involves stiffer springs which will reduce traction on rough terrain (leaving locked diffs out of this), can reduce axle articulation.
If anybody can think of any more pros or cons then do add them to the lists.
The ideal varies on application and circumstances, my latest 4x4 uses a combination of both for best effect.
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I have a 2" spring lift with proper 2" lift dampers.I have lifted the body 2" to gain more wheel clearance as i want bigger ones and secondly to gain more bodywork to floor/hill/rock clearance.I didn't want to go 4" lift on suspension alone.
RRB,
See what you mean now about the oil cooler pipes :shock:
Just got away with that one,the metal pipes were bent,but none damaged or flattened.
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I have a 2" spring lift with proper 2" lift dampers.I have lifted the body 2" to gain more wheel clearance as i want bigger ones and secondly to gain more bodywork to floor/hill/rock clearance.I didn't want to go 4" lift on suspension alone.
RRB,
See what you mean now about the oil cooler pipes :shock:
Just got away with that one,the metal pipes were bent,but none damaged or flattened.
Any Photo's yet?
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hi,
No sorry.My camera is duff.
Im going off roading with some friends though on sunday and i'll get some taken of the lift,spacers etc. :D
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hi,
No sorry.My camera is duff.
Im going off roading with some friends though on sunday and i'll get some taken of the lift,spacers etc. :D
Cheers
Looking forward to them as want to do this to mine
Jim
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hi,
No sorry.My camera is duff.
Im going off roading with some friends though on sunday and i'll get some taken of the lift,spacers etc. :D
Cheers
Looking forward to them as want to do this to mine
Jim
Anything :?: :D
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Hi guys.
Well to be honest,i got that carried away with the offroading trip i forgot to take the pictures :oops:
I did take lots but no close ups of the specific lift components.
I have a 2" suspension lift and now with the 2" body lift.
Heres a view from the front :
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/busteruk/Picture010.jpg)
And one from the rear :
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/busteruk/PA281763.jpg)
You can see the 2 rear spacers.
I will take some detailed photos next time im out,which wont be long. :D
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Crikey, that thing's looking a beast now.
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LOL,yeah ,nothing like my sig picture of when i first started going off roading :D
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Didn't you go over to coils springs with it too?
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yeah i did.My EAS finally packed in so i thought i may as well lift it if im going to coil spring it so bought the 2" kit,so is got the shock turrets up front like normal.
Just done the same to my dads LSE as his packed in on the first trip off road.
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Buster,we need a pic of it parked next to a standard one now for full effect :lol: My wifes pajero is much taller than the green beast and she keeps going on about my offroading tool being too small :evil: :lol:
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Or just wait untill a shorter person trys to get in :lol: My mum manages the VM with just a 2" lift but the V8 with a total lift of about 5.5" is a little too much.