Thread: Two men and a 2" lift (warning pic heavy)

A nice way to spend the 33 degree Saturday, fitting the 2" lift I got from Suspension Stuff - another shameless plug for shane.

I was after a comfortable ride and nothing too high as I still needed to get into underground car parks, so I went for the Dobson coils and Lovell shocks.

The rear shocks are slightly longer travel then the standard 2" lift shocks (I only got them because they were the same price as the standard 2" lift shocks).

The springs are replacement factory not heavy duty, they are a bit longer in the rear than in the front to compensate for the weight of the gas tanks in the back.

How we did it and what we learnt.

Rear ground to guard hight before lift (yes I know I should have done it from the centre of the hub)




Front ground to guard hight before lift




Every bolt was subjected to rust loosener 24 hrs before and then again 2 hrs
before the job was due to start.




Some may consider this over kill but it worked a dream




We started with the back for a bit of practice as it is the easiest


Jacked up, on stands, wheel off




The shocks came off no sweat. I checked the old ones and there was no rebound in them at all




Undo the spring retaining plate at the bottom of the springs. You can see the difference in the hight of the old springs compared to the new




we disconnected the sway bar to get the new springs in. If we had a spring compresser we could probable have skipped that bit, and we definitely would not have needed to have me bouncing up and down on the wheel hub to get the spring in




Make sure you keep an eye on the brake line as you do not want to put any load on it.




Throughout the job the shocks were placed vertically and pushed to full compression to settle them in. It was well worth doing as the first time I did it it felt like the two shocks had different valving. However after the 6 - 7 time of being compressed they were taking the same force to push down and the same time to rebound.

Bolt the shock on, do up the sway bar, and the jobs half done







The front is a bit more involved.

Start the same, jack up, wheel off




Remove AFM, air box to give you loads of room to get the shock top nut




If the shock top nut will not come off then it is time to undo the four nuts holding the tower on




and cut the nut off



There is no need to undo the spring retaining plate at the bottom




Remember to keep an eye on the brake lines




The springs look the same hight off the vehicle, but note the different number of coils




With no spring compresser we had to drop the sway bar and bounce up and down on the wheel hub to get the new springs in and located properly





If you have taken the tower off then you can just drop the shock in from the top




We had trouble getting the nuts on to the bottom of the shocks, it felt like they were cross threading. Upon closer inspection the paint had run into the threads during manufacturing, and the threads needed to be scraped clean




With the springs and shocks in place the towers were put back on and the top bolt of the shock tightened.




Hub to guard measurement before and after:

Drivers rear 45cm before 51cm after
Passenger rear 45.5cm before 51.5cm after

Drivers front 46cm before 50cm after
Passenger front 46.5cm before 50.5cm after

I am expecting the rear to settle down another 5 - 10 mm over the next couple of weeks.

hahahaha -I thought that ugly mug was your Boxer!

I also recommend that you turn the rear brake t-piece thats bolted to the diff upwards and also place an extender so you lift the t-piece another 2"... that what I did and works a treat.