Thread: D2 body lift

Originally Posted by Baffle

The Mag is, 4wd Action Gold Label Vol.4 no5.
Page 28.
Ive got to read the article again to find the legalities

Mate... That vehicle isnt legal...

Victorian RTA wont allow anything over 35's to be engineered...
(There is a document on their poor web site somewhere)...
They de-listed engineers approving greater than 35's... And recalled several approved vehicles for re-inspection a few years ago.

Impressive vehicle - Yes.. Legal in Vic? No...


Back to the topic...

A body lift on an SRS (Occupant airbags) equipped vehicle is un-engineer-able.

Lifting an SLS (Airbag suspended) vehicle is legal using longer bags etc...
Spacers are legal in some states - not all...

Nah Tombie,
I know running 37s is illegal.
I was told and under the impression that coils all round and a body lift was ok...Hence me also flicking through that mag..... He ditched 2 engineers.
Now I know better.

Mark

The D2 ute on this forum has a 40mm body lift.
Surely that had to be engineer approved?

Hi,

Just wanted to clear up a few things on this thread, as it seems to have been suggested that the car in question is running the LRA lift kit and that by association that kit is illegal - which isn't true.

The car in question is not running the LRA D2 4" lift kit and I have no idea how and if he got it engineered - but I seriously doubt it and I can see why he had to ditch 2 engineers.

The car in the link posted to the LRA website\lift kit IS fully engineered and legal in VIC (I should know it's my car ) and it is not a body lift. Rather it works by spacing out (50mm) all points where the suspension mounts to the chassis (shock mounts\coils\watts link\sway bars\bump stops et ..)

The cars do look similar I know (I've seen him on the road), but thats where the similarities end. Also mine runs 35's, not 37's.

Cheers Guys.

-Rob

Originally Posted by Rob_D2

Hi,

Just wanted to clear up a few things on this thread, as it seems to have been suggested that the car in question is running the LRA lift kit and that by association that kit is illegal - which isn't true.

The car in question is not running the LRA D2 4" lift kit and I have no idea how and if he got it engineered - but I seriously doubt it and I can see why he had to ditch 2 engineers.

The car in the link posted to the LRA website\lift kit IS fully engineered and legal in VIC (I should know it's my car ) and it is not a body lift. Rather it works by spacing out (50mm) all points where the suspension mounts to the chassis (shock mounts\coils\watts link\sway bars\bump stops et ..)

The cars do look similar I know (I've seen him on the road), but thats where the similarities end. Also mine runs 35's, not 37's.

Cheers Guys.

-Rob

Rob, with the LRA 4" kit. Are the mounts for the radius arms lowered on the chassis and are the watt linkage mounts lowered on the chassis or raised on the axle?

I ask this because I know that LRA say is a suspension lowering kit, but as far as I can see the only think in this kit which may make this the case is that they run a spacer under the springs. I actually think the kit is no different to a 4" spring lift, except that its a 2 or 3" spring lift with spacers under the springs which makes me challenge the premis that it is a suspension lowering kit... and if it is, then just about every suspension lift kit could also be classified by this definition as also a suspension lowering kit.

Hi,

The Watts links are indeed lowered from the chassis mounts. This was the only solution that would allow for full suspension drop/articulation with the 4" lift without causing the watts arms to bind on the axel mounts. This solution gave (over extending and bending the watts links) gave an extra 100mm of down travel.

The radius arms are not dropped - I'm pretty sure this was because the engineer was not happy with it and it was deemed to not generally required (as other things in the d2 suspension setup limited the travel before these). The front suspension geometry is is brought back into check with caster correction plates that are also engineered. This caster solution also eliminates the front driveline vibrations that can appear with a 4" lift on a D2.

You are correct that the nett effect of this solution is "similar" to a 4" spring only lift. The biggest difference is zero coil bind, a better solution for rear end flex (watts tower mods), arguably more stability (due to shorter coils) and the fact that in VIC at least (not sure about NSW) you can't engineer a 4" spring lift on a D2. We are only allowed 2 + 2 + 2 (spring/body/tyres) as (although not currently enforced) most VIC engineers seem to be following the new VSB recommendations. I know that LRA at least are making sure that their kits are future proofed in this regard.

It also drops / spaces all the sway bar link mount points making sure that geometry of those remain unaffected by the lift.

The point of the 2" drop is the same as a body lift, that is, to fit larger tyres under the guards without limiting/reducing uptravel. This is the only reason I went down this road, as I wanted to fit 35's and was happy enough with the handling and articulation I was getting out of my (already installed) spring lift.

As i'm sure you're aware there are arguably other reasons (other than to fit bigger tyres) to fit 4" springs over this kit such as the potential for more down travel without having to dislocate the coils etc..

But for me the biggest factor for me was the legality (in VIC at least) and the almost zero effect it had on onroad handling.

Cheers,
Rob