Thread: Lifted P38 on air - questions

Originally Posted by intheozone

I have been looking at this thread with interest as i will probably be copying some of the ideas.

I have gen III bags and I am currently running. 255/70r16 tyres. I only really want to make changes to 1) fit some bigger tyres would love to fit 33" tyres and 2) increase flex.

I am not too concerned with increased lift much beyond what I will get from the bigger tyres. That said I will probably get TF144's

What is making you need larger bump stops?
Why do you need to move height sensors would simply extending the arms work?

Beyond putting in the gen III's in I have not even thought about where to go.

Without the larger bump stops the tyres will rub should you get a bag failure.

Gary

Thanks Gary! I think you may have posted those pics before - I do remember you talking about them!

The lift kit is pretty simple intheozone, very simple actually. My issue was time and tooling!

Regardless of what you do to the springs, you will need to extend the height sensors. In my kit I've extended the rears by 47mm and fronts by 23mm. The sensors are in the original spot, they have not moved. The reasoning behind the longer bump stops is purely because the rubber grommet that joins the upper arm and lower arm in the rear sensors will touch the chassis and likely be damaged if the bump stops are not extended.

I'd leave them standard if I could get away with it! If I popped a bag I would throw a lump of timber on the bump stop pad and cable tie it down to get me home.

The shocks still have plenty of compression left, as do the bags (they roll over the spacer as they compress).

My idea behind aftermarket bump stops is for one reason only - I can walk into a dealership (jeep in my case - hopefully) and buy an off the shelf part to replace them with. It's simple and does exactly what I need!

Once I've sorted the bump stops and put the front spacers in, ill be taking out to see how it handles full droop on maximum articulation to make sure that my spacer pins are dislocating the airbags from the diff as planned!

I'm lifting for the same reasons you are! The TF144's will do the job nicely!

Hope this provides some insight!

Cheers
Keithy

Originally Posted by mtb_gary

Without the larger bump stops the tyres will rub should you get a bag failure.

Gary

Edit: I wrote this before Keith's response but had a half hour phone since...

I'm not looking at extending mine at all as I will only go the standard +2 rear and only a short angled spacer. So the shocks shouldn't max out and I don't think the height sensors will either.

I think Keith's having to extend because his sensor arms touch but he is lifting a little more, but more importantly he has even longer shocks in the rear so he would have needed to extend the height arms more...

In the case of a bag popped I have emergency extension of bump stops. Cable tie some flat rubber onto the axle plates.

I really hope I won't need to extend the bump stops as I'm hoping for more articulation than lift necessarily. I'm pretty sure there are others running standard bump stops and angled spacers.

Peter.

On another note Keith. I'm gonna get my spacers welded up this week... But still likely 2 weekends till I fit the hardware. Well more the height sensor part.

Or do I remove the height sensors and switch off the eas... Then finish the arms over a few days while at work during the week... Hmm maybe I'll be doing it sooner ha ha.

I might also have some parts left over if anyone is keen for some freebies. But probably only worth it if they pick em up. The place that Lazer cut my bits made 2 extra round plates and a few of the vertical bits of the spacer.

I left my Rangie in standard height, pulled the delay timer, then set out to do my height sensors before anything else - that way the Rangie was still driveable if the sensors were the only thing I managed to get done at the time. Good way of finding any leaks in your system! I left the sensors out for two weeks and the car was still sitting where I left it when I next worked on it.

You could do it in the reverse order if you wish, just means you'll be driving at factory heights with spacers on - no biggie if you don't plan to go offroad before the kit is complete.

Time is an issue (as was upper body strength) for me. That said - only took 3hrs for the rear kit to be fitted and all four height sensors. Do it during the day, makes it much easier!

Cheers
Keithy

Originally Posted by Keithy P38

If I popped a bag I would throw a lump of timber on the bump stop pad and cable tie it down to get me home.

That's exactly what I did with an 8" length of 4"x4" hardwood, it worked perfectly and was a great bit of bush mechanic work if I say so myself.

Unfortunately I got stopped by traffic police near Caboolture for only doing 70 in a 100 zone and he slapped me with a $260 fine and 3 points for an 'unsafe suspension modification' and also forced us to get a tow truck to take us the rest of the way home.

There you go! Shame about the copper though... You were doing a bit of bush suspension remodeling to prevent further damage to your Rangie and he was a few tickets behind for the month hey!

So i've finished the lift. Front spacers and shocks are in. Below you will find a pic of the Rangie in the new High, Standard and Highway settings parked in front of our Dmax (which is running 245/75/16 KM2's - so slightly taller than what's on the Rangie. It's the chassis clearance that makes the lift that much better!

On the topic of the "Lift Kit", I'm advising anyone considering the dislocation pins that i've made to NOT USE them. Just reversing out of my relatively flat driveway I managed to dislocate one of the rear bags! The spacer pin is in the centre of the spacer (as per the boss in the bottom of the piston being centred). What has happened is due to the high pressure required to lift the vehicle into the High setting, as i've reversed out of the driveway the bag itself has pushed one of the rear spacers up at the front and turned bag + spacer into a "V" shape. The dislocation pin has prevented the bag and spacer from collapsing completely and I managed to jack the chassis up enough to straighten it all out without popping a bag. I wish i'd taken a photo of the incident, but sadly I was more worried about popping a Gen III and rushed in to save the day.

I will now be shortening my spacer pin to the exact size needed to secure the spacer to the diff and prevent dislocating. I will also need to run with limiting straps in the rear as there is easily another 6" + left in the rear shock travel when the rangie is sitting in the High position and I can see that without dislocation the TF144's are going to be too long unless I re-make the rear spacers an extra inch taller. The fronts will not even need to dislocate as it's clearly visible that the shock is further extended than what the rear is at the same height.

Back to the drawing board - I was really hoping the pins would work, gravity and physics got the better of it! Perhaps I can put spacer limiting straps on the spacers to prevent them dislocating unevenly... ??? ... ??? Thoughts?

Here be the pics! I think the rear looks higher in the pics due to the angle I've taken the pics from, the vehicle does sit relatively level in all heights.


In the HIGH setting



In the STANDARD setting



In the HIGHWAY setting


Cheers
Keithy