Suspension lift benefits?

G'day,
Having owned 4wd's all my life & having a Hilux with a 50 mm lift for the past 6 years I wouldn't be without it. Standard rims & tyres but makes all the difference when the going gets tough.
Upgrading to a new vehicle soon & it will certainly be getting a lift as soon as I purchase it.
Cheers
Stu

It makes a significant difference for ramp-over, approach and departure angles; meaning the vehicle may be able to negotiate tracks that are strewn with obstacles such as large rocks etc.

However, with the same size tyres still fitted, you don't enjoy any increase in ground clearance under your diffs/axles etc.

Generally speaking (but not always), people incorporate larger tyres with the suspension lift, so that they maximise the ground clearance benefits available.

Roachie

A 50mm lift + a slight increase in overall tire size makes all the difference to actual 'off road' capability , you don't mention other mods such a hanging a bull bar of the front [ extra weight basically demands a suspension upgrade ] , as for same size rims and tires ? Once its lifted it will look like it needs bigger rubber so just keep it in mind , Eg. going from a 265/70- 17 HT [ or crappy factory A/T that new 4x4 come from the factory with ] and going to a 285/70-17 AT will lift your diffs 14mm .

You shouldn't just go for the 50mm lift that is stated on the packaging.
You also want to look for up rated springs that are designed to carry the load you are going to put on it. Stock springs give a good ride from the showroom, but aren't much chop if you want to actually carry any weight.
With standard springs and my camper on the ute, I had all of 40mm between the bump stop and the axle on the back end. It didn't take much of a dip in the road for the two to clash. I went with a 50mm lift and 150kg constant load springs (I have an alloy tray which is lighter than a tub, so for a factory tub it is closer to 300kg constant weight springs).
With the camper on it all settles to the factory ride height.
Next job is to address the front end which is compressed a bit with the weight of a steel bull bar. It now has a tendency to bottom out on dips that it would have ridden over fine with out the added weight.

So, here is mine. Not tall by a long shot, but the the stock springs had it dragging it's ass and the headlights only good for hunting possums.

What make of vehicle are we talking about , where do you intend to use it ?

Off road touring? Not sure how rough you are expecting. I took my DMax from the showroom (1500k on the clock) to do the Simpson, west to east. Standard everything. Did Big Red first go after the lifted and locked 100 series in front of me needed three attempts. I'll do mods if I start going places that need it.

Iza

Just my personal point of view, and having owned 4WDs of one sort of another most of my adult life (mainly Toyota Landcruisers) I find the biggest difference you can make to where you can go without getting stuck is the type and size of tyres you fit. At the end of the day, regardless of whether your axles and under body is clear of the terain (certainly an advantage) the tread of your tyres and how well they cope with the prevailing conditions will determine whether you move forward or not.

Having said that, if you intend getting into some really extreme country, a 50 mm lift will be of decided benefit. Also upgrading the carrying capacity, particularly the rear, will stop your vehicle's bum dragging when you load up your camping gear, extra water and fuel, etc.
I reckon it's amazing where a basically stock 4WD with reasonable tread will go in the hands of a reasonably capable driver.

Cheers
Pop

Most suspension upgrades will probably lift the vehicle , how much really depends on the vehicle .
I got a GVM Upgrade on my Dmax before first rego , the lift at the front is only about 30mm the rear a little more ,
The Dmax has a issue with the CV's , they seem very easy to break , most IFS vehicles really shouldn't be lifted to hight without a Diff Drop Kit , 50mm should be ok .
Unless you go a lot bigger diameter tyres , you really get bugger all more clearance but that altered the gearing , the best on road performance and fuel economy will be with std size tyres .
If you really want to get into rugged 4x4 country , Vic Highcountry , diff locks are the way to go , if you don't already have a Locker as Std , consider fitting one , two is even better .
My last 3 4Wd's have had lockers . I have 2 eLockers in my Dmax ,

Unless you intend a lot of rock hopping, I wouldn't bother.

I added a set of Supersprings to my dual cab to give a little more support when towing my 2000kg camper and in doing so, achieved a 50mm lift to the rear with the lowest setting, unloaded. This may have been because my standard springs were about 5 years old when I added the Supersprings and may have been a little on the soft side.
Work well. Ride is excellent, both unloaded and with the camper hitched up.
Cost about $500 and can be easily installed yourself.

Thank you for all your responses. I appreciate that you made the effort to give me some of your time and advice.

To answer some questions relating to my post:
The vehicle in question is a 2016 Mazda BT50 XLR Dual cab 4x4 auto.
I will be adding a bull bar & winch, snorkel, long range tank, canopy and a rear storage drawer (self built).
I am putting in an upgraded suspension to cater for the extra load and it appears that a 50mm lift is part of that upgrade hence my question.

Prior to this vehicle, I owned an 80 series and I certainly did not get that lifted but I did upgrade the shockers and and added polyair springs. That was sufficient to suit my needs. I won't be adding polyair springs to the BT50.

I plan to go to Cape York, The Gibb River Road and some other places I haven't thought of yet. I go off road but I'm not into the real hard slog 4WDing like the infamous parts of the Telegraph Track , for example. I don't do four wheel driving for the challenge of tracks, I do it for the experience of seeing new places.

There is not way I'll ever get bigger wheels or tyres. I'm more than happy with my 265/65 R17 BF Goodrich AT/KO2 tyres.

Hi WBS, I did the suspension upgrade on my prado, not long after I purchased it, from new.. Went with old man emu, through arb, as they supplied and fitted all the accesories as a discounted bundle package.. With bull bar and winch, and towing either camp trailer or boat, they put heavier front and rear to compensate.. Biggest advantage I have found, is no more body roll, handles so much better on the road.. Much better to drive, and when loaded, it sits well on the road, the fifty odd mil of lift is a bonus.. Cheers Odog

"I'm now going through the process of preparing it for off road touring work. This includes a suspension upgrade. "

+++++++++++++++++++++++

I went through that process nine years ago with my current 4x4 ute. I fitted it with a HF radio, standard size (205X16) mud/rock LT tyres, an auto locking diff in the front, high diff and gear box breathers, some wire mesh behind the grille and that was it. Since then it has been over three of Len Beadell's tracks, many other major and minor Outback roads and dozens of Victorian High Country tracks. Next month it will be off again on a trip that will include Cameron Corner, the Plenty Hwy, the Gibb River Road and across the top of the NT.

It has no bull bar, long range tanks or any other heavy items. The closest it has ever been to GVM on a remote trip is 200kg. That is under it, not over it.

You do not need to change suspensions to do what you intend doing. If you have the car sagging under excessive or incorrectly distributed weight then modifying the suspension won't fix it. It will make it sit up a little higher and look better but the car is still overloaded or incorrectly loaded and the reduction in reliability that it will suffer is still there.

Don't forget when loading a dual cab that the car has been designed to carry five heavy people, not an average weight mum and dad plus three little toddlers. If you can't fully load the front half then you can't take it up to its maximum capacity without overloading the rear end.

This article is well worth reading. bent utes This is a major problem with cab/chassis utes in both two and four wheel drive form and it is not the fault of the car.

If you really have to take a lot of stuff with you then hook up a small box trailer. The car should then be well under both its carrying and towing capacity and, providing you don't drive it like a bat out of hell on rough roads, reliability will be right up at the top of the scale.

Personally, I don't like mucking around with the basic structure of the car. People far smarter than me designed it, the trick is to make sure the car is designed to do what you want it to do in the first place. I've been on lots of difficult and challenging tracks with nothing more than slightly larger tyres in a decent AT pattern. I like to travel light and use less fuel. The extras you bolt on are usually the first things that rattle off. Both the driver trainers in my club drive stock standard cars with good tyres and you wouldn't believe where they can go. ARB would go broke if they were waiting for my money. Anyway, everyone is allowed to think what they like....and that's what I think. :-)

Having gone for an 'off the rack' solution to get more lift and load capacity, I would never do so again. Design and quality weren't up to par, and this was from a major player at the cheap to medium end of the market. I'm now on the 3rd set of struts at the front and 2nd rear setup because of both bad design and poor manufacture.

My advice is to go to a specialist suspension place to discuss your needs and then cry once with the credit card.

We ask a lot of our suspension and for the most part 4WD setups aren't adjustable so we have to understand what trade-offs we can live with and how to minimise them.

Airbags have been a popular way of effectively increasing the spring rate and they still have a role. There are more struts coming onto the market with adjustable spring preload (to counter sagging when loaded) but I doubt few of us are willing or able to crawl under the wagon with a C spanner at the start of a trip, and we may well need more compensation than the unit provides anyway.

For proper performance the shock damping rates need to be tuned to match the spring rates. In the case of Dobinson's three basic kits to take one example the same shocks are used in each one. So you're behind before you've gone out the driveway.

not intending it to sound rude, but generally if you dont know what any particular mod will achieve then you really dont need it.
Too many magazines telling what we "need" to have...

And don't forget, since you are in Victoria, that you are probably limited to a tyre no more than 15mm in diameter bigger than the maximum specified for your vehicle. That gives you a 7.5mm lift! That's a VicRoads rule and it's what the insurance companies tell me they fall back on when the chips are down. (But I reckon there must be a big loophole somewhere because most of the 4WDs I see are clearly well over this).

I put ARB suspension onto my BT50 (MY 2106), 300kg rear springs. Compared to the standard set up its a completely different vehicle to drive, much more comfortable both unloaded and loaded and much much better handling. Also did the GVM upgrade at the same time.