Wednesday, Jan 18, 2006 at 17:45
Here is a generic reply I posted a while ago, some doesnt relate, but lots does.
50mm is limit in Qld and WA is becoming hard. Vic is nearly impossible to get engineers at the moment on lift kits..
Insurance jumps in $ and becomes very hard to find with over 75mm lift with lots of insurance companies. some even have a limit of 50mm and a few wont allow any lift at all.
You need an engineers certification to go 4inch or more which is becoming hard.
So start there.
What is the optimum lift? You can gauge that answer from these few questions. There is NO optimum lift answer really, there are too many variables.
Why do you need a lift? You need it or you want it?
What is your budget?
What sort of wheeling do you do?
Where do you wheel most? Outback? Mountains? Mud? Rocks?
How heavy is your truck fully loaded?
Do you tow regularly? What do you tow? How heavy is what you tow?
How many people usually travel in car?
What is the car mainly used for? Weekdays, occasional weekender? Weekend warrior only?
What accessories do you have fitted? Heavy front end, heavy rear with LRT, wheel carriers etc
What accessories do plan to have fitted in future?
What size tires do you run?
What size tires do you plan to run?
There is no hard and fast answer to the "optimum" lift size, there are numerous variables but you can get a start from these questions...
IMHO, with a GU, considering you can fit 36's with a 3inch lift, you dont really need more than that unless your truck weight 4.5ton like Roachies and tows the QE2.
What is good what is bad in Shocks and Springs??
You will get - and + stories on every single brand of shock and spring out there.
Shocks:
IMHO, you cant go wrong with OME Nitrochargers for the price, backup, warranty, and service.
If your after the better quality, go with LTR's, they are great. I run them with a 4nich lift and love them.
If you want the best in shocks, go KONI but you will pay for it. I have run them with a 2inch lift in the past, and would run them again tomorrow.
TJM XGS is very good also for the price. Again, I have run these when I had only the 2inch lift.
I had ranchos with a 6+inch lift, and they died 4 times, and others in our club have suffered same fate on GQ/GUs
Springs:
Dobinson or Kings are the best, tell them the answers to all the questions above and they can match a set of springs and shocks together, which is the most important part - MATCHED SHOCKS AND SPRINGS!
Good luck.
AnswerID:
149437