Suspension Lift… Knock on effects…
- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 7 months ago by
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Hi All, thanks for accepting me on your forums.
I have some questions about raising the suspension on my FJ with a 2.5″ Lovells kit (http://www.ramy4x4.com/product.php?id_product=129).
- Will the raised suspension effect my registration renewal/inspection?
- I have been told that it will raise the center of gravity on the car – will I need spacers on the wheels to widen the stance?
- Whats size tires should I fit? I mostly drive on the road, and dune bashing
- Will I need to cut any bodywork away in the wheel arch to fit larger tires?
- Will the Lovells suspension be able to deal with the weight of a metal bumper (if I ever get one) or would I need to get a suspension upgrade at that stage?
I would be grateful of any suggestions.
Hi Paul, I am sure other very experience members will give you a better answer, but I don’t want to lose the opportunity to send a message of cautiousness.
DO NOTHING. Once you reach the advance level and you are really comfortable with the dunes and the car, you might have a better judgement on what to do. If you do it now, you might run unnecessary risks. You could have a roll over, because you are changing the manufacturer’s years of engineering designs and investigations. The FJ is a great car as is.
hmmmm…
quote bluefoam:Hi All, thanks for accepting me on your forums.I have some questions about raising the suspension on my FJ with a 2.5″ Lovells kit (http://www.ramy4x4.com/product.php?id_product=129).
- Will the raised suspension effect my registration renewal/inspection?
- I have been told that it will raise the center of gravity on the car – will I need spacers on the wheels to widen the stance?
- Whats size tires should I fit? I mostly drive on the road, and dune bashing
- Will I need to cut any bodywork away in the wheel arch to fit larger tires?
- Will the Lovells suspension be able to deal with the weight of a metal bumper (if I ever get one) or would I need to get a suspension upgrade at that stage?
I would be grateful of any suggestions.
Hi Bluefoam,
I’m an FJC owner, I’m gonna backup Robinson in his comments, about doing nothing until you’ve driven with us more than just a few times. We have no idea of your sand experience, we cannot comment on what you should or should not do.
Every driver takes his or her responsibility for their own vehicle and it’s modifications or not. There are many brands of suspension on the market apart from Lovells: OME -Icon, King, FOX, Ironman.
There is no reason why you should not solicit the opinion of other FJC owners directly by addressing a PM to those members. However if you’ve relatively little sand experience come and learn the basics..put them into practise and whilst doing so chat with the guys and girls you are driving with.
The FJC is one of the best stock vehicles on the market for the sand, yes it can of course take modification/improvement for this particular sport, but the best improvement you can make to an FJC is driver education…believe me 😀
quote bluefoam:Hi All, thanks for accepting me on your forums.I have some questions about raising the suspension on my FJ with a 2.5″ Lovells kit (http://www.ramy4x4.com/product.php?id_product=129).
- Will the raised suspension effect my registration renewal/inspection?
- I have been told that it will raise the center of gravity on the car – will I need spacers on the wheels to widen the stance?
- Whats size tires should I fit? I mostly drive on the road, and dune bashing
- Will I need to cut any bodywork away in the wheel arch to fit larger tires?
- Will the Lovells suspension be able to deal with the weight of a metal bumper (if I ever get one) or would I need to get a suspension upgrade at that stage?
I would be grateful of any suggestions.
Hi Bluefoam,
I have made this style of modification but to an entirely different car. I have genuine reasons for doing it because the suspension was a very limiting factor for my ride and I reached a limit where if I wanted to have a more technical drive off-road, original equipment just wouldn’t cut it and it added risk factors if I pushed too hard on a stock set-up. Additionally, I am still running stock wheels and tire size because they work just fine and have no plan to alter them.
However, you don’t have these same issues with an out of the box FJC, so does your experience warrant this type of upgrade? What do you hope to achieve from doing this; form (e.g. a look) or function (e.g. what are you trying to fix)? I am not trying to rain on your parade, I have a mate who has fully kitted his FJC with lift, big flares and wheels because he likes the tough truck ‘look’ but he doesn’t leave the black-top either. Equally, he thinks I am nuts for taking my car off-road as I think he is nuts for not driving off-road.
I do not expect the lift will effect your registration.
Wheel and tire sizes needs FJC owners input.
Cutting depends on how radical you want to be with wheels and tires.
It is the springs that carry the weight and lift kits are known to be stiffer that stock, so should be fine.Know why you want to do this mod’, not all shock are designed equal and aim to provide better remedies for some cars but not for others, so do plenty of homework.
DVG, Thanks for your response. Very helpful.
quote bluefoam:DVG, Thanks for your response. Very helpful.Hi Bluefoam, you have excellent input from David DVG, I’ve PM’d you’ll see a bunch of FJC’s in this place being worked on for various reasons, including changing stock shocks, but also other stuff that you may as yet not be aware of that effect the performance of the FJC, including wheel & tyre work, It’s a specialist place at making stuff for an FJ, and has for example a custom bash plate, probably the first thing to change, you gain 50mm on approach angle without any lift!! They also does a good trade in repairing badly carried out mods from other garages coping with bodywork when wheel/tires have been changed, be extremely carefully about who you deal with in regard to bodymods …they are rarely necessary
goodluck
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