Lifting a 4wd pro?

[DuRWooD]

I'm just thinking 2" may be better. I had a Jeep with a 4" suspension lift, it was a significant difference.

[DuRWooD]

http://home.comcast.net/~thomasck/Justy-Lifted.jpg

That thing looks pretty sweet though, probably a 4" lift.

[SgtRauksauff]

why not just add RX7 ball joints to the stock LCA's and then use 3rd gen knuckles. That will give you width with only bolt-ons. if not add MX-3 LCAs.

I'm not familiar with what 3rd gen knuckles do on a 4WD, could you elaborate on that a bit? The 4WD steering rack is located on the firewall, about 6" or so higher than the FWD , to allow the t-case to aim backwards. The arm on the knuckle on 4WDs are raised accordingly as well.

http://home.comcast.net/~thomasck/Justy-Lifted.jpg

That thing looks pretty sweet though, probably a 4" lift.

Sure looks like a lift, but still less than six inches of travel before the fenders become chowder. Pretty much useless unless you're running HPDE/Tarmac type spring rates. Or if you never actually took it offroad and drove it hard. It DOES look darned fun, though!

I think from the minimal investment standpoint, strut spacers are probably the easiest way to go. But keep in mind that the inner tie rods only have a limited window to work through, so you might want to get a limit strap in there to prevent it from getting bent or something under full droop. Or move to a heim-joint tie-rod-end, with a spacer on top of the knuckle to situate the tie-rod at a more neutral angle...


Might have to play around with brake lines too.

Best-case scenario, you get new longer struts sprung/valved appropriately, with control arms to match the new travel available, and no issues with steering linkage either.

--sarge

[Mazda_Powered]

wow that's pretty low for a 4WD lol, is it on drop springs??

[Blazin674]

wow that's pretty low for a 4WD lol, is it on drop springs??

Lowering spring and under sized tire

[nerd racing]

a bump steer kit would work with the 3rd gen knuckles. basically you need 3rd gen escort (US) because the ball joint diameter is larger with RX7 joints.

[SgtRauksauff]

ah, just for the ball joints, gotcha.

here's my ground clearance, 100% stock 4WD, 185/60-14 Blizzaks:


engine/trans/interior out of the car:


I don't have a current pic of how high it sits, but basically stock setup, but with ~300lbs of interior removed, it does sit a bit higher than the other.

--sarge

[Blazin674]

Ivenever owned a 4wd pro that had stock suspension.
This is a scooby with 6" lift super swampers.


I figured that with spaces on stock suspension, the control arms would only be able to travel like stock making it harder for the tire to hit the fender.

[nerd racing]

what suspension is on the one I bought off of you man?

[atomicEGT]

S/Rs and Eibach springs

[Blazin674]

S/Rs and Eibach springs

Incorrect, they are stockers off of my 323. They had 55k on them.

[nerd racing]

cool, good to know.

[atomicEGT]

Incorrect, they are stockers off of my 323. They had 55k on them.

oh yeah, I forgot we swapped those over.

[nerd racing]

that's why everything was loose...

[jay]

My rallycar sit 2--3 in.. higher than stock and can go higher than that using nice long coilovers. With a toyta trans, you will find you have to have a custom set of feont shafts made that can survive that amount of articulation...