Lifts!?!

[SOFpirate]

So, how did you guys lift your trucks?

My aim is to only lift it to where the 33's can flex well, and then where I have the choice to run 35's if I really get a crazy bug up my butt.

I've done some digging around, and I've seen the Sequoia spacers and torsion bar crank down, and the OME lift kits. The biggest I've seen out of OME is the 50mm which translates roughly to 2", 1.96 to be exact I think. What are other ways you guys have lifted these things?

 

[off-roader]

Which mitsu 4x4? You should put it in your signature and include it with your post so folks don't need to ask.:ylsmoke:

 

[scrubber3]

I think he has a 96 Gen II LS. I cranked my torsion bars and added 2inch spring spacers to the rear. Probably the cheapest lift ever and I can fit 35's under it. I will probably keep the tires at 12.5 inches wide or less.

 

[red87]

Ironman makes a lift for the Monteros too. As far as I can tell, its the same idea/height as the OME one. What I'm not sure of is if Ironman is as good as OME as I've seen very little information about them.

The other option is a body lift. Off-roader has one and I believe he raised his gas tank too. A 2" lets you fit 35"s with no problems.

I hope you aren't expecting huge flex from your Montero. As awesome as these trucks are, flex is NOT their strong point

 

[SOFpirate]

We obviously know that these Monty's flex as well as a fat guy on a cold day. <--- also known as me when I go on my morning jog.

I just don't want the tires rubbing themselves raw in the wheel wells. I do need to add my truck to my sig. It's a 1996 LS. Stock, unless you count my "custom woodland pinstripe paint".

 

[red87]

Haha, fair enough.

I'm pretty sure the only way to fit 35s with no problems is with the 2" body lift. 33s will flex out without any issues on a stock Monty so they'll be fine with any lift you choose. Apparently the OME kit increases rear travel by like 2" or something but I'm pretty sure its almost all droop travel as it only lifts the rear by 0.5" or so.

 

[SOFpirate]

Yeah. I've never heard of Ironman lifts. The reason I was leaning towards an OME lift, but I'm willing to explore other options was that I need to replace the springs and shocks anyways. Its all the OEM stuff from that factory that came with the truck, and I'm pushing 190k on it. I don't know about the last guy who owned this rig, but the past 5k or so were a hard set of miles from me. Not only that but OME is made by the Aussies, and they've yet to really let me down or anybody I talk to about they're products so far. The idea of them creating a super capable but still functionally comfortable suspension system is amazing. Overlanding is a family thing, and with all our gear (normally two families worth of gear, since the other guys own Heeps), the added weight plus needed travel and comfort considering the wife and kids, I'm not going to be cheap on suspension.

 

[off-roader]

What I did to fit 35s on my SR
2" body lift
Replaced the front bumper (or you may be able to trim them so the tires don't rub)
Removed the rocker panel body cladding so the rear tire wouldn't rub when articulating
did a torsion bar crank up front of ~1.5"
installed coil coil spring spacers made for a Toyota Sequioa

Currently the front rubs on the plastic cladding on the wheel wells when braking and turning into a parking spot or turning hard off and compressing the front suspension off road but not during normal driving on road or when driving straight off road. I need to trim them by probably ~1/2-3/4" to stop that rubbing.

 

[Silverwulf]

I did the "budget" lift. Cranked front T-bars @ 1.5" and did the 2" sequoia spacers. I have 32"s and there is a TON of room and plan on 33"s next I am, however, a nats *** away from ordering a 2" body lift from 4crawler. My plan is to do the body lift, THEN get the taco sliders and front bumper and raise rear bumper. this weekend,I was going to buy this ARB bumper for 97 disco, but the guy was flaky and didn't call me back until after I spent the $.

Good thing bumper guy flaked! I ended up getting a STUPID deal on a half stack guitar amp. I simply couldn't pass it up. Oh, and I bought a 29er SE Racing Big Ripper!(If you were a kid in the late 70's/ early 80's you should remeber P.K. Rippers and Quadangles, right?). Funny thing is my kids just want visa gift cards for xmas, which I can get the day before. I thought "how lame is that!?". So I went shopping for myself!

So ya, I kinda blew my wad.

Most likely order lift kit next 2 weeks.

Oh, I did buy my first piece of gear though, a Hi-Lift jack! I'm putting together a "recovery kit" for my rig. So far I started with the jack, some gloves and a tire plug kit were the first things acquired. I think I might return the jack as I got the 40" and think I should maybe get the 60" instead. Thoughts?

 

[red87]

Yeah. I've never heard of Ironman lifts. The reason I was leaning towards an OME lift, but I'm willing to explore other options was that I need to replace the springs and shocks anyways. Its all the OEM stuff from that factory that came with the truck, and I'm pushing 190k on it. I don't know about the last guy who owned this rig, but the past 5k or so were a hard set of miles from me. Not only that but OME is made by the Aussies, and they've yet to really let me down or anybody I talk to about they're products so far. The idea of them creating a super capable but still functionally comfortable suspension system is amazing. Overlanding is a family thing, and with all our gear (normally two families worth of gear, since the other guys own Heeps), the added weight plus needed travel and comfort considering the wife and kids, I'm not going to be cheap on suspension.

Ironman is from Australia too BTW. I'm thinking that's why its hard to get info on them. As far as I know, Camel 4X4 is the only distributor in the states and they just started up recently.

 

[off-roader]

IMHO, 60" without question. Where do you plan to mount it?

 

[Silverwulf]

I plan on mounting it to the side of a roof basket.

I was shopping for a roof rack and have settled on a Yakima load warrior basket and the lowrider clamps that attach to the stock roof rails. I picked this rack because I can get stuff locally, the footprint of the basket is almost exactly the same as the stock rack, and can expand on the rack to suit my needs. (lights, jack, shovel, cans, tire, ect.. you get the idea. I also like that I can get a 18" extender for it too.

Why 60"? That's 5 feet.

 

[off-roader]

Why 60"? That's 5 feet.

Because the highlift may be used for more than just raising your rig to change a tire. Sometimes you need to do more just to get to where you can be towed to a shop and the ground you're setting the jack on is 12-24" lower than the bottom of your tire and you need to lift your rig from your bumper or rock skid (which will be 12-18" above the bottom of your tire) up another 18" so that your tire will be off the ground (since the suspension will articulate downwards as you lift it). There are times when even 5' isn't enough and you need to raise the ground where you want to put the HiLift. Yup been there done that.

For a simple example, we used two of them along with a floor jack to install my coil spring spacers. We did the job sitting in a driveway and we almost maxed out the highlift just to raise the body high enough to allow us to drop the axle and remove the springs and then reinstall them with the spacers.

Also get the highlift base.

 

[Silverwulf]

I see. Just returned 40". Getting a 60".

 

[off-roader]

I see. Just returned 40". Getting a 60".

Hopefully you never have to confirm my opinion but you'll be able to if it happens.:ylsmoke: