Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

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SnoDrtRider
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Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

I have the interior cleaned up and started on the mechanical work on the van.

To do list...
Idler Arms
Drivers Window Motor
Tailpipe
I sprayed down all the bolts and fasteners under the truck with penetrating oil including the parking brake cables.

I took initial measurements at all four corners at the wheel arch/axle center line as a starting point reference with 40 PSI in the tires.

RR 29.5
LR 30
RF 30
LF 30

I cranked the front torsion bars all the way up to see how much I could get and ended up with

RF 31.75
LF 31.5

Assuming the initial 30 inch measurement is stock spec I can get 1.5 inches of adjustment on the bars this will give me 3.5 inches of lift with 2" Sub Frame Blocks.
That will take care of the front.

Now for the back...
Local spring shop told me they can add a leaf to give me extra load capacity and re-arch my spring pack to my specs for $250.00 if I bring the springs in off the vehicle.
I measured my buddies S10 springs and they are the same width and have the same (three) leafs but they also have a 4th leaf that looks like an add a leaf from the factory. I am going to a local You Pull It yard tomorrow to check some springs out.

Can anyone out there with a 3-4 inch lift give me some wheel arch measurements so I can be sure that the 3-3.5" that I end up with is actually going to be 3-3.5" over STOCK height or someone with a stock AWD give me some numbers so I can compare.?

Thanks

BTW I haven't see these mentioned but I found these blocks... $2.99 each plus Summit is having a sale on Rancho Shocks 4 for $169.95 Shipped.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRA-BB02/?rtype=10

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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by doyoulikeithere »

Great post, thanks for the info.
I used new S10 springs from a shop to get 4" lift.
They are a 3+1 pack spring and when they were on the bench, ie not installed, they had about 7 or 7.5 inches of free arc.
Not sure if that helps.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

That is great info... I should be able to get by with a set of stock S-10 springs.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

Found these on Summits site... Relocating the shock mounts I can use the stock length rear shocks...

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http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CUR-CE-7020/ $14.95

Beats the $45.00/ Overland wants for these...

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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by LiftedAWDAstro »

Great thread! I was going to be doing this to my 05 rather than buy the OLV kit. Just need to source the bolts for the body lift.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:Great thread! I was going to be doing this to my 05 rather than buy the OLV kit. Just need to source the bolts for the body lift.
Stay tuned I'll be sourcing the bolts soon...
I went to the local Hardware Store and the longest bolts they stock is 4.75 inches (120mm) I need to measure the stock ones to see how much longer I need with the 2" spacers.
I need to get to the Tractor Supply Store I think they have long bolts...
There is always Fastenal but you need to buy by the box from them.

I have a feeling I can come up with a 3-4" lift for $150-$200 front and back. I am keeping a budget on this project so when I am done I'll post all the costs and a list of parts and where I got them.

I looked at the shackles that Auto Zone has for $39.95 that someone was complaining about in another thread and I really don't see a problem with them... they are at least as heavy as the OEM shackles and going by the photos the only difference is Overlands have three adjustment holes and AZ has two. Overland wants $110 + $20 shipping... I can buy THREE sets of AZ shackles for that price.

What really kills Overland is the shipping on the heavy stuff like springs and most of the heavy stuff should be able to be sourced locally.


EDIT:

Just found this with a Google... did I ever mention how much I love Google?

Bolts in 180 & 200 mm lengths no minimum purchase.

http://www.allensfasteners.com/search_r ... aramCat=79
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by Herbie »

SnoDrtRider wrote: Can anyone out there with a 3-4 inch lift give me some wheel arch measurements so I can be sure that the 3-3.5" that I end up with is actually going to be 3-3.5" over STOCK height or someone with a stock AWD give me some numbers so I can compare.?
Check out my thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=7257

T.Low and I compare our measured wheel arch measurements after I installed a theoretically identical 4" OLV lift on a theoretically identical 2003 AWD and got some very different measurements.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by Herbie »

SnoDrtRider wrote:Found these on Summits site... Relocating the shock mounts I can use the stock length rear shocks...

Image

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CUR-CE-7020/ $14.95

Beats the $45.00/ Overland wants for these...

Image
Good find. I still need to do my full writeup on my OLV lift kit install, but one of my little niggling complaints about the kit is that those $45 shock tabs aren't even properly radiused for the axle tubes. They may have been right in the past or something, but the four tabs I got weren't very close and needed some attention before they were welded on.
"My minivan is cooler than your bro-truck"
2003 Astro AWD Astrolander/ZMB - GTRV Top Transplant, 4" OLV Lift, NP233 T-case, evolving interior
1995 Safari GTRV Organ donor - gutted and gone.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

Herbie wrote:
SnoDrtRider wrote:Found these on Summits site... Relocating the shock mounts I can use the stock length rear shocks...

Image

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CUR-CE-7020/ $14.95

Beats the $45.00/ Overland wants for these...

Image
Good find. I still need to do my full writeup on my OLV lift kit install, but one of my little niggling complaints about the kit is that those $45 shock tabs aren't even properly radiused for the axle tubes. They may have been right in the past or something, but the four tabs I got weren't very close and needed some attention before they were welded on.
When I get everything done and all the parts and hardware sorted out I will wright up a complete source list of what I got and where with links so anyone who wants to lift an AWD can order the parts from the different suppliers.

It will be like a Astro/Safari Android project... all open source.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

A little update...

Had the van on the lift today to change the idler arms and check the brakes...

I removed the sub-frame bolts to measure them:

Stock Bolts

F&R 12mm X 95mm 1.75 Thread Pitch
Center 14mm X 95mm 2.0 Thread Pitch

Adding Two Inch sub-frame blocks (2" = 50.8mm) will require 155mm bolts

Important!!!

The original bolts are rated 10.9 which is equal to SAE GRADE 8 they need to be replaced with 10.9 grade bolts!!!! DO NOT USE the 8.8 grade bolts that are usually available they are equal to SAE GRADE 5 bolts and may fail causing injury or death!


I will source and post my source once I get the bolts in my hand and can be sure of the quality.


Also...

Shock Relocation Brackets... I showed my buddy a picture of the Summit brackets I posted above and he looked at the stock brackets and said "Why not just drill new holes in the existing brackets 4" higher and cut away the lower parts of the stock brackets and box in what is left?" I think he is on to something and once I get to this I'll be sure to get some pics of what I end up doing.
The stock mounts are wider where the holes would need to be drilled but some spacers between the mounts and shocks will take up the space.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

Just ordered the following:

6- 2" High 3" Diameter Spacers from Summit $ 28.89 Shipped (UPS Ground)

2- M14 X 160 2.00 Thread Pitch Socket Head Cap Screws GRADE 12.9 (equal to SAE grade 10) Stronger than OEM
4- M12 X 119 1.75 Thread Pitch Socket Head Cap Screws GRADE 12.9

$50.38 Shipped (UPS Ground)

Total for Home Brew 2" Sub Frame Spacer Kit... $79.27 Shipped

Overland is $115.00 (95 + 20) but does include the parking brake cable bracket... For $35.00 I can drill a new hole in my existing bracket Thank You...

Links...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRA-BB02/

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/de ... ?sku=39701

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/de ... 671&ucst=t
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

Big Brown Truck came today...

Three Business Days from both Summit & Fastenal via UPS Ground (FREE)


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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by Smiliesafari »

Christmas in September.................................Cool. Let the fun begin.
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by BAVO »

HI SnoDrtRider,

awesome post!

I'm working on the locally sourced lift kit, and got my new bolts from Fastenal, 160 mm long ( i used the info from you post, thanks!).
When i removed the original bolts and compared to the new and it looks like new bolts don't have enough thread.

your new bolts look similar to what I got. do you think the shorter threads would work? any thoughts on the solution: longer threads or thicker washer?
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Re: Home Brew Lift Kit 95 AWD

Post by SnoDrtRider »

I won't know if the threads are an issue until I get a chance to install the ones I have. Due to the socket head cap screws I am using and the 5mm extra length of the bolts I anticipated using a washer or two under the head of the bolts.
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