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Sub Frame drop


DCgabel
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Who made the SFD you're using?

KRfabs.com a custom fab company based out of Sturgeon County in Alberta Canada. i bought most of my parts from them. Others i was able to make myself, just to save some cash.

http://www.krfabs.com/home.php

Edited by DCgabel
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Hey im doing this same thing but i dropped the struts 5inchs and i figured out the hard was that i must drop the sub frame. so i like the amout of clearance with just the strut spacer, but the lower A arm angle is a bit extreme. so i need someones opinon on if i drop the sub frame about 2.5 inchs so i can still get a decent A arm angle if itll align and be alright

If im understanding you correctly you just spaced your strut tower five inches without doing anything to your sub frame? To straighten out your control arm you'll need to space your sub frame out just as many inches as your struts spacers. That will bring your control arms back to factory position.

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Congratulations on your pathy. Very nice looking.

I would like to know where did you get the spare tire mount. Is it Nissan original or aftermarket?

Thank you.

Its a factory option when the truck was made. Though im sure if oneself has a creative mind and ambition its possible make something similar. With a welder and some tubing the skys the limit.

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Hey mac512,

 

Awesome write-up and instructions. I am wondering if you have a similar write-up for the rear spring/spacer install?

 

Also the regarding the cherokee 3" coils you got, did you mean these are 3" lift coils for a Cherokee? Which ones/brand?

 

Why did you decide to go with the cherokee coils instead of the 4" WJ as recommended by KRfabs? ( I understand this is your own home-brew kit)

 

Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

 

Juan

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lso the regarding the cherokee 3" coils you got, did you mean these are 3" lift coils for a Cherokee? Which ones/brand?

 

Why did you decide to go with the cherokee coils instead of the 4" WJ as recommended by KRfabs? ( I understand this is your own home-brew kit)

 

The 99-04 "Jeep Grand Cherokee" is known as the "WJ" so I believe they may be the same thing...

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my think is looking at the wj coils the pigtails are the same top to bottom and when u cut them they fit in the stock isolator so my thing is if u wj lift springs and cut both pigtails off i think they would fit without the adapter just an observation from looking at my setup

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my think is looking at the wj coils the pigtails are the same top to bottom and when u cut them they fit in the stock isolator so my thing is if u wj lift springs and cut both pigtails off i think they would fit without the adapter just an observation from looking at my setup

That is good information to know, thanks.
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This has been tried and it was found that the inner diameter of the WJ coil was slightly smaller than the pathfinder stock coil. So it could actually "seat" when under load but would unseat (shift up) when the load was lightened. That's why Shift220 came up with the coil seat adapter. I'm NOT saying it can't work, but just know that the pinned Sub Frame Drop thread has this topic in there if you want to see what was actually discussed/tried.

 

I think I posted my thought of grinding out just a minute portion of the inside of the lowest coil wrap, but I went with an adapter instead. I had concerns of heating the coil too much when grinding and possibly messing with the integrity of the spring itself. I also didn't like how the upper portion of the cut WJ coil doesn't sit flat/flush against the upper perch and didn't want to see that on my lower perch as well. Hey, just my :my2cents:

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did I see one photo with your side step rails still on?

Yup, i put them back on during the winter while i was welding up my rocker sliders. theyre off now that im done my sliders.

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  • 9 months later...

I'm curious as to how you got the cuts right for the strut tower spacers... The engine blocks and what not are pretty straight forward but the strut spacers are what are holding me back from making my own kit. I can't afford 800$ right now...

 

Did you weld or just bolt in your subframe and engine blocks?

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  • 2 weeks later...

my think is looking at the wj coils the pigtails are the same top to bottom and when u cut them they fit in the stock isolator so my thing is if u wj lift springs and cut both pigtails off i think they would fit without the adapter just an observation from looking at my setup

You got it. The pig tail at the top did have to be cut off to fit around the coil isolator on the top. And you could cut both pig tails off so they would fit without the adapter but them the 3" would be to shallow and it would have a mad sag in the back, so i guess in theory if you get a spring that could compensate for the amount of coil you would be cutting off then yes it could work. I just used the adapters so i didn't have to mess around with measuring and finding a coil that would work.

I apologize for the lack of info on the rear part of the lift, ive currently been tired up with doing a full engine restore so ive been scarce online.

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I'm curious as to how you got the cuts right for the strut tower spacers... The engine blocks and what not are pretty straight forward but the strut spacers are what are holding me back from making my own kit. I can't afford 800$ right now...

 

Did you weld or just bolt in your subframe and engine blocks?

I used the welded on ones because they were cheaper and i have my own welder.

As for the strut spacers, i knew a guy who took the time to figure out all the angles and made his own. i think he has a thread on NPORA with all the drawings he made for them but im not sure you'd have to look.

  • Like 1
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Hey im doing this same thing but i dropped the struts 5inchs and i figured out the hard was that i must drop the sub frame. so i like the amout of clearance with just the strut spacer, but the lower A arm angle is a bit extreme. so i need someones opinon on if i drop the sub frame about 2.5 inchs so i can still get a decent A arm angle if itll align and be alright

 

Yes, your A arm angle is extreme. And one other possibility is that at full droop your suspension arm goes so low as to bind your CV axles. Do that while moving and they would immediately break. (I'm not sure about that, but it's a possibility you should check in to).

 

You won't be able to make your camber alignment with 5 inches of lift either without the help of some custom fabrication in the area of the lower strut mount I would think.

 

If you drop the sub-frame 2.5 inches, you will then have a 2.5 inch suspension lift. That might work out OK. You would be on the edge of obtainable camber angle, but with 2 sets of camber adjustment bolts per side or camber bolts plus some enlarging/relieving of the top strut hole you can probably obtain that.

 

Not sure of the accuracy of all that I just said, so I would appreciate a second opinion.

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I didnt want to go higher than that because then id have to replace a lot more parts and start trimming my wheel wells and i didnt want to do that.

 

? You didn't want to lift higher because you would have to replace more parts and trim wheel wells? I don't get it. You would be making MORE clearance in the wheel wells if you added a spring lift on top of this.

And more parts to replace? Do you mean Camber alignment bolts and manual hubs?

 

Or were you really speaking about what you would have to do to go with even larger TIRES?

 

Just making sure I understand what you were referring to.

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

Yes, your A arm angle is extreme. And one other possibility is that at full droop your suspension arm goes so low as to bind your CV axles. Do that while moving and they would immediately break. (I'm not sure about that, but it's a possibility you should check in to).

 

You won't be able to make your camber alignment with 5 inches of lift either without the help of some custom fabrication in the area of the lower strut mount I would think.

 

If you drop the sub-frame 2.5 inches, you will then have a 2.5 inch suspension lift. That might work out OK. You would be on the edge of obtainable camber angle, but with 2 sets of camber adjustment bolts per side or camber bolts plus some enlarging/relieving of the top strut hole you can probably obtain that.

 

Not sure of the accuracy of all that I just said, so I would appreciate a second opinion.

 

i got it to work by ovaling the holes on the strut and adjust and tighten the bolts my self, as far as the alignment it was just a quick tow n go. you are right about the CVs they absolutly hate me and have broking 2 since lifting it a while ago. so straight axle here i come!!

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Maybe this was already covered, but I didnt see it, on Iron Rock Off Road website there is two listing for WJ Coil Springs. One is for the Front pair and one is for the rear pair, now I'm assuming we would need the 3 inch "REAR" WJ Coil Springs for our rear with a 4inch SFD only (not 6 inch total using the AC Lift Coils) I just wanted to make sure I knew the correct ones to look at. Thanks sorry for the "dumb" question.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was going to ask if you were considering the front spring lift to get a couple more inches, but you would have to get new WJ springs or life with the rake.

i did consider it at the time but i like the height at which it sits right now. Its definitely no crawler but i wasn't trying to go for that. i just like that mild lifted look.

But to answer your question ya, i would have to re-work the rear suspension to level it out again if i installed front lift springs.

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Yes, your A arm angle is extreme. And one other possibility is that at full droop your suspension arm goes so low as to bind your CV axles. Do that while moving and they would immediately break. (I'm not sure about that, but it's a possibility you should check in to).

 

You won't be able to make your camber alignment with 5 inches of lift either without the help of some custom fabrication in the area of the lower strut mount I would think.

 

If you drop the sub-frame 2.5 inches, you will then have a 2.5 inch suspension lift. That might work out OK. You would be on the edge of obtainable camber angle, but with 2 sets of camber adjustment bolts per side or camber bolts plus some enlarging/relieving of the top strut hole you can probably obtain that.

 

Not sure of the accuracy of all that I just said, so I would appreciate a second opinion.

Put it this way, you can bind a little depends how much of a risk you want to take, i personally would not but its possible to get away with a little just might eat through boots. Doin some custom work might be in your favor.

Regardless of how much you drop the sub-frame you will need to match that space in the struts either by a bigger spring or a spacer.

But ya if your going with a lift any higher at that point considering a solid front axle swap would not be a bad thought.

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? You didn't want to lift higher because you would have to replace more parts and trim wheel wells? I don't get it. You would be making MORE clearance in the wheel wells if you added a spring lift on top of this.

And more parts to replace? Do you mean Camber alignment bolts and manual hubs?

 

Or were you really speaking about what you would have to do to go with even larger TIRES?

 

Just making sure I understand what you were referring to.

The higher you lift the closer the drive shaft will bring the rear tires to the inner rear rocker it will rub if you go to high so you will need to re work the rear to make it work. Plus if i went any higher i would need to do a lot of replacing in the front because the a arms can only go so high when dropping the sub-frame. If you go to high you bind the CV axles.

i have 32" tires on mine right now so i guess it would depend on the size of tire you have on your pathy.

Hope i can clear that up for you. Anymore questions just let me know!

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about then cambel no problems with that?

 

You will need to bump the camber out a bit. I just got a full alignment after i was done to be safe just so i didn't potentially make a mistake if i did it myslef.

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Maybe this was already covered, but I didnt see it, on Iron Rock Off Road website there is two listing for WJ Coil Springs. One is for the Front pair and one is for the rear pair, now I'm assuming we would need the 3 inch "REAR" WJ Coil Springs for our rear with a 4inch SFD only (not 6 inch total using the AC Lift Coils) I just wanted to make sure I knew the correct ones to look at. Thanks sorry for the "dumb" question.

Yup you got it,

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