Jump to content

Couple Questions from another newbie


Recommended Posts

Hey guys and gals,

 

I have a few questions and was wondering if you all had any ideas for me!

And please remember I'm new to the 4 wheelin' world!

 

My first Question is; which is one is better to do a Suspension lift or a body lift? I want to do a body lift so I can get bigger tires under it. I looking to put 31 or maybe 33 under her but she still is my daily driver during the week but on the weekends I want to be able to get to my favorite hunting and fishing spots and a few mud holes.

 

My second question is and this might sound dumb too but what is front end height and the rear height suppose to be? I measured right behind the front tire and it was 12.5" from the ground to the bottom seam of the rocker panel and 14" for the rear? is that standard from the factory (a sport rake look)? I looked at my bump stop on the front and the a-arms were down on them. I got them off a little bit by putting on taller sway bar bolts (I guess that what that was) Do I need to adjusted the Torsion Bars or will a set of new shocks (I'm not sure how old the shocks are, they could be from the factory) bring the front end back up?

 

The third question is what shocks would you all recommend replacing the stock shocks with?

 

And I think this will be the final Question of the day? I have 235/75r15 Cooper Discovery HT on the it with the stock factory 15x6 chrome rims. Can I fix a set of 31's (31/12.5R15??) on those rims? and how much taller are they than the 235/75?

 

Thanks for taking time to read this and helping me out.

 

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There can't be any newer guys here than me, I've researched your same question hard. I came up with Suspension lift beats Body lift.

 

What made the decision for me was reading the procedures for both. Body lift has BooCoo stuff to detach & re-attach. You also have to bend your shifter and possibly cut out a little coupon to use 4lo shifter.

 

Went to the Junkyard today and got two JGC coil spring for $50. Didn't even have to pull them myself. I hope to get it done soon, the wife is already jealous of the Pathy and it's only been in the driveway 3wks.

 

Hope that helps I'm sure someone who's actually done one or the other should be listened to. Even if they disagree!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It all depends on what you're going for and what sort of parts you want to get for it. Body lifts are much cheaper on the whole than a suspension lift, but take more work to install. Depending on how you want to do a suspension lift, they can be either relatively cheap or relatively expensive, if you do it the "right" way you'll need new upper control arms [the best are Calmini at $350 a pair], new rear coils [either JGC or whatever], and of course the torsion bar crank... and you can get new ones of those too.

 

I just did a body lift and it was much more in my price range and wasn't too much of a PITA to install.

 

Search around, this has been discussed about a million times before. =D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Dag & Stat,

Thanks for the ideas... I got my front end raised back to being level with the rear end by readjusting the torsion bars. They aren't adjusted all the way up but I don't think that I can get anymore out of it. At least I think now I can fit 31's under it now...

I think that I will probably look into the JGC Springs and A-arms and then the body lift. I want to get at least 2 to 3 inches to start but I know that I will want to raise it more down the road. I started the same way with my xtreme I was happy with the way it sat but now I lower it 2.5 more inches and maybe a year down the road I put it on the ground. So I'll have one truck that I can fall into as falling out of the other.

 

 

Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A body lift is just for tire clearance, a suspension lift is for better articulation and stiffer ride, as well as clearing bigger tires. A suspension lift is a bit harder on the steering system than the body lift is, because the body lifty only lifts the body and doesn't change the suspsension. The Nissan steering system is known to be weak and need improvement...I've gone through three centerlinks, tie rod ends and idler arms so far, and I've only been wheeling it for about 3 or 4 years.

 

Lots of Pathfinders came from the factory a bit lower in the front than the rear. It's mostly because the rear has more suspension travel than the front, so they set the front in the middle and that's where it sits. Mine was like that when I got it. I don't know what the stock ride height measurements should be.

 

New shock absorbers won't provide any lift, they only dampen the bumps and supress vibration. The torsion bars are what gives it ride height, they're known to sag over time and need re-adjustment.

 

A 235/75R15 is about 28.8" tall. Lots of Pathfinders came stock with 31x10.50's but they usually came with the 7" aluminum wheels. The 31x10.50's will fit on the 6" rims, but many tire shops are hesitant to do so because that's such a wide tire to put on a skinny rim. A 31x12.50 will not fit on a 6" rim. You'll need an 8" rim for that.

 

What else? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...