3" lift kit, smart or not so smart idea....?

hi all, new to the website. looks like a terrific community. i'm in the process of doing some modifications to my '99 VX and wondered if anyone had an opinion about the following. i plan to install a calmini 3" lift-kit along with appropriately larger m&s tires. i've seen several such VX's in the gallery of this website and they look drop-dead gorgeous. however, i am a little unsure as to what this sort of thing typically does to the VX's driving characteristics, particularly on the highway. right now, my VX is actually pretty stable at 80 mph and above. so, if anyone has any sage wisdom as to whether my intended modifications will cause my VX's stability to markedly deteriorate i would appreciate knowing prior to investing the time/energy/$$. thanks in advance for any insight you guys might be able to offer a newbie.

angeno

hey whats up? welcome to the site! I have 3.5" calmini lift and i raised the torsion bar another .5" and mine handles fin on the highway. I get about 14-15 miles per gallon and I have 32" tires. On the highway mine is a little bit noisier than it was before the lift but that is because of my tires. o dont forget when you go offroading after you put the lift on if you are goin to do anything serious to diconnect one side of your sway bar. It will give you more articulation and It will keep you from snappin it. I just learned that the hard way. Newho hope thids is what you wanted...

I have heard some things about the Calmini springs so I went with the Old Man Emu 912 springs, I guess Calmini's wear down to being too soft after a year. You will want new shocks (not Bilstein 5150's see thread: "Bilstein 5150's suck") in the rear but keep the stock ones up front if they are still good. I would stick with 32's as 33's cause some rubbing issues even if you trim a lot. You will have lower rpms on the highway due to larger tires but it won't ruin the power too bad. If you choose MT tires you won't really want to go 80+mph so if you want to go fast still I would go with some BFG AT's.

If you want to buy a lift "kit" get it from www.Darlington_offroad.com But if you just want to lift it buy yourself some 912 springs crank that torsion bar to match new height, change the rear shocks and your good to go!

Ya gotta decide dude ...


Do you want a very able 4x4 "Sports Car"........

or


Do ya want a rad (even MORE eye catching) individualistic ride?

You will sacrifice speed,handling,MPG and OOOMPH!...

...but you'll get even MORE questions , comments & stares!

Frankly...lifting my ride saved my speeding points!

Take yer pick...

We all drive VX's because we aint Taurus inclined!!

jo

if anyone is still checking on these messages could some one give a bit more detailed description for me as to how i should go about this lifting? i am off raod mad so i love the look and love a bad as* ride plus superior ride control. I am asking cause i would like to order these upgrades as easy and as fast as possible so i can join in on the off road maddness with you.

You'll :heart: the search function...:smilewink

48.243 seconds...:_wrench:

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...ight=lift+wiki

i tried to use the search ones :upsetgray.. but when i clicked on it ,,it was empty:confused:

Hey there! Opening back up the discussion of lift kits!!

So, looking at one of the kits on Rocky-Road, I see something like this and I wonder what they are thinking here, or what makes the individual pieces less expensive than the actual package?
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...mbs/VXlift.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HeckaTrebeka

Hey there! Opening back up the discussion of lift kits!!

So, looking at one of the kits on indy4x, I see something like this and I wonder what they are thinking here, or what makes the individual pieces less expensive than the actual package?
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...mbs/VXlift.png

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I could only assume that the 'complete suspension' probably also includes diff drop parts, and maybe tougher ball joints?

I own that kit.... actually mine is the 919.... I see the price dif too. I paid the kit price when we ordered ours. These kits don't come with dif drop plates.
Kit includes
2 front shocks
2 rear shocks
2 rear springs

I do love our 919 kit, the shocks are incredible.

By "incredible" what do you mean? Just as hard/stiff as stock?

The shocks are oversized by design. The case on the shocks are larger, the piston is larger, probably contains move volume of fluid too.
As for the ride, I love it, lifted with 32's on 18's and load E tires.....It's stiff yet still predicable.
Translation.... my 4 year old calls it bouncy buggy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LittleBeast

By "incredible" what do you mean? Just as hard/stiff as stock?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by VxSport

The shocks are oversized by design. The case on the shocks are larger, the piston is larger, probably contains move volume of fluid too.
As for the ride, I love it, lifted with 32's on 18's and load E tires.....It's stiff yet still predicable.
Translation.... my 4 year old calls it bouncy buggy.

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Lol so who out here had bought the calmini lift? It's about $100 more than this kit from indy 4x. What's the difference in feel and does the calmini kit come with a diff drop?

None of the kits come with a diff drop. They were a community project here. Joe Darlington can still set you up with them.

The only thing that the CalMini kit gives you that the other kit doesn't is a replacement crossmember (which you don't need) and a panhard rod drop bracket (probably not needed either). The Indy kit is probably much beefier & your better option ... IMHO.

Ah, yes, I noticed that the calmini kit comes with those two sway bars. There are two options on the the [s]indy4x[/s] Rocky-Road kit as well. One for medium duty and one for heavy duty. I would like to get the one best suited for me but I'm not sure if I'll need a heavy duty lift kit as I'm not planning on towing anything with this vehicle, and I don't want the suspension to feel like there is none, but I would like to be able to load stuff into the vx without it being bogged down by the cargo... aaand in the future I'm thinking that the V8 swap AutoPros is doing would be something that I would like to do as well...