Yet another lift question post

[Ascinder]

Something to consider with 33's is the loss in torque, braking ability and acceleration you will suffer. So I recommend, the braided brake lines, and deeper gears (I have 4.77's which are rare but you can still find 4.56's or 5.38's - stock VX has 4.33's).

So where can I find these gears and how much do they typically run. Also, how do you like those 4.77s? They seem like they would be the best choice as far as being midrange between the 4.33s and 5.38s, with the 4.56s seemingly offering little improvement over stock.

[ZEUS]

The gears are my favorite mod but they are a p.i.t.a. if you don't get the install right the first time. I had issues with my install and I am going to have to pull my front axle out again just to replace the outer pinion bearing. I would like to get the 285/65/18 A/T's, the poly spacers, new RS 9000's, HD tie rods, braided brake lines, and rebuild the front end at the same time. Otherwise, you are right, the 4.77's are the best option but they are rare and hard to find. You would have to scrounge the junk yards for them. Apparently, the difference is one tooth in the... I can't remember if it is the ring gear or the pinion but the difference is one tooth so you need to be on your game when you are looking. SPAZZ is the local guru when it comes to 4.77 knowledge. I bought mine from him - he even helped me put mine in. I paid him $1000 total for both 3rd's. I have better knowledge of my VX after spending a weekend with SPAZZ while doing the install. If you are going to swap 3rd members, make sure you have a preload tool on hand or available or you will have to guess the amount of pressure to put on the bearings and you may end up in my situation.

The power is great though and it makes it easier to turn oversized tires which helped my gas mileage and saves wear and tear on the motor.

[Ascinder]

Anybody try using these as opposed to new springs and spacers? They are used in sprint car(among other types of) racing to adjust spring height and to incorporate coil over suspensions. They fit 5-5.5 inch diameter springs and give an adjustable 2.5 inches of lift. There are two types I found. The smaller one goes from 0" to 2.5" and the larger one starts at 3 1/8" and goes to 5 1/4". They run $25 each for the little ones and $30 each for the big ones. I think I'll try them instead of paying several hundred dollars for a new set of springs and some poly spacers. Lucky for me, my work just bought a brand new miller plasma cutter, so at this point I am planning to take out my differential drop brackets and extend them some 2" or so. This should allow me to crank the t-bars 4" up front, and I'll use two of the larger versions of these in the back.

[JHarris1385]

912's are $66 bucks. Very interested in this. I want to drop by diff. You should also think about stinkfab joint arms, with your increased lift those will be expose more.

[Ascinder]

912's are $66 each, plus more $$ for shipping, and since I need to go higher than 2.5", I have to get the poly spacers which are $100-$110, which brings the total with shipping to pretty close to $250+. These total $60 for the pair, plus shipping if you get the bigger ones. I am really excited too. Now what is this stinkyfab joint arm thing you mentioned?

[JHarris1385]

http://www.stinkyfab.com/slinks.html is the link for the links. This is on my next to purcase list. I forgot how much the spacers were marked up, no wonder I did not get them.

Let me/us know how the drop brackets go. I would be intrested in purchasing them from you if they are better,cheaper than the ones offered online.

[CrnCnn]

I need to go higher than 2.5"

How high you looking to go?

[Ascinder]

From the posts I've pawed through, I hear you can crank the t-bars out to around 4 inches. This is something not usually done by the average person doing tbar crank and OME912s because the extra lifting tends to really start playing hell with the CV joints. That is why I'm going to do the differential mount extension of around 2 inches. With the differential down lower, there is that much less stress on the CVs. Kind of like a negative lift for your drivelines. I plan on reusing the stock springs since there is nothing wrong with them and they will maintain the feel of the normal ride (in theory ). Using the larger spacers, I can jack the rear up four inches and the spacer will sit at the middle area of it's travel which is coincidentally very good for stress. I am at this point probably going to get the upgraded kevlar/steel braided brake lines, greaseable swaybar bushings, beefed up tie rod ends, and I am now looking at those Aussie lockers from independent4x. I plan on keeping my eyes peeled for those elusive 4.77 gears and am probably going to try and get a hold of the rear trailing links mentioned in the previous post eventually. We'll see.

[ZEUS]

Anybody try using these as opposed to new springs and spacers? This should allow me to crank the t-bars 4" up front, and I'll use two of the larger versions of these in the back.

If you are going to lift your VX 4" and a solid axle swap is out of the question then save yourself some time and just reindex your torsion bars instead of trying to crank 4" out of them, then realizing you need to take them out to reindex them anyway. Maybe you already realized this but 4" is a lot... your A-arms are going to be at a serious angle - great ground clearance but the handling and ride will suffer. You don't need to go 4" to fit those A/T's unless you want some heavily offset wheels. Just trying to help - I hope I don't seem like a know it all - I'm just trying to post based on my own experiences.

[Ascinder]

Ok, I'm not at all familiar with this reindexing the torsion bars thing. I just read in an older post that someone had accidentally gone up to 4 inches and didn't have a good way to do that with the rears and make the whole diff drop thing work. What would I have to do to reindex them? The reason I was looking for 4" is because when I look at a lot of these VXs with 3inch lifts, they don't seem to have very much travel between the fender well and tire. I was just looking for the extra inch to gain a little suspension travel. I talked with Ldub and he said he had to switch out wheels to go offroading so his wheels don't rub.

[CrnCnn]

Rubbin is racin buddy... Oh sorry... Wrong thing

Shake and Bake

[ZEUS]

Ok, I'm not at all familiar with this reindexing the torsion bars thing. I just read in an older post that someone had accidentally gone up to 4 inches and didn't have a good way to do that with the rears and make the whole diff drop thing work. What would I have to do to reindex them? The reason I was looking for 4" is because when I look at a lot of these VXs with 3inch lifts, they don't seem to have very much travel between the fender well and tire. I was just looking for the extra inch to gain a little suspension travel. I talked with Ldub and he said he had to switch out wheels to go offroading so his wheels don't rub.

The rear suspension has a lot of droop which is where the VX gets most of it's flex from - there is up travel too, but mostly down travel. The front is a balance of droop and compression. The more lift in the front, the less down travel you will have available. If you were to place your VX on jack stands you would see how far the A-arms can droop before hitting the bump stops. Ordering the low profile bump stops would give you a little more travel. The T-bars twist to provide suspension movement. The further they twist (travel), the more resistance the T-bars (springs) give. So the more lift in the front, the harder it is for the A-arms to reach their bumpstops on the upward swing. So it could get so stiff that your travel is further reduced. You can get to 4" of lift but it is at a cost of travel and possibly comfort. That's why IFS suspension kits have subframes that lower the pivot points of the lower A-arms and sometimes new A-arms too. Anyway, reindexing the T-bars involves the removal of the crossmember they go into and then rotating the bars (which swings the A-arms down) enough to fit in their mounts again. Then you fine tune the amount of lift by cranking on the adjusting bolts. Hope this helps you out.

[ZEUS]

Oh and about lockers... seriously consider the amount of torque and pressure you would be putting on your CV joints when you combine the leverage of larger tires, mulitplied torque of deeper gears, and solid pressure from a locker. Those CV's aren't cheap and they are difficult to replace on the trail; not to mention how hard it would be to get replacements in the middle of nowhere. Just a heads up. All these reasons I have been stating are reasons why the more serious wheelers swap a solid axle into IFS equipped rigs.