Suspension lift on a NS Pajero

[Locky75]

I have just been into ARB and TJM and spoken to the sales people there to enquire about a 50mm suspension lift. Both places told me that the most they will lift the car is 40mm with their suspension kits so as to not adversly affect this part or that system etc... now I know 10mm is nothing really but is that correct? Can we NS owners not do a full 50mm lift?

[old Jack]

Legally you can only raise the vehicle ride height by a suspension lift, above factory specifications of 504mm front and 533mm rear by Up to 50mm , but you have to retained at least 2/3's of the original wheel travel. This means you are limited to about 40-45mm on the front and 45-50mm on the rear, from memory. Easiest way to check is measure your current ride height, centre of wheel hub to under wheel arch in a vertical line, record these numbers, they are likely to be less than the factory specifications. Then jack the vehicle up by the body until the wheel is off the ground and measure the distance between the centre hub and the underside of the wheel arch, record these numbers and take away the factory specifications. This will give you droop travel, take this number and multiple it by 0.3333 and add this to the factory specifications and you have your maximum legal ride height.

For example on the front. Full droop at 623mm minus factory specification of 503mm equals 120.mm droop travel, multiple by 0.3333 equals 40mm, add this to the factory specification of 503 mm to equal 543mm as the maximum legal ride height.

OJ.

[mgazdar]

Legally you can only raise the vehicle ride height by a suspension lift, above factory specifications of 504mm front and 533mm rear by Up to 50mm , but you have to retained at least 2/3's of the original wheel travel. This means you are limited to about 40-45mm on the front and 45-50mm on the rear, from memory. Easiest way to check is measure your current ride height, centre of wheel hub to under wheel arch in a vertical line, record these numbers, they are likely to be less than the factory specifications. Then jack the vehicle up by the body until the wheel is off the ground and measure the distance between the centre hub and the underside of the wheel arch, record these numbers and take away the factory specifications. This will give you droop travel, take this number and multiple it by 0.3333 and add this to the factory specifications and you have your maximum legal ride height.

For example on the front. Full droop at 623mm minus factory specification of 503mm equals 120.mm droop travel, multiple by 0.3333 equals 40mm, add this to the factory specification of 503 mm to equal 543mm as the maximum legal ride height.

OJ.

I actually understood that explanation. That is the best explanation I've read.

[old Jack]

I actually understood that explanation. That is the best explanation I've read.

Thanks, I note you are not based in Australia so rules in other countries my be different.
However the 1/3 lift maintaining 2/3's of factory droop travel is based on sound engineering knowledge and experience. If you run out of droop travel by lifting too high then you will get unwanted ABS ASC and TC activations both on and off road.

OJ.

[Jim Hannah]

Just for your information, I fitted a dobinsons lift kit to my NS about four years ago. Again, they advise that their kit gives, if I remember, about 40mm front and 45mm rear. This is to protect the CV joints which will then be working at a steeper angle, and to comply with legisation, etc. I actually got about 48m front and 53mm rear when it was fitted, this probably due to the droop on the original factory specification at 120000 kms.

Very little has stopped that vehicle since; Fraser island three times, Razorback track at kroombit tops etc. A little common sense, and I've found it to be a very capable vehicle. We usually travel with a Prado, and both vehicles perform equally well in the same places.

[mgazdar]

Thanks, I note you are not based in Australia so rules in other countries my be different.
However the 1/3 lift maintaining 2/3's of factory droop travel is based on sound engineering knowledge and experience. If you run out of droop travel by lifting too high then you will get unwanted ABS ASC and TC activations both on and off road.

OJ.

I wish I had measured everything before I recently replaced my shock absorbers for some OME versions. I already had OME coils all round, but for over 100k km.

Currently my vehicle seems to sit lower than new at the front at 49 cm, Rear 53. I've never kept a 4x4 for this long.

Measuring for droop, front 59 cm and rear 65.5 cm.

So my question, does 20mm strut spacers at the front and 40mm at the rear seem like a sensible choice?

Should I also get upper ball joint spacers for the front? Something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-upper...EAAOSwPsRcYUe0

[old Jack]

I wish I had measured everything before I recently replaced my shock absorbers for some OME versions. I already had OME coils all round, but for over 100k km.

Currently my vehicle seems to sit lower than new at the front at 49 cm, Rear 53. I've never kept a 4x4 for this long.

Measuring for droop, front 59 cm and rear 65.5 cm.

So my question, does 20mm strut spacers at the front and 40mm at the rear seem like a sensible choice?

Should I also get upper ball joint spacers for the front? Something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-upper...EAAOSwPsRcYUe0

Front Suspension. You need to be very carful if you are considering fitting a spacer between the strut top mount and the body because you need to ensure that the strut and coil will not bottom out under full compression before the suspension bump stop full compresses, get this wrong and you will bend a strut. The studs on the tophat mount are not very long so you might get a 10mm spacer to fit which will give you about 15mm to 20mm lift.

Rear Suspension, you can only fit up to 30mm spacer on top of the rear coil that replaces the factory 6mm insulator, this will give you about 40mm to 45mm lift.

Quality Urethane Rear Spacers are not that much cheaper than new coils and take about the same amount of labour to fit. Front strut spacers are normally made of aluminium and are cheaper than coils and the front struts require a bit more labour after the are removed to fit the coils.

Also with an older Gen 4 you have a reasonable chance of one or more of the suspension adjuster being seized, I have seen this on 3 year old Gen 4's with only 70,000km on th Odometer. If you are lucky you can un seize them, if not it is a big and expensive job to replace these.

OJ.

[Miner]

Suspension lift on a NS Pajero

I did wonder myself but I saw this and it makes perfect sense...

https://youtu.be/153bxVsWXns

New-ish to 4x4 stuff but learning, worked in motor factors come car accessory shop whist studying engineering, so shipped and my fair share of suspension kits. The above video explains it well and covers the points above I hadn’t really thought of before about droop which stand to reason.

That aside I’ve just recently lifted my V87W Pajero and was surprised how it turned out...

Stock: (can’t find a stock pic not towing a bike [emoji1])



Lifted: 2” TJM Kit (shocks & springs)



Current:



Looks nice, goes well off road... tyres a bit thirsty though...[emoji85]

Got beached a couple of times with the trailer dragging the bikes off-road but always self recovered. Had this happen a couple of times but putting this down to lack of caffeine and too much fun around the camp fire...



Not to date driven anything impassable but the lift kit does give some welcome extra clearance. [emoji41][emoji1360]

Bank on the suspension adjuster bolts being seized though and potentially having to cut the rear arm camber bolts out... mine were and one had to be butchered. Buy new bolts and bushes just in case, it be prepared to get them during the works. [emoji1360]

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