Milners 3" kit

[diggerdave]

If that's the case Dave, then it's very intriguing why milners sell a 3" kit and not a 2".... Unless I'm missing something

Milner have sold that 3" kit for ages but I have never heard of anyone fitting one (nor has it ever been mentioned here before as far as I know).

The Milner kit description says 'standard height' front springs. Is that correct or is it a typo? How do they achieve the 3" lift at the front, or does the kit only lift the rear (in which case it shouldn't really be advertised as a '3" lift kit')?

 

[Beau]

Maybe the front shock perches are set higher which is what gives the lift on the standard coils?

 

[Chris]

I think it's pretty clear. Just looked at the product. It's just new springs and dampers but the rear ones are 3" taller. I wouldn't fit that unless you want that real Stinkbug look. Seems pointless to me. You can fit a 2" lift all round if you do it properly. You can't lift the front end any more really without lots of changes such as ball joint drop kits and lowering the diff - which you can only do a small amount and then you can't fit skid plates without modifying those either. It's the curse of IFS really. I did a lot of messing around with the Colorado set up.

There's also a spacer you can get that slots into the top of the spring mount. This keeps your standard could but gives a good amount of lift. I can't recall if Shayne played about with these. But his is probably one of the most lifted on here now that Lil Blue is no more....

 

[Shayne]

Aye i did the coil spacer thing right at the start , i personally think its a great way to go up cheap as chips , but then you have to remember like as not your suspension is approaching 20 years old so results will vary .

Off the top of my head so don't take it for fact without further investigation , a 1 inch coil spacer at the front gives you a 2 inch lift and that rather tidy multiplier changes if you opt for a different size . A 1 and a quarter inch spacer might give you a 3" lift for example its all to do with the angle of the spring .

If you want to go extreme it can be done but you will need extremely deep pockets before you even before consider that .

 

[Coops]

Well it looks like I'll be fitting spacers to the front of the milners kit and the milners rear..

Thank you all very much for you help and opinions.

Shayne what mods are needed to get a bigger lift?

 

[Shayne]

The prices involved make it hardly worth mentioning Coops but there's long travel ifs for early American Tacoma's which has exactly the same suspension as the LC90 series , and even more extreme and undoubtedly more expensive are full ifs drop kits which i haven't looked at but i imagine are also available for the early Tacoma .

http://www.chaosfab.com/1996-2002-4Runner-Long-Travel-Suspension-Systems.html

The pics are just quick finds to give you an idea

 

[Coops]

Ouch.....you weren't kidding were you Shayne!

 

[Shayne]

Lovely collie you have there. What is the benifit of using 80 alloys?

80 series wheels are 16x8 with a zero offset , i found this size rubbed on the chassis at full lock while wearing 285/75 Cooper STT tyres . Only slightly and i drove it for over a year that way without ever thinking about it .

 

[Coops]

Oh awesome, thanks Shayne.
Whats your thinking on ball joint spacers ? i've seen them used oh a hi lux ifs?

 

[Shayne]

I won't pretend to know anything about them and it would be a forum if you were to fit them i think , but , without thinking too much about it we are back to the limitations of the cv joints .

Strength and longevity needs to factor into your thinking there's no point in pushing limits if its only going to leave you bust and being towed home .

If we could move the front diff then lift options would be infinite , the trouble is the front propshaft goes over a chassis cross section with very little room for alteration (diff drop kits tilt rather than lower the diff) and to go under the cross section would have us rebuilding the whole front end .

It has crossed my mind while under the truck messing with things that a good fabricator could cut lower and strengthen that chassis cross section (which the diff bolts to iir) allowing us to drop the diff enough to fit maybe a 3 inch lift .
But that's a lot of work for not much gain and you will end up chasing your tail when you realize bash plates and god knows what else now need modified .

2 inch of the front and 3 or 4 at the rear and she's still Landcruiser tough , a body lift effects nothing at all other than a bit of messing about to refit bumpers .

 

[Coops]

Fair point, guess i was trying to look at what the yanks do on the 4runners and tacoma's .

 

[Chris]

I was going to go for a ball joint drop kit many years ago on Lil Blue but I could never track down exactly which one from the Surf/ 4runner would fit.

One of the limitations aside from CVs is the fact that very soon the top wishbone hits the spring. The ball drop spacer just pushes the top arm back up to stop that. It doesn't add lift or anything. I don't think

 

[Coops]

Are diff spacers a bad idea?

 

[Beau]

I bought a pair of these and will be installing them soon on my truck. http://www.spcalignment.com/component/spc/?task=part_description&pid=25480

Better than a ball joint spacer, because I can fine tune the alignment a lot better and they won't touch the springs on full droop. Will probably have about 3 inches of lift at the same time, with 1 inch diff drop. Sump Guard goes on fine with a couple spacers on the middle bolts. Will also be re-booting the CV's and stretching them slightly so they don't rub. Will get pics up when it all goes down

 

[Coops]

Hmm.....they look interesting!
bit of a faff adusting the camber and caster tho.

 

[Chris]

Interesting product and great for castor and camber Beau, but how does it remedy the issue of the arm hitting the spring on full droop. It doesn't look to be any longer than stock. Here's what happens when you go too long. This is with a spring lift AND a top spacer fitted just to illustrate the problem for those who are wondering.

Nothing wrong with diff drops but they give you only a very limited effect really. The diff on the 90 sort of pivots on a rear mount so all you can do is drop the front two mounts about 20mm before you run out of movement. You then can't get your bash plates back on

 

[Coops]

Don't the aussie's and yanks just fit a 1" spacer block under the arb to give the diff a bit more clearance,and also just fit a couple of washers on the bash guard ?

 

[Chris]

You have to drop the bash guard a lot which then reduces your ground clearance which defeats the object of trying to lift the whole vehicle in the first place. I don't recall the ARB being a limiting factor in this. I took mine off completely

 

[Coops]

You removed the front Anti Roll Bar? ?

 

[Chris]

I removed both. Ain't no crime.