1993 ISUZU BIGHORN SWB, LIFT KIT ADVISE-IDEAS

by **geeves** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:53 pm

Changing hight affects wheel alignment so I think you are now stuck with it. It wont cause any problems but also you dont get all the benefit of the raised rear.
Any spring under tension that is suddenly released with act unpredictably very quickly. If it comes your way it is going to hurt. Wether or not you give this to a mechanic would depend on your level of skill. Its not hard to do but has its risks.

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:45 pm

UPDATE!!!
guys after leaving the torsion bars screws soaking for a night in WD40 i managed to turned them more on. i reduced the height difference from front to back down to 1cm which i think its quite ok and did the wheel alignment again.
what i realized after driving the truck is that on road bumps, the front part of the car reacts kinda more sudden/stiff/¨uncontrollable¨?is this due to the front torsion bars raise?by changing the front shocks will that be corrected somehow? any ideas?

by **turnturn** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:07 pm

How much travel (extension) do you have left in your front suspension? Have you raised it so far that you virtually no downward suspension travel left?
If you measure from the centre of the wheel to the top of the wheel arch, then jack the car up so that both wheel are off the ground, how much difference is there in the measurements?
Did the wheel alignment people seriously look at the castor and camber? Most places are lazy and only adjust the toe in/out. It can be a bit of work sometimes for them to do camber/castor properly. A good wheel alignment might cost you $200ish because of the time involved.
If you stand back from your Mu and look does it seem to have excessive/noticeable positive camber?

by **Yarno** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:09 pm

It's probably due to the wheel alignment being out, I have just done a 2" lift on my Bighorn and it is doing the same...

by **geeves** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:01 pm

You are not going to like us but your wheel alignment guy will like you.
With the truck sitting on a level flat surface have a look at the front suspension. At standard hight the 2 bump stops are about the same distance from the arms. [Top stop is under top a arm} Now you have raised it this stop will be much closer to the arm. If it is nearly touching you get what you describe.
2 options
A: this is normally not recommended but will save you another wheel alignment. Either cut the top stop in half of fit a low profile stop. This will restore down travel enough to overcome the problems. It doesnt address some of the wheel alignment issues that can occur lifting these trucks but if you alignment has been done correctly already this will not be an issue
B: Ball joint flip. This will require another wheel alignment. A ball joint flip is just taking off the top ball joint and then bolting it underneath the top arm instead of on top. It is still the same way up. This effectively changes the length of the top arm rejiging the profile of the suspension travel. It allows better travel and if the wheel alignment couldnt be set before it allows it to be set after.

Both of these will increase the angles the cv joints work under to beyond manufactures design. Cv breakages are very rare on your truck even with this mod but they are more likely to happen. This is the price of changing from what the manufacturer intended. All mods carry an increased risk of mechanical failure. Use at your own risk etc

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:43 pm

when i go home i will do the measurements.i will lift it up and compare the 2 numbers and see what happened there.as far as the wheel alignment guy i want to believe that he was correct cos lots of people i asked reccomended him to me (and he was the most expensive one i ever visited).he spent more than an hour and a half on it and he looked he knew what he was doing.i dont know.everything on the computer seemed well ballanced AND GREEN

now, if there is still enough downtravel of the front that means it could be something else right?probably shocks?when i took the truck for the inspection the guy told me that front shocks approximately perform at 64-65% according to his computer.could that be?

geeves i hear you about the increased risks

by **geeves** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:50 pm

That doesnt sound good on the shocks but 4x4 shocks always perform badly on the machine

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:07 pm

im thinking of replacing the shocks all around.
will i see any noticable difference in travel and offroad abilities?does it worth?

what shock lengths should i look for front and rear according to the 50mm lift?i was thinking of getting the Rancho RS9000 for back and RS5000 for front or all 4 to be the RS5000.will these be ok?

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:04 am

Update!
I jacked up the car and did the measurents.it gave me a difference of only 8cm(3") which i think its way too small.
1.what went wrong?
2.how do i correct this?
3.any feedback on the shocks?

by **geeves** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:30 am

that is all there is. The measurements I suggested above are with the car at rest on level ground not jacked up. The way the suspension is designed the travel is more than the distance between bump stops

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:13 pm

ok guys first of all thanks to all of you for your time spend on this post...i really appreciate it
i went from start till end of the forum on suspension and FAQ and read all the posts again.what i understood and please correct me is this...
1)trim upper (maybe lower too) bump stops
2)ball joint flip
3)sway bar removal
4)replace shocks all around with longer ones (any brands/models?found the rancho rs9000x for back and rs5000 for front but dont know their length if they will be ok)
5)another wheel alignment
if anybody could give more details and on what order (if it matters at all), what to look out or even some fotos (found another post from pissy for a ball join flip on an MU) would be much appreciated.

Geeves i printed out ur directions.Your time you wasted on me is not thrown away

thank you guys

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:57 am

today i had some time off so i did:
1)parked the car on a level surface and measured the distance from centre of hub to the arch to be 54,5cm
2)lifted the truck with both wheels off the ground, remeasured the distance from centre of hub to the arch to be 59,5cm
3)took off wheels
4)disconnected the front sway rods
5)took the whole sway (stabilizer) bar off because it was in the way of the arms
6)shaved the bump stops another half an inch (there is approximately 5-6cm distance between bump stops and bottom arm)
7)put the wheels back
8)did the measurements again as in 1 and 2 and gave me exactly the same results

didnt do the ball joint flip because i didnt have the new tyres yet and i dont want to pay an extra wheel alignment for these tyres now and in a few days for the new ones again.
so basically now im completely lost.i dont know what else to do in order to get some decent flex on my truck.what went wrong?and more important what do i do to fix this?
ANYBODY?ANYTHING? :roll:

MY YouTube · by **pig75** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:42 am

which bump stops are you shaving it should be in the top arm

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 12:11 pm

they were on top arm....didnt find any lower ones

MY YouTube · by **pig75** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:32 pm

If these are the bump stops you are shaving and still not getting travel then the only thing is the shocks are to short

19032012064[1].jpg

by **Captcol** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:33 pm

you shouldn't need a wheel alignment just because you are replacing the wheels only for the ball joint flip

by **geeves** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:03 pm

Ball joint flip effectively makes the top arm longer as well as moving the top king pin pivot point downwards by nearly 20mm. This has a substantial effect on wheel alignment

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:24 am

I have been told by an engineer friend that the only way to get back my flexibility and down travel at this lift i done is onlh by replacing the torsion bars.i am thinking actually to do it this coming wednesday.also replacing all 4shocks with tough dog H/D .i dont know if iam confident or replacing the torsion bars myself but he told me i release the torsion from the 2 nuts under mid body and then unbolt the front parts, remove old ones and replace with the new ones.
By the way there is huge driving difference with no front sway bar on

by **geeves** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:22 pm

Bet same engineer sells torsion bars or at least expects to fit them for you.
Torsion bars are only a spring and will only flex as far as the bump stops and shocks let them. No more No less. After market bars are stiffer so could result in worse travel

by **LUNATIC4ISUZU** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:52 pm

I hear you geeves
Yesterday bought and installed a set of 4 OLE shocks.Substantially big difference in road response.No difference in downtravel though.The seller told me that the shocks are the appropriate ones for the maximum lift i can get from the torsion bars.They were approximately 0,5 inch longer in flex than the factory ones.I also lowered the front part a bit more as when i checked it yesterday , rear and front were at the same height.I guess I gained some more downtravel.Im looking for shorter bumpstops.I dont know about replacing torsion bars even if the guy verifies that they are the right ones for 2inch lift.

P.S How can i check if i am losing any downtravel on the car because of the existing setup or whatever?

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