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96 Bighorn lift

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96 Bighorn lift

Postby 96IsuzuBighornNZ » Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:31 pm

Hey guys, I've got a 96 Bighorn and just got 32" tires and feel like a need a bit of a lift to help with offroading, leaves in the rear so what's the most common or best way to add a couple of inches or so? I've seen body lift kits on trademe, will that sort of thing do the job? I'm pretty new to this and just getting into a bit of offroading, any suggestions much appreciated, thanks!
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Re: 96 Bighorn lift

Postby geeves » Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:25 am

Body lifts mean a trip straight away to the certifier so add 400ish to the cost. Your still allowed a moderate suspension lift without worrys if you use springs designed for the job.
Have a look on www.4x4bits.co.nz. They have a kit for the job but you might still be better sourcing the parts separatly
My method
Replace rear springs with 50mm lift springs. If yours is lwb use heavy duty.
Once fitted measure your rear shocks They should be just short enough to retain the springs but not excessively so if they require you to lift the axle about 5 to 10mm thats about correct More they limit travel less they dont retain the spring
On the front adjust the torrsion bars so the front is at the same hight. No need to replace shocks. Only replace the torrsions if you have a winch etc
You may want to do a ball joint flip but this is less critical on that susspension
Get a wheel alignment
enjoy
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: 96 Bighorn lift

Postby 96IsuzuBighornNZ » Sun Oct 05, 2014 9:08 am

great info, thanks very much!
96IsuzuBighornNZ
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Re: 96 Bighorn lift

Postby ecw23able » Fri May 25, 2018 2:30 pm

geeves wrote:Body lifts mean a trip straight away to the certifier so add 400ish to the cost. Your still allowed a moderate suspension lift without worrys if you use springs designed for the job.
Have a look on http://www.4x4bits.co.nz. They have a kit for the job but you might still be better sourcing the parts separatly
My method
Replace rear springs with 50mm lift springs. If yours is lwb use heavy duty.
Once fitted measure your rear shocks They should be just short enough to retain the springs but not excessively so if they require you to lift the axle about 5 to 10mm thats about correct More they limit travel less they dont retain the spring
On the front adjust the torrsion bars so the front is at the same hight. No need to replace shocks. Only replace the torrsions if you have a winch etc
You may want to do a ball joint flip but this is less critical on that susspension
Get a wheel alignment
enjoy


geeves why do you need to replace the torsion bars if you add a winch, If I lift a wizard 40mm with springs and wind up the torsion's do I need to replace them if I want a winch?
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Re: 96 Bighorn lift

Postby geeves » Fri May 25, 2018 3:04 pm

That post was 5 years ago. Since then I have bought a 94 swb bighorn and fitted a 75mm lift as per above. It has a tjm alloy bar with 9000lb winch and standard torsion bars. It is a little soft in the front but ok.It dives a lot under heavy braking. I also have a steel mcc bar to go on and could easily fing the original bars far too soft
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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