Mitchs' build up- roll cage and suspension added

[DocBassett]

This allowed me to remove the 4th leafafter the 4th leaf removed, the secondary leaf which was also removed, was replaced by the factory secondary leaf. Under that, a spacer was placed. The centre bolt was then replaced with a longer bolt also supplied by ultimate. Getting the centre bolt in is always hard, and reducing it to the diff is even harder. But after a few swear words, it was back in.
Now the centre bolt was too long and the bump stop would no longer fit. I just drilled a hole in the bump stop guts to seat the bolt. Worked fine.

[DocBassett]

Shocks were then put in. then the process was repeated on the other side.
Here is the car afterwards.

I apologise for multiple posts, but tapatalk only lets me upload several photos at a time

[DocBassett]

Once done, I took it for a drive. Its hard for me to compare ultimate to bilsteins as the springs have also changed. Easiest way to say it, is neither are bad. But they are different. Original was firm after weight removal, then very soft with a spring mod. Now it feels firmer again, but not too firm. Great onroad. Infact better alround on road, but probably stiffer offroad in feel anyway.
Anyway, I drove straight back to the flex site, took some measurements and photos. Here are my results:
1) standing height now at 600mm. A gain of 5mm.
2) rear tuck remained at 400mm which is perfect.
3) rear droop 810mm which is a gain in 20mm.



So all up, not as much down travel gained as I'd have liked, but considering I have maintained the tuck, increased height and the ride is good, I'm pretty happy. Over all, this is a cheap mod to perform. All up cost me $350ish or similar and a bit of time. Some will say a pointless exercise, however IMO 4 wheels on the ground is better than 3. My car spends most of its life offroad and deserves every chance to improve

[al coholic]

That looks much better Mitch, not to mention a lot safer, it definitely pays to do things properly and follow the advice of the experts in suspension

I think you're overall gains in height, tuck and droop prove you have it setup correctly now Good job

[DocBassett]

Yes, definitely worth doing it properly. The only real difference though from this to what I did was the amount the secondary leaf was de-cambered. I doubt it would have been a major issue really, but always better to play it safe.

[macca002]

Nice bastard pack you have there Mitch!

[Cowboy Dave]

What's the ride height on the front? Looks like maybe it's too low in that one side-on shot? I know they're supposed to be higher on the rear but is the overall slope out? Could just be the slope on the driveway is making it look that way or something about the photo. Or my eye is out which is equally possible.

[macca002]

What's the ride height on the front? Looks like maybe it's too low in that one side-on shot? I know they're supposed to be higher on the rear but is the overall slope out? Could just be the slope on the driveway is making it look that way or something about the photo. Or my eye is out which is equally possible.

I think it looks fine for 33s. Wouldn't be able to go too much higher in the front. If it were 32s with that much clearance up front, then it would be a bit on the low side for a lift. Better to be a bit under than a bit over IMO.

[Cowboy Dave]

Ah maybe that's it, the tyres. I was looking at the gap between tyre and arch so it would be marginally less with bigger tyres.

[Duck]

Nice work Mitch, Ute looks good, look forward to seeing the roll cage in action

[DocBassett]

Dave, its a little from column A, little from column B. It has sagged a small amount, but probably looks worse than is due to tyres. I did have the suspension raises to the next adjustable level, however it was too high IMO.
Duck, I hope we never ever see the roll cage put to use. Like insurance- only great if you need it.

[DocBassett]

Made a trip to esperance for the weekend, thought I'd post up a few pics. Went for our first family holiday, and had another couple come along in an MK. We hit esperance on friday arvo around 4. bit of rain made for a grand entrance. Fingers were crossed that the weather would clear up for fun ahead.
The first thing we did was hit the beach. I haven't seen much of Aus, but I love it here. We fuelled the cars up and hit the beach first thing in the morning. High tide meant we decided to hit the dunes for an hour or two first.
...continued

[DocBassett]

The dunes were great fun. Unfortunately the young fella isn't meant to be 4x4ing yet so had to keep it quite tame. Which meant putting around in 1st gear which made some sections a challenge. Neither of us got stuck enough to need recovering though

[DocBassett]

after an hour or so we could hear some rumbling in the distance. Next thing, someone was hot on our tail. At first glance I thought it was a hilux. Turned out to be a tundra. And the annoying bugger was following us for ages. Turns out it was a patient of mine who had seen me in the distance. the 5.7L lexus V8 sounded amazing. It cruised the dunes with ease on full tyres.
Few pics of the fam at the beach. This was just before cape legrand. Got on the beach at bandy creek. I'm not sure of distance travelled but you can spend a good hour driving

we then headed back into town, refueled and headed out west (previously went east) to 14 mile beach to catch up with my cousin for a fish. Lucky bugger has a 20 min quad bike ride through the bush to the beach
Then I got to land this beast it was fun and my first salmon.

[DocBassett]

All in all it was a great trip. Was sad to come home. Spent the last few hours washing sand out of every orrifice (of the car)
one last pic of the stubby holder getting good use!

[MN2014GLX]

Hi DocMitch, I like your truck. I hope mine looks this good one day.

Are you able to please post more information about your suspension? Also what rear bar are you using? It looks different to most I have seen. Is it heavy? Does it offer good protection?

Sorry about the questions, I have a GLX and looking at doing some mods to it

[DocBassett]

No worries champ, cheers heaps. Rear bar is just the factory rubbish from mitsi. Have never gotten around to changing it. It sits far too low, but has held up surprisingly well. Currently running no rear bar but hoping to get a hold of an MCC jack bar in the near future.
As for the suspension, it started out as a 2 inch lift from climax suspension. It uses king springs and bilstein shocks. I loved it when set up right. Front still remains, but my rear end is different as I wanted more travel. I changed to long travel shocks from ultimate suspension, and hacked up my rear leafs a bit. I removed a leaf and replaced both leafs from the 2ndry pack with one from the factory suspension. I then added in a small lift block to replace the height lost from removing leaves. I also have extended brake lines from ultimate. Works really really well. It probably doesn't sit as high as a 2 inch lift should, but only by a few mm. It still clears the 33s easily and with that ability to articulate better, a front locker and diff clearance from 33s, I don't find much that stops it.

[Homer]

For some reason this is the first time I've seen the Esperance photos

Nice looking spot that

[DocBassett]

For some reason this is the first time I've seen the Esperance photos

Nice looking spot that

My favourite place in the world. Not that I've seen the world. White sand and blue water in all directions.

[TUFF TROOP]

Nice ute mate!

Any pics of the cage installed at all?

[DocBassett]

Cheers buddy. I didn't take too many to be honest as I did most of it at night, only took a few the next day once it was installed. If you go back a few pages in my thread you will see them. Was a very easy install. Although mine is missing one piece that attaches to the B pillar so I just left them out. All I had to do was gut the rear interior, drill 10 holes in the floor, plate it and bolt it from underneath with some paint to stop rust. Jobs done easily in an hour or two if you needed.