subaru baja lift kits any one know where to find them?

[stroke]

I have a 2006 Baja and I have been looking but cant seen to find a lift kit for it any where can any one help?

 

[bluedotsnow]

they may exist but since your looking for a discontinued vehicle.... I found a few 1 inch strut lifts on google, ebay.,...

 

I think it really depends on the structure of the baja and its dissimilarities to the to the lego-forest-impreza lot which are basically completely swappable.

 

the baja is sort of a platform in itself.....

 

http://opposedforces.com   can show you what parts are different and which are the same.

[wentz912]

Baja is based on the Legacy platform, so compare your suspension to that and go from there.

[Scott in Bellingham]

I sell them , what height you need?

[stroke]

I would like to lift it at lest 3 inches so I can put some 17 inche wheels and offroad tires in it as well some Baja lights all over it

[andy.hanna]

I sell them , what height you need?

i have a  2003 baja where can i see a link to the lifts and srices of the obes you sell for the baja? i thin i wanna go 3 - 5 inches but in not sure... i also need to know the difference between a body lift and susencion lift..

[Scott in Bellingham]

www.sjrlift.com   this one  " 04 lift kit 2000 "

[tirod]

Subaru builds cars on a unibody platform that has the chassis and body structure integrated and welded together. Body lift kits aren't an option, just like the old Cherokees. 

 

The use of CV axles and having the inboard connections hard anchored to the drivetrain means they can only accept limited angularity. "Lifting" the car really means just dropping the wheels as much as possible, which extends the inboard sliders to their maximum limit and puts the outboard CV joint at a high angle of attack. That causes damage and potential separation. The traditional limit to any Subaru getting a "lift" is about two inches, more if special axles with roller splines are used to extend their length. Those are becoming available. 

 

If more than two inches is involved, then custom extensions to the struts are needed, which some have done. It doesn't fix the high angles of attack the CV have imposed on them, it just requires an even bigger more expensive custom CV shaft. At $250 each they get expensive. 

 

This is why the CV front axle trucks drop the front differential to keep the axles straight - which dumps the the differential right back down into the dirt and makes having clearance problematic. It's been considered with the Subaru, just drop the drivetrain 6" and voila, it's "lifted." But the pan and everything is still right down there close to the dirt. And rocks. 

 

The one solution that does work is portal hub/axles - like the HMMV, large gearboxes at each wheel which separate the driving spindle from the CV by 5-6" or more in vertical height. Instant real ground clearance at the tune of $1,500 a wheel. 

 

Aside from all that, the reason off roaders use live axles is that the differentials aren't bolted to the frame and can float. That allows the wheels and tires to have significantly more movement going across obstacles. It's call articulation, most glamour shots of off road vehicles show the opposite wheels at full droop and bump to demonstrate the ability. With the inboard differentials anchored to the drivetrain and chassis, it simply can't be done as well. This is why racing off road vehicles with CV axles really can't cross extreme terrain the way full live axle rock crawlers can. 

 

So, building any Subaru to directly look like or compete with a Jeep style vehicle is a vain hope unless you have access to lots of money and portal hub conversions. That's why there are almost no 6" lift kits or ever will be. 

[Scott in Bellingham]

my lift kits  only cause 1-2" of axle stress over stock , so a 6" lift has 5" blocks that drop the engine, transaxle and rear diff , so 1" stress over stock
 

[Gloyale]

Subaru builds cars on a unibody platform that has the chassis and body structure integrated and welded together. Body lift kits aren't an option, just like the old Cherokees. 

 

The use of CV axles and having the inboard connections hard anchored to the drivetrain means they can only accept limited angularity. "Lifting" the car really means just dropping the wheels as much as possible, which extends the inboard sliders to their maximum limit and puts the outboard CV joint at a high angle of attack. That causes damage and potential separation. The traditional limit to any Subaru getting a "lift" is about two inches, more if special axles with roller splines are used to extend their length. Those are becoming available. 

 

If more than two inches is involved, then custom extensions to the struts are needed, which some have done. It doesn't fix the high angles of attack the CV have imposed on them, it just requires an even bigger more expensive custom CV shaft. At $250 each they get expensive. 

 

This is why the CV front axle trucks drop the front differential to keep the axles straight - which dumps the the differential right back down into the dirt and makes having clearance problematic. It's been considered with the Subaru, just drop the drivetrain 6" and voila, it's "lifted." But the pan and everything is still right down there close to the dirt. And rocks. 

 

The one solution that does work is portal hub/axles - like the HMMV, large gearboxes at each wheel which separate the driving spindle from the CV by 5-6" or more in vertical height. Instant real ground clearance at the tune of $1,500 a wheel. 

 

Aside from all that, the reason off roaders use live axles is that the differentials aren't bolted to the frame and can float. That allows the wheels and tires to have significantly more movement going across obstacles. It's call articulation, most glamour shots of off road vehicles show the opposite wheels at full droop and bump to demonstrate the ability. With the inboard differentials anchored to the drivetrain and chassis, it simply can't be done as well. This is why racing off road vehicles with CV axles really can't cross extreme terrain the way full live axle rock crawlers can. 

 

So, building any Subaru to directly look like or compete with a Jeep style vehicle is a vain hope unless you have access to lots of money and portal hub conversions. That's why there are almost no 6" lift kits or ever will be. 

 

What are you talking about?

 

My Subaru regularly wheels with jeeps and occasionally schools them.

 

You drop the subframes too with the bigger lifts.

 

You need to search.  Lots of 6" kits out there.

 

Including at HighGuysLifts.com

[tirod]

Please post links to those lift kits for the OP. 

 

Scott's response describes exactly what I'm talking about - 5" spacers to drop the drivetrain doesn't really constitute a lift. The oil pan isn't any higher from the rocks doing that. 

 

Anyone can "wheel" with other off roaders, but when a trip to Moab in the spring is taken, I don't see shots of Subaru's traversing the infamous obstacles there. Nor have I seen much in the way of it described for those going over the rough patches on the Rubicon trail. 

 

That requires actually moving the drivetrain up to gain ground clearance. Moving the body doesn't count when it's the oil pan and axles getting in the way to begin with. 

 

If the subject is a bit new, take time to surf around. I brought up the HMMV and portal axles because that is what the pro's use in military vehicles to solve the problems of ground clearance - not lifting the body only and leaving the CV's as much in the way as they were before. Try driving centered over a 12" stump and the difference becomes noticeable. Even the 4WD trucks with front CV's can only accomplish it because the tire radius was increased. Lifting the body doesn't help. Live axles are still a bandaid. Portal axles get the job done. 

 

Portal axles: https://www.google.com/search?q=portal+axles&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=51UkU4D9FuyFyQGIhoAg&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=515#imgdii=_

 

Lifted Subarus: https://www.google.com/search?q=lifted+subarus&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=q1YkU4DoFcSMyAHe1YDoBA&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=515

 

Compare the photos. Portal owners show the ground clearance side by side with conventional axled cars. Lifted Subaru owners don't. Why? 

 

If someone has successfully lifted their Subaru, a full front photo next to another stocker should be the first thing they would post up. We aren't getting those, and certainly not next to other off road vehicles. They aren't showing us the ground clearance. 

 

Let's not encourage the smoke and mirrors of the average owner getting anything in the way of ground clearance with a CV shaft vehicle. It's a goal that is difficult to achieve in comparison to live axle vehicles. CV shafts are not the recommended method of gaining ground clearance for extreme off roading. They are primarily for smooth road operation, and that's the explicit reason for the difference in design between the two. Nobody converts to CV shafts to get ground clearance, they eliminate them and install a live axle. The Subaru drivetrain layout pretty much excludes that from happening. 

[bratman18]

^Have you looked around this forum much?

[subarubrat]

I know this post is 3 months old and I often go months to years without posting but this guy has no idea what he is talking about and his pontificating shows that he has never built a single part.

 

 

Any kind of lift is a compromise, you can throw a 18in kit on a full size truck and that solid axle is still the exact same height above the ground, you can put 2 inches of strut lift on a Subaru and gain 2 inches at the diff. The only thing beyond that that gains ground clearance from the axle of a live axle vehicle or the centerline on an independent suspension vehicle is larger tires. A lift kit alone is only part of the total package. And ground clearance is gained and measured in different places. Lifting the body overall IS effective, it gains you improved approach and departure angles which is an important part of offroading, as is ground clearance from the body to the ground.

 

Here is an example of ground clearance I gained on this BRAT build:

 

 

 

 

Keep in mind that my oil pan is another 8 inches ABOVE that crossmember which has about four times the ground clearance of the stock vehicle. And gee how did I do that without portal axles (which I would totally go for if there was a model out there that didn't need the CVs running in the opposite direction and offered meaningful reduction)?

 

And here is the Baja I have as my household utility vehicle now, it is also use for off roading and has about 3.5 more inches clearance at the centerline and about 6in more at the bumpers, not having the bumpers and rocker panels down low makes the truck much more capable. To answer the OP's original question, contact Scott in Bellingham and tell him you want the same kit that he made for Scott in Virginia, it was a 2000+ 4in kit with the rear lift subframe done in 3 pieces so that the crossbar was a bolt in. I have made allot of custom fab lifts and his work was as good as mine and it was a 2 day job Vs weeks of fabrication!

Edited July 13, 2014 by subarubrat

[sumoco]

I know this post is 3 months old and I often go months to years without posting but this guy has no idea what he is talking about and his pontificating shows that he has never built a single part.

 

 

Any kind of lift is a compromise, you can throw a 18in kit on a full size truck and that solid axle is still the exact same height above the ground, you can put 2 inches of strut lift on a Subaru and gain 2 inches at the diff. The only thing beyond that that gains ground clearance from the axle of a live axle vehicle or the centerline on an independent suspension vehicle is larger tires. A lift kit alone is only part of the total package. And ground clearance is gained and measured in different places. Lifting the body overall IS effective, it gains you improved approach and departure angles which is an important part of offroading, as is ground clearance from the body to the ground.

 

Here is an example of ground clearance I gained on this BRAT build:

 

 

 

 

Keep in mind that my oil pan is another 8 inches ABOVE that crossmember which has about four times the ground clearance of the stock vehicle. And gee how did I do that without portal axles (which I would totally go for if there was a model out there that didn't need the CVs running in the opposite direction and offered meaningful reduction)?

 

 

Do you have a build thread for that beauty?

That may be my favorite brat that I have ever seen. Good show sir. Good show.

[subarubrat]

Documented most things on my site, that I will one day update with the new BRAT and Baja......

 

http://subarubrat.com/mybrat.htm