subie_newbie Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 As I see it on my 84 Hatch, the limiting factor for tire size is the front edge of the cab footwell, and the classic solution is to bash the hell out of it and then put a lift kit on the car. Well, I don't have any money for a lift kit, nor for new axles all the time. But I do need bigger tires. So.... Why not extend the rear trailing arm about 3" and 'push' the whole front suspension forward? I know it'll mess up the alignment, but this isn't a daily driver and getting it 'close enough' will be good enough. And since I don't have a lift won't the axles be just fine with 3" out of stock, just like they would be with 3" of lift? Anybody tried this? Any good reasons not to? What about extending the rear suspension backward for the same reason? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 I'm not sure what you are talking about - moving the rear suspension will do nothing at all for the front, and there's no need to lift anything in the rear for larger tires. A set of EA82 adjustable rear coil-overs and a 5" section of 2x4 angle iron will do the whole rear end lift for at least 28" tires...... Fitting larger tires on the front is going to require some form of lift - period. Block lifts are not expensive to build - you need 10 blocks for the front - metal supermarkets down near airport way will cut you the neccesary blocks for $5 each - 4" for the cross member, and 3" for the radius rod plates, then you just have to drill them and buy some bolts. The strut tower blocks can either be made yourself, or bought from a few of the various people building lifts for a reasonable amount. Steering shaft extension requires a $5 bit of tubing, and a welder. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goobaroo Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 GD's right, the best way to do it is just lift it. although GD i think he was talking about extending the leading rods to push the lower control arms forward. im not sure thats even going to move it far enough as the pivot wouldnt allow enough forward movement. you would have to cut the control arm , bend it forward then weld in a plate. and then you would have to adjust the tie rods (lengthen them) to correct the alignment. WAY too much work if u ask me. so like GD said, get some blocks cut and just bolt them in. and im sure if u were thinking about doing all that other work u would have a welder or at least access to one to do the steering shaft extension. how big do u want to go? i have an '84 GL wagon with 225/70R14 and it only took about 5 min with a hammer and some metal shears to get it to fit right. they rub slightly on the inner frame (unibody?) but only at full lock. and even then the contact patch on the frame is only .5in in width. as for the rear, i just cranked the heck outta the torsion bar and they fit perfect. either way u go, good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subie_newbie Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 The idea here is as Goobaroo just stated - extend the leading rods (didn't get the terminology right - sorry). It would require at least modifying the inner control arm mount, but probaby no cut/weld on the control arm. The tie rods would need to be cranked out, but again probably not cut and lengthend. Then there's the question of why... because I don't want to do what everyone else has, basically! These cars have been worked over every way to tuesday so there's a known workable path, but I'm the kind that wants to experiment and find something new to make people go 'how'd he do that?'. This is attempt #1! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 If you want to do it right, then do away with the leading rod completely, and build a lower A arm instead of the weak single arm/leading rod system. The leading rods are already very easy to bend, and one of the problems with 6"+ lifts has been the tendancy for the lengthened leading rods (yes - it's not a new idea - it's a component of every t-case lift) to bend or break. There's been several people that have built custom control arms from tube to lengthen them, and change the leading rod system to accomidate more travel. If you want to do it, just use EA82 control arms - they are already angled forward. At any rate, from experiecne I can tell you that regardless of what you do you will still need a lift for any tires with decent tread patterns. Running without a lift, while possible, will just result in you beating the hell out of the frame rails and floor pan - you car will look like a crumpled soda can in short order. Not to mention the cutting that will be required on the fenders will leave you with a mess that will look like rusty hell about a week after you do the butchery. Articulation will be severely limited to almost all down-travel which tends to break more axles, and doesn't work well off-road. Flat running axles with nearly the same up and down travel are best. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subie_newbie Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 You do make a good argument... hmmm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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