To lift, or not to lift...

I think a good rule of thumb would be to lift the vehicle only as much as you think is necessary for your use. As Busta mentioned, there can be negative effects. That would also incude the increase in height of the vehicle CG. The possible improvement of articulation is also little to none.

A 2 inch lift is relatively mild and shouldn't have much negative impact on the vehicle. OME makes springs and dampers for the Jimny which are also fairly mild. Prices are about the same so you would need to see what the best deal is that you could find.

I have 2" spring lift along with 1" body lift
The springs came from vit mods £135 could be a bit more now
I would say the spring rate is good articulation is good
The 1000es procomp shocks i have fronts are perfect rears are to stiff but perform well off road
Rockwatt extended bump stop all round work well to stop the tyres catching 225/75/16 BFG KM2
3" castor arms x4 original polybush bushes antiroll bar removed steering has no problems self centring
added a steering damper because the tyres felt to bouncy on the road steering still self centres
After all this it still feels nice to drive not much different to standard form

Jack

I initially decided that I didn't want to lift my car as it was my daily driver and I was worried about making it worse on road, so I replaced my shocks with standard height Monroe's and I also replaced my springs because they were cracked. I can't remember how much it cost but it was quite a lot.

2 years later I decided to get a 2 inch lift and went with the Trailmaster Comfort and I have been kicking myself ever since that I didn't lift it straight away. It is still my daily driver and the only negative I have noticed from the lift/tyres is worse fuel economy, in every other way it is fantastic. It accelerates slowly, but it was slow before and other drivers don't expect it to move fast. Motorway cruising it generally unaffected - it sways in the wind, but I'm it isn't any worse than before (although I have a steering damper). It sits at 70mph with slightly lower revs than it did previously due to the larger tyre circumference.

In terms of advantages I disagree with those who say a 2" lift doesn't make much difference off-road, it completely changed my vehicle. With stock height tyres I would get grounded in almost every rut made by a bigger vehicle, but now I can generally manage the "medium" ruts without issue. The articulation has improved significantly and lifting the underside means that when I do get stuck I'm usually caught on my diffs and not right up to the chassis. This also keeps vulnerable components up out of harms way, especially the transfer case and radius arms.

This isn't meant to argue with any of the folks that replied. As usual, when we discuss suspension, and lifts in general, there is a wide array of answers. I think that, for a variety of factors, our experiences with the mods we do can have different results from others doing similar changes.

I will simply try to add some clarity to what I said here. Most of my responses to Chris' comments, and the data I quote, will be in red.

How much difference does a 2 inch lift make for articulation?
Without more significant modification than new springs and dampers, the most you could possibly get is about 30mm in the front and 25mm in the rear. More likely you would get none. See my later comments for an explanation.

I know it doesn't help at all for ground clearance.
Correct. Only a larger tire size will add ground clearance (distance from the ground to the differential). Some may confuse additional belly clearance and the (extremely) minor increase in break-over angle as ground clearance: it’s not.

How much does this affect road handling, especially motorways?
There are too many variables to answer this. It is part of the reason you will get so many conflicting replies. I think it would be safe to say that if everything in your steering and suspension systems were in good condition before the change, you wouldn’t notice any significant difference after a 2 inch lift (different answer with greater lift).

To understand some of the comments I make, I must first give credit to a Jimny owner living down under for the information that I luckily stumbled upon. It is a list of suspension measurements that I had planned on taking myself at some point. I’m glad he beat me to it. Note that these are measurements on an entirely stock Jimny. Probably the best place to start.

As he began:
“I played with the suspension a bit today, just seeing what potential there is in it. Shocks are measured from the centre of the eye to the top of the shock mount in the front and eye to eye in the rear”

Sway bar in:
Front: compressed side 330mm extended side 395
Rear: compressed side 350mm (hard on the bumpstop) extended side 435

Sway bar out:
Front: compressed side 312mm (hard on the bumpstop) extended side 425
Rear: compressed side 350mm (still on bumpstop) extended side 430

Unsurprisingly, his measurements indicate that the sway bar has some limiting effect on suspension travel (although I’m a little confused about the rear extended measurement).
He then pulled the shock to see if there was more travel available.


Front: compressed side 312mm (still on bumpstop) extended side 455
Rear: compressed side 350mm (still on bumpstop) extended side 455

The final measurement indicates the amount of travel that can be gained by eliminating the limits of damper extension. Without modifying components, he was able to increase the extension from 425 to 455 in the front (30mm) and 430 to 455 in the rear (25mm). Dampers capable of at least 455mm extension could possibly provide additional travel but only if they were also capable of compressing to a shorter length than the shown compressed dimensions. Also, since he was using ramps and tools to artificially exercise the suspension to its extremes, it would likely (though not definitely) be less in the real world.

zukebob wrote: This isn't meant to argue with any of the folks that replied. As usual, when we discuss suspension, and lifts in general, there is a wide array of answers. I think that, for a variety of factors, our experiences with the mods we do can have different results from others doing similar changes.

I will simply try to add some clarity to what I said here. Most of my responses to Chris' comments, and the data I quote, will be in red.

How much difference does a 2 inch lift make for articulation?
Without more significant modification than new springs and dampers, the most you could possibly get is about 30mm in the front and 25mm in the rear. More likely you would get none. See my later comments for an explanation.

I know it doesn't help at all for ground clearance.
Correct. Only a larger tire size will add ground clearance (distance from the ground to the differential). Some may confuse additional belly clearance and the (extremely) minor increase in break-over angle as ground clearance: it’s not.

How much does this affect road handling, especially motorways?
There are too many variables to answer this. It is part of the reason you will get so many conflicting replies. I think it would be safe to say that if everything in your steering and suspension systems were in good condition before the change, you wouldn’t notice any significant difference after a 2 inch lift (different answer with greater lift).

To understand some of the comments I make, I must first give credit to a Jimny owner living down under for the information that I luckily stumbled upon. It is a list of suspension measurements that I had planned on taking myself at some point. I’m glad he beat me to it. Note that these are measurements on an entirely stock Jimny. Probably the best place to start.

As he began:
“I played with the suspension a bit today, just seeing what potential there is in it. Shocks are measured from the centre of the eye to the top of the shock mount in the front and eye to eye in the rear”

Sway bar in:
Front: compressed side 330mm extended side 395
Rear: compressed side 350mm (hard on the bumpstop) extended side 435

Sway bar out:
Front: compressed side 312mm (hard on the bumpstop) extended side 425
Rear: compressed side 350mm (still on bumpstop) extended side 430

Unsurprisingly, his measurements indicate that the sway bar has some limiting effect on suspension travel (although I’m a little confused about the rear extended measurement).
He then pulled the shock to see if there was more travel available.


Front: compressed side 312mm (still on bumpstop) extended side 455
Rear: compressed side 350mm (still on bumpstop) extended side 455

The final measurement indicates the amount of travel that can be gained by eliminating the limits of damper extension. Without modifying components, he was able to increase the extension from 425 to 455 in the front (30mm) and 430 to 455 in the rear (25mm). Dampers capable of at least 455mm extension could possibly provide additional travel but only if they were also capable of compressing to a shorter length than the shown compressed dimensions. Also, since he was using ramps and tools to artificially exercise the suspension to its extremes, it would likely (though not definitely) be less in the real world.

Great info!

Do you know if the more known shocks we use for lift has longer travel than stock , so it gives this maximum travel?
I`ve removed front swaybar for a period, and i do feel it helps in several offroad situations, but you sure notice it missing on-road when pushing into turns. And i also miss to have swaybar in the rear on-road, as it would improve handling alot.

Conclusion would probably be, Jimny should have electrical controlled swaybar`s front and rear, + longer rear shocks :lol:

I off road every single day. My suspension is standard height trailmaster. There's nowhere on my hill farm I can't get within 10 metres of and those bits would frighten a triple winched punch buggy. On road the trailmaster have almost reduced body roll to nothing, my friends with mr2s and mx5s hate my car cos we keep embarrassing them in the twisties. If it's an improvement in off roading you're after get some km2s and let them eat.