Re:Suspension Lift and Ground Clearance?

5ft clearance or 1ft clearance

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Thinking it through a suspension lift increases the distance between the axle and the chassis spring mount. In order to accommodate this the radius arm pivots at the radius arm chassis mount, and in doing so lifts the chassis slightly at this point. It also reduces the distance between the axle centres slightly and the way the axle sits in the radius arms, hence why correction bushes are required if you lift high enough.
So yes it does lift the chassis by a small amount, but your axles are no higher unless you fit bigger tyres.
That's how I see it.
Mike

mlines wrote: 5ft clearance or 1ft clearance

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I reckon it would let you wade in 5 foot deep water. So IMO it has load of clearance

Another aspect to consider is. As the diff is essentially locked to the wheel. Your clearance increases when a wheel is raised over an object, eg

The diff is further from the ground here than with the vehicle sitting level. But it is still the suspension that would determine how close the bodywork would get to the boulder.

The thing is, that is driving position (positioning the wheel on a bank/trailer etc.). That is not clearance due to suspension lift.

Yes, it changes the ramp over angle, approach angle and departure angle as well as wading depth, but any measurement has to have a reference otherwise they have no meaning. The reference for clearance is flat ground.

You are right. No amount of suspension or body lift is going to have any effect on the available ground clearance of a live axle vehicle for the simple fact that you are not raising the lowest point of the vehicle. The only way to do that is by fitting bigger tyres. Which is what the lift allows you space to do.

In my personal experience the clearance under the diffs (ie the clearance provided by bigger tyres) is much more important that the clearance under the body. Where I go off-road the biggest weakness of the Jimny is hanging up the diffs in deep Land Rover ruts, while the stock body clearance/rampover is pretty good.

I think that the biggest advantage of improved body clearance isn't that I get stuck less, it's that I get less stuck (if that makes any sense). I still get hung up on my diffs, but it's now much more difficult to get bogged right up to the chassis rails, which means that recovery is always much simpler, and often possible without another vehicle.