It's a daily driver, how much do I want to lift?

[steve500]

I'd like to get modding on the suspension of my frontier here very soon... Maybe in time for gonemoab 2010

My frontier is now my daily driver, I've got the rodeo for sell, money from the rodeo will go towards the truck.

Since the truck is a daily driver, I'd like to maintain gas mileage, possibly increase cornering performance and maintain a pretty good street-ride but totally vamp the offroad capability...

I see so many pre-assembled kits out there from fabtech, 4x4parts, etc... but I need someone to point me in the right direction, if I can save money, thats good too!


I was extremely happy with my rodeo, I'll explain what I had done to it ..

It was torsion based in the front end, so I just cranked the torsion bars, already had extras so I could replace them in case of cranking them too much and snapping them. 80K miles later at a 4" increase in lift increased wheel travel and never caused ANY problems, rode really good. I had 4" extended coils in the back for extra travel/flex in the rear, also worked very well. Had RS9000XL shocks all around, gotta give them shocks a thumbs up.

Overall, the rodeo kicked a** off road and performed extremely well on the streets, I had wider beadlockers installed so, I'm guessing the wider tire coverage really helped in handling, they stuck a few inches outside of the body. Minus wheels and tires, I spent about $200 in parts... I know my truck is built differently in front and back, springs in back instead of coils, coils in front instead of torsion bars, so the truck is gonna be much more $$$...

I'd like between 3-4" lift that functions as adding more up and down wheel travel and flex. If extended shackles work great in the rear, I'm all for that, do I really need to change the springs though??.. what's the benefit ? Now, for the front, what's best ?

thanks for any help

-steve

[mbvw2.8l]

I live in SLC. Not to far I presume?

I have a 3" AAL, 2inch block and 3" shackles in the back.... all from PRG. Then 3" spacer and 4" spindles in the front. The back is pretty cheap. I'd reccomend shackles and AAL in the back. My truck felt awesome and I only added blocks later. In the front spacers is an easy way to go. Save money off of a kit. just my opinion.

[Coues'n]

Depends on how fat your wallet is. I would love to go w/ new ucas, kings all corners, ALcan springs in the back, but its not in the cards for me right now. I got a ADF spacer and blocks and 285s. Im really happy. I bought a house and am put what I saved into granite and tile.

[RBOWWOW]

Originally Posted by Coues'n

Depends on how fat your wallet is. I would love to go w/ new ucas, kings all corners, ALcan springs in the back, but its not in the cards for me right now. I got a ADF spacer and blocks and 285s. Im really happy. I bought a house and am put what I saved into granite and tile.

Ditto!
300 bux in Suspension plus a set of tire's that I needed anyway.
Wouldnt say that i'd take a corner like I used too... but it's a truck.

[klee7013]

he is a 4x4 cant do spindles correct?

saw you over on the mp3 something cant remember forum it was about your carputer
i think i have seen the thread over here also

do you have a budget that will help people give you suggestions

[mbvw2.8l]

No he can't do spindles. I was just mentioning. The most simple would be spacers and blocks most likely.

[dubie2003]

Since he mentioned cornering then I would go directly to a Tswap on the front. The added width will help stabilize the truck but since you are 4wd, you need to either do a diff swap and Titan halfshafts or the extended ones from PRG (he outsources it for you). Then to help it out even more, go coilovers but if money is tight, then do a spacer to start and buy a used set of COs when someone sells theirs.

For the rear I would skip the blocks and go AAls and if you need even more flex, then go with an adjustible shackle. Alcans or PRG 10 leafs are nice but are money so they may not be in your budget right off the bat. Plus, you may decide to do the Xterra/Frontier hybrid pack if you can find the parts.

Don't forget thou, for onroad manners, you may want to find a Titan swaybar for the front to go with the extra width.

The only downside to this is that your wheels will stick out a little in the front but it sounds like your rodeo already did that so you are okay with it. Then you can use adapters on the rears to even it out if you really want.

This kind of set-up lets you upgrade in the future while not putting out a ton of money on each step.

The key thou it to really evaluate what you want and how much you are willing to spend. Once you narrow down those key parts your search for parts should be a bit easier.