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Mitsubishi 4WD Club Trev's Tip 25. |
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Trev’s Tips
Many 4wders who use their cars for their intended purposes often quickly become disappointed with the amount (or lack of it) of ground clearance cars nowadays have in standard form. Consequently one of the most common upgrades undertaken by 4wd owners is suspension modifications. These can be as expensive as you like or more expensive than you like.
However these modifications on some cars can be very simple and easy to do yourself. Unfortunately for the majority of the club this will not apply to you but for those of us stuck in the dark ages of owning pre NM (about 2000 model paj’s) your suspension adjustments can be kept very simple. Why??? Because older Pajero’s had torsion bar suspension that is easily adjusted with a couple of spanners. Newer Pajero’s have full independent suspension that is costly and difficult to upgrade for the average do it yourselfer.
About 12 months ago I had a play with upgrading my car’s (1994 model) suspension and found it to be very simple to do. I wound up the tension on the torsion bars at the front which gave me about 60mm of lift and put some Tough Dog coil springs in the back which gave about 100mm of lift. The suspension had sagged quite a bit since its original factory settings so this lift is actually not a lot above standard. All up it cost me $220 for the new coils and about 2hrs of my labour.
A few points to consider here.
1) Get a wheel alignment done after you have made these changes. 2) Raising the front suspension changes the angle of the cv joints. Whilst cv joints are quite reliable and generally handle these adjustments the cv boots may not. Both mine have torn in the last 12 months since raising the suspension. This might just be a coincidence because they were very old but chances are because of the age of the rubber and the lose of flexibility this change of angle spurred on their demise. 3) Some downwards wheel travel will be lost but I think it is worth it for the extra clearance. I often found clearance stopped my forward motion before lack of wheel articulation so I was prepared to give up a bit of articulation.
So how are these mods done.
Well without going into too much detail on the rear coils, they come out easily once the shockies sway bar, and panhard rod is disconnected and the car is jacked up. I know this is not much detail but honestly it’s easy and obvious once you get started. The front is even easier. Look at the picture and notice the up right bolt next to the exhaust. All you have to do is loosen the lock nut on top of the bolt the put a socket on the bolt head and tighten it up. The more you wind it the higher the front suspension will go. Take note of the number of turns you do because you’ll have to match it on the other torsion bar. Best if you can jack the front of the car up a bit whilst doing this (dose not have to be off the ground) just to release a bit of the pressure on the suspension. Once completed measure the distance between the ground and the corners of the car to make sure it is level. If it is not level wind up or loosen the torsion bar on that side to level the car out. Retighten the lock nut and you’re done. Could not be easier and takes about 10mins.
Till next time
Happy 4wding Why does fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
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