Gen 3 outback lifting questions, help needed

[wombat]

Hi all, i just received a set of strut top spacers from member Bodge, somehow there was miscommunication between us, i thought i asked for 1 inch, he has sent me 2' inch blocks with offset built in.
I also have raised king springs getting installed at the same time.

So therefore i should have about 80mm of lift with the combo, my problem is will this work on my outback, ive been reading on the forums that the rear suspension in the outback "binds up"
Can anyone with experience in lifting my model car and the same setup confirm this?
I also have 215/70/r16 geolanders on the car which are very very close to the guards, i also heard that when the car is raised the rear wheels move closer to the guard, is this true?
I need answers from someone with experience, Bodge has said he will make me a 1" set again but if the 2' inch will fit i will get them installed.
Thanks

 

[taza]

Hi all, i just received a set of strut top spacers from member Bodge, somehow there was miscommunication between us, i thought i asked for 1 inch, he has sent me 2' inch blocks with offset built in.
I also have raised king springs getting installed at the same time.

So therefore i should have about 80mm of lift with the combo, my problem is will this work on my outback, ive been reading on the forums that the rear suspension in the outback "binds up"
Can anyone with experience in lifting my model car and the same setup confirm this?
I also have 215/70/r16 geolanders on the car which are very very close to the guards, i also heard that when the car is raised the rear wheels move closer to the guard, is this true?
I need answers from someone with experience, Bodge has said he will make me a 1" set again but if the 2' inch will fit i will get them installed.
Thanks

They could be squeezed in just I would say but its going to be real hard to fit them in the rear. In know people have issues just getting 2" (50mm) blocvks alone in the back.
The front should be ok though. You won't have any rear articulation though and there is a good chance you will have CV issues.

Would be cool to have 3" but 2" is enough, plus the extra clearance from your tyres Your choice, might want to weigh up the pros and cons. Thats usually how I work out a decision like that.

Taza

 

[wombat]

They could be squeezed in just I would say but its going to be real hard to fit them in the rear. In know people have issues just getting 2" (50mm) blocvks alone in the back.
The front should be ok though. You won't have any rear articulation though and there is a good chance you will have CV issues.

Would be cool to have 3" but 2" is enough, plus the extra clearance from your tyres Your choice, might want to weigh up the pros and cons. Thats usually how I work out a decision like that.

Taza

What do you mean by rear articulation? Do you mean the rear won't move so it will be like a go-kart?
Would it be uncomfortable/dangerous to drive?

 

[taza]

What do you mean by rear articulation? Do you mean the rear won't move so it will be like a go-kart?
Would it be uncomfortable/dangerous to drive?

Shouldn't be dangerous. The ride could be abit hard, actually quite hard as the springs are forced in and there would be little movement for absorbtion of bumps. Plus it could put massive amounts of strain on your rear struts wiht the car loaded up.

By rear articulation I mean when you lift a wheel in the air, it won't drop any lower.

If you plan to install the 3" yourself you will have a rear hard time, if you choose to do it get help from someone who knows suspension well or get a shop to do it.

 

[wombat]

I just went out and jacked one side of the car up to see how much the height difference would be, i used a tape measure until it got to 80mm lift, the tyre came off the ground after 75mm, so that means the spacers and springs will be essentially pushing the car down, i now know what you mean by articulation, the ride will probably be really harsh
It made the tyres further apart from the guards though so they won't rub anymore, plus the kit is camber adjusted so the camber should be ok, the only thing has me worried now is the stiff suspension, also the cvs angles didn't look that harsh under the car, then again im no suspension expert either.
It's booked in with a mechanic on Tuesday to get done, hopefully it all works out

 

[taza]

I just went out and jacked one side of the car up to see how much the height difference would be, i used a tape measure until it got to 80mm lift, the tyre came off the ground after 75mm, so that means the spacers and springs will be essentially pushing the car down, i now know what you mean by articulation, the ride will probably be really harsh
It made the tyres further apart from the guards though so they won't rub anymore, plus the kit is camber adjusted so the camber should be ok, the only thing has me worried now is the stiff suspension, also the cvs angles didn't look that harsh under the car, then again im no suspension expert either.
It's booked in with a mechanic on Tuesday to get done, hopefully it all works out

Well you will be a first to tell us about the ride comfort But with the CV's being like that permanently it could cause problems. If it is causing problems then you can laways pull them out and sell the blocks then get 1" ones. Get some before and after pics

Hope it works out for you.

Taza

 

[wombat]

Surely someone around here has put 2' spacers in before without a body lift? Anybody know anybody i can talk to with the same car and setup?

 

[taza]

Surely someone around here has put 2' spacers in before without a body lift? Anybody know anybody i can talk to with the same car and setup?

My mate David and I are about to install the exact same 2" lift blocks into his 2003 Outback(almost exactly same as your but manual and not h6). I have been told by a guy on ausubaru (Dave) who used to do the AuSubie lift blocks that 2" is hard to get into that gen outback, even with standard springs let alone raised springs ontop.

EDIT: Davids is not H6, just 2.5 but manual oops..

 

[wombat]

Mines a H6, wish it was a manual
Yeah getting into where the strut tops are looks like a tight hard to reach pain in the donkey, glad someone else is doing the work

 

[mr turbo]

If it is causing problems then you can laways pull them out and sell the blocks then get 1" ones. Get some before and after pics

Hope it works out for you.

Like taza says, if you end up having problems (CV's wise) you can always swap the 2" out & put the 1" in instead :iconwink:

Looking forward to seeing the before & after pics
It will certainly look fantastic when it's done :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Kevin]

^ it certainly will!

 

[wombat]

Haha im dreading a phone call from the mechanic saying that it won't fit on Tuesday

 

[Barry]

For what it's worth, if you are in Aus, anything more than 2" suspension lift requires an engineering certificate.

If I as in your situation I would wait for the replacement 1" lift blocks and do as you initially intended. Otherwise might be a case of "more haste less speed" .

 

[taza]

Haha im dreading a phone call from the mechanic saying that it won't fit on Tuesday

Well if you know Davidovs (my mate dave lol) has an Outback same as yours as I mentioned. Same colour and all. We installed one of Tims liftkits and only just finished a few hours ago. Took us 16hours or so and we had a real hard time fitting the rears in. Almost had the car slide off the jack stands, busted a jack and there was abit of swearing and cursing.... especially at 12am last night out in the shed

The front was easy, didn't even need the spring comrpessor but the rear we had to use it and the trolly jack to just get them in. These were only 50mm blocks too the same as what you have. A few times the rear end of the car alsmot slid over but we were lucky. Not too bad for two 18 year olds though :biggrin: Will post some pics later tonight to show you how Daves came out, yours will be even higher if you add the raised springs!!

Taza

 

[mr turbo]

Almost had the car slide off the jack stands, busted a jack and there was abit of swearing and cursing.... especially at 12am last night out in the shed ...........

..........Will post some pics later tonight to show you how Daves came out, yours will be even higher if you add the raised springs!!

Yes I can imagine there would have been
Looking forward to seeing the pics :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[wombat]

Yes I can imagine there would have been
Looking forward to seeing the pics :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

+1 pics or ban i wanna see what my car is gonna look like

 

[taza]

Here are some pics of doing the rears.

Heres Dave just after pulling the rear drivers side strut out.

The blocks strraight out of the box :biggrin:

Rear end Jacked up... She almost slipped off the jack both ways with one side of the car 1m in the air

Just put the spring compressor on, ended up having to come off so we could put it on the whole spring.

Close up

The lack of room to get in the rear strut and do the spring compressor up. This was the first one we did and the hardests. Took us about 7hours. I also broke my good quality ratchet

Having to use both the spring compressor and trolly jack to get the rears in, while amlsot loosing the car in the process and killing ourselves

There are pics of just the rear lifted, then the whole lot lifted. Then up against my foz for height comparrison but they are on Daves phone. He will post them later this afternoon.

 

[wombat]

7 Hours? holy crap i hope the mechanic doesnt take that long i will be up to my neck in labour charges haha, if dave doesnt post the pics here could you be ever so nice and link me to the thread he does in? im itching to see pics, also does dave have bigger tyres on his car per chance?

 

[taza]

7 Hours? holy crap i hope the mechanic doesnt take that long i will be up to my neck in labour charges haha, if dave doesnt post the pics here could you be ever so nice and link me to the thread he does in? im itching to see pics, also does dave have bigger tyres on his car per chance?

We are 2 18rear old who have never done it before so of course it was going to take a while

We did both fronts in about 2, an hours each, they were real easy.

Yeah I can link you the pics :biggrin:

Stock size highway tyres at the moment, I think he wants Geolander AT-S in 215/70R16 soon. the stock wheels look centred though.

 

[wombat]

We are 2 18rear old who have never done it before so of course it was going to take a while

We did both fronts in about 2, an hours each, they were real easy.

Yeah I can link you the pics :biggrin:

Stock size highway tyres at the moment, I think he wants Geolander AT-S in 215/70R16 soon. the stock wheels look centred though.

Yeh true, i have those tyres and they are ultra close to the guards now, im really hoping the lift fixes it and not makes it worse, ive already lost the rubber strip that runs along the guard cause the tyre hit and ripped it off