Suzuki Club UK

Add a leaf is a simple way of lifting but its cheap price comes
At a cost. Ride gets even stiffer, very tired springs can start to
Bend over the add a leaf spring itself. I have add a leafs for a while
I got them uber cheap so they was worth a try.

Would i buy and use them again? In all honesty yes but only if my
Zook was a once a month thrashing play thing that was only used at pay n plays or just the odd little lane. But for regular use zooks i wouldnt recommend them at all,

For 235/75 tyres you don't actually need Any suspension lift is what I was saying, so for now you could just do the bumper and tyres. personally it's what I would do first and then start collecting parts to do the suspension later on.

Don't get add-a-leafs, they make the ride really stiff and can cause issues down the line.

In my opinion I would do it in this order if you only want 235/75 tyres. It will be the quickest way to start improving the off-road performance.

Tyres & Bumper
410 or rocklobster tbox (to correct the gearing)
Suspension (springs, shocks and longer brake lines)

SlimGrim wrote:Hey back at home at last, (long day out) thanks for all the great tips & ideas, I think I understand the general notion that I need a 2"rear lift & rears on front, however this:

tbh if you are planning on getting a new front bumper you won't need any lift for the 235/75 tyres so I probably wouldn't bother with the suspension for now, just get the bumper, trim off the old bumper mounts and fit the tyres.

confuses me about that previous statement. On llama4x4's website they also have a "add-a-leaf" kit that just basically what I can see adds new leafs to your old ones & from the before/after photo's on their website look like it gives it a good 2" lift anyway as my springs are almost as tired as the ones in the before photo (something to do with sitting still in a garage for 4 years I assume) and at £45 a pair that looks like another cheap alternative to stick on some 325/75's especially with the new bumper?

Basically if you bung 235 75 15s onto a stock sami
The tyres will usually catch on the front bumper mounts
And the little seam on the bulkhead. This can be resolved by a little
Triming or folding of the seam.

But as you plan to fit a more beefy bumper it means the orginal bumper mounts can then be cut off due to the fact that most heavy duty /winch bumpers mount via the holes on the end of the chassis legs. The front axle can also be moved forward slightly should
You wish to give a little more clearance on the bulkhead. This
Isnt always needed but some mud tyres do come up larger than expected if they have an aggresive tread pattern.

Its worth considering other costs regarding lifts.
If you went for a lift dont forget to take into account
The cost of shocks and brake flexis. This alone can add around
£100+ to a lift. If your working to a budget (which is
A sensible thing to do) its good to consider wheres best to spend the Money?

Ive never found that 235s catch on the seam, well on standard wheels anyway, wheels with more offset would be more likely to cause 235s to catch. On standard wheels they only catch the bumper mount, but that only needs a tiny amount taking off the stop them catching.

This is how much I cut off on the white one, I drilled a new lower bolt hole for the standard bumper higher up. This pic is taken at full compression (on the bumpstops) and slight lock.

Ahh ok, thanks guys for clearing that up. My first plan is to get a hard top but I can't find one anywhere so if anyone knows a good breaker I should ask then I'm all ears, a guy on here under the name of punier recently advertised his bumpers and I've seen them all over eBay, they look awesome and would nicely accommodate my 2t winch, as for what tyres to get I'm not sure, if you look at my build reference on page 1 you can see it has much larger looking tyres (31's or larger maybe?) but I really like the look of them so if I can get some similar as 235's that'd be cool

This is the bumper I'll get with the matching rear, can you see this causing any issues?

With a bumper like that you can remove the mounts back to near the chassis

Seems like you have a very nice project underway,what type of budget are you aiming to spend on the SJ to get it upto how you would like it,buying all these accessories and upgrades sometimes dont come cheap.I threw thousands at a Izusu Trooper diesel years ago and it did look stunning but did it improve the off road ability my reply would be no,i much prefer to just use my V6 Vitara as bog standard and its never let me down off road or on road.

I still have a brand new Warn winch in the garage that i have never used,wont part with it but why i bought such a expensive bit of kit is beyond me,farm jacks do me just incase i would ever require some extra assistance but that has never been used much either.

If you can fabricate alot of the things that need to be done on a SJ then go the full hog but some folks just dont have the knowledge or infact are not serious off roaders,of course its nice to have a extra ground clearance and massive wheels and boots but do you reelly need them,if you are into serious off roading like some folks are on the forum then i really admire the workmanship and skill that they have building these motors.

You mentioned about you having a winch i think about 2000lbs that is way under rated in my opinion for when required to pull a SJ out of deep mud,the winch bumper looks fantastic but not cheap i would not have though but then having a small winch on it does not make much sense,prehaps you may be going to a larger winch buit as yet you have not mentioned that.

Good luck with your new project,will look forward to reading the thread as your truck evolves.

haha cheers rick yeah you'd be right in thinking that I'll eventually stick a larger winch in it at some point, as for the budget it's a long term project to get it to where I want, not a throw it in the garage for a month with 5k of parts and then don't ever change it kinda project, with that in mind my budget is more flexible but definitely not fixed to a set amount. I'll buy bits as and when I can
The intent is not to make a serious off-roader, just a smart slightly larger looking truck that will be more than capable to get me out of a sticky situation and that I wouldn't mind going on a long drive/ holiday in eg Scotland or France or something

I have to slightly disagree with Rick...apart from the winch, as Jordi says "winches are for people with no friends" I've never had a winch on any of mine, tbh a 2000lb winch won't be much use if you are stuck badly anyway.

The mods that I have recommended will improve the on and off-road performance of an SJ and tbh won't cost a huge amount. I've built and driven loads of different set ups and I would not recommend anything that won't improve how well an Sj works.