Ironman4x4 2" Nitro suspension lift kit vs CCOT HFS "Designer Kit" 3.25" lift vs Terrain Tamer 2" kit (Australian?)

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Ride Fly

Ride Fly

Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Threads
23
Messages
134
Location
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Howdy all. Long time, no visit on this site. Sorry man! Haven't been driving the '40 much but recently getting her out more often. I've got the itch to upgrade the suspension, swap tires to 33" MTs and possibly switch to 16" OEM style City Racers. But I'm finding 33x10.5x16s are hard to find. So more than likely I'll stick with 15" wheels but I might still swap to OEM style.

The tires I want are down to Geolander MT G003 or BFG MT T/A KM3. A distant 3rd is Toyo MTs.

The bigger question is which lift kit to go with. Like with the tires, the two mentioned first are the leaders, with the Terrain Tamers a distant third due to the expense. The Ironman kit is about $500 cheaper factoring their sale and free shipping.

Does anyone have experience with the kits? Especially the first two. TIA!
 
X2 on the Skyjackers if you are not going to swing for the fences. I have the 4" and find them far superior to the OME's I ran for years. First off the springs are longer and I ended up with better shackle angles and axle location. Second, it rides better than the OME's and I'm still a long way from 'broken in' so it should only improve with time. I'm topless and pulled the stiff bottom leaf on the rear, mine's mated with Bilstein shocks and I'm running 4 degree shims for caster up front. It still rides like a 40 unlike the improvement you'd see from TT, your call as to what you want in the end.

Good luck.
 
3rd skyjacker.
No experience with 2inch kits, but have been quite happy with their 4inch stuff for decades now.
 
jim land said:
Look like the terrain Tamer is the best for ride quality , 500$ more is not bad for more confort for the next 15-20 years of driving .

If you want to save$$ and get a stiffer ride, look for 2" skyjacker, probably smoother ride than ironman and HFS

With 16" wheels, look for 255/85r16
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I may have mislead you...the IM4x4 kit is $500 less than the HFS kit at CCOT. The IM kit is currently on sale for $1500 and free delivery. The The Terrain Tamer kit is more than double to IM kit at $3250 plus $250 shipping. The TT kit includes the steering stabilizer though.
 
Ride Fly said:
I may have mislead you...the IM4x4 kit is $500 less than the HFS kit at CCOT. The IM kit is currently on sale for $1500 and free delivery. The The Terrain Tamer kit is more than double to IM kit at $3250 plus $250 shipping. The TT kit includes the steering stabilizer though.
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Iron Man could be free , but still too short and stiff, i have never seen a good review .
if you want to save $ and have a good ride , juste get some skyjacker or OME
After 25 years on my fj40 and bj42 with those the ride is now smooth 😄

IMG_20260409_200025.webp
 
I don't care if they're free, springs that don't fit the car are useless...
And when the vendor tells you that you could move a spring hanger to make them fit, hell no.

Haha edit, I started writing this before Jim posted his, and I went searching through photos to show how ridiculously short the springs were on the 62 and 40 we tried to install them on, but I got distracted.

You couldn't even get the shackle in place if it was horizontal
 
Augustiron said:
I don't care if they're free, springs that don't fit the car are useless...
And when the vendor tells you that you could move a spring hanger to make them fit, hell no.

Haha edit, I started writing this before Jim posted his, and I went searching through photos to show how ridiculously short the springs were on the 62 and 40 we tried to install them on, but I got distracted.

You couldn't even get the shackle in place if it was horizontal
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Wonder if Ironman made any adjustments to the leaf lengths with all the past complaints. The company is located near me in Sherwood. I should go there and tell them how fooked up their kit is! 😂
 
I ran 4" Skyjackers for about 12yrs back in the 80's on my 1st 40. The ride was nice and the suspension was very flexible off road. I used to get complements on the trail. The 40 was wheeled pretty hard. Later I changed the springs to BDS, which are no longer available. They weren't as flexible as Skyjackers, but they were more robust.

I put 4" Skyjackers on my street friendly 2nd 40 a couple of years ago and I'm happy with them. When i was shopping I considered buying HFS because they look similar to my old bds springs except with more leaves. They are military wrapped on both ends and have a good warranty. One issue i had with HFS was you had to buy the whole kit. In the end, I decided to go back to Skyjacker because of my past experiences with them.

I've never had to use anti-inversion shackles on any springs I've run. Imo, if those types of shackles are a requirement, then there might be an underliying issue with them.
 
pb4ugo said:
I ran 4" Skyjackers for about 12yrs back in the 80's on my 1st 40. The ride was nice and the suspension was very flexible off road. I used to get complements on the trail. The 40 was wheeled pretty hard. Later I changed the springs to BDS, which are no longer available. They weren't as flexible as Skyjackers, but they were more robust.

I put 4" Skyjackers on my street friendly 2nd 40 a couple of years ago and I'm happy with them. When i was shopping I considered buying HFS because they look similar to my old bds springs except with more leaves. They are military wrapped on both ends and have a good warranty. One issue i had with HFS was you had to buy the whole kit. In the end, I decided to go back to Skyjacker because of my past experiences with them.

I've never had to use anti-inversion shackles on any springs I've run. Imo, if those types of shackles are a requirement, then there might be an underliying issue with them.
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The 4" skyjacker rear springs Do need longer shackle, so the spring can compress, stock shackle are too short and hit the hanger on compression , they also invert when flex to the maximum .
Stock shackle is 2.75" and you need a minimum of 4" long for those springs.
 
I dont use stk shackles. The spring needs room to extend so you dont bend a spring. I make my own shackles out of 3/8" flat stk or thicker. Currently on my 2nd 40, I made my frt shackles to 3 3/4" pin to pin to get a nice angle and to keep a decent caster angle. I bought my rears from the classified section and they are 4". I cut the cross bars out of them so they are flat plates. Imo, the cross bars can restrict articulation.
 
Dang, I just noticed that the CCOT kit does NOT include the shocks!! I'm shocked I tell ya!! $2k for the springs, bushings and u bolts?? GTFOH CCOT!! 🤣

All considered, if I decide to go all-in, I'd probably get the Terrain Tamer unit. Would be about the same cost as the HFS kit once you add in the shocks and steering stabilizer.

But I'm spending too much money on house projects right now, so to cheap out, I'll look at lower cost yet effective kits like get the Skyjacker. My current springs are pretty flat. Definitely need replacement, but not sure if I need new shocks
 
Just measured the shackles on my rig. It's 5.25" CtC and look heavy duty, obviously aftermarket. My leaf springs are flat like tortillas. I would love to get CCOT's springs - I like their design features such as fully wrapped military ends, and the 4 u-bolt style clamps per spring (rather than pressed clips). However, CCOT doesn't just sell the springs.

So I'm pretty sure I'll throw on some 4" Skyjackers. My question is, would the current shackles work with them? Would 33/10.5/15 tires look too small for that set-up?
 
Ride Fly said:
Just measured the shackles on my rig. It's 5.25" CtC and look heavy duty, obviously aftermarket. My leaf springs are flat like tortillas. I would love to get CCOT's springs - I like their design features such as fully wrapped military ends, and the 4 u-bolt style clamps per spring (rather than pressed clips). However, CCOT doesn't just sell the springs.

So I'm pretty sure I'll throw on some 4" Skyjackers. My question is, would the current shackles work with them? Would 33/10.5/15 tires look too small for that set-up?
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2" skyjacker with shorter shackles , like 3.5" or 4" CtC max is perfect for 33" tires .
You will need a 2° or 4° caster shim for the front depending of the shackle size.

No presses clips on Skyjacker spring.
 
I had 235/85R16 KO2’s on cityracer wheels with 2.5” skyjacker soft ride springs + bilstein front shocks + t100 rear shocks on my 1967 that I run topless of with a soft top. It’s not necessarily “soft” but it’s controlled. It was relatively inexpensive for a lift.

I knew the wheel/ tire combo work on stock suspension so I swapped on 33x10.5 15’s on OEM wheels and put the 16s on a stock suspension 1978 (contemplating TT as well).
 
Ride Fly said:
So I'm pretty sure I'll throw on some 4" Skyjackers. My question is, would the current shackles work with them? Would 33/10.5/15 tires look too small for that set-up?
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Will look just fine

20260411_193759.webp


20260309_141757.webp
 
Jonathan Hanson said:
Terrain Tamer. You'll be glad you spent the extra. Standard leaf springs can't compare. Please read this.
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Wow that dude makes a compelling argument for the TT kit. It almost sounds like it gives it a car-like ride over bumps, while giving it great rock crawling ability. The only negative I read was the swaying during turns.
 
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