70 yr old guy who needs a dependable vehicle to go check out gold mining claims on old roads in the Sierra Foothills. I just bought a 2006 gx470 that a little old lady drove for 138k miles. Really nice interior and a few minor issues mechanical wise (not from abuse, but mileage-wise.) I've been perusing your forum, but maybe I should just ask for some ideas of what i need to do to this thing to go where I want to go: I need a little more ground clearance as I go on old dirt mining roads (nothing like the Rubicon) but there may be loose baby-head sized rocks on relatively steep roads- not a lot of crawling in granite, mainly loose dusty locations at slow speeds- probably no faster than 20 mph at the max. I want it to keep it's highway manners and be tall enough that I am not scraping on every rock. From the research I've read about (for over 20 hours in the last 3 days), I think I am looking at maybe a 2-2.5" lift, and from looking at the thread you have on the photos of the different vehicles and the tires they are running, I am thinking of 265/70/17 or 265/75/17 as I don't want it to be ridiculously tall . I'm prepared to do a small lift but I am not interested in fancy wheels; I just want something to get me where I want to go. I'm open for ideas or links to pages I need to review with similar builds. I've had a local shop recommend Mickey Thompson Baja tread- whatever I get, I want as quiet as I can get for the highway, yet be sidwall puncture resistant and have some offroad grip. I plan on running full skidplates underneath.
New Member from the Northern Sierra in California
- Thread starter Sunman
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Welcome!
What part of Truckee are you in? We have a family cabin up Alder Hill across highway 89 from Prosser Lake that my grandparents built in the 70s - it's basically my second home where ive been going since my mom was pregnant with me haha.
Honestly, for what you want to do, and rocks that size, you should be perfectly fine with the stock ride height. Im assuming it is on the stock air bag suspension in the rear? If so, you can actually raise the car up a bit, and it will stay raised if you're driving under a certain speed (I think it is something random like 12 or 17 mph).
What part of Truckee are you in? We have a family cabin up Alder Hill across highway 89 from Prosser Lake that my grandparents built in the 70s - it's basically my second home where ive been going since my mom was pregnant with me haha.
Honestly, for what you want to do, and rocks that size, you should be perfectly fine with the stock ride height. Im assuming it is on the stock air bag suspension in the rear? If so, you can actually raise the car up a bit, and it will stay raised if you're driving under a certain speed (I think it is something random like 12 or 17 mph).
Welcome! If the suspension isn't too worn out and the airbag system is still functioning, I'd say stay with it and get taller tires for now. 265/70-17 is a good upgrade size since they're readily available by most tire manufacturers, shouldn't be any body interference issues (aka rubbing), and fits in the spare tire location.
Low cost way to lift it:
1. Put 255/80R17 tires on stock wheels. These are skinny 33x10 tires that give you 1.2” of clearance with none to minimal plastic rubbing.
2. If rear air springs are in good condition, do the air bag trick using 1/2” worth of washers to lower the rear height sensors. You can get a 1” lift in the rear. It’s 2:1 ratio.
3. Front lift add a 1” spacer. Should give you 2” lift.
And this should give you a low cost lift with taller tires.
If your shocks are shot or you want to upgrade your shocks, then get a 2” lift in the front using your favorite brand of front coilovers (eibach, Bilstein 6112s, kings, Dobinson, kyb, etc) and get matching shocks for the rear from the same brand.
And spend the money on maintenance as needed.
1. Put 255/80R17 tires on stock wheels. These are skinny 33x10 tires that give you 1.2” of clearance with none to minimal plastic rubbing.
2. If rear air springs are in good condition, do the air bag trick using 1/2” worth of washers to lower the rear height sensors. You can get a 1” lift in the rear. It’s 2:1 ratio.
3. Front lift add a 1” spacer. Should give you 2” lift.
And this should give you a low cost lift with taller tires.
If your shocks are shot or you want to upgrade your shocks, then get a 2” lift in the front using your favorite brand of front coilovers (eibach, Bilstein 6112s, kings, Dobinson, kyb, etc) and get matching shocks for the rear from the same brand.
And spend the money on maintenance as needed.
- Thread starter
- #5
I live east of town, and am planning on putting a metal tech front and rear bumpers. From what I have read, the weight may be too much for the stock suspension. I'm going to have a welder weld on a reciever hitch on the front, so I can only bring my electric winch when I think I may need it, and I can put it on either in the front or back of the vehicle as needed, otherwise it would be sitting in my garage or in the back of the car luggage area.
- Thread starter
- #6
recommendations for coils for slow speed offroading and highway use?
I personally run Bilstein 6112s with HD coils (700#) with my front bumper and winch. I have 2.3” of lift in the front.
And I run icon 56550 long travel in the rear with Dobinson c59-701V variable coils
But my setup is for a weekend rocklander!
If you want comfortable shocks, you need to spend money on either KINGS or FOX in my opinion.
But you are putting more weight than I thought with the bumpers, so make sure to get the right coils for your weight…seems heavy in front and medium weight in rear
Ive thought about getting this at some point, a front hitch receiver: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JI841K?tag=ihco-20
It might not work with aftermarket bumpers though.
Ive thought about it since we tow a trailer a few times a year and I could put some bikes up front while towing.