NST Spec Body Lift Kit

[MTKID]

Also wanted to ask for some ideas from the group about another question I had asked of me last night from a customer that just had the 1.5” kit installed by a local shop and noticed this…

“…only thing is I get a little feedback or vibration from the steering wheel over bumps. It’s nothing crazy or excessive but very minor and only notice if you were driving and had hands on the steering wheel…”

Can anyone else think of why someone might experience this? I couldn’t think of any reason for this after just the 1.5” kit was installed. Obviously the steering shaft has been placed into a new position but no one, that I’m aware of, has experienced this before.

 

[rickolx470]

The only place I’ve encountered it with a customer is from the 9th crossmember bolt that was very slightly making contact with the body, instead of hovering over it, as the factory bolt does. The simple solution for that is a small washer as a spacer at the bottom, pushing the head of my custom bolt up just a small amount so it doesn’t make contact with the body. That specific bolt is hard to make exactly perfect every time. There’s probably a better way, but I haven’t figured it out yet. This is the only bolt that I think could be the culprit of noise from my kits…
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Not really chasing a sound in my case but more of a light light thud and seems to be in the front left portion of the LX when going over bumps. Almost feels like a loose bolt or loose mount. The installing shop drove it and felt it too. They torqued the front mounts a little more but it’s still there. Not sure if maybe loosing the front mounts and retorquing it them together can help. It’s so slight but there and noticeable. I’d assume if small bumps do it then off-roading you’d feel it significantly more so hoping to find the remedy or issue soon.

 

[MTKID]

Not really chasing a sound in my case but more of a light light thud and seems to be in the front left portion of the LX when going over bumps. Almost feels like a loose bolt or loose mount. The installing shop drove it and felt it too. They torqued the front mounts a little more but it’s still there. Not sure if maybe loosing the front mounts and retorquing it them together can help. It’s so slight but there and noticeable. I’d assume if small bumps do it then off-roading you’d feel it significantly more so hoping to find the remedy or issue soon.

Only other thing I could think of is if the head or large washer of the body mount bolt is sitting flat on the body, and not up somehow on the tabs of the sheet metal of the body that are supposed to prevent it from spinning. That seems like a long shot, but I can’t think of anything else. I know those tabs aren’t especially strong and can get bent over or bent back if an impact is used. If a tab or both tabs where bent, then the large washer would be forced to sit up on top of those tabs, and I’d think it would cause a difficult way to torque it down and maybe it could cause a very light thud. Sorry, that’s the only thing I can think of.

You may look at your clearances around the radiator and see if there is anything that could possibly be touching the radiator in its new position, like a small hose or hard line.

Please let us know if you find the solution or culprit.

 

[neh20711]

Has anyone installed a hidden winch while having the 1.5” lift?

2013 LX

 

[ravencr]

Hey guys,

I've started tearing down my 2013 LX 570 to install the 1.5" from Micah. So far no issues. I sprayed all the body mount bolts from the top and bottom to start, then came back the next afternoon and all of them came right out no problem. I disconnected the radiator shroud's 4 bolts, loosened the driver's side and completely removed the nuts from the passenger side. Today I'll raise up the passenger side and begin installing the pucks. But, otherwise, pretty simple disassembly so far and Micah quickly answered some questions I had before lifting, but I'm going to lift slowly without releasing the front passenger wheelwell bolt he mentions, the steering linkage, and the gear shifter to see how it goes and whether or not it's needed or not to do. He did say I'll need to release and retighten the gear shifter from underneath once it's lifted, but that should be easy.

I'm unclear how the rear bumper that surrounds the steel frame/hitch will be able to be raised without cutting the entire off the bottom of it...maybe I'm missing something on that process lol, but I thought I read through all this pretty well. I'm also unclear why the foam needs trimmed up front if we're moving up the entire aluminum frame piece 1.5" to compensate for the lift...shouldn't it just fit right under the bumper like normal again?

 

[ravencr]

Not much else to report...tonight I bought some jacks to place under the pinch welds, so I'll use the lift to raise the whole truck frame, then place the jacks under the pinch welds, then lower the lift slightly to create the 2" gap to slide the pucks into place, then raise the lift again to put full weight and tighten then I'm guessing loosen a tad again so they'll move un-binded when I begin to raise the driver's side. It's been years since I've done a body lift, but seems logical to me at this point lol.

 

[nwfl4runner]

You’re gonna definitely end up trimming the bumper underneath - especially around the tow hitch. And don’t forget to get some starboard or other material to fill the bumper gap

 

[ravencr]

I need to re-read some of the stuff about the rear bumper...I'm halfway tempted to just cut off the rear crossmember and weld in a new one 1.5" higher up...

Chris

 

[MTKID]

Hey guys,

I've started tearing down my 2013 LX 570 to install the 1.5" from Micah. So far no issues. I sprayed all the body mount bolts from the top and bottom to start, then came back the next afternoon and all of them came right out no problem. I disconnected the radiator shroud's 4 bolts, loosened the driver's side and completely removed the nuts from the passenger side. Today I'll raise up the passenger side and begin installing the pucks. But, otherwise, pretty simple disassembly so far and Micah quickly answered some questions I had before lifting, but I'm going to lift slowly without releasing the front passenger wheelwell bolt he mentions, the steering linkage, and the gear shifter to see how it goes and whether or not it's needed or not to do. He did say I'll need to release and retighten the gear shifter from underneath once it's lifted, but that should be easy.

I'm unclear how the rear bumper that surrounds the steel frame/hitch will be able to be raised without cutting the entire off the bottom of it...maybe I'm missing something on that process lol, but I thought I read through all this pretty well. I'm also unclear why the foam needs trimmed up front if we're moving up the entire aluminum frame piece 1.5" to compensate for the lift...shouldn't it just fit right under the bumper like normal again?

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At the front, no one has raised the entire aluminum crash bar, that I know of. We have all just moved the small L shaped brackets that hold the bottom of the bumper on (upwards the amount of the body lift). That’s why we cut the foam to accommodate the new position of it.

BTW, that looks like a fun motorcycle you have in your garage I just finished a basic rider’s safety course here to hopefully improve my safety on the road. I’ve only ever ridden off road. They put me on a KLX230 for the weekend and I had a blast zipping around a large parking lot!

 

[ravencr]

Oh gotcha...I just reread everything again and still thought everyone was moving the aluminum up and was still confused about trimming the foam lol. Thanks for the repeated clarification for my slow brain lol. I'll look at it and see if moving up the whole thing might be doable with relative ease too, just in case, because I'm always a tad different lol.

Yeah, that's Zach's first little bike he's ever ridden. It's a 2023 KX 112 and flat out rips lol. glad he's scare of it right now, because I can hop on it and wheelie the heck out of it through 3rd gear easily...they're so light and that two stroke powerband is so fun. Slapping a steahly 13 oz flywheel weight on it tomorrow to soften the hit and help him get used to it some more before he kills himself.

Chris

 

[MTKID]

Had a question come up yesterday and I don’t recall if we’ve had this specific combination used yet. New customer has a 2016 LX and is planning on an ARB Summit bumper like the below photos and is concerned about the body coming up 1” or 1.5” and having the top bar possibly interfere at the top of the hood or grill area. Any here used my body lift with this combination? I could see removing the two light tabs if not needed but otherwise curious if this combination has been tried yet.

Thanks for the continued support and help

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Had a question come up yesterday and I don’t recall if we’ve had this specific combination used yet. New customer has a 2016 LX and is planning on an ARB Summit bumper like the below photos and is concerned about the body coming up 1” or 1.5” and having the top bar possibly interfere at the top of the hood or grill area. Any here used my body lift with this combination? I could see removing the two light tabs if not needed but otherwise curious if this combination has been tried yet.

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Thanks for the continued support and help

I messaged Frank at Land Cruiser Heaven a while back because he had a 2016 LX with an ARB at the time.

He was very confident it would NOT WORK, due to the interference the hood and grille would likely have with the top hoop.

Even if there wasn’t interference, my concern would be that the upper hoop could become a damage multiplier given how close it is to the hoop after a body lift.

ARB Sahara would be the route I’d go, although I prefer a hoop for animal strikes

 

[Heckraiser]

Yeah, also looks like the bars would interfere with the light pattern. Would be super cool if you were able to modify the bumper bracketry to raise the bumper as well. I'm not a fan of the ARB style in general, but they do look great on '16+ LX

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

On my 100 series, I had an ARB Sahara. It had square mounting bolt holes that allowed the bumper position to be adjusted somewhat.

I'm not sure if the 200 series ARB front bumpers have a similar mounting style, but if so, and inch of adjustment may be helpful in accommodating hoop bumpers with a body lift.

 

[MTKID]

On my 100 series, I had an ARB Sahara. It had square mounting bolt holes that allowed the bumper position to be adjusted somewhat.

I'm not sure if the 200 series ARB front bumpers have a similar mounting style, but if so, and inch of adjustment may be helpful in accommodating hoop bumpers with a body lift.

Good point. Until that can be verified, I think I will recommend against this combination.

 

[vwynn]

Im still new to the 200 series platform (19' LX570) as my GX470 died after rolling a few times on the road... but let me get this straight, with this body lift you can fit larger tires while maintaining proper pressure in the AHC and proper panhard bar angle? I see no downside with it besides steel mounted bumpers need to be adjusted. anything else im missing?

However if you want the "ultimate" AHC lift... these are what you want to look into? See below

Body lift + front shock spacer + Rear shock relocator + Sensor lift (if needed) + Dr KDSS Pan hard relocator

 

[neh20711]

Im still new to the 200 series platform (19' LX570) as my GX470 died after rolling a few times on the road... but let me get this straight, with this body lift you can fit larger tires while maintaining proper pressure in the AHC and proper panhard bar angle? I see no downside with it besides steel mounted bumpers need to be adjusted. anything else im missing?

However if you want the "ultimate" AHC lift... these are what you want to look into? See below

Body lift + front shock spacer + Rear shock relocator + Sensor lift (if needed) + Dr KDSS Pan hard relocator

I would not do the panhard bar. I did sensor lift, front shock spacer, and rear coil spacers. I ended up removing the panhard bar kit as it made the vehicle unstable and it hit the mount at full compression.

 

[Heckraiser]

@vwynn What size tire do you want to run? Up to 35", the body lift really isn't necessary. If 37+, that's when the body lift becomes the most valuable. Unless you're just looking for a "lifted look" without any suspension geometry tradeoffs. In which case, body lift may be the ticket.

However if you want the "ultimate" AHC lift... these are what you want to look into? See below

Body lift + front shock spacer + Rear shock relocator + Sensor lift (if needed) + Dr KDSS Pan hard relocator

That's the gist, but the ultimate AHC lift would include everything you listed, plus rear coil spring spacers (20-30mm), plus rear bumpstop extension (Perry Parts or DIY) and extended rear brake lines.

The benefit of rear panhard correction depends on how much you lift the rear end and how far out of level your bar ends up relative to stock. There are other options (Eimkeith) that may have less chance of interference than Dr KDSS, and there is a long history of guys doing this mod themselves at home with a welder. I can say that on my 80 series (which had about 2.5" lift) the improvement from adding panhard correction was night and day.

 

[vwynn]

I would not do the panhard bar. I did sensor lift, front shock spacer, and rear coil spacers. I ended up removing the panhard bar kit as it made the vehicle unstable and it hit the mount at full compression.

Thanks, ill keep that in mind!

@vwynn What size tire do you want to run? Up to 35", the body lift really isn't necessary. If 37+, that's when the body lift becomes the most valuable. Unless you're just looking for a "lifted look" without any suspension geometry tradeoffs. In which case, body lift may be the ticket.



That's the gist, but the ultimate AHC lift would include everything you listed, plus rear coil spring spacers (20-30mm), plus rear bumpstop extension (Perry Parts or DIY) and extended rear brake lines.

The benefit of rear panhard correction depends on how much you lift the rear end and how far out of level your bar ends up relative to stock. There are other options (Eimkeith) that may have less chance of interference than Dr KDSS, and there is a long history of guys doing this mod themselves at home with a welder. I can say that on my 80 series (which had about 2.5" lift) the improvement from adding panhard correction was night and day.

35" would be the ideal goal (if i were to get a rear bumper/tire carrier) however 37" would nice but too large of a commitment at this moment.

 

[TeCKis300]

Im still new to the 200 series platform (19' LX570) as my GX470 died after rolling a few times on the road... but let me get this straight, with this body lift you can fit larger tires while maintaining proper pressure in the AHC and proper panhard bar angle? I see no downside with it besides steel mounted bumpers need to be adjusted. anything else im missing?

However if you want the "ultimate" AHC lift... these are what you want to look into? See below

Body lift + front shock spacer + Rear shock relocator + Sensor lift (if needed) + Dr KDSS Pan hard relocator

I'd highly recommend the body lift as an early mod, or even first mod. It has functional benefits to lifting the front and rear bumpers, improving the all important approach and departure angles.

As mentioned, it's not really needed for AHC and big tires as the LX will readily take full fat 35s regardless of body lift.