Hi Kia mad,

I used 35mm TJ SOFT TOP SPRINGS in my sporty.and that gave me approx 90 mm or 4 inch of lift if that helps. See my thread for photo reference. http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/1058030/1.html

Cheers, Chris

Thanks for helping out Chris!
Everet

Hi Chris

I see you used 50mm extended forks. Would a 50mm suspension spacer also work in this instance or would the drive axles interfere with the top of the fork? Also, where did you get your extended forks from may I ask? I see a post about parts from korea, any idea if they still have extended forks?

Cheers, Desmond

Ps. Love the build :-) I'm personally in the process of designing an ARB-like steel bumper for my sporty

Hi Desmond,

Not sure on the spacers? Everet would be the best one to answer that question. I don't think you would need a 50 mm spacer. from my understanding I believe it has multiplying effect. 20 mm could result in a 40 mm lift etc. I could be wrong. I am sure Everet can let you know or read through the sticky thread at the top on lifting your sporty.

In a lot of threads guys have mentioned with 4 inch lift utilising spacers that they had issues with the a arm hitting the spring perch.

Try Picorp (Michael) picorp@hanmail.net from Korea. I understand they made another batch of extended forks. They also can source a few other bits as well including Difflocks and adjustable pan hard rod.

All depends on what you want to achieve. If you only want to lift 40 or 70mm you can get that lift of Spring through Dobinsons.

Keep us up to date. Your bull bar project sounds interesting.

cheers, Chris

Hi Chris
Cheers for the help, very much appreciated :-) I'll send Michael an email, and see what I can find out. Im attempting to gain as much lift as I can without a SAS conversion. My rig isn't road legal, so most of my work is not certified. As for the ARB-like bullbar, I'll keep you up to date, I've just gotta work out the strongest method of extended the chassis rails, as the front tubular crossmember is my biggest issue at the moment
Cheers, Desmond

If you any to keep the independant front end then 4 inch suspension and 3 inch body lift is your max. Tyres up to a 32 but will require some mods on the rear of the front guards to prevent rubbing.

Cheers Chris

How big on tires bfore needing to re-gear?

A lot of people are running in America are running 31's without regearing. Me personally, I believe 30's are the max before you need to regear.

I am running 245/75/R16's (almost a 31.). I remember driving it without the gears done. It was like like winding out a sports car with long gears (without the power).

It was surprisingly acceptable however Darwin is quite flat so I can't comment on what it would have been like in a hilly area although I imagine you would have been grabbing gears very quickly.

Having the gears done made it much more pleasurable to drive although it is still not as punchy as what it was with standard tyres on. I tow with my Sporty so needed the extra oomph. I hope when I install my extractors and larger exhaust it will bring me back to pre larger tyre and lift power wise which I would be more than happy to live with. hopefully I will gain some economy back as well, will replace the O2 sensor at the same time. Be nice to get 500km to a tank again instead of struggling to get 400-420.
Cheers, Chris

Tagging on to what Chris said, the re-gear is more dependent on terrain. For example, if you are relative flat, you can get by with a couple tire size increases before it becomes noticeable. Or, if you tow, you will notice a difference. WRT terrain, steep, think Rocky Mountain passes, you will have a problem. Or, if you are into sand running... US cars seem to come with small tires and you can bump up at least one tire size and retain close to stock performance. Much bigger and you begin to run into clearance issues. By then, re-gearing is highly recommended.

Just a word of caution regarding using Upyourkia 3" & 4" front lift if you plan on using new, front Moog springs.

The Moog springs have a higher spring rate than OEM KIA springs, and you will not be able to get the 1-1/2" or 2" spacers in if you use Moog springs.

If you are dead set on using new Moog springs Evert will need to make you 1" spacers.

When I ran into my issue at the end of May, I talked to Evert on the phone and I was the second person that had the problem with the 2" spacers with new Moog springs.

Evert was kind enough to make me 1" aluminum spacers, and all I had to do was send him the 2" spacers in return.