I'd like to add a little Aggressiveness to the big yellow school bus that sits in my driveway. I am very mechanically inclined, but most of my experience is on race cars and not offroading suspension so please bare with me....

I would like to lift my truck a little so I could get some bigger tires on it. I don't offroad much (if ever), so I really can't justify spending $1k on some of these lift kits. What would you cool dudes recommend. I'm thinking something like a rear shackles upgrade but I don't know what I would have to do to raise the front to match the rear. any Ideas or recommendations.

Thanks
-Lex

Easy. Crank the torsion bar.

Is there a thread on how to do this? I don't really know what this means. In searching, I see that alot of people say that but i haven't' found anything that explains what this actually is.

MANY many topics on this, PML = Poor Mans Lift...you buy after market shackles for the leaf springs in the back, $50...it will lift the back end 1.5" . Then you adjust the Torsion bars to match it up. BL = Body Lift. Under $200 2"s is probably the most common. You can get aggresive 32" tires with this combo. You can fit them without the BL, but some plastic trimming is sometimes involved.

Perfect, thanks! Now i just have to figure our how to adjust the T-bar.

Here you go:
http://www.nissanoffroad.net/how_to/torsion_bars/torsion_bars.asp

If never offroading, and the larger tires are cosmetic, but, you want them to fit, and you want to keep your center of gravity the same as stock, I'd recommend a 2" Body Lift, combined with the aforementioned PML.

That way, you don't mess with the steering or suspension kits, larger tires fit, and it looks more aggressive.

A 2" BL is a simple driveway project, as is a PML.

You'd be able to fit 33's with that combo...which are about 4" taller than the 29" oem rubber, providing 2" of lift all by themselves.

The PML adds 1.5" of suspension lift, a small enough amount to not require additional modifications to compensate, but a large enough amount to notice, and make the truck visually more aggressive.

So - add the 1.5" PML to the 2" tire lift and 2" BL, and you are sitting 5.5" taller, on meaty feet.

sigh...

All you are doing for a PML is:

1. Using the factory torsion bar adjustment range to set it for the maximum "compensation for sag" that you can adjust to, without exceeding the limits of the suspension to maintain alignment. (Free)

2. Replacing the OEM 3" eye to eye shackles with 6" eye to eye shackles, which are 3" longer than the stock shackles, and which will therefore lift your butt by 1.5". (~ $50)

3. Getting a wheel alignment after you are done, to maintain alignment of the suspension. (~ $30-60 depending upon the prices in your area, etc)

That's pretty much it for the concept.

The T-bars are what hold up the front of the truck...they are anchored in a cross member about even with your seat, the one with the adjusters in it...with the other end in your Lower Control Arm (LCA).

The anchors, and the bar ends, are splined to prevent slippage, so they interlock when inserted.

They hold up the truck by twisting the LCA/tire down, forcing the truck upwards...

...and, the bars twist, so the LCA can go up and down in response to terrain and load, etc...just like a coil spring or leaf spring does.

Imagine you are putting a pipe wrench on a pipe, and you lift the end of the pipe wrench, it will turn/rotate the pipe, right?

The T-bar adjusters work the same way...the end of the bar is in an anchor that has a pipe wrench like finger coming off of it...and, in this case...there's a bolt going through the handle of the wrench/finger...with a nut on it...so when you turn the bolt up through the nut, it pulls the end of the finger upwards, twisting the T-bar, forcing the LCA down more.




The T-bar going from the back, to the front LCA anchor


The T-Bar going from the front, to the rear anchor/adjuster in the cross member.

The silver looking threaded bolt part sticking up is the end of the adjuster bolt...directly below that is the bolt head, just barely peeking out from below the cross member....that's the bolt head you turn, to draw the finger up into the cross member, to lift the X.

The second nut on top of the adjuster nut is just a lock nut, to keep it from loosening once adjusted. (Your threads and nuts will be rust colored, mine were silvery because I slathered them with anti-sieze compound to make future work easier...hint hint...)


Here's the back of the cross member that the t-bar adjusters would be in, with the rear of the anchor visible (Round with a "No Smoking" type bar across it, to the left of the bolt).


Rear lift shackle (Blue at the time...)


Upper bumpstop - what you use to tell how high is too high to get an alignment...that silver-ish hammer finish Upper Control Arm (UCA) is from SLR...your's will be the stock UCA....but just look for that dome shaped bumpstop coming off of the frame.

So all you do is:

1. Order the lift shackles (From Calmini for example, or any other 6" eye to eye shackle of choice for it...)

2. Spray nut blaster on every bolt/thread and spline under there a week before, and daily until you do it...to let it dissolve the rust welds.

3. Measure the current height of the truck (Every one forgets to do this...) say wheel arch to ground....at all 4 corners. (Notice it comes a little nose down from the factory...that's a normal rake for the X)

3. Replace the shackles.

4. Adjust the t-bars by turning the bolt head so as to draw the finger up further into the cross member.

5. Raise it until your upper bumpstop clearance is about 1/2 - 3/4"....re-measure all 4 corners.

Bounce it around, drive around the block, to settle the suspension, check to see if it changed, adjust as appropriate.

6. Go get an alignment.

DONE.



It takes about an hour or two to do the first time.

I must say, I've been on many Car forums, but you guys are by car, the most unselfish bunch I've met. I put my flame suit on for no reason. Thanks for all the really good info.

Stick around longer, your opinion might just change!

Good luck on the mods!

Be aware that the PML will put extra stress on an already weak steering system. It's not a huge deal - but keep an eye on your centerlink... the ball joints in there will wear down over time and develop a lot of slop.

I like the body lifts - but it is not a trivial project. If you know what you're doing you can get it done in a day or a bit less.... whereas the PML is super easy and can be done in a couple hours. remember to get an alignment after the PML.

By the way - I don't see a model year by your name... all the replies so far have been assuming that you have an '00-'04 "first generation" Xterra. The '05+ models have a different setup.

There"s that damn spider again