Has anyone done a subframe lift? Is it in any way feasible for casual/hobby folks to do on their own?

 

@Peterdjp and @sarek are two members who have a subframe lift. It looks like a beast of a task to my untrained eye.

 

I have no personal experience. However, I was at SCARR 2022 a few weeks ago where this exact topic came up. I was hanging out with a bunch of VERY cool Land Rover mechanics. Most had worked at Dealers before joining some of the 3rd party service shops in Dallas. Their Land Rover knowledge collectively went back decades. And they were just great guys to hang out with and share some drinks. Anyway, I was in mad awe of their talents and one of the senior techs at a highly recognized shop started talking about it. He said his shop would NEVER do it again on a quote. It would strictly be "Time & Materials" until completed. He said that it took him three straight days to do it and these weren't 8 hour days. These were long hours by an insanely talented Rover mechanic who knew his way around the L663's. If it took him ~30 hours, you do your own math. I asked him about the AU Bullbars like mine. He said they have done plenty and they are WAY easier. Right there, I checked it off of my bucket list. I figure if I get to that point, I'm hiring them, Sarek, or someone who hasn't done it before....

 

That sounds intimidating not gonna lie

 

It is by no means a bolt in kit. We had to cut and grind to get it to fit. Also requires a lift to lift the vehicle and an engine hook from the top to hold the motor to basically drop the entire subframe down. Also be mindful that the 4 inch or larger kits will have steering binding that has not been addressed afaik. We had to mod the body to address and fix this.

 

Yikes, I am convinced. I’ll leave this to the professionals lol.

For other people considering this, in addition to @sarek shop I did reach out to LR Denver (birthplace of Big Bertha) and they’ll do up to 4” with a 5-6 month booking lead time as of now. I dont know of any other shops willing and able in the US yet

 

Generally speaking, a shop quoting you half a year for a “30 hour job" (according to this thread) is a shop that doesn't want the work or is completely underwater on service. Since they've obviously done the job before, that's a sign they're severely bottlenecked. That's just not a great position to be in as a customer or vendor. You do the math on their services.. There are plenty of service/fee/figures available here to glean from.

 

probably true in part, although the subframe lift parts themselves have a hefty lead time from Australia iirc and LR Denver probably only devote a bay or two to time intensive mods like this at any one time. They do have regular service obligations to prioritize over what must be a relatively rare modification.

 

The kits are made in Arizona. But yes. Steve in Denver probably doesn't enjoy doing the kits. Its not fun.

 

I'm fairly certain New Defender Mods is just a reseller and that J Auston Fabrication out of Arizona actually makes the sub frame kits - http://jaustonfab.com/