It's been a hectic few weeks, so I haven't been on much lately, but I've gotten oh so much done since last time. After a long wait, all my parts arrived finally, and we decided to get to work on lifting my SLS and ACE equipped 2001 DII. So, here it is! Hope you like my Christmas decor, too.

All the parts got laid out




We got to work on removing the shock towers


Bolted in the new shocks


Then put it all together. With a little coaxing, everything went right in


After it was all together I could tell the front was sitting higher.

Then it was time to pull apart the back


We installed the new Arnott air springs and SLS spacers from RTE


Installed SLS spacer from RTE (these gave me tons of trouble)


And we installed the height sensor relocation bracket


... And then set her down!


After some adjustment at the back, we managed to make the rear end spot-on level with the front. I started with 18 3/4" from the center of the wheel to the wheel arch at all four corners. After the lift, I've got 21" exactly. So, overall, I netted 2 1/4" of lift. The OME 779 springs and NitroCharger shocks also gave me a MUCH better ride, and slightly flatter cornering, which, to be fair, was already really good with the ACE system. Since the OME shocks are standard length, I haven't had to extend the brake lines or do some adjusting with the front crossmember... Yet. That will come with the extended shock mounts and bump stops soon enough. I think it looks really nice and I do like the way it looks with the 265/60/18s on it, but I will be stepping up to bigger tires in the future. Let me know what you think!

Before/after:

 

Also installed my new front drive shaft from Dynamic Drive Line the next weekend. What a great product!

 

I like that tire size just fine! I think it looks real good

 

Thanks!
I do too actually I think it looks great! But I would like to step it up just a bit to increase ground clearance, unless time on the trails teaches me otherwise.

 

what kind of tires did you go with and how do they handle? I've been shopping around for some to put on my 04. Its my DD so I'm thinking I can go 265/60/18 without a lift. I just think it may smooth out the ride a little.

 

So are you running air in the rear and coils up front?

Might I ask why and what advantages that would give?

Looks great btw!

 

I've got BFGoodrich Rugged Terrains. The price is pretty good at near $170 per tire. I ran around on them with no lift for awhile and they're a great size tire on stock suspension. I really like their road manners too. They smoothed it out a bit and have way better traction than the Toyo Open Countrys that it came on.

 

Thanks!

Essentially, I'm running a near stock suspension system, just a little over 2" taller than when I started. The DIIs that came with the self levelling rear suspension had air springs in the rear and coils up front from the factory. The advantage to this being that the car automatically levels itself no matter how heavy the load you're carrying. Since my car is not only a daily driver but is also frequently loaded with camping or 4 wheeling or diving gear, i like having this feature. Also, with the press of a button on the dash, I can raise the ride height at the back of the car for better clearance or a better departure angle if I find myself ledged up on a rock about to rip off my rear bumper. It's a handy system to have.

So since I wanted to keep the SLS, I put spacers under the air springs and I used the brackets to relocate the height sensors. Job done! Under the front are the standard DII heavy duty springs from Old Man Emu.

 

I'm thinking next is a TJM bumper and a BajaRack are next!