People have been asking me about how we fit large tires on our vehicles, and everyone is concerned about body lift. I believe that body lift is the classical American way of fitting tires. This was also the case in Iceland 20 years ago but now we try to avoid all lift as much as possible but cut and trim the fenders and add new flares instead. In many cases rear axles are moved back a few cm.
This gives excelent road handling contrary to the American high lift approach.

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Yesterday I had a question about this from a member of the forum and this is my answare:


</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> and another question since you have 35" tires. do u get good flexing with 35" and does it rub any. do you have any kind of problem with them being that big? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">No problems at all. Some light rub may be possible in very extreme situations but that is nothing to worry about. Road handling is not effected or even improved in some cases (depending on what kind of tires and rims you had before) and power loss is barely noticable.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> does it rub on the inside of the frame or plastics any being that big or did you get a big off set for the rims?
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">There is no rub there, I dont have figures for the offset but it is not much may be 1 - 2 cm (1/2 - 3/4 inch)

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> and one more, the one u sent me, is that 2 different pajeros, cause i noticed on one side it has different rims, so i wasnt sure if i was lookin at the same one.... either way it looks good, but since u said he had a 3cm body lift, how did he do it and if its possible, what did he use to do all that, and what did he do to lift the bumpers so it wouldnt look like a body lift... thanx man. bye
angelo
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">There are 2 different Pajeros on the pictures, one (the darkgreen) with 3 cm bodylift and the other without it.
For the bodylift you need 3 cm fiber or nylon shims and longer bolts. The bumpers are raised by welding fasteners to the frame and the radiator is lowered. Then you have to losen up some hoses and wires and fasten them again to prevent tension on them. All this is rather simple and inexpensive.
But my advise is not to do the bodylift, if you want more room for your tires, cut more from the fenders and use wider flares. That is the Icelandic way.
The red Pajero has 38" tires and very little lift.

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The pictures are at:

http://www.laugar.is/konni/

K.

All well and good. And I think its great for you guys, but it depends on the rig and the terrain.

For 2dr vehicles, a sawzall is the american way. I can get 44's on any rig with only 2 drs. Its not hard.

But when you get a 4dr, its long already. Moving the axle back will not help wheeling any. Its a different style over here. Not saying your wheeling isnt hard, but it sure isnt as technical. The last thing a LWB truck needs is more wheel base.

Not to mention what about gears. You may not need gears with snow and glacier travel, but for wheeling out here you need it. 35's just wont work with american wheeling with our gearsets. We need lower gears, be that in the tcase, diffs, or tranny.

To bad the "icelandic" way wont work on american trails, cause I would be running 35's now.

<small>[ 14 May 2002, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: DougH ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by DougH:
<strong>

To bad the "icelandic" way wont work on american trails, .</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">I think thats why it's called "The Icelandic Way" and not the "How everyone should do everything everywhere and stuff Way"

<img border="0" alt="[Nerd]" title="" src="graemlins/nerd.gif" />

I think it should be called the "Mitsu Way" and not the "American Way" as our rigs have MUCH lower Differential gear ratios than the typical "American Rig" STOCK. I'm not talking about "custom built" rig's, But the problem for most of us is that there isn't enough power, and/or enough low range ratio for technical "rock crawling". Lloyd's working on one solution, and I'm working on another. BOTH are EXPENSIVE!!!!, but both should fix the problem.
Kary

how about the MoPed solution? equip each passenger with a set of pedals to assist the engine...

I think Kary's solution is the better one, in the end... Sure, it requires that you remember which parts are which when you buy replacements, but replacements are SOO much cheaper for American steel <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

ohh... man.... and there's a couple of bolt-on superchargers for Vortec 4.3's.... it doesn't take much imagination to think of a montero that can rule off road AND turn 14 second passes or better AND be daily drivable AND get live-able gas mileage ... <img border="0" alt="[Drunk]" title="" src="graemlins/drunk.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Drunk]" title="" src="graemlins/drunk.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Drunk]" title="" src="graemlins/drunk.gif" /> I'd better stop dreaming, or I'm gonna have to go home from work and take a cold shower <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> Anyone got a winning lottery ticket they want to share?

<small>[ 14 May 2002, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: Eric D ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by DougH:
[QB]All well and good. And I think its great for you guys, but it depends on the rig and the terrain.

..............
wheeling out here you need it. 35's just wont work with american wheeling with our gearsets. We need lower gears, be that in the tcase, diffs, or tranny.

QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">For American style wheeling (rock crawlin?) at 3 miles/hour in mid latitude weather, we would be walking or using tractors. We use Pajeros, Land Rovers, Land Cruisers or Troopers because of the added comfort.

K.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by Big Blue:
<strong>I think it should be called the "Mitsu Way" and not the "American Way" as our rigs have MUCH lower Differential gear ratios than the typical "American Rig" STOCK. I'm not talking about "custom built" rig's, But the problem for most of us is that there isn't enough power, and/or enough low range ratio for technical "rock crawling". Lloyd's working on one solution, and I'm working on another. BOTH are EXPENSIVE!!!!, but both should fix the problem.
Kary</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Agreed Kary. Our rigs have higher gears than most rigs modified. Personally I would want to go any higher than 4.88 because the gears start to weaken.

I like your 4.3 way, but I can only dream, for now. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

As for a tcase, im sure you can get an adaptor fabed for the tranny output, and the case itself. The only issue I see is the shifter rail passes through the tranny into the tcase if I rember correctly.

I could see that as a solution, but I dont want lower gears in my genII, and thats my only fresh motor. My genI with 200k on the clock, and so so compression, would be much better suited with a 4.3 or other.

Cheers,

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by konni:
<strong>For American style wheeling (rock crawlin?) at 3 miles/hour in mid latitude weather, we would be walking or using tractors. We use Pajeros, Land Rovers, Land Cruisers or Troopers because of the added comfort.
K.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Comfort it is. Those rigs a SWEET. If I ever need a glacier vehicle... your country is the place im going for a fab shop. Keep the sweet pictures coming.