I have been doing a little research and posted a similar thread over at planetisuzoo, but I keep getting mixed answers. I have a '99 Amigo and am going to be lifting it soon. I want to go with either 33's or 35's but at the moment, the 35's sound good to me! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Some people say I need a 3" sus lift and 3" BL, others say I can do it with all suspension. I have already removed the mudflaps and I don't mind to trim the flares and remove parts of the fender liners, but I'd rather not have to trim much of the body. This is a daily driver and will be a moderate trail rig.

So here goes:
1) I'd rather not put on a BL, so can I really fit 35's with all suspension lift? If so, what kind of setup will I need? Will I be burning through CV boots & tie rods?

2) Can I use a 15" rim? Also, what is the best offset/backspacing for minimal rubbing and trimming?

3) What is the "Chris Perosi" lift? I tried searching here, but since that is his username, pretty much every post that he has ever made pops up.

4) Would I be better off sticking with 33's?

There have been two guys that pioneered this method before you:

Chris Perosi with his green 98 - Zues (RIP) UN:Cperosi





and
Peter Plotzeneder with his blue 98 - Ox. UN:PPlotz




Both had suspension ~4" lifts and body lifts CP (3"), PP(1").
Both had to MASSIVELY cut the front fenders to make them fit.

Peter has a front locker and breaks axles/CVs with some regularity. The lower gears have some attribute to that as well.

I dont know of Chris ever breaking a front axle/CV.

The rear axle stands up to the locked/low gears and 35s.

I run 33s as it was easier to fit, and the additional hassle/strain on the drivetrain didnt ever make sense to make the jump for an additional inch of tire clearance. YMMV.


The CP lift is simply the method of lifting the second gens. He was IIRC the first to obtain and lift one, and its the replacement of the shocks, adding springs in the rear and cranking the torsions...

HTH

I agree that the green one above has a BL. You can see the space in the fender wells. However, the blue one does not look like it has a BL. Maybe it is the angle. Also, I was linked to this post where pplotz tells his setup - maybe he just forgot to mention it?



I guess that is partly where some of the confusion is coming from. I'd love to be able to do it without a BL.

Im sure you could do it without a BL. However, you did mention that you did not want to excessively trim.

Its a trade off, the more body lift you have the less trimming you have to do, ALTHOUGH even at 3" BL the trimming is substantial.

I would figure a rough estimate is that you would lose ~2" in the front fender through trimming. It gets trimmed to nearly the lower mounting bolt of the fender.

Not saying that you couldnt pull it off. You just need to be aware of the path that those before you travelled, and the sacrifices that come with that choice.

Good luck.

Here's a response from Pplotz on a different thread with the same question:

"to answer your question, you will NOT be able to fit 35's without doing a minimum of a 1" body lift. As far as I know I have the least amount of lift (and the most amount of fender reshaping to fit my 35's). I will say though, that our wheel wells were made to fit 35's, mine fit perfectly.

now if your really careful, and get the perfect rims (offset makes a world of difference) and some 33 x 11.50 you could probably 'make' them fit with some custom fender reshaping.

Make sure you trust your body shop, because it took us two solid days of chopping, welding, and folding to fit my 35's.

I wouldn't be to worried about a suspension lift, that really only helps with articulation, on pavement it should matter, but I would get some stiff shocks.

Again, I would like to stress the wear on your drivetrain with such big tires (without regearing) and the ease of snapping and axle shaft. My first clutch went out really fast before I regeared. All in all however, I love the look!"


As for my expirience with 35's, I think my answer will be, if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't do it. Stick with 33s and wheel the heck out of it.