2" OLV Lift Install '04 AWD to 4" Lift to 5" Lift

[Philly758]

The van looks great. Every part of your van looks very clean and this upgrade was no exception.

I'm also glad the new owner was patient in waiting on the shocks as I went through the process of figuring out the correct shocks, thanks Dan.

Not a problem. Buying them used saved me money and will get my van to where I want it to be sooner. I can't wait until they show up and I find time to put them on.


Nice 2008 Subie Outback Sport! Hopefully its not an off lease one from Connecticut, I beat the crap out of mine. Most people didn't believe I could chirp the tires into every gear with 170 hp and AWD... Other than that its a very fun car and I miss mine.

[Corsemoto]

The van looks great. Ever part of your van looks very clean and this upgrade was no exception.

I'm also glad the new owner was patient in waiting on the shocks as I went through the process of figuring out the correct shocks, thanks Dan.

Not a problem. Buying them used saved me money and will get my van to where I want it to be sooner. I can't wait until they show up and I find time to put them on.


Nice 2008 Subie Outback Sport! Hopefully its not an off lease one from Connecticut, I beat the crap out of mine. Most people didn't believe I could chirp the tires into every gear with 170 hp and AWD... Other than that its a very fun car and I miss mine.

Thanks man, like I said you were cool and patient about waiting and I appreciate that - worked out for both of us. Now hopefully you get some warmer weather to work on your van!

That's my mom's 2010 OBS so no worries about it being your old thrasher and I've been kind to it the few times I've driven it! Definitely wanted to get some photos of the two awd's together while I could. Seems to be a pretty nice car for the money, reliable, holding value well and not alot of them around, that's for sure.

[kus]

Now if only I could find an AWD rear swaybar.....All the ones I can locate strangly warn RWD only I didn't think the rear would be any different, WTH

They shouldn't be any different. I just installed a Hellwig on my AWD. Check out my thread: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=13627
EDIT: You if you go to Hellwigs website ( http://www.hellwigproducts.com/products ... sway-bars/ ) and search for Astro or Safari, it says 7556 for front w/o AWD and 7534 for rear. They are two different part numbers. You may be confusing the AWD mess with the fact that no company makes an aftermarket front sway bar for AWD. I had replace my front recently with a Dorman solid sway bar since it was the only option. I hope that makes sense, good luck.

Awesome info and thank you!!

[Lumpy]

FWIW - For my 89 RWD, 6.5 front/7.0 rear lift, I mounted Rancho 9000s

Front -999166
Rear - 999147 (rear bottom mounts raised from OEM)
with controller
Fabulous adjustable ride












I don't know about you AWD guys. But the front shocks in the RWD vans only travel about 4 inches from full collapse to full expand. Makes using the orig shock mounts in front a bit of a problem.


Lump

[Corsemoto]

I like the MyRide controller but I've read about them leaking often.

The AWD front shocks are 4.6" travel and the longer shocks 5.6" which is plenty for my lift.

[Corsemoto]

Today I moved the leaf springs in the shackles from the bottom position to the middle position with only approximately a 1/2" change lower in rear height to about 35 1/8" from 35 5/8". Test drive and van still has vibration around 60mph and possibly some vibration around 30mph on decel.

I also set the Rancho shocks to #4 all-around for one test drive which gave the van a plusher but more bouncy ride with quite a bit more body roll. Almost reminds me of my old van's Sensa-Tracs that had some miles on them. I set them back to #9 for the remainder of driving as I like the firm feel without the body roll.

I am going to put the leaf springs back into the lowest position in the shackles as it doesn't make a difference to the vibration. Tomorrow I'm going to relocate the upper ball joints to below the upper control arms, replace right front wheel hub/bearing assembly and rotate tires. I noticed on the front shocks that at close to full extension when jacked up the upper control arms contact the shocks slightly which didn't happen with the Bilstein shocks, probably due to the smaller diameter body on the Bilstein and 2.18" diameter on the Rancho.

[Corsemoto]

Relocated upper ball joints below control arms for more relaxed control arm angle, shock clearance and camber back to a more neutral setting from negative camber after cranking torsion bars for additional lift. The Moog ball joints came with 10.9 hardware, so good there. Pretty straight forward job, ball joints popped out of steering knuckle with a few taps of a big hammer so pickle fork or anything required.







I also replaced my bad right front wheel hub, the three bolts came out fairly easy and I sprayed the hub with penetrating oil and threaded the bolts back in to tap the bearing out. It was pretty rusty on the backside so took a bit for the penetrating spray to work but then came out. I cleaned up the steering knuckle hub with Scotchbrite as the old bearing shell left quite a bit of rust on it. The new Timken hub and bearing assembly is really nice (made in America), includes the speed sensor (I have a spare from the old hub now!) and bolted into place with no problems. I was surprised at how bad the bearing was, once you start getting movement in your wheel it's time to replace.

[Corsemoto]

Here is the latest on my van and how it looks with freshly refinished matte black wheels and new tires!

I went with Treadwright Warden A/T (BFG T/A KO E load rating) 245/75-16 tires balanced with 8oz of Dynabeads in each wheel/tire and Orange Electronic P409S tpms system installed. The 245/75-16 tires are about 1 1/2" larger diameter (30.7") than the 235/70-16 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S (29.2") so an additional 3/4" of lift gained. I guess I can call it a 5" lift now.

I've been wanting to try a set of these Treadwright Warden A/T tires after much research so now I'll find out how well they work. I'm still looking for a couple extra spare wheels to mount two more tires for use in rotation. Not sure if I am going to sell the Yokohama Geolandars yet or keep them for daily driving, they are still in great condition with approximately 6k on them.

As I currently only have the one set of center caps from my original silver wheels I didn't want to do anything permanent to the original finish so I removed the aluminum outer covers (tabs on back of covers), removed the plastic wheel nut inserts, painted the bare black plastic finish with matte black and reinstalled the wheel nut inserts.

New wheels and tires installed w/o center caps:





With painted center caps:





As far as clearance, the rear is fine and in the front I did some additional trimming to the bumper cover and the back of wheel well plastic/metal.

Unfortunately, I haven't even driven the van yet - been sitting since the weekend when the fuel pump went out and waiting on replacement Delphi pump from Rock Auto to arrive. Let's hope I have better luck with Delhi fuel pump than I did with their radiators! <knock on wood>

Can't wait to swap fuel pumps and go test drive!

[Maxximum_44]

There's a dealership close by that has an astro w/ those wheels. I've been looking for them since then.
Really nice truck! I like the way they look w/out the center caps also.

[kus]

went with Treadwright Warden A/T (BFG T/A KO E load rating) 245/75-16 tires balanced with 8oz of Dynabeads in each wheel/tire and Orange Electronic P409S tpms system installed. The 245/75-16 tires are about 1 1/2" larger diameter (30.7") ...so an additional 3/4" of lift gained

As far as clearance, the rear is fine and in the front I did some additional trimming to the bumper cover and the back of wheel well plastic/metal.

Can't wait to swap fuel pumps and go test drive!

I'd be interested in a close up photo of the trimming areas to see how much you had to remove.....
Like the looks of the tires but not so much the wheels, best without center caps IMO, to each his own.

The tarp roof box must provide for some serious gas mileage reduction. eh? how much $$ for those freakin' fuel pumps? I keep worrying about mine and getting stranded got 150k now and always leave at least 1/4 full, doesn't hum too bad yet.

Thanks for sharing the updates. Your mechanical prowess astounds me w/ others on this site

[Corsemoto]

So far I've done what others have done for trimming the bumper cover and back of the front wheel wells. Once I get fuel pump installed to test drive and am satisfied I have enough clearance, I'll post additional photos.

Post lift, the rooftop tent only decreases mileage by approximately 1 mpg, I see around 15-16mpg highway with tent.

It's when your fuel pump stops making noise that you're in trouble! New Delphi pump was around $225 from Rock Auto with 5% discount code.

For the past few weeks van has been harder to start and think the heat down here helped to kill pump. Just waiting on Fedex truck...

[Jasen]

I looks great

[Lumpy]

It does look great...

I like the look of the loaded roof rack and tarp. Gives it the wedge shape, point forward that I seem to gravitate toward.

Wheel wells still seem just a tad too tight at the bottom for my taste. Hope you're not having clearance problems there.

I too like the wheels without covers.

But the thing looks powerful. Jeeps will bow down when you pull into camp.


Lump

[Corsemoto]

Thanks guys. I like the look w/o wheel caps also but am going to leave them on until I decide on lug nuts and wire brush and paint the center of the rear hubs black.

Thinking something like these black acorn lug nuts:



I did an initial trim when I installed the 31" tires only to put it on hold when fuel pump died and couldn't test drive or easily turn the wheels. I am going to start trimming farther up the bumper cover wheel well in order to get a nice arch and clearance for the new tires. For rear of front wheel wells, additional metal and body trim removal.

[Shad0wXCalibur]

Those are big.... really big

[Maxximum_44]

Might be just me but, I like the chrome lugs against the black rims, looks real bad-ass!

[Corsemoto]

Installed and set up the Orange Electronic P409S tpms display unit in the van today. For now it's plug n play and velcro'd in place until I wire it into ignition on and fab a little bracket for the display unit. It's great to be able to track tire pressures and temperatures.

[Bread Van]

Great thread, van looking awesome!! I really like the original color scheme on yours.

Quick question. Shouldn't the shims be installed with the fat part of the wedge at the back?

I have to admit I am totally new to lifting but I've been thinking about shims a lot lately. I have a rumble at about 70-75+ mph. I gets worse when I crest a hill or pass and let off throttle to coast. Anyway, in my mind the shim with the fat part to the rear would help restore the original line-up of the driveline.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't really researched yet, but for what it's worth your picture is the best representation I've seen about how to use shims.

Thanks for all the posting you've done.

[Lumpy]

...Quick question. Shouldn't the shims be installed with the fat part of the wedge at the back?

A common question that I had too when I started lifting.

Consider...

Installing longer shackles in the rear of the leaf springs causes the REAR of the spring to drop lower, while the FRONT of the spring remains at it's original mounting point. The leaf, and attached axle, is being rotated around the front leaf mounting point. Imagine, as an exaggeration, your van on a garage lift. Unbolt the rear of the leaves and allow the rear to swing down 90 degrees toward the floor.

Installing the wedge shaped shim (thick side forward) counteracts that rotation. The longer shackle causes the differential to rotate and point it's long axis a bit more upward. The shim tilts that axle/diff DOWN in front to bring it back into the alignment it was in before the rear of the leaf was dropped (with the shackles).

We WANT the transmission axis and the differential axis to be on the same plane. The drive shaft is at an angle, but that's ok. The larger angle on top (front of drive shaft) is the same angle on the bottom (rear of drive shaft) so any imbalance cancels itself out.

Perhaps harder to explain than to address in real life.

Two shafts (transmission and diff) in the same horizontal plane. That's the desired outcome.


Lump

[Bread Van]

Thanks Lump, that totally makes sense. I was thinking, incorrectly, of an axle the just drops below the original plane. kind of like this:
original --
lifted _-

Thus making the U-joints compensate. I was forgetting when using a shackle only the rear leaf mount is dropped and the front leaf mount is a pivot...thus rotating the diff more upward.

This is what i get for not driving much since installing my shackles nearly a year ago. My rumble is pretty minimal too so I've gotten complacent.