> Keith Wheeler's recent post on lowering the suspension on a RBB has raised
> a question in my mind.
>
> In a prior life, I was interested in 4x4's (no, I never had a desire to
> build a 4x4 MG!). A popular mod with 4x4's is to raise the body to make
> room for taller tires. I seem to recall that the use of blocks to raise
> the body was clearly not recommended as sound engineering practice. This
> does seem to be one method used to lower the suspension on RBB's however.
>
> Does anyone have long term experience with these lowering kit's. At some
> point I intend to lower my RBB, but I am curious if this is a good way to
> approach it.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris Delling
>
>
Chris, I'm not sure how a body lift would be used to LOWER the
suspension on an MG, but you're right, they're generally
frowned-upon from an engineering standpoint. The reason being is
that since they just raise the body off of the frame, you really
don't get any more ground clearance from the modification, other than
from the increased diameter of the tires. There's another method
called a "shackle lift" that's popular for Jeep Wranglers, and it
does give you more ground clearance, but your suspension geometry cna
change under heavy acceleration or braking, making for some squirrely
behavior. My brother-in-law has a 1992 Wrangler with a shackle lift,
and it tracks perfectly straight until you jam on the brakes, at
which time it "crab-crawls" to the right. VERY disconcerting.
There's a third method that costs the most, but gives the best
results. I think it involves changing all of the shocks for longer
ones, but not sure what else. It's supposed to give the increased
ride height and ground clearance, but without all of the handling
woes (with the exception of raising your center of gravity 3 or 4
inches.
Scott
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