Opinion on *minor* lift to fit 14's on a TXT

BrewCityMusic

Working on my first ever "non-lifted" cart, and it looks like I may have to lift it after all to fit 205-30-14's without any worry of rubbing (the cart will be used on groomed trails so even though it's a "street look" I want to ensure I have full use of what stock suspension there is) ... I figure I can get an inch and a half in back with shackles, no problem there BUT here's the question - I plan on moving the front leafs up top of the axle, and I'm not 100% confident that just running longer bolts to pinch things up will be very stable. Anyone have experience with this, I'm guessing I need to grab a couple more plates and weld them to the top of the axle maybe?

Any other ideas on gaining an easy inch or so up front? The cart already has the long 22 1/4 springs so short of having a new longer set fabbed up I can't just poke things out front easily - any other plans that have worked? Thanks

BGW

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kgsc

This an old style steering box ? If springs are on top the tie rods may hit

BrewCityMusic

Oh sh*t, good point ... Yeah, the frame is pre-2001 with the 3-bolt on the firewall (footwall?!?) - well NOW I guess I'm looking for a whole new plan unless someone can jog my feeble brain with an easy fix for the issue

BrewCityMusic

Has anyone blocked up the front leaf springs at the frame instead of the axle? In theory, it *looks* like it just might work well enough to give me the clearance I want, plus I wouldn't be stuck with the entire axle height so I could maybe go for .75" at first and add from there if I end up needing more ...

BrewCityMusic

Well the 14's arrived today, superfast shipping thanks to Dave at KJ Motorsports ... And from the prelim test-fitting, there's absolutely NO way these will work on the cart without some serious suspension work. With just me in the cart they hook on the cowl at a standstill, so in addition to the inch I need just to fit them without rubbing I'm going to need to compensate for the suspension travel, etc so I'm looking at more like a 3" lift or ? Which totally destroys the entire look of the cart *sigh*

Added Note: I never even thought to ask about the offset like an idiot - these are 2:5, so the rears don't tuck under either, also looking at a 3" lift there, minimum (and to be honest, there's no WAY I'm going to drive around on a cart with tires sticking out the sides, flares also shoot "the look" to hell) ....

OH WELL, I guess it's "back to the drawing board" - I think I *may* take a few hours and try the 1.5" lift I have figured out and just see if there's a way, but short of cutting and shortening the axle (as well as all the related BS) as well as the rear end (not as bad but still serious work) it looks like the project is back to square one.

bokeasmowl

BCM, this was my ezlo on 205/30-14's. I had a slight rubbing issue but it was in the rear. I never had any rubbing in the front and I had original sagging leafs on this cart. Maybe some HD front and rear leafs will stop the rubbing and be able to keep the street look you're looking for.

BrewCityMusic

Hmm ... From the pic You have FAR more clearance at the rear of the wheel well than I do, same size tires too so that's weird. I already have the long 22.5" springs so I can't slide the wheels out THAT way either. I just got back from grabbing some 1.25"X2"X3" blocks as well as a bunch of longer 7/16" bolts, I'm going to unbolt the rear of the springs at the frame and block the springs up an inch an a quarter there (after some fitment and drilling, of course) - in *theory* that should lift the entire front by an inch an a half (I have spacers for the shocks too) which I'm REALLY hoping will get me what I need in the front. I already have an extra set of HD springs for the rear off my old Workhorse, so I'm going to see if they fit, along with some new shackles I oughtta be able to tweak the rear end enough (fingers crossed) ....

Which leaves me with the 3/4" of tire sticking out the side of the cart - not that it looks totally stupid, but it's going to make a real mess out of riding in the mornings (wet grass) rain, etc ... I might see about getting some ABS or ? and fabbing up some uber-thin splashguards to go on the cart, I guess it's not a *total* loss but hey, creativity and frustration go hand in hand and explain why we even DO this stuff, right? RIGHT?

Well, time to crack a beer and go hide in the shop for a couple of hours ....

bokeasmowl

If you want another pic of the rear let me know.

And I agree, tucking the wheels look much better and also will keep water from slinging, but that's the nature of the beast with a 2/5 offset. The only wheel I seen that has the right available offset is an ITP212. TerryH has a set of those in 14's on his purple "stock" drag cart.

Which rims did you go with?

BrewCityMusic

Same as You, the Fairway Bullets ... Got a deal on a trade with Scot (EssnEss) for the first pair, then Dave at KJ took INCREDIBLE care of me buying the second set, lug nuts, adapter, etc ....

The GOOD news is the fronts now fit - I have to DL some pics (which I will post in a few) but the long and the short of it, for $11 and about an hour and a half (most of which was head-scratching and rethinking, beer, repeat as neccesary) I managed to do a simple 1.125" lift which did the trick wonderfully, we even beat the hell out of it with 2 people on the trails and no rub on the front *whew* and it also doesn't look lifted at all, with the taller tires it actually almost looks meaner - although the Bullets are going as soon as I can dig up the scratch for something with a bit less offset and definitely WIIIIIDER ....

Pics in a bit, my connection sucks (mobile broadband - boonies and all)

BrewCityMusic

WOW - went faster than I thought. Here's the story, I couldn't lift the axle at all due to the early TXT design, so I went for another structural point. The local Tractor Supply (tractor Supply Inc . com) had a set of 3500lb spring mounts designed to weld onto a trailer axle which were the same width as the springs, 1.125" tall, made from 1/4" stock, and long enough to fit the frame pocket where the springs mount fully - for $11.

SO - I pulled the cart apart and dropped a spring at the floorboards, measured it up and drilled a hole for the mounting thru-bolt:

20130607_181718.jpg

THEN - I simply attached the spring with the drilled mount between the frame and the spring, using 3.5" 7/16 bolts, repeated as necessary on the other side, and ended up with the underside looking like this:

20130607_181947.jpg

Net result, 1.125" of extra clearance, which actually worked out perfectly on ALL planes, as this pic shows:

20130607_180953.jpg

NOW .... I also fabbed up a pair of shackles at 3.625" center to center to match the lift (factory were 2.5 ctc) ... And lo and behold, not *quite* enough lift. Close, but not enough to make me confident. Off to the barn to do a little sandblasting on the Workhorse HD springs, the paint is drying as I type, and in the AM I believe the combo of the HD springs which give about an inch as well as the shackles *should* take care of the rears, if not I have some heavy-duty body edge moulding that I may just use to hide where I widen the wheel wells (but that's another chapter I'm not going to dive into yet, LOL - gonna see where the springs and shackles go first).

STILL think these rims rock, but the tires just look freakin skinny and spindly on them - Gonna try and find an 8 or 9 inch wide set of rims with a 1" offset (likely not a cheap prospect but I'll bet they're out there) and deal with it from there - at least for tonight I feel good knowing the front lift "tweak" worked out fairly well (still think I'm going to sleeve the front 2 bolts to hold the riser a bit tighter, I'm doubting it will shift but I'd hate to find out that yeah, it DOES at 30+mph)

*Might* see if I can have a buddy machine up a set of blocks that have guides, etc in them now that I know what I'm dealing with, who knows - now that I know the theory DID in fact hold water I can take my time playing around with it