Installed my Donahoe/Demello lift today

**MoabRat** · 08-21-2006, 10:22 PM

Well it's on:

A lot of wheelwell. It would take 35s to fill that up lol. Good thing I only have 265s on there

. This is the two inch rear springs, Bilstein's and front Donahoes. Did I say a lot of wheelwell? Now I Reeeealllly need my new bumper Jason lol.

TRDSteve · 08-22-2006, 04:43 AM

MoabRat - Very nice. You have my everything. Color. Lift. Tires. Desire for Jason's front bumper. Very nice. Please, please keep me posted on drive on & off road. Did I mention it looks very nice? It does...
Did you keep the factory rake (nose down tilt)? Or did you level it out? What's the overall lift? Ooooo. I'm so curious. Very well done.

**MoabRat** · 08-22-2006, 12:08 PM

Quote:

TRDSteve previously said:

MoabRat - Very nice. You have my everything. Color. Lift. Tires. Desire for Jason's front bumper. Very nice. Please, please keep me posted on drive on & off road. Did I mention it looks very nice? It does...
Did you keep the factory rake (nose down tilt)? Or did you level it out? What's the overall lift? Ooooo. I'm so curious. Very well done.

Thanks! I have it level for now, expecting to put on my Demello bumper and Warn M8000 (total weight about 140 pounds) That should give me back the factory rake look that I like. Hard to say what the overall effect of the lift was lol. I will take some real world measurements tonight when out of my work cloths, but the coils and front donahoes were at 2 inches. Don't know about the rear reservoirs showing so much. I might see about mounting on top of the frame rail when I feel like extra work for very little results. Going to wait for the jury to return as far as larger tires though. Lot's of questions there like rear diff strength and when lower gearing will be available (4.10 would be minimum I would think for 33s, would prefer 4.54 or 4.88 for crawling though) speedo gear changes for the odo/speedo accuracy, body mount interference, and so on. For now I only have 8000 miles on my 265 BFGs and would expect to get a bunch more before I swap.

TRDSteve · 08-22-2006, 03:37 PM

Tires. Yup. Yup. The stock 265 are roughly equivalent to 31-32's me thinks. I'm thinking of only going to 275's (32-33's). 285's would be my absolute limit. However, like you, my BFG's have to wear out first.
Real height difference is important (to me) for garaging.
Don't forget driving notes!

**MoabRat** · 08-23-2006, 07:31 PM

Quote:

TRDSteve previously said:

Tires. Yup. Yup. The stock 265 are roughly equivalent to 31-32's me thinks. I'm thinking of only going to 275's (32-33's). 285's would be my absolute limit. However, like you, my BFG's have to wear out first.
Real height difference is important (to me) for garaging.
Don't forget driving notes!

Luckily it looks like I make the garage with 2 or 3 inches to spare before I start ripping off the door spring. It's driving so well. No vibration or anything. It is lighter steering, I think this is due to the rake being gone. I'll bet it's different once I get the bumper and winch on. It really soaks up bumps and again, just drives like a dream. Here it is after:

Measurements are as follows, always before/after in inches

Wheel-well space front: 4.75 / 7.75
Wheel-well space rear: 7 / 7.75
Frame rail center of vehicle: 14.5 / 16.5
Measurement to body line above front bumper: 32 / 36
Measurement to body line above rear bumper: 40 / 41

The frame rail is the real lift measurement I guess and it's just as advertised, two inches on the nose.

Unlike many other folks on the board I am not experiencing ANY body lean. I think that's a symptom of spacer lifts but whatever.

Bottom line is complete satisfaction. In fact I'm happier with the setup than I thought I'd be. Hope that's enough hard data lol

wise-and-noble-goat · 08-23-2006, 08:58 PM

thanks for the info MRat, looks great!

rutherk1 · 08-23-2006, 09:08 PM

Looks good.

What about these driveline/steering/balljoint angles? Any additional stress?

micrad · 08-23-2006, 09:26 PM

Fabulous job. Give those Toyo P295,open country M/T's a look, that'll fill up your wheelwells. If your interested contact Greg Wood at Discount Tires in Murray. He has treated me well and he got those Toyo's in 2 weeks when he was initially advised that they were backordered for 90 days in 17". Your rig looks great and will perform. Look forward to meeting you in Moab Oct'

TRDSteve · 08-24-2006, 06:35 AM

Quote:

MoabRat previously said:

Bottom line is complete satisfaction. In fact I'm happier with the setup than I thought I'd be. Hope that's enough hard data lol

Rat- I can't thank you enough. That is enough. Thanks!

**MoabRat** · 08-24-2006, 10:32 AM

I don't think any angles were dramatically increased with this small lift. I have seen development on extended CV boots and I probably will buy more articulated upper control arms when Donahoe finally finishes them. It seems nearly perfect now and the bumper/winch will drop it half an inch.