6" SPOA weld on saddles

[mic]

seems a cheap way of doing it.... worth £25??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2759.l1259

[Tramp]

it depends how much lift you want! alot of people go down the spoa route because its cheap and cheerful, it can also make your sj undrivable!

although the kit does allow for better articulation and the fitting of 31" tyres (33" at a push!) it raises your center of gravity alot, some people dont mind but it makes side slopes hard work etc,

now the mistakes people make....
nessercary
brake liness, you will need new extended brakelines
steering, all of a sudden your steering bar is 6" above the old point of steering you will need either a 'z' bar (alot of people dont like these as they flex and can cause bump steer) or a high steer/half high steer kit, which brings your steering knuckls from the bottom of the axle to the top and in line with the old steering bar
pointing the diff flange at the t box output to stop the uj's being at too extreme an angle the axle input is sometimes twisted to allow the better prop angles, its okay to twist the rear one abit, but you will need to overfill it with oil to makesure the pinion bearing isnt starved or your diff can go bang, wheras the front axle can't be twisted to point its flange at the t box because it messes up the caster angle and stops your steering wheel returning to the center position, also it makes your sj really unstable on the road,

optional
shock absorbers, you will need harder shocks because otherwise it will be too wobbly
lowered bump stops because the leafs work more you have to worry about the leafs going past flat so you really could do with lowering the bump stops to match
tramp bar because of the axle being located underneath the leaves the rear axle (more so than the front) it tries to pivot on its mountings when you push the loud pedal, this can make your rear leaves a 'S' shape and brake them, a tramp bar connects your rear axle to the chassis and stops the axle from twisting, but still allows the axle to move,

any way thats all i can think of at the moment!
hope i have helped

Luke

[d86]

luke is to polite to say the obvious.

it's a nastymod done wrong.....

its still a nasty mod done right....


so really its up to you...

on a last note..
alot of trucks have it..personlly in well over 20 years of doing this i have never botherd (cant see the point)
and yes i have owned 3 trucks with it done,only kept one for selling(see sj413k in build section).the others i scrapped.
lift springs are expensive but the real way to go.

tony

[ben_moto501]

I'm going to do an SPOA lift this year but it is really worth sourcing your products from good places! After searching for a while I found a site called RockyRoad in the USA and it is amazing for all things with the SJ! I bought a set of 6" lift SPOA 'Duluxe' saddles which are excellent quality! They researched the good and the bad with SPOA and found that if the saddles are welded on too hot they weaken the axle and not enough heat they simply aren't strong! So their answer was to make saddles which are made from very sturdy material and almost wrap around the axle! The idea here is not to weld them at all to the axle but to weld them to the original axle mount on the bottom of the axle! Here you can use lots of heat and get a very strong weld without the risk of weakening your axle! They weren't cheap though and with postage they cost me about £150!! The Americans are big fans of the Samurai and as they love rock crawling the SPOA suits them because it gives a good lift and plenty of articulation! Just remember it is advisable to get off set rims to widen your track when going for a 6" lift to remain stable on tracks! Also you will need longer brakelines (Llama4x4) and as you are going up 6" then ideally +7" lines should be sourced. Prop spacers and a 'Z' bar are also required.
There is a company selling a complete damper kit on Ebay for £100 and this includes all the dampers suitable for a 2 - 6" lift and a mount to put more angle on the rear dampers to improve articulation! They do sound cheap but as they break in the future you can replace them with Pro Comp ones! Lots of people recommend a Bam bar to stop the rear axle twisting and I will do this eventually but until then just a set of heavy duty springs (also from Llama4x4) will do the job!
Quite an important point to look after your springs is to extend your bump stops! As I am going up 6" I will extend them 6" to match! This is to stop the springs bending the wrong way which greatly reduces their service life!!

Ben

[Tramp]

Quite an important point to look after your springs is to extend your bump stops! As I am going up 6" I will extend them 6" to match! This is to stop the springs bending the wrong way which greatly reduces their service life!!

you may have to extended the bump stops more than 6" because you have the cross section of the axle to compensate for, before the lifit your bumpstops work on the axle tube itself, after the lift they work on to the ssprings them selves, really you need the 6" of the kit plus the cross sectional size of the axle to get them at the right height,

personally for me, spoa wasn't the answer, every one to their own, and it has been used sucessfully for some time you will be doing with your sj, but its just not right for me!

Luke

[jameswilts]

Iv fone a spoa, just fitted 33" anacondas on 16" vit wheels.
Have to say im very impressed with it!!!