Rockymountain driver Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Ok, I have a 94 Subaru impreza. I made a 4'' lift for the body and found that a 97 Subaru legacy outback had struts that allowed for more tire clearance. I am running 205/75/15 and have no problems on rubbing after trimming the rear body a half inch or so. What it is coming down to now is the ability to jump the car and not blow struts. I found some talk on putting on struts from a Tribeca an they seem like they will work by sight. Has anyone done it? I cut out the whole rear of car and added 2'' square tubing for front to rear frame and added 2 seats in rear making it a 7 seat hatch back. I have not weighted the car yet but guessing about 500 lbs after all is done. What is the largest tires that anyone is running on mid 90's and anyone have some experience on monster truck like suspension in a Subaru? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 that's awesome. what would it take to see a picture of this beast, i'd love to see those 7 seats! folks have done complete custom builds utilizing other suspension, hopefully they'll chime in. you may want to post in the Offroad section of this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockymountain driver Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 ok, I will try that. I got pictures on my phone but I cant seem to transfer to computer. I will get some with my video camera. Note, I have not put the cover plating on yet. Thought I better get this issue figured out before just in case I have to add to frame to adapt to different set-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 ok, I will try that. I got pictures on my phone but I cant seem to transfer to computer. I will get some with my video camera. Note, I have not put the cover plating on yet. Thought I better get this issue figured out before just in case I have to add to frame to adapt to different set-up. 443 846 is my cell phone, i'll give the last 4 digits in a moment. if you can, text them to me and i'll put them up. 5771 is last 4 digits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I have not weighted the car yet but guessing about 500 lbs after all is done. What is the largest tires that anyone is running on mid 90's and anyone have some experience on monster truck like suspension in a Subaru? Thinking you meant 5000 lbs. You won't find any OE struts for ANY vehichle that will handle jumping a 5000 lb car. You will need Nitrogen charged long travel offroad racing struts to be able to jump and not blow out every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockymountain driver Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 The car was at 2575 lbs and guessing 500 lbs added so about 3075 pounds. If it would land on one wheel on impact I can see around a 5k load. The 97 outback struts have 8-8.5 inches of travel. I see that the Tribeca is 5 inches, so that is out of the question. The biggest challenge is the coil spring with strut. If I when to straight off road setup I am sure that the cost would put me out. Not only the mounting problem? Is there conversion kits that have adaption mounts and still keep coil spring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I'd recommend some sort of bump stop on the lower control arm but I don't think the lower ball joint is rated for that kind of tension load, it's just meant to locate the knuckle, not support weight. So the bumpstop would have to be in the strut assembly. Maybe you could drill the hole out of a smaller Timbren bumpstop to fit over the strutrod where the stock rubber bumper goes? Or find some other beefy block of rubber you could drill and place there. You might need to make a cap to fit over the end of the strut body around the rod where the bumpstop hits to make a larger landing zone. Full on rally cars would probably have tunable coil over struts but they would likely be out of your budget. I would also look into adding braces between the strut towers and the center of the firewall and also to each other. There is going to be a lot of twist trying to fold the strut towers in toward the middle of the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockymountain driver Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 I do agree on the bump stop. I was looking at the setup today and didn't like that it is likely for cv axle to hit rear sub-frame. The 97' struts are 1 inch higher and now makes it possible. From what I am guessing, it is possible to get a progressive spring made that would give me a normal drive feel and have an overload set-up. That cross support is no doubt a must, unless I wield support bar over strut mounting plates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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