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YAY! My lift is in! - UPDATE - Installed the Tires today!


GeneralDisorder
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Ok - my tires are ON!

 

http://usmb.net/gallery/albuo72

 

I did drill the rims, as you can see, but I don't feel that it detracts from the look of them really.

 

Drilling the rims does not weaken them in any way, and Mudrat has been doing it for years. I don't think that drilling the hubs weakens them either, but I also don't think I need any more than 4 lugs. I have never heard a tale told of breaking all 4 and haveing the rim fall off. In fact - I've been running my Brat with three lugs on one wheel since I bought it, and it's just fine.

 

It is a fact that drilling to 6 lug opens you up for more wheels - mostly non-steel tho, so I could really care less about those personally. I can get the US Wheels 70 series white (or black) wagon wheel in any size I could conceivably want for dirt cheap, and unless I were going with a REALLY big lift, and REALLY big tires, I don't see the point of going to the trouble of doing the 6 lug. I admit it's not much more work, but it is more - at least to do it right. You first have to aquire the extra lugs, and drill twice as many holes into thicker material, then you have to beat the lugs in, and unless you convert to rear discs, you have to do this all over again if you need to replace your drums. Also - if I want to take a long road trip, I can swap back on my subaru rims and small tires for that rather than eating my mud tires up.

 

There are pro's and cons to both, and I probably would have done the 6 lug simply because I would have been parranoid about the strength of only 4 lugs if it weren't for the fact that John has and still does many of his rigs this way, and has never had a problem.

 

As for beveling the holes - I did it with a dremel, and a carbide cutting bit - took about 5 minutes per rim to do it.

 

Zap - thanks for putting me down for the tree run - I'll be there.

 

GD

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Yeah the redrill of the 6 lug to 4 lug has never proven wrong. ive never heard of ill effects and we're talking about ppl who drill these out by hand and drive a few thousand miles on them.

 

If you think about it, there is no more stress on the studs... the wieght of the car never changed and therefore each rim is still holding the same amount of wieght for each tire/rim. And the rims we are using were made to hold 3/4 ton pickup trucks, so these lil' subaru's shouldnt put any stress at all on them, even tho the lugs were modified.

 

Rick, the tires/rims look great. I love that tread pattern and you got a SCREAMIN deal on the package. I still dont like that rear camber, but camber is my largest pet peave of all time. Cant wait to see it muddy, and hopefully it'll be in person.

 

-Brian

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Got those tires at Tire Factory. I have a friend who knows the manager, and he gave me a special deal. I got about $30 off of the retail price which was $99 a tire, and $28 a rim. I got em for $93 a tire, and $25 a rim. They ordered them from their warehouse, and had them mounted and balanced waiting for me at 10 AM the next day. Even loaded them into my van for me. Really nice guys, and they did a great job. They balanced them with the wieghts on the indide too, so it doesn't mess up their good looks.

 

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Yep - it is forward of the center - that's how the coil-over suspension lift works. As the suspension compresses, the entire wheel and arm rotate up and to the rear. Just think about how the EA81 suspension works in the rear, and extend that idea for longer travel - you'll see what I mean. Suffice to say that when the suspension is full compressed, the wheel will once again be in the center.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is there an adjustable coilover for the ea82 that would let those of us with this lift (I just bought Mudrat79s '83 wagon) adjust the back downward a little bit to get rid of the negative camber? If you could find adjustable coilovers that would do that, and they were not too expensive, they might pay for themselves by reducing tire and u-joint wear at the expense of a little clearance.

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Your not going to get rid of the negative camber. He didn't just add the coil overs to make it 3" higher - he also ratcheted up the torsion bar - and that is actually where the negative camber is comming from. In order to get rid of that problem, you would have to lower it back down the full 3" or it would still be negative.

 

With big Mud terrians I haven't noticed any problems with tire wear. Heck - I didn't notice any problems with th 175's I had on there for a while. John confirmed this - he has never had a problem either, and he's run these lifts for like 12 years. I think that negative camber in the front is more of a problem because the front tires turn. Since the rear tires don't turn, it really doesn't seem to be an issue.

 

Also - if you take a look at the clearance between the coil over spring, and the tire, you'll notice that with your wildcats there's about 1.5" between the sidewall and the coil. If you were to remove the negative camber, the tire would rub on the coil. I wouldn't touch it if I were you.

 

And no - the PK lifts are not suspension lifts, so they do not have this "problem" (I prefer to call it a "feature").

 

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BYB lifts have absolutly NO camber problems at all. Front or rear, its all 100% just like stock.

 

Dante, the best and easiest way to fix your rear camber is to get some regular rear shocks. Maybe get some EA81 rear shocks, and make extensions like SubaruBrat did.

 

Check out this link from his page:

http://www.subarubrat.com/easyshock.htm

 

This is something ive been thinking of doing.

-Brian

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I'm not too worried about it. The car handles fine in the city and on the freeway, and as GD says John's been doing this for 12 years. This will be a second vehicle for me. I won't be putting that many miles on it and rotating the tires can address any uneven tire wear. It would not surprise me if the next set of tires (probably Cooper STTs) last for a looong time.

 

If u-joints become an issue, then I'll think about "fixing" things.

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what kind of lugnuts are you using. i would suggest 21mm if you dont have them now(at least for chevy rim)

 

on the chev rim, the 19mm stuck nuts wanted to pull thru the holes when torqued down.

 

21mm all around made a world of difference as far as vibration issues were concerned

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