coil spacers

i got a 2'' lift for my d40. i went with heavy duty springs and coils ( king springs) and billstein shocks all round. i'm 100% happy with the kit as far as ride and handling the problem is i got 65mm lift out of the rear (alloy tray) but only 35mm out of the front (steel bull bar). i asked the suspension fella and he said that the alloy tray is lighter than the tub and the added weight of the bar and the deisel motor is the reason it sits the way it does.

i'm looking at levelling it out by putting in some 20mm or 30mm coil spacers.

has any one done this and how did it affect the travel of the shock and angle of the cv????

i'm thinking with the extra weight up front, the front suspension is always slightly compressed so installing coil spacers would bring them back to square 1.

any thoughts would be great.
cheers blue boy

I have 65mm of lift(front) with no problems yet, 75mm would be about max on the CV's and you also have to keep an eye on coil bucket contact with the UCA on full droop.

Hey i am looking at geting a suspension lift for my 09 D40, was just wondering if anyone has opions on the best makes for these utes? anyone had much trouble with old man emu?

The tray (rear) needs to sit a little higher than the front to compensate if there is weight in the back.

You will have trouble going much higher than 40mm at the front due to contact with the upper control arms. This is a hard limitation with the design and not something to be messed with.

Quinny D40 said:

Hey i am looking at geting a suspension lift for my 09 D40, was just wondering if anyone has opions on the best makes for these utes? anyone had much trouble with old man emu?

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I've got old man emu in mine and am extremely happy. There is a range of spring and shock options available to choose from, depending on the setup of your vehicle and your budget.

I use their new Nitrocharger Sport shocks and am very happy with them - good control, but decent ride quality too.

It's nice having the comfort of nation wide dealer/warranty support too....

This is the 3rd 4wd I have fitted old man emu suspension to. Have also had 2 other 4wd's that I've fitted other brands to with varying results. I will stick with old man emu from now on. Proven product for my requirements.

Blue boy I have same set up as you (without the alloy tray) and know where you are coming from, with the back sitting so high it gives the impression the front is lower than it is, if that makes sense. I actually measured it against the RTA specs for a D40 & found it to be closer to 45mm than I thought. I also agree with Ant not to muck around with the CV angles too much. When the rear springs bed in more (few heavy loads or trailers) the difference is nowhere near as noticeable.
You only require enough lift to fit the tyres you want comfortably any more is a waste.

finally got under and jacked the front up. i've only got 60mm down ward travel which will obviously be reduced if i put coil spacers in.

Antz oz. your right about the control arm issues mine's only got 35mm raise over standard and there's only 5mm clearence max between control arm and coil seat.

i cant see how you can go much higher without them clashing or seriously limiting down ward travel. even if you go to a long travel shock your still governed by the control arm issues.

are there aftermaket control arms that will get around the issue.
for those of you who have more lift at the front i'd have a look if they clash at full droop and also see how much down ward travel ya got.

would be good to find a way around it.....

blue boy said:

would be good to find a way around it.....

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Easy, Solid Front End. lol

blue boy said:

finally got under and jacked the front up. i've only got 60mm down ward travel which will obviously be reduced if i put coil spacers in.

Antz oz. your right about the control arm issues mine's only got 35mm raise over standard and there's only 5mm clearence max between control arm and coil seat.

i cant see how you can go much higher without them clashing or seriously limiting down ward travel. even if you go to a long travel shock your still governed by the control arm issues.

are there aftermaket control arms that will get around the issue.
for those of you who have more lift at the front i'd have a look if they clash at full droop and also see how much down ward travel ya got.

would be good to find a way around it.....

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You can get PRB (?) upper control arms from the USA. Not sure on price etc. I believe they have more clearance. I also understand that there is a 4wd workshop in Berridale NSW (whose name escapes me) which does a similar product.

I know of one failure of the PRB upper control arms in Western Australia. I have been reliably informed "there is more to the story than meets the eye", however the vehicle owners insurance company refused the claim becuase the upper control arm was an after market replacement that had not been engineer approved etc etc. There seems to be plenty of vehicles running around with thos upper control arms fitted however, with no issues whatsoever. Who knows...

So yeah, there are options - just make sure you dot your i's and cross your t's with regard to the lgal stuff and all should be fine.

I took some pic's on my last outing to show the good amount of up and down travel you can get with just ICON coilovers and stock control arms.

All 4 tires were still on the ground.



Driver's front compressed.



Passenger front at full drop. See how the upper control arm dose NOT contact the coil-bucket.



The coilovers are the standard travel coilovers with 550 coils. I have them set at 3".
If I got after-market control arms and got internal droop stop removed from the coilovers I would get anther 1" to 1 1/2" of drop travel.

There are two other companies that make after-market control arms for the D40.

Here is Calmini upper control arm.
D40 Upper Arms

Here is Total Chaos upper control arm.
05+ Nissan Frontier/Xterra/Pathfinder Upper Control Arm

also "fabtech"

at the end of the day it depends how much offroading ur doing and is it worth $3000+ but in ur case blueboy..i think u have to let it grow on you ;-p

definately get a engineers cert if going higher then 40mm unless ur a high roller and dont care if ur d40 gets written off ;-)

Digging up an old thread here, i just propped up the side of my nav and had the jack fully wound out and the coil bucket was no where near touching the UCA's, i am pretty keen to lift the front up another inch and am considering a small coil spacer would this be okay?

If you want just a touch more lift get coil spacer , the rubber ones than sit in above the coil in the shock.
I got a 10mm one thats gives about 15-20mm extra lift

Where abouts did you get the small spacers from? How did it affect the ride?

Cheers mate