Body Lifting a 2nd Gen Amigo

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Body Lift for 2nd Gen Amigo

Disclaimer

The modification described on this page can affect the handling characteristics of your vehicle and may void your warranty. If you perform this modification, the author of this page cannot be held responsible for any damage or breakage that may result.

Tools Used

3 ton floor jack and jack stands, 19mm, 17mm, 15mm, 14mm, 5/16" sockets and box-end wrenches, socket extension, torque wrench, phillips screwdriver, tubing cutter, ginsu knife, hammer.

Parts List and Prices

6 - 1" tall by 2" diameter body lift pucks (about $12) (source)
2 - 1" tall by 3" diameter body lift pucks (about $6)
2 metric nuts, size 10x1.25 (about $3)
6" vacuum line, properly sized (about $1)

Fabrication

A small amount of fabrication is necessary for this job. If you cannot or do not want to replace the body mount bolts, you can cut the bushings on the center two (two on each side). The front and rear bolts are long enough to be used with no trimming.

Installation

There are 4 mount points on each side of the body. One under the front bumper, one at the front of the door, one at the back of the door and one under the rear bumper. Park on level ground and chuck your tires. Leave the e-brake off. ALWAYS USE CAUTION WHEN WORKING AROUND A VEHICLE THAT DOES NOT HAVE ITS EMERGENCY BRAKE ENGAGED. You will need to remove the door step, and get under the carpet to remove the rubber grommets that cover the bolts so you can lift them up. The door step liner just pops out with a little persuasion. Loosen up all 8 mounts, and remove the nuts from one side, leaving them loosely on the other side.

Carefully jack up one side of the body at a time. I used a 3 ton jack and an 8" long 2x4 on one of the reinforced spots on the body to jack from. You will need to tip the body 4 inches or so to get enough slack to work with, so bring it up high in the beginning. I started up front and worked my way back, pulling the bolts, putting the pucks in place, and reinserting the bolts. The front body mount is a pain to get separated and you may need to jack the body even higher for that one. Notice that the middle two bolts are too short to get the nuts back on the end. This is where the tubing cutter and the ginsu knife come in handy. Using the cutter, trim about 1/2" from the flat end (NOT the flared end) of the metal insert, then use the ginsu to cut 1/2" off the rubber bushing. I chose to cut from the flat end, but either end would probably work. Fit the two pieces back together, place them on the bolt and screw the nut back on. If you can them, It would be best to use longer bolts.

The back mount is the hardest to work with. If you remove the nut from the bolt, you will notice that the bolt has two sets of threads on it. A fat set higher up and a skinny set near the tip. The skinny set uses the metric 10x1.25 bolts that you bought above. If you have trouble lifting this bolt high enough to get the puck in, try this trick: place a block of wood on the end of the bolt and use the jack on the block. The body will lift until enough weight is applied to pop the bolt free. Then a hammer and punch will force the bolt high enough you can get the puck underneath. This technique might require you to disassemble the plastic panels in the back of the vehicle so you can push the bolt back down. For me it did on one side, but not the other. Disassembly is fairly simple, see the notes in the CB antenna install page.

When you get the pucks in on one side, put the nuts back on the bolts, and move to the other side. When all 8 pucks are in, carefully tighten. Notice that each bolt has a small length on the bottom that is hexagonal. A small box-end wrench on that part will hold the bolt still while a larger box-end wrench tightens the main nut. Once the nut is fairly snug, the bolt will hold itsself from turning. I could not find the torque specifications for these bolts, so I used 40 ft/lbs and it seems to work just fine.

Under the hood, near the firewall on the right side of the engine, you will see a vacuum line about 2 inches long (it probably came off when you jacked up the body). That controls your 4WD. Replace it with a longer piece and you should be done. From other installations of this body lift, one person reported a problem with pulling the ABS electrical connectors apart, so be careful for those.

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