Suspension lift for 2nd Gen Amigo

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Chris Perosi 2nd Gen Amigo Lift

Tools Used

3 ton floor jack and jack stands, 19mm impact socket, 19mm socket wrench, 14mm wrench, 10mm wrench, torque wrench, bench grinder, chisel, vise, hammer.
(Optional) - Spring compressors.

Parts List and Prices

Rancho Shocks RS-9000 series $65.00 each
Front Shocks - part number 9135 (or 5135 for RS-5000)
Rear Shocks - part number 9179 (or 5179 for RS-5000)
Custom springs from Valley Spring Works - $used, new ones run around $180
Sleeves and spacers (washers)

Fabrication

The only fabrication necessary with this job is the replacement of the sleeves that come with the shocks. They are too small to fit onto the Amigo rear shock mount and require trimming.

Installation

Installation of the lift started with jacking up the rear end of the Amigo to get the weight off the shocks and springs. I placed the jack directly on the rear diff and lifted as high as I could go. Jack stands were then placed at the farthest back point on the frame and the jack was lowered and removed. We pulled the tires off and started on the stock shocks. Removal is fairly easy, requiring a 19mm wrench on the bottom and a 14mm on the top, with a 10mm required to prevent the shock stud from turning with the nut. After removal of the old shock, the bolts were removed from the rear trailing arms, and whatever that thing is that bangs into the gas tank. :) Removal of all these bolts allowed the rear axle to drop far enough the stock springs were easily removed without compressors.

The stock springs have a plastic bushing on them that has to be removed and placed onto the new springs. The stock springs on my Amigo had 7 turns, while the new ones had 11 and were about 3 inches longer. After the bushing was replaced, the new springs were put up into position. I found that if I lifted on the brake rotor opposite the spring being put in (driver-side rotor while putting in the passenger spring) we could actually slip the springs in without using the compressors. With the springs in position we concentrated on fabricating the bushings for the shocks. The standard bushings are too small to fit the shock mount, so using a chisel and hammer we managed to spread the bushing out. This resulted in the outside diameter being too large for the shock, so trimming with the bench grinder was necessary.

Once the bushings were the correct size, we put 2 washers on each mounting stud to move the body of the shock away from the axle and slipped the shock into position. There was a short discussion as to whether to put the adjuster knob on the inside (toward the tire) or outside of the mount. I decided to go with outside for convenience. We found it easiest to mount the bottom first, then slip the extension into the top mount. A few turns with a wrench and the new shocks were mounted and ready for their stickers. All the bolts removed from the rear end were re-installed and torqued, the tires were remounted and the vehicle removed from the jack stands.

Front shock installation was similar. After lifting and inserting the stands, the front tires and shocks were removed. Slight bending of the bottom front shock mount was required in order to get the Ranchos to fit. The plastic bushings supplied with the shocks were way too wide to fit into the bottom mounts and needed to be trimmed. I found that by (carefully) using the bench grinder, I could reduce the size of the bushings until they fit perfectly. A good bastard file would probably also work for this. CAUTION: when grinding plastic on a grinder, it will melt. Melted plastic can cause severe burns. The front shocks also required a bushing, and a few minutes at the bench grinder reduced them to the proper length. Once everything fit properly, the shocks and tires were reinstalled and we started on the torsion bars.

By trial and error, we found that 1 turn on my torsion bars is equal to .25 inches of lift. By measuring the rear we found that the springs had produced 2.5 inches of lift. Being conservative, we decided to try 7 full turns on the bars. It wasn't enough, so we went an additional 3 and that turned out to be perfect.

Before and after pictures can be found here.

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