[mitchl_d]

Hey guys im mitch im new to the forum!

sorry if this has been covered but i had a search an couldnt find anything and i figured im probably going to be asking a whole bunch of questions so may aswell make a new topic for us noobs browsing the net.

I was watching the show "wheelers an dealers" the other week with FJ10 they restored an i fell in love, i cant believe i havent come across these things before, there genius!!

I have basically spent the past week researching them an have to come to the conclusion i want to get a 90-95 sierra tintop.

i want to start from scratch with building this thing into a lil monster but i have a few concerns.

the build would be in stages (im sure thats the case with most) the first would be suspension and tyres i like the 4wd1 stage 2 kit it seems pretty good for money an easy to install, then would come the big tyres!

my main concern is, am i missing something in between i should be doing? ive read a few things that the big tyres will screw up the gearing or too much strain on the engine.

Should i be accounting for something else apart from those 2 so i dont f***k something up.

And now what comes after those 2 things, diff locks, hubs, just some general "i would do it this way" advice would be awesome!

thanks guys!!

P.S this was the car i got my eye on


"http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=8394828&__Qpb=true&Cr=1&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32%7c1%7c%7cpCar_PriceSort_Decimal%7c1%7c%7cpCar_Make_String%7c0%7c%7cpCar_Model_String%7c0&keywords=&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%204294962891%204294962246%20442%20898&silo=1011&PriceTo=442&seot=1&tsrc=allcarhome&__Nne=15&trecs=6&__sid=1271B280F136"

[tanshi]

depends how big your talking about in the tire stakes.
you can drive a sierra around with 30s without changing any thing but it wont be fun to drive. no accelleration etc.

check out lowrangeoffroad for reduction gearing.

[89_tintop]

welcome to auszookers... the best suzuki website of all time

well you got your eye on a very clean hardtop..

so good choice with that one..

you need to decide what you want to drive with it.

my steps would be a 2inch suspension lift
some 31inch muddies (BFG km2s would be my choise)
2inch body lift
reduction gears (your going to want these with the 31s)
protection ie bull bar, rock sliders etc
lockers

or

buy it and wheel it as is they are more then capable in stock form.

have you ownded a 4wd before?
you dont want a 4wd more capable then you are. i reckon you earn a little respect and become a better 4wder if you start in a stock 4wd and learn the lines of the track. then mod it as you feel you are ready

[mitchl_d]

ah excellent thanks guys!

so not much focusing on power capacity atm, focus on the gearing!

yeh i bought a 97 nissan pathfinder off my parents but its way too $$ to run an i dont need something that big!

any advice on who to get this low range gearing off? net? shops in sydney?

[mitchl_d]

oh an yeh 30-31's im looking at! can they be run on the stock rims?

can they run 10.5 or 9.5 width?

[89_tintop]

you cant run 31 on stok rims.
the biggest you can go is 235s from memory..
you want 15x7 or 8 rims with a little bit of offset

i wouldnt worry about power so much mate..

i am running 31s with 6.5 transfer gears and the stock 1.3 (freshly rebuilt) and it has more then enough power. it isnt a speed machine but it easily sits on 110 on the highway at 80% throttle and can still accelerate.

[lukes_89]

welcome buddy good move joining i am only 6 months into owning zook's and im on my 2nd one already if you class my coily as a zook as some may say lol:P i basicaly bought mine wheeled it and now im upgrADING to a lwb and with a few mods to in which i am going to slowly build on as i get the money learn to drive the car first i recon i have learnt so much from driving it stock you learn to pick your lines and so forth better. i have out performed numerous cars in a stock zook they are great! but yeh as the guys said gears are a big thing with big wheels and lift then look at locking it up

[mitchl_d]

ok cool roughly how much should i be looking at for the 6.5 gearing setup installed?
im confident enough in doing most stuff an i have mechanic mates to help but installing them looks pretty hairy if something was to be input wrong!

[89_tintop]

mate they arent that hard.. there are a lot of PDFs that have pretty detailed description and pictures.

sierra really are simple as and you will be able to do all mods yourself.

the gears are around 700
you want to do a rebuild kit so add another 200

i would say 1000 will cover it with some change

[S13RR4]

Look at what your going to be doing with it first, my sierra is pretty much stock, and it does just about everything I want to do in it (At the moment) so there's no real need to modify it,

like they said, wheel it for a bit and then decide if you still wanna/need to spend money on it. You may find it does everything you want it to.

But if your really want to mod it the first basic things I would look at is

Grip-
- get some tyres to suit what your going to be driving (mud, at etc)
Clearance-
- get some appropriately sized tyres to avoid dragging your difs around everywhere (which may need gears depending on your desired size)
- get some lift, but more importantly articulation to clear any obstacles any that you may want to drive over and still keep most wheels on the ground
- possibly body lift to clear big tyres
Stability
-get some better offset rims to give you that wider stance
Protection
- bull bar, sliders rear bar roll bar or full cage, transfer lift, fuel tank guards etc
Comfort
Seats, steering wheels, drink holders, centre consoles, storage systems, ets, basically in cab things that are gonna make your driving and travelling more comfortable

havnt got into much of the other modding like gears or engines or lockers yet so cant really tell you much about them


a bad driver in the best modded car is still a bad driver.

hope that helps, Joe

p.s. feel free to add/change stuff on that list if you disagree with me

[Ben_Sierra]

Another big question to ask is:

Will this be a daily driver with an occasional bush run? Or a hardcore trailer rig? Or somewhere in between....

How do you intend to use the car?

[mitchl_d]

something in between but more leaning to trail rig! it will do some daily driver duties but i ride a motorbike so only on the wet days would it be really be driven

the plan at the moment will be in order once the bank account allows for it

Rockcrawler leaf springs 2" added height

2" body lift

31" muddies

6.5 trail crawler gears

im presuming this is going to be about $3500 all up give or take a bit then move onto rebuilding engine an more power


thanks for the input tho guys its bin a great help!

[mitchl_d]

hey guys wondering how much roughly a 2" body lift installation would cost?

going to get the justcruisin setup but curious on the install!

[just_cruizin]

It's pretty easy if you can spin a spanner, takes me about an hour and half now with a cleaned out vehicle. Allow about 3 hours if you read the instructions

[mitchl_d]

oh really! wow i had a search but couldnt find any info on sierras an cost,
just on some big ass rigs an it was quoted $75ph an takes about 8 hours

thanks mate youll be hearing from me soon!

[just_cruizin]

8 hours to do a BL geez I'd be too pissed after 8 hours, I only get 3 beers in now, I'd be the majority of the way through a carton in that time.

[mitchl_d]

quoted from ARB OME springs, OME nitrocharger Shocks, steering dampener $1400 fitted $1175 supplied.

any thoughts guys?

was thinking the rockcrawler/rancho setup from 4wd1 but have heard real mixed reviews an everyone one here seems to swear by OME

[tanshi]

not every one loves OME.

i wouldnt ever buy them again, but then im happy enough to put together custom spring packs. I folded up two sets of OME rears in consecutive trips from axle wrap.

[just_cruizin]

Kings do good springs and EFS, personally I don't like Ironman I have questions about the material quality

[31zook]

yer, iron man seems to be cheap indian junk....

Um on another note, i ran 31s, 50mm rock crawler springs, 50mm BL and 6.5s. It was way capable to say the least, but if your going for flat out traction i went twin lockers and now she is unstoppable. But it was the twin lockers and gearing that did it, not really the tyres or the lift.

Im building a reliable DD atm, and she will have lockers, and 29" treps on flipped standard rims. There will be less stress on everything, i.e. wheel bearings, CV's, Uni's, gearbox, and motor. It all makes sense in my head

[mitchl_d]

yeh i was just a bit torn i read some reviews for the 4wd1 stage 2 kit an they got some sweet feedback but on on here(forum) i just hear they dont have alot of flex an the ride quality is super stiff.

OME setup or spend $200 more for the rock crawler rancho setup

or what other combo u guys running??

[tanshi]

i run kings rear, and custom packs with carry main leaves front.

[BUZOOKA]

u can always try and haggle with most of the bigger company's

the worst they can say is no and the offer still stands of normal price

[Ben_Sierra]

I love my Lovell's springs... But at the end of the day, its all personal preference, and everyone has their own opinion...