Australian 4WD Action – July 2019

How to properly beef up your ute’s suspension and

chassis to handle just about anything you can throw at it

THE RIGHT

SUSPENSION

SETUP

Suspension lifts aren’t just

about lifting the vehicle higher

for better ground clearance. In a

dual-cab ute, suspension that is

properly setup to take the weight

of the load being carried is vital.

A 2inch lift will, for the vast

majority of Aussies, provide

more than enough clearance for

just about any track, while

keeping the vehicle road-legal

and avoiding the pitfalls of

massive lifts (see our Illegal

Mods article in this same issue).

Here’s how to ensure you’re

setting your ute’s suspension up

for long-term reliability.

Fit proper upgraded leaf

spring packs to the rear of the

vehicle, along with suitably

valved upgraded shocks

Use airbags, but do not

over-inflate them to the point

where the ride becomes harsh

Be conscious of weight

distribution. If you hang twin

spare wheels and a couple of

full jerry cans right off the rear

of the vehicle, you dramatically

increase the risk of damage

Consider pre-emptive

chassis bracing. It’s not the

cheapest exercise but then

again neither is repairing a

destroyed ute. See the next

page for more details.

AIRBAGS – THE

REAL STORY

Airbags, when correctly setup,

don’t by themselves increase the

risk of bending chassis rails. In

fact we’ve seen and heard of

plenty of examples where

vehicles without airbags at all

still bending or crack their

chassis. So what’s causing it and

how can you prevent it? The

biggest issue is people over-

loading airbags. They should

never be used as a replacement

for upgraded leaf springs and

properly upgraded shock

absorbers. Airbags are part of a

well-setup suspension system,

they aren’t a replacement for

one. When that happens you’re

not properly carrying the load,

you’re directing the vast majority

of it to a single point on the

chassis rail, the point where the

airbag supports the load. The

ute’s designed to take loads at

either end of the leaf pack, which

spreads the load across wide

areas of the chassis. The airbag

should be used to help absorb

the load. Airbags should be

thought of as shock absorbers. If

they are over-inflated, then they

are way too stiff. If they can’t

absorb shock properly, they

transfer it to the surrounding

metal in the chassis. You

shouldn’t ever inflate airbags so

that they raise the vehicle’s

suspension – that’s not their job.

CHASSIS BRACING

Chassis strengthening is no

small job, but it can be

performed on both normal utes,

and also on wagons that have

been chopped into utes.

It has to be done when the

vehicle is chopped into a ute,

but it also has to happen after a

repair is made to bent or broken

chassis rails. Considering the

cost of repairing a vehicle, it’s

often a great idea to brace the

chassis rails as a pre-emptive

option, and many 4WDers do

this, particularly if they are

planning on running a slide-on

camper. The cost depends on

the ute – there’s less to remove

with a tray than there is with a

tub – but a rough guideline

might be somewhere around

the $3,000 mark.

SET

UP

BE

ST

• E

VE

R

U

TE

M

O

D

S

F

E

A

T

U

R

E

03

4

W

W

W

.^4

W

D

A

C

TI

O

N

.C

O

M

.A

U

It is possible to set a

vehicle up for touring

and tougher tracks

Independent suspension

in the front of most

vehicles limits safe lift

levels; thankfully 2inch is

perfect for most IFS utes