Mudd Runna

O.k....here it is...I live in Maine and Maine State Inspection Regulations Sec 1916 state: For altered or modified vehicles with a GVWR between 4,700lbs and 7,200lbs the heighth from the ground to the bottom of the frame rail in the front may not exceed 27" and 29" in the rear. I was unaware of this prior to putting my 4" suspension lift in. I am currently at 26" in the front and 34" in the rear!!!!! That's 5" I'm over...I'm running 33's on the truck and I know that going down to 31's would not only not work but would look lame...Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do short of taking the lift out? I think that I would sell my rig before going through all that again....Also...I was able to get my rig inspected by putting 225/75's on it and loading up the back with enough weight to bring the height down to specs....But I don't want to run around with 225/75's, all kinds of weight in the back with a 4" suspension lift....I'd have to shoot myself first...lol....So I was thinking....what if I do some mods to the rear of the frame, I don't know something of like a subframe to drop the frame rail height down so it would be within specs.....HELP!!!!!!! Oh yeah...the reason I'm writing this is because I got pulled over last night, was fined, and my inspection sticker scraped off my truck while I was standing there.....lol...I need to get this fixed ASAP

UKMyers

Man that sucks dude. I was thinking you could do all the above stuff you mentioned get the new inspection sticker then make it like you had it before till I read the bottom of the thread. So you are telling us there are absolutely no lifted vehicles in Maine at all? Maybe you should research it some and look for a glitch in the system. If not all I can say is Maine has some dumb laws!

Cebby

How about a removable "false" frame rail that is easy to get on and off? Did you do something else to get pulled over, or was it just the overheight?

joshik

register it in a different state

crash

First off, lift is over rated, unless you are tryin to pick up chicks or look cool

My suggestion, get 1" lift springs and move the front forward to help clear the fender wells, then any clearance issues just fix with a sawzall. My rig runs 35's, 3" body and 2-3" lift in springs(if that), granted my tires stick out 7" past sheet metal..

joshik

lift isnt over rated. if u have 2" lift and a huge body lift, you dont increase articuation as much as a full 6" lift would. w/ body lift... you gain no ground clearance.... just body clearance and a higher center of gravity, your frame is still at stock height... with suspension lift, you clear the frame and the rest of the truck... the only thing that doesnt gain ground clearance w/ suspension lift are your axles. you only gain axle clearance with bigger tires.

crash

Lift does not equal articulation.. With a high arch spring, 9/10 times you are running a very stiff spring and therfor you are a "scateboard" so to speak. Your thinking is wrong, when you raise the frame rails, there is 70% of your vehicle weight, as apose your body weight. My rig can sidehill at 65-70 degrees, and flex's like mad. As for clearance issues, thats where the work comes witn sawzalls and so forth.. I have built 6 rigs this way, and 7th just got delivered. And anytime anybody wants to test the theory, I am always game too

Mudd Runna

So any other suggestions besides registering it in a different state and the "false" frame rail...See that's what I was leaning more towards...is something that would lower my frame rail height.....and for that guy that asked if that's all I did to get pulled over...yup...I was doing the speed limit and he pulled me over because my truck had about 6 violations....tire size more than 2 above stock, truck sat too high....lol....he obviously drives a car!!!!! lol

crash

what year runner is it?

Mudd Runna

It is a 1988 Toyota 4Runner, 22RE, 3" Body lift, 4" Superlift suspension lift, 33" Super Swamper Radial TSL's

joshik

hey, after reading posts from crash, i thought about it. i still think lifts are good, not over rated. higher lift, u can have more articulation, not only on the stuff, but on the droop as well. but i still emailed a guy at Advanced Offroad Research (AOR) , a well known company that specializes in yotas. i made a link to this thread and here is his response:

I don't agree with 1" lift a body lift and a sawzall.. Most of the
time people can't cut up their rigs.. We use mainly lift from suspension,
and body lift if it's necessary. Most of the time it is for anything bigger
than a 33" tire. We mostly do a 5" lift 2" body, and a small amount of
trimming for a 35" tire. There is something to be said about being low and
wide, but then your drive train and rocker panels are down in the rocks.

A spring would have a set spring rate at a certain pound per inch
rating. Take for an example, a 5" spring with a 100 lb per inch rate, would
need another 100 lbs to crush the spring 1 more inch. then another 100 lbs
for one more and so on. That is why a 10" spring rides so poorly compared
to a lower lift spring. Also the same 5" spring might have a 8" arch to it
before the weight of the truck is on it. But it would sit at the 5" height
with the truck weight. A custom built spring designed for the weight of
the rig, will always work better than an off-the-shelf bolt on "lift spring" .

I hope I helped clear anything up, If I just made a mess, please
tell me and I'll see if I might be able to clear anything up. -Randy-


but Crashes idea im interested in. i'd like to see some pics of it in action. that'd b cool!

crash

man, ifs huh, boy, thats going to be a pain..

crash

joshik, i guess I should have been more specific. First off, my setups i build are not built for street performance, but offroad spacific.. AOR, kinda in there own yard so to speak, and do produce a nice lifted spring that does work well, but liker theres and anybody elses spring that is flexy, you wil have spring sagging issues, which ius more prenounced with a more "arched" spring. Now, from experiance, a lesser arched spring over time will retain its origional form longer, therefor lasting longer.
Its a big game of give take, personally, I would rather have stability over anything else, and raisinging the major part of the weight is not my cup of tee..

joshik

yeh, to each his own. my yota is not for street performance. my brother is a ricer and his car is all looks... its not realli any faster or better than stock... just looks "cool" haha

but yeh, everything i do to my yota is to improve it on road and off the road. i dont like high center of gravity too, body or suspension lift. thats why i dont want a ridiculous lift of like 24" or something haha but yeh... i just like the ground clearance with the lifts. i went rock crawling with some buddies and they have pretty much stock height yotas, and they had to be EXTRA careful not to bottom out or watevers. my friend was guiding me through and at the end he was all.... man, u have crazy clearance, you dont even need to worry! man, if i had a straight axle in front (which i will do in a few months) i woulda ruled

but like i said, to each his own... anyways... seriously, i would like to see pics of your yota. it'd be neat, something new for me

thanks!

jx94148

If the cops and laws are that aggessive I think you have no alternative other than getting a smaller lift or running tiny tires to get your frame close enough to the ground. Sorry , that's the law where you live.

Most other states have inspection where people undo a lot of mods and slap on some small tires on temporarily to pass. Then they but all the cool stuff back on till its inspection time again. If enforcement is so tight that they stop you only for the lift law you are pretty much screwed.