lifting a wagon

yes. lifting a wagon. like suspension lift to clear some 30" tires and give me some ground clearance for snow lifting a wagon.

everyone knows with proper tires these cars are tanks in the snow. unstoppable almost. i have driven past many a ditched 4x4 SUV in a b body wagon on decent snow tires. the problem i always had, though, was any snow over 4" the car is a giant plow and snow gets packed all up under everything. into the condensor, all up around the control arms, up in the frame channel. then the salt/snow mix sits there and does nasty things to important parts like brake lines and whatnot.

so i thought to look for another wagon, and go a direction i've never gone with a car. the opposite of everything i've ever believed in. UP. i gather 2" of lift plus tires 2" taller over stock would do it.

imagine a wagon taller than stock, with a roof basket on the rack, some extra lights, a trailer hitch, beefy but not comical tires. it just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

so - what is the safest way to go about lifting a b body? those spring spacer kits on ebay sure are cheap, but it makes more sense up front, from a geometry standpoint, to get lift in the spindle. much like i adore drop spindles for retaining factory ride quality and tie rod/control arm geometry versus dropped springs. but googling caprice lift spindles only got me one site, with some scary 5.5" lift spindles for 26" plus rims.

think away.

patgizz wrote:

think away.

I think not,.

this might help a bit

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=273008

I have 29 inch tires on my stock OCC, and I do not have any issues with hitting anything. You will have some serious speedometer error. The switch from 28 to 29 moved my speedo up about 4 mph at 55.

Awhile back, Fred had a wagon sitting on top of a 4X4 truck chassis to plow his lot in Waterloo. Tried to find some pics but no go. Regardless, that thing would do snow really well   

Bill

I think this would look great. In the theme of these:

benn wrote:

this might help a bit

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=273008

that is awesome. i bought a 92 L05 no wood white/silver caprice this evening. super clean grey inside, 140k, new exhaust, new brake lines, everything works. some rust behind rear wheels, bottom of b pillars. perfect car to play with, don't have to care about hacking up something clean and nice.

honestly the only thing i'm doing right off is swapping the crap tires for some 235/75 wranglers that are on my retired 90 suburban.

thanks a pantload for the relevant images.

patgizz wrote:

thanks a pantload for the relevant images.

No problem,..go lift your car, show us how its done,..

phase one is chop up the hood with a hatchet for speed holes.

patgizz wrote:

phase one is chop up the hood with a hatchet for speed holes.

phase 3 would be to buy some spindles that raise the vehicle up,..the donk crowd can help you there,.

The 'speed holes' with a hatchet,. work better if you use an axe,. i can help you with those,.

how do you say your forum name?  is the "G" soft or hard,..?

phase 3 on your list was reading my mind, but i was thinking 88-98 pickup truck parts. dimensions look similar without bothering any measuring. i can measure the spindles on my truck.

probably better than my latest idea for my wagon. K1500 4x4 frame swap. 35"+ mud tires.

Get out of my head, Pat.

I'll be ordering a "donk" 2 or 3 inch lift (spacers) off ebay and putt ng some 31" RWL tires on mine. Maybe a push bar and some big ole Hellas, too.

my new wagon may have fallen through

looked at it and made a handshake deal friday night, met at the mall on our way home and seller suggested he do the title notary saturday and car/money can exchange hands then. then he had to work late. then this morning i messaged twice that i'm ready to pick it up and got nothing back. at this point i'm back to looking unless i hear from him tonight.

toomanytoyz wrote:

Get out of my head, Pat.

I'll be ordering a "donk" 2 or 3 inch lift (spacers) off ebay and putt ng some 31" RWL tires on mine. Maybe a push bar and some big ole Hellas, too.

Hellas's are old tech now,..the LED light bars are phenomenal,. pull way less power and waaay,. brighter,

phantom 309 wrote:

toomanytoyz wrote:

Get out of my head, Pat.

I'll be ordering a "donk" 2 or 3 inch lift (spacers) off ebay and putt ng some 31" RWL tires on mine. Maybe a push bar and some big ole Hellas, too.

Hellas's are old tech now,..the LED light bars are phenomenal,. pull way less power and waaay,. brighter,

Link? All I've seen are the cheapo ones?

http://www.rigidindustries.com/
they have a light bar that is so bright you cant believe it

mtrhead79 wrote:

http://www.rigidindustries.com/
they have a light bar that is so bright you cant believe it

Woah! Those are nice, but I'm not spending what I spent on the whole car for auxiliary lighting! Hellas (or imitation) look way better, too.

pretty tall tires for snow,..

tall yes,. but not sure about the traction qualities of those tires in snow,.

Tall skinnys should do great in snow with a aggressive tread pattern.The purple monstrosity that Mike posted is only good for one thing,absolutely NOTHING!

Folks do some strange -ass stuff with these B bodies, personally I wouldn't waste my $$$$$ on any of the modifications that were shown. ed

phantom 309 wrote:

pretty tall tires for snow,..

I like that!

But the car was sold out from under me. Oh well...

toomanytoyz wrote:

I like that!

But the car was sold out from under me. Oh well...

i think we're in the same boat. that, or the guy i was getting it from died suddenly. i'd assume the latter, otherwise his handshake means nothing.

the car has european plates on it,.?

The blue 4x4 wagon is actually for sale just north of me,.

that blue wagon was from the windsor area, where is it now?