2WD lift kit-Install and Review part I, II, III and verdict

[time2mtbike]

Originally Posted by JackTuppVan

Looking Good! Excellent write up. Your article is what initially led me to this forum while searching for 2wd van lift kit for my own van. Are you using wheel spacers on the rear? or steering stabilizer ?

Glad to be of assistance! No wheel spacers used, the -12mm offset was perfect. It kept the center of the wheel very close to the stock location so there is less stress put on the spindles, barings, and such that a wide rim (deep dish) with the wrong offset can cause but allows both the front and rear tires to stick out about 1 1/4". I haven't put a steering stabilizer on yet but it is definitely on the list as I think that will help out with the tires following the grooves in the road.

[nicksandvig]

Great write up and excellent thread!!

Have you had the van out on snow/ice covered roads? How about any offloading?
Curious on how the lift and larger, more aggressive tires work out when 4wd might be desirable. I have a stock 2wd van I'm trying to figure out what to do with.

[time2mtbike]

Originally Posted by nicksandvig

Great write up and excellent thread!!

Have you had the van out on snow/ice covered roads? How about any offloading?
Curious on how the lift and larger, more aggressive tires work out when 4wd might be desirable. I have a stock 2wd van I'm trying to figure out what to do with.

No snow or ice yet, our local mountain hasn't had enough snow to keep the ski park open the last couple of years, so I haven't made any trips up there and we don't really ever get snow where I live now. Most of my trips off road are in the summer to go mountain biking, so they are pretty mellow trails as far as off roading goes. If I where to do more off road or in the snow more I would definitely put air lockers on the rear but for now good off road tires, the correct line, and mashing the gas peddle seem to work lol.

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Heyo --- resurrecting an older thread.

time2mtbike, any chance you can re-load your Action-Van lift pictures (or at least some of them) onto this thread?

This thread of yours has been repeatedly super-helpful and illustrative/informative to read. But now that the SMB Forum has gotten re-worked....and apparently your images were lost in the transition.....it's lacking considerable amounts of its original thoroughness. For anyone contemplating a 2WD lift in the near future (like myself), your installation images and "final result" pictures would be great reference points to be able to once-again see/use for planning/strategizing data points.

Just keeping this all in play! Many are considering 2WD lifts (with rear locking diffs) as a valid alternative (95% of the time...or so...) to the full-4WD setup. And Action Van is still "part of the action" (hehe, never one to miss an opportunity for a bad pun....)

WeldTec kits have just recently emerged as a solid choice also now as well, with positive reviews from SMB Forum members already....its great to have so many options! (And to be able to knowledgeably compare them all.)

Thanks again for a great writeup, and hope you are able/inclined to restore (or give links to) your original images. Having real "in the field," well-documented reports on any major hardware (like a lift kit) is continually invaluable to many of us among the SMB fold

Cheers / Best Regards

[gcvt]

Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer

But now that the SMB Forum has gotten re-worked....and apparently your images were lost in the transition

Looks like all the images were remotely hosted on imageshack.com, so it wasn't an issue with the forum change.

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Originally Posted by gcvt

Looks like all the images were remotely hosted on imageshack.com, so it wasn't an issue with the forum change.

Ahhhh....thanks for being more on top of things than me here gcvt.
Whoops....yeah, I missed that. Bad assumption on my part about the forum switchover being to blame.

Still --- it would be great to see time2mtbike's images somehow reestablished with this thread. I recall this was an extra-well-documented photo series.

Side rant:
For all of its excellent and limitless informational resources...the Internet's "impermanence of record" is not its best attribute.

[gcvt]

Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer

Ahhhh....thanks for being more on top of things than me here gcvt.
Whoops....yeah, I missed that. Bad assumption on my part about the forum switchover being to blame.

Still --- it would be great to see time2mtbike's images somehow reestablished with this thread. I recall this was an extra-well-documented photo series.

Side rant:
For all of its excellent and limitless informational resources...the Internet's "impermanence of record" is not its best attribute.

I don't recall seeing this thread before so I was excited to see the photos too, since I've got a Camburg kit sitting in my living room right now. Then I clicked "Quote" and saw the URL's for the photos. Was hoping I could copy/paste and view them...and add them to my gallery or Shutterfly so I could re-post them here so everyone could see them.

[amockalypsenow]

for anybody interested in seeing the photos from this post, they can be found by using the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20160113...dict-8121.html

You are all welcome.

Now, I'm planning to make these drop brackets myself (I love to build stuff), does anybody have any ideas about what springs are used in this kit?

Thank you kindly, and no offense to action van or weldtec- if I didn't love building my own stuff and had more money, y'all would totally be getting my money.

[WeldTecDesigns]

Now, I'm planning to make these drop brackets myself (I love to build stuff), does anybody have any ideas about what springs are used in this kit?

Thank you kindly, and no offense to action van or weldtec- if I didn't love building my own stuff and had more money, y'all would totally be getting my money.[/QUOTE]

Even for me it all started because I love building, I know this is an old thread but if you still need help getting springs give us a call.
Great review of the Action van lift, I need more customers like you.

For the rest of you here are some pics of lifted vans for your viewing pleasure.

[vandalf]

Thanks for sharing this great thread!

You mention in your initial post you were looking for a good quality, affordable lift, not just for your own endeavor but in an effort to potentially install them at the shop you work at. Did that ever come to fruition, I’ll be in northern CA in mid March and would love to get an action van left and have always been on the edge of doing it DIY bc while I’m mechanically alright, I’ve not done much in the way of vehicle suspension etc so I’d like to get this kit installed or get help doing it. Is this something you could do? If so, please send me a PM and we can chat more!