My homemade lift kit

I have begun the process of working on a lift kit for my 2003 ALH Wagon. I finished the front spacers. They are 1.5" long with an additional "1/2" spacer if I decide to go for the 2" lift. I also ordered material to make the rear spacers as well. I have an idea of how I want to make rear shock extension, so I will post info on that as well. I do not care for some of the other methods I have seen because they leave a big gap in the fender well where the shock should sit. This gives me corrosion anxiety. Especially since lifted cars tend to spend more time in gravel/mud/snow. In my neck of the wood this will lead to rust very quickly. Also, I'm sure the companies that manufacture lift spacers are top quality and precision fit...but come on! $350 for a couple aluminum bushings! Plus all the contracts and alignment agreements! They must be lawyers or something. I align my own vehicles using string, squares, levels. I'm sure this will make some peoples eye twitch, but it has worked well for me thus far. My plan for the car is to eventually get 205/75/15 grabbers or similar....and maybe a light bar or something. I will post progress as I go. Thanks for looking!

are you planning to sell some of these

Possibly if it works out well. If I do they would be a heck of a lot cheaper than some other options out there. This is my prototype. I will have to see how it works out for my car. Let me know if there is any interest out there.

Im following along, I wanna see what you do for the rear shocks as well.

my golf has galvanized pipe couplings in the front above the spring hats, and coilover spring adjusters lifting the back, but im very very close to topping out my rear shocks and on occasion I do when i come off a quick transition or railroad tracks. need to come up with a way you extend the bottom mounting point up, or lower the top one. I would rather extend the bottom up which seems the easiest way to do it.

either way, keep us informed.

Growler,

When I lifted my 2005 Beetle, I did exactly what you're talking about: raise the bottom mounting point of the rear shock. It was super easy and I posted about it on the DIY 2" Lift:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=3222187&postcount=172

Eric

MF,

Nice work... If you are going for grabbers (thats what Im running) I would go right for the full 2" When I did my lift I used the 1.5" that I had laying around and also vr6 springs which are stiffer than stock to give myself a little extra height. In the rear (sedan not wagon) I used a spacer block made from black metal pipe fittings. in conjunction I put in wagon towing springs (highly recommended if you ever load up your hatch or plan to tow). I extended the rear shock mount exactly like shenandoah did and it worked out wonderfully. I have been thinking about trying to order some "custom" shocks that are actually longer but lost interest since the extensions worked just fine for me. I do get a small amount of rubbing in the rear fender wall if I turn to the right while transitioning from a horizontal position to a steep climb when I have weight in my backseat but otherwise no issues.

All said and done I absolutely love the way my car rides now... the 2-3" of lift gives you a "command position" while driving and its fantastic.

Let me know if you have questions or what pictures of my cobbled together work and I will do what I can to assist.

THanks for all the advice guys! I am excited about this.... Stay Tuned!

What size tires are you running?

1st_On_Mars said:

MF,

Nice work... If you are going for grabbers (thats what Im running) I do get a small amount of rubbing in the rear fender wall if I turn to the right while transitioning from a horizontal position to a steep climb when I have weight in my backseat but otherwise no issues.

All said and done I absolutely love the way my car rides now... the 2-3" of lift gives you a "command position" while driving and its fantastic.

Let me know if you have questions or what pictures of my cobbled together work and I will do what I can to assist.

Click to expand...

Do you know the dimensions of the bottom spring coil in the rear? also, the size of the raised cup where the spring sits on the axle? THanks!

1st_On_Mars said:

MF,

In the rear (sedan not wagon) I used a spacer block made from black metal pipe fittings.



Let me know if you have questions or what pictures of my cobbled together work and I will do what I can to assist.

Click to expand...

Pictures of rear lift progress

Well My material is here. I started working on the rear spacer tonight. I finished one. I will test fit it tomorrow and make the other one accordingly. I am pleased so far. I threaded a hole on the bottom so I can ad a bolt and a washer to keep the spacer in place. I made a big mess of chips so that means progress......right?

Im almost done machining my lift parts... I'm getting excited. I took some pre-lift stock height comparison photos today!

Lift complete....install to come!

Lift is finished! I will make the shock extensions once I have the lift in and I see how much I need to extend the mounts.

that car is clean!! nice job keeping it rust free

I like the whole lifted thing, kinda like the old Golf Country that used to exist in europe.

Can't wait to see this

Thanks! Yeah I am pleased with the car. It originally came from Maryland....i think thats why the body is so clean. But, for $600 I cant complain. only 165k but bad auto.... 5-speed swap and she is running great again. I live in a rural area and my family and I spend our summer visiting a lot of state parks. We also use a lot of dirt roads to get from one place to another so I need a little more clearance. I can believe how low these cars are. I'm hoping this lift will get me up out of harms way. I plan on making a skid plate as well...

Well.....I tried to start installing my lift today. When I started taking things apart I found both rear springs were broken off at the lower end. So I obviously cannot use these..Grrrrrrr! Now I have to wait for my new springs to get here. and I broke an abs sensor plug because I forgot to pull the wire out of the gromet! Back to square one!

I had my dad do the same with steel slugs. I think you are on the right path with the Aluminum though. So much easier to machine, and can't see the spacers having that much stress to deform them. We made everything 2" tall on my set. Went with MOOG beefy springs and its pretty stiff. Too much preload if you have an empty car. It will fell like pogo-stick if you are not loaded down in the back a bit. Tool bag usually settled it down. You'll probably be good with what size you made.

Celco said:

Went with MOOG beefy springs and its pretty stiff. Too much preload if you have an empty car. It will fell like pogo-stick if you are not loaded down in the back a bit. Tool bag usually settled it down. You'll probably be good with what size you made.

Click to expand...

The MOOG springs are poorly designed and will give a stiff harsh ride. I swapped out my front MOOG springs for Suplex springs and found I had more height and more travel with a more compliant ride.

Beware of any springs that have "extra coils" (Moog on the left, Suplex on the right)



more details in the "Beef on a Budget" thread: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=313121

Those aluminum spacers look awesome and It would be sad to see cheap springs on them.

The aluminum could have some corrosion issues in the rest belt.

Just finished the lift... I will get some pictures outside tomorrow.... I am at 29.5 from the ground to the wheel arch in the back and 29" in the front. Stock I was at 27" at all four corners. I am still running stock size tires. I am really happy with the way it sits so far. I also found all these lights in the cabinet and and material to make a light bar..... Hmmmmmm?



Shock Extension brackets....

Before:





After:

Spacers look well done! Cant wait to see some overall shots. Also keep us in the loop if you decide to make a couple more sets of spacers I would be interested.

Cute atlas, you scrape the ways yourself? Been getting stuff together to do the alignment scraping thing, myself.

Nice to see another person making stuff rather than just opening their wallet.
Had a gen2 prius in for rear springs and noticed they've got very similar springs to mk4 golf/jetta, but the spring rate is higher, iirc even more than wagon springs. Neither application shows up in napa or oreilley's site any more so I can't check that.

jayb79 said:

The aluminum could have some corrosion issues in the rest belt.

Click to expand...

lol
if 1/2" of aluminium gets eaten away (front spacers) that car's gonna be having other major rust problems

THanks! My grandad and I did the scraping. It is a really cool old lathe. He gave me all his machines and tools when He passed. I have really enjoyed using them. I was tempted to just order stuff to save time, but I am cheap so I made everything. I did the lift and light bar for almost nothing. So Now I have some mooola left over for tires and a bash plate.


Here is the light bar I whipped up.. I would like to run LEDs at some point but I have the hellas so they work for now.


THese are my shock extenders....
Crude but they work>

MilleniumFalcon,

Very Nice!!!! I like the lift and really like the light bar!

Eric

Before....



After.....

Looks great. I wish I had a little more lift on mine

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Thanks verboten.... I knew when I got hung up leaving the parking lot at my optiomistrist I needed to go higher.

verboten1 said:

Looks great. I wish I had a little more lift on mine

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Click to expand...

what springs did you wind up using? I need some new springs for my Wagon as well..

Moog 81055 Coil Spring $37.99 on ebay. I know a lot of people dont like them but they
are better than the broken saggy stockers.

I used the Moog and the evolution lift kit. I'm thinking I create another piece to stack on it about 3/8” tall. I have some shocks that have an extra 3" of travel and only need slight mods to work. I like the extension though

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