Kzh138 suspension upgrade for overland to Japan.

Hi guys

I want to upgrade my 96 kzh138 stock suspension to lifted suspension kit for overland to Japan next year .

So far I found Pedder UK or old man emu ,but unfortunately they're for hilux ! I understand my van is sharing a lot of component with Hilux but I really don't know which one is for my van?!

96 kzh138 with stock leaf springs.  

Thanks in advance

Kami

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Initially, see my post on 17 Sep in this thread:
https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t4452-cabin-filter

While it’s not related to your specific query it’s got a few hints and simple tips and sites, esp the EPC for locating parts and numbers and wider resources. The world is your oyster!

On the topic, you can use the Amayama site the EPC (see other post) links to, to compare parts across the Toyota range and between models. The Hiace does share a lot of parts with the Hulix (mine is closest to the series five Hulux, yours might well be different) but sometimes getting companies to realise this can be difficult. Also, you need to know the facts as best as possible.

I contacted a company that someone on here successfully bought suspension parts from. but when I asked the company they said the same parts wouldn’t fit and they wouldn’t even sell them to me. How bizarre and I’m getting these from a more enlightened company.

I’m certainly no suspension expert but if I wanted to lift my van I wouldn’t do this by more than 2” (~50mm) at the suspension.

I would do this at the back by fitting longer rear spring shackles. This will be a lot cheaper than replacing the springs. Search ‘Fixer Merlin’ on YT for a vid. All his content there is great. You can calculate how this might rotate the rear axle a smidgen (compared to stock) so the rear drive train might be a fraction different. If you also have the rear brake load / bypass valve then this ought to be adjusted to compensate change in ride height.

If you have leaf springs at the rear I presume you also have torsion bars at the front. These can be wound up (a bit) to raise the front but I expect it’ll change the handling characteristics a tad as everything will be a bit stiffer.

If you have coils then you can change these for taller ones. VanLife Northwest (USA website) has these but they will be just a standard Toyota equivalent. What I’ve no idea.

You might need new shocks all round. I don’t know. I think unlikely for a 2” lift. Front drive shafts probably fine (presume you have 4WD of some sort).

Any further lift is best done with bigger tyres (within reason).

Finally, plenty of people have made posts on similar topics, often going back a long time.

HTH!

Hi LH119V
Thanks for infos.
I'm new to here .
2inchs lift is what i after Yes I need all new shocks as well ,but again can't find infos on shocks either .
There is some infos about shocks on Google but again is not clear !
If someone can direct me to right place that would be great.
Many thanks
Kami

Yamatei18 wrote:

If someone can direct me to right place that would be great.

Hello

Already done!

Head over to the EPC to learn about your van and get the OEM numbers.

Check out the links and suggested sites in the other post. You are going to have to be prepared to take time to know your vehicle better than anyone else. Very many 'equivalent' parts won't fit in my experience.

Most catalogue parts can be got from sites like Autodoc (etc) and good local factors, but you absolutely must know and be able to cross reference the OEM numbers otherwise you'll keep getting parts that just don't fit.

I don't find Googling (or sim) searching for parts useful at all as when you search one number something different is returned. eBay can be useful but again you have to be specific and when specific it usually comes back with zero parts.

The forum is really helpful (but searching it is not very easy, sadly). Anyway, you now have the tools, sites and access to the resources you need to find what you need. Actually buying the stuff (the right stuff) can still be a headache but that's your fun task!

Good luck!