For Delica L300
This guide will give you the parts list to do the basic 2″ lift on your Delica, using readily available parts, most of which are found on Amazon and Ebay! Don’t pay over $800 when you can get all the parts, including shocks for half of the Price!
A 2″ lift is the most economical, as the lift can done with only spacers and shackles. Anything in between 2″ and 3″ will require dropping the front sub-frame and driveline with additional spacers. 3″ or greater will require a longer steering shaft in addition to larger sub-frame spacers and lift blocks or upgraded leaves.
1. The first step is to install an extended rear brake line to accommodate the lift. The parts and install guide can be found here: Rear Stainless Steel Brake Line
2. Next you will need taller shackles. Fortunately the late model L200 Triton pick up has the same leaf spring width. Lift shackles for the truck are readily available. Either Amazon or Ebay should carry these parts, but they come in and out of stock across various platforms.
3. It is recommended to replace the shackle bushings while doing this service, as they will likely be dry rot. Polyurethane bushings are readily available. Again, the L200 Triton parts fit.
5. One thing that is usually ignored in many lift kits is a solution to address the rear bump stop. A suspension lift renders the stock bump stops useless. Bump stops are important as they prevent damage to the leaves from over arching.
We are happy offer these brackets to address the issue. These brackets push the bump stop mounting location up to match the lift:
Bump Stop Bracket
6. With the rear sorted out, the front will need upper ball joint spacers or aftermarket extended ball joints. We went with spacers, as we did not like the idea of having specialized ball-joints which are wear items and can be hard to find.
I found ball joint spacers on Amazon, although they shipped from Russia.
6. The original 90 degree metric grease fittings in the upper ball joints will need to be replaced the straight ones in order to be serviceable. These can be found at any auto parts store.
7. The spacers get you half way there. The rest of the front lift is achieved by jacking up the torsion bars. The system has a roughly 1.8 ratio (ignoring trig). Every 1 inch of torsion bar adjustment results in about 1.8″ of lift.
*If your your torsion bars are already maxed out or do not have enough room to be adjusted any further, then the heads will need to be re-indexed, this process is documented online and is simple and straight forward. The final position of the bar head should not have a steep upward angle.
8. With the steeper control arm angle you may find the UCA is now resting on the upper bump stops. Universal low profile bump stops can be easily fitted to alleviate this issue. We used Energy Suspensions part number: 9.9102R:
9. You will need taller shocks all around. There are plenty of options, depending on what you are after. The basic Pro Comp ES9000 series, 915510 for the front and 921520 for the rear are a good start. Any shock with ~ 15″ extended length and ~9.5″ compressed length should work for the front. For the rear a compressed length of ~13.5″ and extended length of ~23.5″ should be good. We currently run Bilstein 5100 series shocks, 33-230306 for the front and 25-176230 (with stem adapters) for the rear.
As always, take measurements to confirm your shock needs!