Advice about Lifting Gen 4 Outback ??

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:56 am

G'day ...

can someone tell me whether there is a lift kit for the Gen 4 Outback? I saw the notice on this forum ages ago and emailed but got no response.

I have a July 2009 Outback (very last of that shape) and since I regularly go off road, it's bugging me how easy it is to tear out the wheel arch guards.

Rather than look for a bigger heavier more gas guzzling car I'd like to keep the Outback, but lift it. I asked the guys at Boxer Service but they couldn't offer anything.

I'm not after radical modifications - I want to keep everything legal and straight. I'd really appreciate the advice and if you can fill me in, please send me a message with your phone number so I can give you a call to discuss it.

Thanks,

Andrew

Gone Fishing · Post by **Gone Fishing** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:14 am

Andrew try speaking with Jeff from Cross bread Performance. I was speaking with him the other day about a 2" body lift for my 1984 Brumby and he does them. Not sure if he does them for the outback but it wouldnt hurt to make the enquiry.

Ken

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:36 pm

Thanks Ken.

Anyone else got any advice??

pezimm · Post by **pezimm** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:56 pm

Subtle Solutions in the USA make a 1 inch strut top lift. You could combine that with a set of heavy duty springs, which will give you about 2 inches total (i.e. legal).

The Outback rear suspension is a bit tricky to lift, from what I recall reading, but this is doable.

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:32 am

The 1" blocks and HD springs are a pretty straight forward way to get some more lift, as well as been legal. You might want to fit up some camber adjustment bolts from Eibach or Whiteline if you do it, as you gain a bit too much positive camber than the factory adjustment can cater for.

taza · Post by **taza** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:38 pm

^ Go for the 2" lift with the blocks and springs mate. It's a good setup with many people running them and it's fully legal.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:24 pm

I want to put raised kings on my Outback but have held back because of the lack of camber adjustment in the rear.
Ive only found whiteline rear camber adjusters for the Gen3, I couldnt find any from eibach

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 10:19 pm

Still gathering information. The Gen 4 has the self levelling shocks in the rear. Spoke to a couple of mobs today and they both advised me to just go for the block strut lift, but not springs. The 1" kit is available from Subtle Solutions, and a 2" kit from Cross Bread Performance. Still thinkin'. (had to spell Bread wrongly as the forum won't accept the word without the "a"!)

Full body lift kit is available from CBP too, but currently there's no steering extension available, and they changed the spline between the Gen3 and Gen4.

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 8:26 pm

Update is that I've ordered the 1" strut lift kit from Subtle Solutions and it's on the way.

I have been keen to do the springs as well but it's not straightforward because of the self levelling suspension in the rear. I heard of someone trying to fit a spring kit and new rear struts to a Gen 4 with SLS and had all sorts of dramas because they didn't have the bits.

I'm a bit uneducated about the anatomy. Can anyone clarify for me exactly what extra bits we need to fit the King Springs and new rear struts in place of the self levelling rear shocks?

Do we need to get a pair of used non-SLR struts and use the top parts to be able to fit new KYB's? Anything else??

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:22 am

These are for a Gen3 but fit the self leveling shocks www.ebay.com.au/itm/SUBARU-OUTBACK-3RD- ... NG-SPRINGS. Ring them and ask if they make them to suit the Gen4

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 7:02 am

OK thanks, I'll give them a call.

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:39 pm

Hey guys, funny thing is that King Springs themselves have no record of springs being fitted to a Gen 4 with SLS, so they can't give any advice as to how much the springs will lift it. They think it's possible that they don't lift the car at all.

They'd really appreciate the feedback if anyone has done it, so they can advise buyers.

Still trying to speak to the guys mentioned above in Melbourne to see if they know more. But if I don't know the effect of the springs I'd be a bit silly to go ahead with fitting them.

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:54 pm

These are for a Gen4 & they say will raise it by 20-30mm
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SUBARU-OUTBA ... 2586797%26

They wont be for SLR though, I reckon the seller should be able to advise you

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:29 pm

Hey thanks for the tip to call Archm Industries. First people I've spoken to who know what to do.

The King Springs KSRR-29SPC is a spring that's designed to work on the cars with SLS. It has a different taper so you don't need any extra bits - just the spring and the KYB shock together will fit into the standard fittings.

He explained that SLS has a tiny shock and a weak spring, with the shock acting like a gas ram to take a lot of the weight instead of the spring.

Revamping the rear suspension with King Springs and replacing the SLS improves the performance considerably.

But nobody's sure how much lift the springs give on a Gen 4, so he recommended not doing the springs and shocks in the front until the back is done, since if the springs don't raise the rear much, the front might be fine with just the spacers alone. If not, easy to do the front springs later.

So I'm going to get the parts sent up ... their freight is cheap so it's a better deal than buying locally. Good outcome.

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:52 pm

My ’09 Gen 4 Outback went in to Boxer Service to have the 25mm Subtle Solutions lift kit fitted, plus new King Springs and KYB struts on the rear only.

As mentioned before, King have a spring specially for the rear of Outbacks with self levelling suspension (part # KSRR-29SPC). It has a tapered top that fits the stock mounts. But although they have sold a few of them, King don’t have any history on the amount of lift that the spring gives. They thought that it was likely to give only a small amount (maybe 10mm) of lift, and they list them as a “replacement” rather than a “lift” spring. But they didn’t know since nobody has got back to them with any results. So I took a gamble and got them anyway. I also got the matching KYB shock absorbers, part # 341354. I decided not to play around with King Springs on the front until we saw how much lift we got in the rear.

The front spacers went in easily, but the rear springs were very solid, and the guys at Boxer couldn’t get the spacers into the rear with the spring - it was just too tight. They worked on it for quite a while, took out the sway bar etc, but decided to leave the spacers out or the lift would be too much.

Job done, the car came home looking nice - definitely a proud increase in height, but not too radical.

I took repeated measurements before and after the modification (driving around then coasting to a stop carefully and remeasuring each time). After averaging the results, the before and after differences show that the front has been raised 22.5mm, and the back a whopping 44.2mm!

So the King springs do give a big lift to the SLS Gen 4 Outback. And … I have a spare pair of Subtle Solutions rear spacers here!

Here are the before and after photos.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:13 am

Looks good! Did you need to adjust the camber?

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 3:44 pm

AvB wrote:the front has been raised 22.5mm, and the back a whopping 44.2mm!

Thats a nice lift, nothing extreme, & gives it a nice forward rake

Dont forget to get a wheel alignment

AvB · Post by **AvB** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 3:50 pm

Yes it has had a full alignment after the fitting. They relaxed off all the suspension components, then retightened. They didn't have enough adjustment to get back to zero camber at the front, so it's got 1/2 degree positive, which they think will be OK as the tyres tend to wear on the inside with the stock configuration.

alakaboo · Post by **alakaboo** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 12:29 pm

AvB wrote:The front spacers went in easily, but the rear springs were very solid, and the guys at Boxer couldn’t get the spacers into the rear with the spring - it was just too tight. They worked on it for quite a while, took out the sway bar etc, but decided to leave the spacers out or the lift would be too much.

Job done, the car came home looking nice - definitely a proud increase in height, but not too radical.

I took repeated measurements before and after the modification (driving around then coasting to a stop carefully and remeasuring each time). After averaging the results, the before and after differences show that the front has been raised 22.5mm, and the back a whopping 44.2mm!

So the King springs do give a big lift to the SLS Gen 4 Outback. And … I have a spare pair of Subtle Solutions rear spacers here!

Here are the before and after photos.

Thanks for your detailed post. I'm about to do the same thing to a 2008 Outback, and this is exactly the info I needed.
I'm planning to just do the Kings and KYB. AFAIK the spacers are illegal in Qld and I don't really need that much height if you get over 40mm from the springs.

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:25 pm

Great thread to find since I just got an '04. Cheers for documenting it.