When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I installed a trailer hitch on my 1998 LS 400 and now it scrapes when I enter or exit steep driveways. I'd like to raise the back 2 or 3 inches. What do I need in order to accomplish this?
Have you tried entering and exiting these driveways at an angle to see if you can avoid scraping? Are you leaving the draw-bar attached? I've never heard of anyone having to raise the rear of an LS400 or LS430 due to trailer hitch scraping.
I remember that the Draw-Tite hitch on the similar 2000 LS400 I had for many years would occasionally scrape on steep driveways but mainly when the car was heavily loaded with passengers and luggage. The occasional scraping never hurt anything. I learned to enter/exit steep driveways at an angle. The scraping was much more likely when I had the draw-bar attached or was using a hitch mounted bike rack. I made a point to remove the draw-bar or bike rack when not needed.
I remember at least one thread on ClubLexus where someone ended up having his driveway modified so that his hitch wouldn't scrape.
Have you tried entering and exiting these driveways at an angle to see if you can avoid scraping?
Entering and exiting at an angle works, but isn't always possible. There is a particularly steep entry to a parking lot that everyone scrapes on, and I used to scrape only if I went too fast. I can enter that one with the hitch without scraping if I enter at an angle. It's quite annoying though.
Originally Posted by Kansas
Are you leaving the draw-bar attached?
No. I am removing the draw-bar. However, now I've made a wooden insert that I leave in there so that wood scrapes instead of metal. That seems to create a much softer scrape, and doesn't gouge up the road.
If I could find some struts from another car that are 2 or 3 inches longer, and about the same stiffness and still fit, that would be great. I could probably construct a 2 inch spacer to insert at the top of my current struts.
Originally Posted by kitabel
Raising the rear using taller/stronger rear springs or spring spacers will change your rear camber alignment and may be out of alignment range.
When I jack up the rear of the car the wheels appear to stay aligned with the road all the way until they leave the ground. I'll try and take some pictures today and post them.
If your struts are old they will contribute to rear sagging, and the springs sag a bit as well. You can probably get at least another inch out of the back with a new spring/strut combo without messing up the handling or alignment.
It appears that the tires are in perfect alignment with the ground when lifted completely off the ground.
I should be able to lift this thing 6 inches if I want, right?
The question is, where do I find struts that are 2 inches longer?
Right now the car runs and drives nice as is except for the scraping. So, if the springs are sagging I'd rather have 2 or 3 inch longer struts with sagging springs 10 years from now than buy new struts that raise the rear only 1 inch. That way 10 years from now the car will run and drive nice without scraping and I won't need to buy new struts. Right?
Does anyone know where I can get longer struts? Or do I need to make some 2 inch spacers to put on top of the struts?
You will very likely blow your CV joints pulling loads with such an axle angle in the last pic... I wouldn't go higher than that 2nd pic (1st jack pic, 2" lift maybe?). You can fabricate some spacers that go on top or bottom of the springs to acheive that,
You will very likely blow your CV joints pulling loads with such an axle angle in the last pic... I wouldn't go higher than that 2nd pic (1st jack pic, 2" lift maybe?). You can fabricate some spacers that go on top or bottom of the springs to achieve that,
The 2nd pic is about a 3" lift.
In the 3rd picture the wheels are about 1/2" off the ground. I did that to demonstrate the camber alignment with the ground. The rear suspension arms must be equal and parallel.
Nice work on confirming very little camber change with lift.
I was going to suggest testing it just as you did. BTW, I've done the same thing on the front (for my '91), using an L-square to measure camber while aligning it, and then jacking up - measured camber again for no real reason, and was surprised to see how close it was to the same value. The rear camber invariability looks even better than the front, which makes sense. Yes, those Lexus engineers did appear to have this goal in mind. It makes for more difficult camber + toe adjustment on the rear since those adjustments are coupled. But the payoff is that camber does not change much with lift.
djamps comment on the CV joints does make a lot of sense.
CV joints ? That is what their job is for.
I like that hitch how is it attached? Using the exiting holes or clamping it?
Too bad there isn't a way to use an air bag like they have for pickups. Because if there is trailer tongue weight its going to be lower yet.
I like that hitch how is it attached? Using the exiting holes or clamping it?
Attached using the existing holes. I'm not quite finished yet. I still need to put the original brackets and rubber bands that hold the exhaust pipe in place. Right now the exhaust pipe is resting on top of the trailer hitch. I've attached some pictures.
I'm a bit worried about the original brackets having a plastic insert that says, "Do Not Use As Tie Down". Does this mean that the original holes aren't strong enough? I looked at off the shelf trailer hitches, and they all appear to be using the same original holes that I used, and they're rated to 3,500 lbs, so I should at least be able to tow that. The hitch that I installed is rated to 8,000 lbs with a 600 lb tongue weight. I talked to a truck driver friend and he said that if you're towing something heavy, you need more tongue weight to add more traction to the vehicle.
Originally Posted by dicer
Too bad there isn't a way to use an air bag like they have for pickups. Because if there is trailer tongue weight its going to be lower yet.
I'd love to add air struts and a switch to switch between low and high. That way I could have a 2" lift when I'm not towing, and a 4" lift when I am.
I'm a bit confused, because when I searched for replacement struts to lift the rear I found a bunch of replacement struts that were meant to remove the air struts. But, I don't see any existing air struts.
The plastic covered holes are tow points, for pulling the car up on a trailer or ? The existing hitch bolt points are on a rear frame type crossmember kinda seen behind the rear bumper. I think there are 4 bolt holes there. I would say using the tow points as a supplement bolt point would be okay to help strengthen its weight capacity.
I'd have to look again under one to be sure, but only gen 1 here. I have also thought about running bars of some sort forward to clamp on something for the rear suspension or frame work to help take the "pull" of what ever load you have on it. You don't just want that pull on the rear sheet metal its just not strong enough. With the right set up I would think you could pull something that is the weight of the car. I remember a guy in the old days that pulled his race car on a car trailer behind a 50's Cadillac with no problems, and a trunk full of tools and fuel too boot.
The air bags I'm talking about are not struts but something that transfers load to the frame, that is how load leveling air bags work for pickups. But I guess the air struts could do the same, I just don't like the idea of trusting them for the only spring / shock system, if one pops on a long desolate road your outa luck. Less you got spares.
The plastic covered holes are tow points, for pulling the car up on a trailer or ?
These are the brackets with plastic covered holes. If the holes are for towing, I would assume that they're strong enough to use for tie downs. Wouldn't you?
There are 3 bolt holes to attached them to the car, and I can't find any other bolt holes that I could use there. So these are the 3 bolt holes that I used to mount the hitch.
I also thought about adding some braces that connect to other places on the car to add extra support, but there aren't very many options.
05-13-17, 09:21 PM
How do I lift the rear of a 98 LS 400?
