And, here it is in all it's glory -

Rocky Road's Grand Vitara 2.125" Suspension Lift... Kit contents are a set of front strut spacers (middle bottom) and rear coil spacers (middle top) and a pair of longer rear shocks and all the bushes and sleeves (right), and a full set of comprehensive and easy to follow instructions. Their website says an optimistic 50 minutes install time, I'm sure they could do it in that time!, but it only took me a couple of hours, so it really is easy to install! ;)

Here's the victim ready to receive the kit... my '57 plate (late 2007) Grand Vitara "daily-driver", it came with a load of factory fitted extras, but still seemed to be missing something, it seemed a little "low"... LOL ;)

Note the number plate - "H19H GV" - that canme off the ill-fated "Stumpy" lifted and shortened old-shape Grand Vitara which didn't get anywhere due to relicencing problems after VOSA and the DVLA refused to allow it back on the road without an SVA which included "type approval" tests, still, I'm not bitter.... MUCH! :'(

Anyway, let's got on with the lift -

Had to laugh at first, as my trolley jack won't even lift the tyre off the floor! Was quite surprised by the amount of travel the stock front suspension has!

So with the jack repositioned under the chassis and the wheel taken off, an axle stand has been placed under the "chassis" (there isn't one really as it's a monocoque construction) and there's a trolley jack positioned under the front wishbone, so I began following the comprehensive and clear instructions... here I'm taken off the Anti-Sway Bar brace... the what?! Ahhh, the Anti-Roll Bar brace... I think the American name for it is actually more accurate when you think about it? Body-roll I suppose? But Anti-Roll Bar conjures up pictures of roll cages?!

Next I took the top strut bolts off in the engine bay...

And then back in the wheel arch and took off the ABS pipe bracket - in my left hand, and the bracket arrowed in yellow, there's also the brake pipe bracket to remove arrowed in red, and notice the two strut bolts have been removed - green arrows. And lastly, arrowed in blue is the Anti-Sway Bar bracket that was removed two photos above.

And so, with the strut bolts removed I lowered the trolley jack under the front wishbone slowly to the ground, and released the front strut assembly -

There it is! ;)

And then bolted the strut spacer to the top... it's quite like one of mine (Bits4Vits) but with the top and bottom plates offset... a very weld component, well up to the job, just look at that continuous weld around the top...

And with the spacer on the top, it's then time to put it all back together, in true Haynes Manual tradition (Chilterns for my US viewers?!) "assembly is the reversal of disassembly" - so strut back in, 3 nuts on the top of the strut, strut bolts back in (for now, suspect the top two will be swapped for camber bolts real soon!), brake pipe bracket and ABS pipe bracket reattached, and the Anti-Sway Bar brace reconnected too...

So that's the front nearside done... repeat for the driver's side... just as easy :)

And then turn my attention to the back...

And again, wheel off, axle stand under a strong point of the monocoque body tub, and a trolley jack under the rear, errr, wishbone? It's a strange construction of a trailing arm kind-of wishbone affair, with a top balljoing too?!

Anyway, back to the clear instructions and take the rear shock out, and take out the bolt in the arm just above where the jack is supporting, and the small ABS pipe bracket again, and...

... that bolt there that holds the rear anti-sway bar in place...

Then lower the jack carefully to the ground so that the spring can be pulled out with one hand ;)

And I'm left with the location cone for the spring, that just pops off, and...

The spacer goes in it's place with the rubber cone on the base of it...

Then, a mate pops around for a nosey and takes a couple of pictures when he's here... here's me easing up the  arm with the spring in it, handy here having two trolley jacks LOL (it's one I won on a Punch Hunt event!) it's a bit fiddly, but only takes a couple of attempts to get the spring and spacer back in and jacked back up again.

That's better... without me in the way! There's the spring and spacer in place...

Then the spring-arm bolt and the anti-sway bar bolt can be put back in, and the little ABS pipe bracket too...

Then into the garage with a suitably sized socket, a large washer, and the shock absorbers bushes can be squeezed in...

And then the replacement shock can be bolted in place...

Errr, and that was it! Repeat for the other side, put the wheels back on and stand back and admire!

Certainly gained some height!

Looks low at the front thanks to the "spoiler"... thought about trimming the bottom lip off, but the engine protection tray starts of the bottom of the back of it, so that can't be done :(

Like the 'plate HIGH GV or rather H19H GV - reads quite well though doesn't it? Apart from some peeps ask what a GV is? ;)

Many thanks to Rocky Road for an excellent product, very easy to fit, in a little under two hours... just need some tyres now! And some mud?

Click >>> <<< Click

Continued...

Having driven the GV around a bit, it's got an enough squeak from the back suspension somewhere... read up on the 'net about it and others have experienced the same thing... so started thinking about it...

First thing I did was remove the shock absorbers that came with the kit and put the old ones back on... took it for a drive... no squeak?! Aha, it's definitely the shocks then!

So, having thought about it, I got the shocks and removed the rubber bushes in the vice -

Using a big socket on the left, and a good matching size one on the right, to push the rubber bush back out...

The I fitted on of my Bits4Vits Polyurethane Bushes in it, and the matching insert sleeve (I sell these to go in SJ,Samurai, Vitara and Grand Vitara original shocks, so I figured they'd fit!) - not on these how the insert sleeve comes right to the end of the bush, the ones in the kit didn't, in fact the instructions said to use the sleeves that were the best fit...

This is the original shock, see how the sleeve meets right with the U shaped section of the metal support arm?

And so it does with my Poly Bushes - the bolt tightens up properly to the sleeve... no squeaks!

So if your Rocky Road kit squeaks at the back, try changing the insert sleeves that come with the kit, they give you a few alternatives, use one that comes to the end of the bush... and if possible replace those rubbery ones with some "proper" Polyurethane ones - if you want them, you can find them in the www.Bits4Vits.com shop - listed as Grand Vitara / Vitara rear shock poly bushes ;)