Okay, call me crazy but hear me out. I have a 2011 Leaf that is just an extra vehicle. My hunting golf cart recently fell victim to a fire so I figured, heck, why not just lift that Leaf about 6-8 inches and slap some 31" tractor tires under it. Does anyone know what it would take to do this? Any idea how to buy longer struts and shocks for it? Will any of the factory suspension even work or would I harm e to fabricate everything myself? Here's a pic of my blue Leaf with the tractor tire next to it a d a pic I found of a Prius that is modified in a similar way. Any idea where to begin?
Monster Leaf
- Thread starter cwiggy
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Some things are better left un said!
You're crazy (you asked for it)...
Take a look at how the front and rear suspensions attach to and interact with the unibody of your Leaf as you consider this. You can get a couple inches of lift (or drop) on the stock suspension, but trying for 6-8 inches of lift will change the suspension geometry in a dramatic fashion, if it's even possible. In the rear, trying to lift the car on the stock suspension will move the hub forward from the center of the wheel opening, so any clearance you gain above the tire will be lost in front of the tire.
If you're set on ruining what seems to be a cosmetically nice and presumably functional vehicle, your most efficient and cheapest option would be to combine an attainable lift (maybe 2-3 inches) with cutting and bending (i.e., hammer time) away the fenders to whatever extent is necessary to create the tire clearance you need. Not something I would do, but I'm only a little crazy.
If your Leaf is in decent shape, why not sell it to fund whatever sort of ORV you really want?
Take a look at how the front and rear suspensions attach to and interact with the unibody of your Leaf as you consider this. You can get a couple inches of lift (or drop) on the stock suspension, but trying for 6-8 inches of lift will change the suspension geometry in a dramatic fashion, if it's even possible. In the rear, trying to lift the car on the stock suspension will move the hub forward from the center of the wheel opening, so any clearance you gain above the tire will be lost in front of the tire.
If you're set on ruining what seems to be a cosmetically nice and presumably functional vehicle, your most efficient and cheapest option would be to combine an attainable lift (maybe 2-3 inches) with cutting and bending (i.e., hammer time) away the fenders to whatever extent is necessary to create the tire clearance you need. Not something I would do, but I'm only a little crazy.
If your Leaf is in decent shape, why not sell it to fund whatever sort of ORV you really want?
goldbrick
Well-known member
Whenever I see something like the Prius I assume it is just a different chassis that someone put a new body onto.
For the Leaf, you could maybe cut away all the offending sheet metal of the body (UNI-body.... that is) and try to mount the wheels. Or just take the motor, battery and required electronics and create an EV conversion of whatever ATV/UTV you want to use. The hard part there is getting around all the safety and security interlocks to start the car, charge the battery, etc.
For the Leaf, you could maybe cut away all the offending sheet metal of the body (UNI-body.... that is) and try to mount the wheels. Or just take the motor, battery and required electronics and create an EV conversion of whatever ATV/UTV you want to use. The hard part there is getting around all the safety and security interlocks to start the car, charge the battery, etc.
FinnishCoffee
I torture VFDs
I do kind of love the idea of a Monster Leaf. If I’m not mistaken, the Leaf shares most of it’s suspension with the Juke, which has lift kits and other kinds of offroad-y equipment available.
It would cost me about $8K to buy a replacement golf cart (like the one I had). The car is only worth about $3K. If I can outfit the leaf for a couple thousand I would have far greater range and power compared to a 48V golf cart, not to mention Heat and AC. Win - Win
I have already determined that no matter what I do, I will liely have to cut the fenders and probably buy aftermarket wide body fender flares.
But if I can pull it off it'll be really sick.
Jnovoseljr
Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2019
- Messages
- 14
Interesting idea.....
Do not forget to take into consideration how heavy the car is versus the terrain you will be trodding across!
Hmm. I guess fancy golf carts are more expensive that one might expect.
Someone above suggested Juke suspension components and that might be a good place to start. If there are lift kits available for the Juke I suspect the rear suspension is a different design than the Leaf, but they might be close enough that modification is easier than completely fabricating your own suspension.
When I owned a Toyota Yaris and regularly visited a Yaris-specific forum similar to this one there was a guy who turned a wrecked Yaris hatchback (the same model I had) into a utility vehicle with larger tires, a front blade, and a rear dump bed. I suspect that's the basic idea you're thinking about.
For whatever reason, I can't paste the links I found, but if you're interested a quick Google search for "Crashy the Yaris" should get you there.
Someone above suggested Juke suspension components and that might be a good place to start. If there are lift kits available for the Juke I suspect the rear suspension is a different design than the Leaf, but they might be close enough that modification is easier than completely fabricating your own suspension.
When I owned a Toyota Yaris and regularly visited a Yaris-specific forum similar to this one there was a guy who turned a wrecked Yaris hatchback (the same model I had) into a utility vehicle with larger tires, a front blade, and a rear dump bed. I suspect that's the basic idea you're thinking about.
For whatever reason, I can't paste the links I found, but if you're interested a quick Google search for "Crashy the Yaris" should get you there.
Daklein
Well-known member
Now I want Crashy the Leaf to plow my driveway and road. It could work nice, blasting down the road, all heated inside. Tear off the fenders, run chains on the front, stiff front springs, need to beef up the front lower control arms and ball joints. It seems a shame to do that to a road worthy Leaf though.
I actually have 2 leafs. I have a 2015 and I have this 2011. I've got 7 vehicles (nothing new. I think the newest is 2016) and only 3 drivers so I can sacrifice the one that's worth the least and it won't hurt a bit.
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So, I'm not really a car guy (yet) but I want to learn how all the components work together to achieve proper suspension geometry. I don't know if a 6 inch lift on this thing is even attainable. I don't mind doing the research but I really don't know where to start. Does anyone know if the stock Juke suspension is taller than the stock Leaf components? Aside from just buying a bunch of parts and seeing if it works, I don't know where to go to do the research. Any ideas? Will I need a longer control arm and tie rods? How does wheel offset affect turning clearance under the fender? These are the things I simply don't understand yet but would like to know.
As I suggested in your first post, get your Leaf up in the air and look at the suspension.
In the front, the wheel hub connects to the lower control arm and the strut. The lower control arm connects to the front subframe and the strut attaches to the chassis in the strut tower.
If you imagine making the strut 6 inches longer, you will push the wheel hub down (= lift the vehicle) but because the lower control arm has a fixed length and the movements of the wheel hub are constrained by the lower control arm, the hub will most likely not be perpendicular to the ground anymore. As you keep pushing the wheel hub down (lifting the vehicle) the wheel hub will move further and further under the vehicle on the path constrained by the allowable movement of the lower control arm. This will obviously affect handling and steering. At some point in your lifting adventures you will most likely start binding up your CV joints, which will get expensive and frustrating pretty quickly.
In the rear, you have a trailing arm which mounts to the chassis in front of the wheel and can move up and down (in coordination with the other side of the car, as this is a simple suspension and the two sides are connected). The up and down movement is controlled by the spring and shock. If you add the necessary spring/shock changes to produce a 6 inch lift, the wheel hub again can only move in the arc constrained by the trailing arm, which will cause the hub to move both down (= your lift) and forward, creating conflict with the front of the wheel arch. Even if you're willing to trim the fenders, you'll notice that in the rear of the car the wheel arch in front of the wheels quickly becomes the rear doors, which you most likely want as you commented previously on maintaining heat and A/C.
As with most front wheel drive economy cars (and the basis of the Leaf was certainly an economy car chassis), the suspension is designed to be cheap and reliable, but not easily modifiable in the way you want.
I've never looked under a Juke so can't offer direct experience. I suspect that it's similar to the Leaf in the sense that it's basically an economy front wheel drive chassis lifted a bit to make consumers feel like they're tough and hip. If there is an all wheel drive version (I don't even know if there is), the rear suspension will (generally speaking) be more similar to the front of the Leaf than the rear of the Leaf, in the sense that you'll have independence between the two sides.
If this is something you want to pursue, and if you don't put much value (= value lost) in your Leaf in it's current functional configuration, then by all means go for it. I don't think you will reach a 6 inch lift by simply removing Leaf suspension components and replacing them with analogous components from a Juke or other Nissan vehicle. I think some fabrication will be required to get that kind of lift.
You previously mentioned 31 inch tires. An alternative to trying to lift the Leaf considerably would be to widen the track with different wheel hubs or wheel spacers. Let the tires provide most of the lift and move them further from the body to help with clearance. You'll probably still have to hack the fenders up or away, but this would be faster and likely cheaper than trying to significantly lift a Leaf. You'll probably still face steering issues, and when you start moving the wheels further out with spacers you also run into rapid degradation of other components (e.g., wheel bearings), but that's a relatively small concern in your equation at the moment.
In the front, the wheel hub connects to the lower control arm and the strut. The lower control arm connects to the front subframe and the strut attaches to the chassis in the strut tower.
If you imagine making the strut 6 inches longer, you will push the wheel hub down (= lift the vehicle) but because the lower control arm has a fixed length and the movements of the wheel hub are constrained by the lower control arm, the hub will most likely not be perpendicular to the ground anymore. As you keep pushing the wheel hub down (lifting the vehicle) the wheel hub will move further and further under the vehicle on the path constrained by the allowable movement of the lower control arm. This will obviously affect handling and steering. At some point in your lifting adventures you will most likely start binding up your CV joints, which will get expensive and frustrating pretty quickly.
In the rear, you have a trailing arm which mounts to the chassis in front of the wheel and can move up and down (in coordination with the other side of the car, as this is a simple suspension and the two sides are connected). The up and down movement is controlled by the spring and shock. If you add the necessary spring/shock changes to produce a 6 inch lift, the wheel hub again can only move in the arc constrained by the trailing arm, which will cause the hub to move both down (= your lift) and forward, creating conflict with the front of the wheel arch. Even if you're willing to trim the fenders, you'll notice that in the rear of the car the wheel arch in front of the wheels quickly becomes the rear doors, which you most likely want as you commented previously on maintaining heat and A/C.
As with most front wheel drive economy cars (and the basis of the Leaf was certainly an economy car chassis), the suspension is designed to be cheap and reliable, but not easily modifiable in the way you want.
I've never looked under a Juke so can't offer direct experience. I suspect that it's similar to the Leaf in the sense that it's basically an economy front wheel drive chassis lifted a bit to make consumers feel like they're tough and hip. If there is an all wheel drive version (I don't even know if there is), the rear suspension will (generally speaking) be more similar to the front of the Leaf than the rear of the Leaf, in the sense that you'll have independence between the two sides.
If this is something you want to pursue, and if you don't put much value (= value lost) in your Leaf in it's current functional configuration, then by all means go for it. I don't think you will reach a 6 inch lift by simply removing Leaf suspension components and replacing them with analogous components from a Juke or other Nissan vehicle. I think some fabrication will be required to get that kind of lift.
You previously mentioned 31 inch tires. An alternative to trying to lift the Leaf considerably would be to widen the track with different wheel hubs or wheel spacers. Let the tires provide most of the lift and move them further from the body to help with clearance. You'll probably still have to hack the fenders up or away, but this would be faster and likely cheaper than trying to significantly lift a Leaf. You'll probably still face steering issues, and when you start moving the wheels further out with spacers you also run into rapid degradation of other components (e.g., wheel bearings), but that's a relatively small concern in your equation at the moment.
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Great response. These are the exact things I needed to know. So, in order to achieve the lift I desire, I would likely have to build or fabricate new control arms for the front, as well as possibly extend the break lines. Also, in the rear I would have to replace or extend the trailing arm to maintain a centralized location within the wheel well. The angle of the shock absorber in the rear is also a consideration. It doesn't sit perfectly vertical. As I extend the length of that shock, it could also tend to push the wheel forward in the wheel well unless I change the geometry of the mounting, right? I will tinker with it a little and see if a larger lift is something I feel like I can tackle, but I'm starting to think that a 40MM spring/strut spacer and 27 or maybe 28-inch tires along with minimal fender carving is the way to go. Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I really appreciate it.
An additional point is that the Leaf's little reduction gear will be well out of its comfort zone with significantly larger road wheels fitted. Ideally strip it down and fit lower-ratio cogs (as for the heavier e-NV200) or fit a completely different transmission... with any adjustments needed to the EV software so that it's not confused by the new ratio.
Just a progress update:
2" Lift kit should be here today. That should increase clearance considerably but I will likely still have to cut the fenders and put on some fender flares.
I got the front wheels and tires on with the 2" wheel spacers. Here's a before photo and a few after photos. I ended up buying 14"wheels and UTV tires. Wheels were $55 each and tires were $79 each. I think it's shaping up nicely.
2" Lift kit should be here today. That should increase clearance considerably but I will likely still have to cut the fenders and put on some fender flares.
I got the front wheels and tires on with the 2" wheel spacers. Here's a before photo and a few after photos. I ended up buying 14"wheels and UTV tires. Wheels were $55 each and tires were $79 each. I think it's shaping up nicely.
bruceha2000
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2010
- Messages
- 61
Those ATV mud tires are a joke, right??
