[rudedude]

You don't need any special tortion bars to raise the front end very high. I have posted about how I removed the rear adjustment on the tortion bars and repositioned them by 3 splines and could raise my ML 8". The problem is the lower control arms are too short and as you go higher it brings the wheels inboard about 4" on each side and looks stupid and is probably unsafe.

The same thing happens to the rear. The higher you go the more the wheels go inboard. Because of the uneven "A" arms

I have gone as high as an ML can go without completely changing the suspension.

I am considering making longer control arms out of chromoly. I have even considered putting a real 4 wheel drive transfer case and straight axles to make a real 4x4 out of an ML.

 

[rudedude]

Permanent Changes? I was refering to new Control Arms...something that would be "bolted" on. lol

Remember with longer control arms you will also need longer cv axles, different steering linkage and longer shocks... That's why I told you that tightening the tortion bars in the front all the way is as good as it gets before you start having to make serious changes... And costing serious money... For the rear just put fender washes under the rear shock as I have. Never had a problem with them.

 

[rudedude]

You're right but I think the angle would wear out the ball jounts faster.

 

[rudedude]

Actually I have been it the works on doing some major mods and would like to have a monster ML as well. I have been in comunication with a local shop that does nothing but Mercedes. We have come to the conclusion that to properly raise a ML you would have to use straight axles like on a Jeep. A multi link type of suspension would have to be made and it would work because the 163 ML's have a real frame. Also the transfer case is a Borg Warner, and a real 4x4 transfer case could be used.

The up side to all this is you would have a real 4 wheel drive vehicle capable of going almost anywhere.

The down side is the characteristics of driving the vehicle would be totally different, you would no longer have traction control and other things.

So anything is possible but how far do you want to go and how much do you want to spend.

For the daily driver you can get 2" of lift with no problem then add 285-75-16 tires and you get almost 2 more inches...

 

[rudedude]

Yeah ORC is great for rally but I don't think that is what we are looking for. Look how skinney those tires are...

 

[rudedude]

Hi there,

Are you able elaborate on this quickly for me? Is this 2" from simply cranking the torsion bars? Or using longer shocks etc?

Thanks mate!
(My first ever post!)

You can tighten the tortion bars in the front and add fender washers at the bottom of the rear shocks. 3/8" of washers will get you about 1 1/4" lift in the rear.