This Sienna is Lifted!

Saw this Sienna parked outside. It was lifted and then some.
Infact there was a F150 parked close by and they were the same height and the hoods matched. Hell this was higher than my 4RUNNER.
I guess when you want to hit the dirt track on the weekends but you have kid duties on the weekday.

 

This is ADA compliant for a wheelchair lift, I believe. Additional hardware requires the additional height.

Found the website below

https://www.braunability.com/us/en/mobility-products/wheelchair-lifts/wheelchair-lift-for-van.html

 

That could be it. Amazing how a lift transforms a van into an almost butch SUV.
This must have atrocious ride quality though.

 

probably still has a better ride quality than a wheel chair

 

Coincidentally, I recently met an elderly woman with one of these systems who was having some trouble closing the hatch (the catch wasn't engaging reliably). It must make a big difference in quality of life for someone to have this mobility enhancement. Unfortunately, it's beyond the means of so many who might otherwise benefit from it.

 

I've actually seen this on quite a few mini-vans equipped for wheelchair accessibility. All different makes and models.

 

My neighbors have a friend that visits with a lifted Sienna that is not for wheelchair access. It’s just plain lifted. I also knew a guy that lifted his Prius and put all terrains on it. This he said so he could access some hunting spots with it in all electric mode and not scare off any animals with the gas engine running.

 

Now that's dedication to your craft! LOL

 

How are they lifting unibody vehicles?

 

^For street use? Large drop brackets and subframe spacers

 

My uncle was a quadriplegic and he had one of these vans but the Grand Cravan version. Ride quality was a bit harsher than normal, but not terrible. They wanted the Sienna version but it was too expensive.

 

Same way you lift body on frame vehicles, suspension lift.

 

These wheelchair vans are really interesting the way they're converted. My brother has driven one for his friend who's in a wheelchair, and he showed me the interior. They basically do a body drop on it, they've dropped the entire floor pan down. It looks like it's lifted, but the rockers and the floor pan have been extended downwards.

He had me sit in the driver's seat of his buddies, the seat and pedals are in the same position relative to the dash, but the floor pan is dropped about 6 in. It was like sitting on a high top bar stool.

 

Stiffer springs and longer shocks is all that is needed?

 

You can do that, or spacers.

Look it up, there are a few companies that make lifts for Siennas.

 

Gotcha. I was trying to lift my moms Santa Fe a couple years ago and did a little research and discovered it was too much work for what she needed. Power line/graded roads is all she ever travels. So I just threw on some BFGs and called it good.

 

Oh, I see. I've never seen a lifted Santa Fe, though there's a guy around the corner for me that's got General Grabber all-terrains on it, it looks pretty cool with those tiny ATs on it. I did see somewhere that there is a lift for the Santa Cruz, so I imagine that would work on a Tucson as well.

Here's a link to one of the sienna lifts, this particular one is just spacers, the install looks like it might be a little involved since I see some exhaust mods.

https://www.journeysoffroad.com/store/p5/Sienna-AWD-GEN2.html

 

damn…that lift gets you 3.5” of lift. More than my 4Runner has. I’m impressed.

 

I drove a rental one. The thing is gigantic and in flat east coast I was getting 42 mpg. Crazy how the minivan has evolved into a behemoth

 

Not gonna lie, That tire does so much for that look. Impressive.

 

Braun conversion. a lot of power wheelchairs now can be in the 450 lb range, not counting the occupants. would definitely stress the vehicles suspension

 

I lifted my Sorento 30 mm at the beginning of the year which got it another 1.5” of effective lift (for 8.8ish) and it did a lot to get it somewhere in the Subaru, Wilderness capability area and paired it with some stock size Wildpeak AT Trails.

It was neat and I think a testament to the capabilities of modern unibodies + traction control + some AWD systems. (even though they’ve generally strayed far from the original light-off-road aspirations of the original crossover SUVs and only recently pivoted back) Lots of lifts out there to buy, I saw a lifted Rogue once (???) but talking to the guy at 4WP they said that outside the usual trucks they only really see Crosstreks.

But running at the limit of capability without much headroom for error plus extensive research beforehand rather than being able to see “my stock X did it!” did get old.

Got to put 4Lo to use last weekend and it was a revelation. I just gotta keep on not minding using 20-something% more fuel!