QUEENSLAND TRANSPORT

May 2000 Number 35

TOPIC 1: LO2 Certification

Question 1.8 in the checklist for LO2 certification requires that the rear indicator lenses fitted to the vehicle should be amber. With the Traffic Regulations 1962 being repealed and the introduction of Transport Operations [Road Use Management – Vehicle Safety and Standards] Regulation 1999 this requirement has changed and now reads as follows:

Section 88.

[3] The flashes of light displayed by a direction indicator light must be –

[b] if the light faces backwards—

[i] yellow: or

[ii] if a vehicle was built before July 1973 – yellow or red.

TOPIC 2: Body Lift Kits and Suspension Height Modifications

Due to an ever increasing demand for approvals of suspension modifications, Vehicle Standard have released the following policy regarding this matter.

Body Lift Kits

The maximum allowable height permitted by Queensland Transport has been set at 50 millimetres [2 inches].

Suspension Height Modifications

The suspension travel in the bump or rebound mode must not be altered by more than one-third of that measurement as specified by the original manufacturer. It should be noted that both modifications can be performed simultaneously to a vehicle to gain extra vehicle body height but individual specifications must not be exceeded. Modifiers may have to obtain the original bump stop clearance to calculate the allowable acceptable increase. The wheel and tyres fitted to a modified vehicle must continue to comply with the requirement of the Transport Operations [Road Use Management – Vehicle Standards and Safety] Regulation 1999. An individual vehicle modification application to be made to Queensland transport for body lift kits [blocks between body/cabin and chassis mounts] up to 50mm in height. Applications must indicate all changes made to implement the modification [including steering and braking componentry] and material used in the lift blocks. Body lifts in excess of 50mm will not be considered.

If acceptable, a letter of approval for the installation of a body lift kit will be issued by Queensland Transport.

Suspension height modifications carried out in accordance with good engineering practice will be considered acceptable where the suspension travel in the bump or rebound mode is not altered by more than plus or minus one-third of that measurement as specified by the original manufacturer. A vehicle modification application will not be required as this is considered to be a self approved modification.

Modifications that involve leaf springs remounted from under axle to over axle are not regarded as an acceptable form of suspension modification and will not be approved.

John Parkinson
Technical Officer