Before you fit a HiAce 4WD suspension lift, check your state’s limit

A HiAce 4WD suspension lift is not illegal, but the height that triggers an engineer’s certificate is different in every state. Queensland raised its certifiable springs-only limit from 50mm to 75mm, according to a September 2018 Queensland Government statement. Three things decide whether yours passes.

How much can you lift a HiAce 4WD before it needs certification?

There is no national number, which is why so much of the advice you’ll read on forums is wrong. Each state and territory sets its own threshold and its own certification path, and the rules that apply are the ones in the state where the van is registered.

Queensland is the clearest published example. In September 2018 the Queensland Government announced that springs on their own would be allowed to raise a light vehicle by 75mm rather than 50mm and still qualify for certification under modification codes LS9 and LS10. Those are the two codes covering high lift work on light vehicles, and a HiAce camper is a light vehicle.

New South Wales runs a separate system with its own paperwork. Transport for NSW publishes a dedicated information sheet on suspension and ride height, part of its light vehicle modifications manual, and that is where the NSW requirements actually sit. Read the sheet yourself rather than a supplier’s summary of it.

Rumours about sudden crackdowns spread faster than the rules themselves change. Queensland’s then Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Mark Bailey, knocked one back in the same September 2018 statement, saying the state’s suspension and lift laws had not recently changed despite reports that they had. Enforcement is real, though: that statement also noted that Queensland Police’s Operation Lift on the Gold Coast had ticketed owners for defective vehicles and illegal modifications. If the shop can’t show you the code it plans to certify under, treat its advice as unverified.

Do bigger tyres count towards the lift limit?

Yes, and that catches out more camper owners than springs do. States that regulate high lift measure the total change in ride height, so taller tyres, taller springs and body blocks get added together rather than assessed one at a time.

Queensland’s announced combined figure is the one to work from. The Queensland Government said in September 2018 that, counting springs, tyres and blocks together, the ceiling for a light vehicle would move from 125mm to 150mm, with the change aimed at taking effect that October. That is 25mm more headroom than the old number, and it is still a ceiling rather than a target.

The arithmetic on tyres is kinder than most people assume. The axle sits at the centre of the wheel, so only half of any increase in overall tyre diameter shows up as extra ride height. The rest goes into clearance under the diff. Your starting point is the standard fitment, and Toyota Australia’s HiAce specification sheet dated 28 August 2025 gives the factory tyre size for each variant sold here. Measure from that, not from whatever the previous owner fitted.

Why does a loaded camper change what’s safe?

Because the build has already used most of your weight allowance before the lift goes anywhere near the van. Gross vehicle mass, the most the vehicle is legally allowed to weigh fully loaded, is a fixed number set by the manufacturer, and a suspension lift does not raise it.

Payload is the gap between kerb mass, what the van weighs empty with fluids, and that GVM. Toyota Australia’s 2025 specification sheet publishes all three numbers, variant by variant. A fitted-out camper eats into that gap with the bed frame, cabinetry, water, batteries, a fridge, a roof rack and solar, and that is before you add two adults and a week of food.

So do the boring step first. Load the van the way you actually tour it, drive it over a public weighbridge, and compare the ticket with the specification sheet. If you are already close to GVM, a lift does not fix the problem. It raises the centre of gravity of a van that is heavy up high to begin with, which changes how it behaves in a swerve and how hard the tyres work in a corner.

If the weighbridge ticket says you are over, the answer is a certified GVM upgrade or less gear, not taller springs. A GVM upgrade is a separate approval with its own engineering and its own paperwork, and fitting one because you also wanted more height is the wrong order to think about it.

What paperwork do you need to keep?

Keep the certificate, the engineer’s report and the fitter’s invoices with the registration papers, and send your insurer a copy of all three. Transport for NSW sorts changes into minor ones, which generally need no certificate, and significant ones, which need a certificate issued under the Vehicle Safety Compliance Certification Scheme. Bolt-on accessories and like-for-like service parts sit in the first group. Aftermarket brake components and extra or non-standard seating sit in the second.

The insurance point is the expensive one. Transport for NSW warns that cover can fall over where a modification was never assessed and certified against the standards that apply to it, and it tells owners to notify the insurer once the work is done and again when the certificate is issued. A camper build is often the most valuable thing you own after the house, so a voided policy is not a small risk.

Hold on to this file, and keep it in the van rather than at home:

• The certificate for the lift, issued under your state’s scheme or modification code.
• The engineer’s report, including any conditions attached to it.
• Invoices listing the exact spring, shock and tyre part numbers fitted.
• The weighbridge ticket for the van loaded for touring.
• Written confirmation from your insurer that the modification is noted on the policy.

If you are unsure whether the work you’re planning needs certifying, ask before the parts go on. Transport for NSW answers modification questions on its technical enquiries line, 1300 137 302, and the equivalent line in your state will do the same for free.

Is a lift worth it on a HiAce camper?

For most HiAce campers, better tyres and correctly rated springs beat height. A lift earns its keep if you regularly leave the bitumen on rutted tracks where the standard body sits too low, and it costs you fuel, stability and paperwork everywhere else.

Best for owners touring unsealed roads often, who have weighed the van loaded, stayed inside their state’s certifiable limit, and kept the certificate in the glovebox. Not for someone chasing the look, or already at GVM, or planning to sort the paperwork later. Get the weight right first, then decide how high you need to go.