Toyota Tech 101

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Gadzooks

Guest
currently have an 89 runner. I'm thinking 4" marlin crawler sas swap and rear lift kit. But there is also the option of scoring an 85 runner and doing a body swap and then 4' lift kit all around? or....rears up front and chevy springs out back. So....opinions wanted. What have you done? would you do? Price is of course a contributing factor...I'm just not sure what lift option to go with??
 
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Dirk

Guest
the usual reccomendation is 1" more lift in the rear than up front for 4Runners, as they are heavier in the back than pickups.
Complete lift, with crossover high steer, is roughly $2000 for solid axle lifts or $2200 for an SAS and lift. Ofcourse you need a donor axle also.
Rears up front and chevies out back maybe cheaper, I went with a complete lift kit. New springs, bushings, hangers, shackles, etc.....
Also I have read that the chevy and rear in the front was a good deal before the now readily available full kits were out, but are an inferior setup. Its what I have read, not an opinion formed myself from experience.
What size tires? How much body trimming? I went with a 3" lift and should clear 38 - 40.... should.
You will most likely want to use the "89 rear axle, as it is 3" wider. This will then necessitate front spacers to match, either wheel spacers for under $100, or a widening kit like Sky sells for a bit over $200.
I went with Trail-Gear for suspension over Marlin. Both seems similar, but PJF is a TG dealer and TG seems a little better priced.
 
aweber

aweber

This thread is :rainbow:
Staff member
Club Member
Odds are the IFS frame is in better shape and they are stronger anyway so use it and do the SAS, you will be better off in the long run.

Chevy's out back and Rears up front are pretty Old-School but work fine, you will only get about 2" lift from the typical chevy swap so you will have to use blocks to gain any additional lift you want in the rear, this is the main reason I went away from doing chevy's on mine, hate the idea of blocks.

What tire size do you want to go with? This will dictate the AMOUNT of lift, also what kind of wheeling do you want to do? This will dictate the TYPE of lift.

Biggest bang for the buck is T-Case gears/dual cases and Hi-Steer, budget these into your build first then budget your suspension with the remainder of your budget.

Other tings to consider is you will need 3" lift to clear hi-steer in the front, unless you notch the frame or run low-steer. Rear locker is next biggest bang for the buck, but how much you drive on the street will dictate what you need to buy here, same with size/type of tires.

Basically, tell me exactly what you want to do with the truck and I will tell you what I "think" you should do :flipoff:
 
G

Gadzooks

Guest
aweber said:
Odds are the IFS frame is in better shape and they are stronger anyway so use it and do the SAS, you will be better off in the long run.

Chevy's out back and Rears up front are pretty Old-School but work fine, you will only get about 2" lift from the typical chevy swap so you will have to use blocks to gain any additional lift you want in the rear, this is the main reason I went away from doing chevy's on mine, hate the idea of blocks.

What tire size do you want to go with? This will dictate the AMOUNT of lift, also what kind of wheeling do you want to do? This will dictate the TYPE of lift.

Biggest bang for the buck is T-Case gears/dual cases and Hi-Steer, budget these into your build first then budget your suspension with the remainder of your budget.

Other tings to consider is you will need 3" lift to clear hi-steer in the front, unless you notch the frame or run low-steer. Rear locker is next biggest bang for the buck, but how much you drive on the street will dictate what you need to buy here, same with size/type of tires.

Basically, tell me exactly what you want to do with the truck and I will tell you what I "think" you should do :flipoff:
Click to expand...

Alrighty. Well I'm clear on priorities. I know about t-case gears and lockers. they will come later. I plan on running 36's. Want this thing to get me thru the winter and not be as rough a drive as a sammi. I'll run craig lake with in the fall....if that gives you any idea.
:stir:
 
aweber

aweber

This thread is :rainbow:
Staff member
Club Member
If you plan to daily drive it in the winter and also run Crag then you should put a selectable locker in rear, leave the front open and definitely get T-Case gears.

If you do not get t-case gears, you will spend more money on burned out clutches ;)

Also if you plan to daily drive it, you will need to gear the axles. The stock 22RE is pathetic at best with stock tires :lmao:

I would do the following:

Front:

Trail Gear 3" SAS
Knuckle Ball Gussets + Rebuild Kit
Sky Widening Kit (To match IFS rear)
FJ40 Rotors, IFS Calipers etc.
5:29's

Rear:

3" TG Lift or Chevy's, your choice
5:29's in a E-Locker.
Rear Disk Conversion is also worth it's weight in gold

Other:

4.7:1 T-Case Gears
Twin Stick - 2WD Low is indispensable

Don't lock the front unless you buy Longfields.

I ran 36's open in the front and never had a problem, even with 200 HP, but the second I locked the front I broke two sets of birfs, being a trail plug is not cool.

If you plan to run crag lake, get good bumpers. A friend of mine just did a 4runner and got the Marlin rear bumper, it is one nice piece of work, he also got the TG front one and you could tell a big difference between the quality and engineering of the two. Marlin is well worth the money IMHO.

So get to it :flipoff::flipoff:
 
D

Dirk

Guest
X2 on Adrians suggestions
How can I argue, since thats how I did my truck. :)

only thing, most reccommend 4" in the back of a runner if front is 3", due to increased weight.
 
Farm Boy

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
I've got the TG hi-steer with negative arched front springs, tie rod hits the oil pan a bit but so far hasn't been a major problem.

You don't have to widen the front to match the rear, it's a good idea but in my opinion not a necessity. My 38s hit the springs (stock width '85 front) at full turn, PITA but livable in the short term.

My reccomendations:

SAS
Hi-steer
rear locker (weld it if you are cheap and not worried about road manners)
diff gears if you are keeping the 22RE
Tcase gears or dual tcase. If you have to modify front driveshaft for the SAS go duals.
twin stick for 2wd low
cut the hinges for removable doors
If the brakes need done, go rear disks

Basically what Adrian said.

If you don't need the back seats, ditch them, the rest of the rear interior and swap the fiberglass top for a full cage & canvas (parly for the open-ness of it and to ditch the extra weight)
Longfields & front locker are GREAT if you got the cash.
I'd also consider 4-link & coils for the rear

Good luck running Craig lake with a DD. LOTS of body armour required or way to much work to miss the trees :flipoff:
 
Buster

Buster

Well-known member
Club Member
"Good luck running Craig lake with a DD. LOTS of body armour required or way to much work to miss the trees "

Speaking from experiance I see.:lmao::lmao:
 
G

Gadzooks

Guest
Farm Boy said:
Good luck running Craig lake with a DD. LOTS of body armour required or way to much work to miss the trees :flipoff:
Click to expand...



:lmao::lmao::lmao:

I've run it before and gone thru with a buddy's runner and he managed to do the entire trail without a scracth or dent.

But thanks for the valuable info...I'll be setting up the diffs with gears for sure...not 100% sure that the 3" lift will be enough to clear 36's. The lowrange off road sas kit comes with spacers, vented rotors, high steer, the whole kit and kabootle,,,whatever the hell that means. :beer:
 
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Grumpy

Guest
Brad wanted me to say......Toyota + Crag Lake = NO BODY DAMAGE!!
 
Farm Boy

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
Mud Lite said:
I think you took too much time off wheeling.....hahahahah!!! I think Brad ran it in the 4runner with no body damage, plus I know of two Full Size width axled buggies that have made it too.

:flipoff:
Click to expand...

I heard about Brad before I went in. Heard they were constantly back and forth and pushing the truck sideways to miss the trees. Way too much work for me. Some of my dents were VERY similar to what Adrian did to his before he choped the cab.

Who is the second buggy? I followed Bill and he "rubbed" alot of trees and used the front dig quite a bit

I know I could have avoided some of them but do I look like I care? It's WAY more fun to wheel not worrying about body damage. :flipoff:

.
 
G

Grumpy

Guest
Farm Boy said:
I know I could have avoided some of them but do I look like I care? It's WAY more fun to wheel not worrying about body damage. :flipoff:
Click to expand...

X2 Wilson!! But I have to warn everyone I got something in store for my Samurai for next year....(I know I've been saying this for years but this time I really mean it!!)

P.S. I love how this thread has been totally hijacked!! Way to go guys!!
 
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