safado4

Hey everybody!

I've been coming almost daily to this site for the past couple of months, and I've taken a lot of your advice for mods and lift ideas for the '97 4runner SR5. Thanks a lot by the way. I've gotten the 3" lift OME's all around, with 33X10.5's with about 30% tread left- - -

President's day weekend went to moab (can't resist being 3 hours away!!) and hit some great trails, and there was a good amount of rubbing especially in extreme flex situations. I love it. hoping to make it down again in late april (if anyone cares to join me...) and later in the summer

I've read the posts and threads earlier that are similar, but I was hoping that you could help me know what I've specifically gotta do -

ANyway just had a few questions --

I am hoping soon to get 33X12.5 SSR's, and I'm pretty sure they'll rub a lot more than the 10.5 "Pathfinder A/T's". I've read a lot of things of suspension / lifts, and different mods to do, but not sure of what all of that entails because I'm pretty new and I bought the runner used with 73K in october last year.

1 - body lift. What would it lift out of the way so I get more clearance underneath? anything? I've heard it gets the gas tank up.. things like that but don't know if it's true. I was looking at a 2" 4crawler...

2 - Spacers such as Daystar. Probably the 2.5 or 3", what would you recommend, and what would that do for me? I don't really care about the ride quality that much even though it's a DD. I'm all about the use and functionality - but taking care of her too.

3 - what would each of these do to my CV joints, differential, etc.? do I need differential drop, and what are the advantages / disadvantages? How about hose extensions / any other mods that would have to go along to make sure things still work right.

4 - bushwacker extend-a-flares - do these help reduce rubbing at all or are they all looks?

5 - I've got ARB front and rear lockers in sight now that I've regrown an arm and a leg, - probably in late march - what other mods to accomadate these do I have to make sure I do so that they work beautifully (I've heard of having to switch gears, get new bearings...)??

Hey guys thanks a lot for being really helpful - it's a great community here and I hope we get to wheel sometime!

some pics - hopefully works

flex shot 1 (fins & things trail)...



flex 2



my buddy on an overlook at gemini bridges



Thanks again, I appreciate the help!

brandon

ps - thinking of going all out black - new tjm bumper, rear sonoran steel, black sliders, black wheels, clear corners/bumper .. what do you think?

tc

Yes, they will. A LOT more. Why don't you go with 33x10.50 SuperSwampers or 34x10.50 LTB's? 12.50 isn't going to be that much more traction (especially in Moab)

Body lift by itself will only give you more fender clearance - it just lifts the body higher off the frame. If you combine the body lift with a drivetrain lift (in addition to lifting the body, you also have longer motor mounts etc to lift the drivetrain) you gain ground clearance. If you do 3", the bottom of the truck will be totally flat (nothing lower than the frame itself). This will affect your pinion angles though.

I'm a second gen guy - don't know much about these. I've heard of big CV problems with 3" spacers though. Will need to do a diff drop.

At 3" lift already, you're on the fringe of needing longer brake lines, panhard drop/extension, diff drop. I'm assuming you did longer shocks already? What limits your flex currently?

They provide coverage if your tires extend beyond the fenders. They can make rubbing worse. They can cover up where you had to cut the fenders to clear the tires.

You don't have to do anything to accomodate them, but you have to disassemble the whole diff, so you may as well replace the bearings, etc while you're in there. Everything you need is packaged in a "master install kit". It is a good time to install gears while you're in there.

I just recently replaced my 4.56 with 4.88 while doing ARB's - man what a difference! Lockers are probably the best bang for the buck in increasing your truck's capability. I would save up for them before doing any more lift. The fact of the matter is that if you want to do the harder trails in Moab, at some point you're going to have to SAS. Why spend a bunch of time/money installing parts that will be cut off?

Be sure to PM Lysmachia - she's always looking for someone to wheel Moab with!

00Runner

1 - This would work. A BL does just that, lifts the body. Nothing else is raised except the body and anything directly mounted to the body (rear bumper, radiator, etc.) It doesn't raise the gas tank. This is a good option for two reasons. It would give you the clearance you need for 33s (and 35s with some trimming). It also makes it easier to mount rock sliders since there is more of the frame rail exposed. You will definately want to invest in sliders if you will be spending time off road.

2 - You can't do this with our IFS trucks. Spacers on top of lift coils would kill your CVs and your ride quality since there would be no droop left in your suspension.

3 - BL doesn't affect CVs or diff. You may need to extend some hoses, lower your radiator, raise your front bumper. It depends on how much lift, transmission type, etc. Experiences with this vary. A diff drop is for a suspension lift which you already have. If you haven't done this it will ease the angle of your CV joints slightly.

4 - These don't help reduce rubbing. Most people get these if their state requires the full width of the tire to be covered by the fender.

5 - Spare CV axle and the knowledge to change one when it breaks on the trail.

There are a couple of other things you can do if you just want to avoid rubbing on your tires. Pound the pinch weld and trim the valance on your bumper. These are the most common points of rubbing. Also I see that you have aftermarket wheels. The backspacing on your wheels will greatly affect how much they rub. If you aren't in the 4.25" - 4.5" range on backspacing then you might want to try different wheels.

safado4

Hey thanks for the advice!

just a couple questions -

is there an all-in-one drivetrain lift package? (gas tank, transmission,... - I've seen a few things here and there on 4crawler, but a one in all deal would be fantastic.) do they make a 2" BL / 2" drivetrain? if not i'll go 3"... what do I do to help out the pinion angles, anything?

my shocks are OME N86 firm, they've got pretty good flex, and I'm not sure but I believe the limit is that they max out in the rear,, and the front is limited by the front bumpstops (which I've seen mods for 2nd gen, don't know if they've got mods for 3rd gen)


how would I know if there is 4.25-4.5" backspacing on the wheels, is there anywhere I should look? if there isn't, do I get wheel spacers or something fix that or just all around new wheels?


by the way, thanks a lot for your time and all the advice you're giving.

-brandon

Oh and also, my front is actually an adjustable front lift (coils) not sure what company and it still has about .5" to max out which I'd like to do... only problem is the previous owner may have thrown out the adjusting key (the u-shaped thing) - is there a way around this besides just working the whole day and cranking it?

sorry, tons of questions!

tc

Shoot 4crawler an email about the body/drivetrain lift - he'll be the best bet for an "all inclusive" package

You can measure the backspacing by taking the wheel off, laying it face down, put a straightedge along the rim and measure down to the back of the lug/hub flange.

One thing to strive for is equal flex between the front and rear. With our IFS, it is quite easy to end up with a ton more flex in the rear than the front and that leads to some instability. Keep it balanced. Like I said before (and your confirmation of what is limiting the flex confirms), you're pretty good on lift to do any trails in Moab that you should be on with IFS.

safado4

tc - thanks for all the input, it helps a lot!