scottapher

So i made the bracket that will locate the upper part of the coil to the frame and coil-spacer today, i need to mount it tomorrow and if all goes well the runner should be on all 4's tomorrow. Work sure does get in the way of fun eh?...

Ill make sure to post some pics of the final ride height and put up some measurements of my new, longer wheelbase.

-scott-

scottapher

Soo....its on its own weight!!! and its level!...two big pluses right there!....

I went ahead and used some RE springs from the front of a zj. The red Tj coils were a tad too tall and way to stiff. I had to readjust my coil locators on the frame twice, but it was worth it. Really really soft in the rear, should make it flex nicely on the trail...good thing its not seeing the street. Still have to measure for shocks and limiting straps, gas tank, lines, brakes, and button everything up.

Heres how it is as of today.

upper coil locator in the works:


1st attempt, too tall:


Again, to tall, and doesnt look as good so far down, also much more structurally sound how it is tucked up against the frame now.


Mocked with the red tj coils; too stiff.


RE 3.5 ZJ spring


Coil locators moved up to the frame rails, springs compressed.


Front side view


rear shot again


upper coil mounts:


side


-scott-

Booosted Supra

thats a pretty damn big 4runner, looks great though. Are you going to have rub issues in the rear? it doesnt look like the axle is centered

camo31_10.50

yea...first thing i thought in that last picture was that your gonna have some major rubbage..lol..and dont it sit a little tall to be out on the rocks?..i thought the idea for the rocks was low COG..urs looks perty top heavy..of course those tires probably help alot witht the stability issue..

scottapher

Yes, the axle has been moved rear-ward to improve departure angle.

No, the fenders have not yet been trimmed, but this is something that does not take much time or effort.

Thus, wheelbase has been stretched.

tc

Good luck with the ebrake ...

scottapher

Ummm, yeah, sure.... that WILL BE THE EASIEST part of all of this. Wire cable is wire cable...extending it will not be hard, and i can always use a transfer case mounted e-brake when i do duals.

Victor

Scott do you have any pics with the rear flexed. The work all looks top notch. What are you going to do for driveshafts? Keep the pics coming

jfowl31

I'm not Scott, but I'm his "roommate" who's helping things along with the build, so i can answer a few questions. Figured I might as well register since I'm lurking and reading everyone else's stuff.

No pics of it flexed or even moved yet. Fuel lines still have to be routed and connected before we can start it to move it. I can guarantee you though, as soon as its moving we'll take it back to the same ramp where we tested the leafs to get a real comparison. It should flex nicely... the springs are REALLY soft right now especially without shocks on it.

Driveshafts... square tubing inside of a larger diameter square tubing. Works like a slip-yoke but plenty strong.... who cares about balanced shafts when this thing will never see pavement again. We'll pull it with my superduty wherever we go on a trailer, so there's no point in doing anything that's not just pure beef and trailready.

about the e-brake... for 1, who needs it. This is an automatic, and its doubtful that it will ever be parked on any hills. 2, it won't be hard to length the cable that controls the brake anyways... unless you know something we don't. That looks like the easiest part of routing all the new stuff (fuel, brake lines etc.)

Fuel lines should go in tomorrow, and I'm making some limit straps for the axle so it won't be long before we can take it down and flex it out again and see what the work gained us. On top of the better travel, the exit angle is MUCH improved with the longer wheel base. That was the biggest problem we could forsee with the truck was dropping the ass on a rock coming off it.

COG won't be much of an issue mainly because the tires are so damn heavy, and if it flexes nicely, the COG won't matter as much. Its when it stops flexing and starts leaning that the low COG is important.

Gerdo

Lop the tail off even with the rear tires. That will help with rub and departure angle. You can get a 90* departure angls since you don't have spring hangers back there any more.

scottapher

i like the way your thinking!.....man sweet photoshop job!!!

tc

The ebrake is gonna be a MAJOR PITA on mine, but it's a 2nd gen and has a different setup I think.

Ummm ... when are you gonna be parked on hills? Just about all the time! Personally, I would want to avoid all that stress on the parking pawl - you break that, and you're looking at a new tranny... not fun.

jfowl31

Around here, the street and driveway are fairly flat.

We drive over hills.

Gerdo

I didn't have the exact paint that is oun your truck but I tried.

I know when I'm offroading there are alot of hills and sometimes I have to stop/park on them. It is actualy called an emergency brake.

scottapher

there will be an e-brake of one form or fashion, not to worry

scottapher

You wanted flex shots......here you go....

BAM!!:







Just starting to walk up the ledge






Parking brake was solved in about 1 minute.

Issues: DAng wide tires rub on the frame, but they are not staying, going to a 14.5 wide tire instead of the 18 inch slicks.

Still needs:

limiting straps

shocks

permanent driveshaft

and something to block off the hole in the rear floorpan

(all quick fixes)

-scott-

jfowl31

The night-time shots really don't do it justice either. Hopefully some Saturday soon we can get some pics in daylight instead of these blurry POS pics.

FWIW, the pics of the front on the ramp, it had rolled back about a foot before I snapped any pics. We were so anxious to flex the rear out, we didn't get any pics when we pulled it back forward. We had it far enough that the coil was just an inch or 2 from coming off the bump-stop in the rear.

I was honestly pleasantly surprised at how well everything flexed in the rear, and the front for that matter once the rear wasn't holding it back. With new tires and no rub on the frame, the tires should stuff up in the wheel well a good bit further and hopefully keep the body lean to a minimum when it flexes out.

jfowl31

one more pic. I couldn't get far enough back to get the whole thing from the rear, so this is 2 pictures quickly/badly photochopped together. Still illustrates the point though.