live4soccer7

I started off with maintenance on a 100% stock 4runner a few years back and before you knew it, I had a TG 4" lift kit and 37's on it with a 1UZ in the engine bay and all the drivetrain goodies. Given all the work, I haven't been able to drive it that much. I've come to the realization that I'll use the truck way more if it were set up in a more practical manner. By that, I mean a smaller lift and 33s or MAYBE 35s if I wanted to move back up. This way I can use it more on a daily basis and also still a lot of fun offroad, especially with the existing modifications I have done to the truck.

The TG lift (4" front and 5" rear) is simply overkill, even for the 37s that are on there. It is not settling at all and it does have several thousand miles on it.

What recommendations do you guys have for an overhaul for a good/complete lift that is of quality and reliability?

84 4runner, can cut/weld/etc...

osv

it has a body lift on it? or a spring lift? or a combo?

what exactly is the problem with driving it as is? no swaybars?

live4soccer7

37's are impracticable for what I do. It has full spring lift with shackles etc... The Trail-Gear lift (4" springs front and 5" springs rear). It lifts it way more than that.

I'm just looking for a more modest lift that will accomodate 33s and maybe the occassional 35 if needed. I could easily run 40's on this thing right now.

Not to mention it sits SOOOOO high.

It does have a 1" BL to simply make it easier to work on and I will not get rid of that.

Just looking at the good options out there for a modest lift. A good quality lift.

881stGenRunner

Start by playing with the amount of leaves in the spring packs. That seems to usually work well.

live4soccer7

Thanks for the input. I'll take a look at it and likely start there. That would save a lot of work and money as well.

osv

only 1" body lift on top of the stock gasket? i wish that i had that, my 4runner came with 2" of body lift on top of the stock gasket, i really want to get rid of some of it.

with true 37s i have a bit over 8" of clearance between the top of the rear tire and the bottom edge of the body panel, the tire catches hard at the front/rear of the wheel well at full stuff.

there isn't a good gear for going from 33" to 37"... it's 5.29 for 35"-37"+, and then everything else.

if you live somewhere flat like florida, kansas, hawaii, etc., you could probably get away with one set of gears.

live4soccer7

Yup, just 1" BL. Makes working on the tranny and brake etc... lines a lot easier. Definitely worth the 1".

I've got a v8 (1UZ) in the truck, so I don't need to be spinning things very fast to keep it going. I will be changing back to 4.10s once I get the time.

OSV, what is the frame height on your truck? From ground to the bottom of the frame near the front door?

osv

27-27.5" to the frame, under the door.

it's high, but i'm not even looking at it until i can figure out the body lift problem.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyot...yota-pics.html

bobpat

I will watching this thread as I am thinking of debuilding my 85 extcab some as well. I have 35 with 5.77 (po) and would like to go down 33 as well so keep posting so lol

live4soccer7

If you still have the stock leaf mounts and whatnot then it will be very easy. You could call up ome and see what they offer. They have good suspension items for stock like mounting. Any other extra anti wrap bars and torsion crap, you can get at the junk yard and add back on.

I've got the TG lift which basically leaves any stock stuff out of option unless I want to cut off everything I installed and weld back on the stock stuff. I'm trying to not do that. I also have a different engine in the truck, which only allow me to shrink my suspension lift so much because I mounted the engine low in the engine bay. Nothing is going to happen soon with the shrink as I'm trying to finish up other projects on the truck first. I just like to look down the road and get ideas early on. I may just remove a couple leaves, but I ultimately would like to link the truck. That is quite a challenge though with the engine (1UZ) that I have in the vehicle.

wentz912

RUF and 63s. Easy, cheap and MUCH MUCH lower than your current set up.

live4soccer7

^

Can you supply some more details? Shackle length etc... Any details on actual frame height (tire size being ran too)?

live4soccer7

I've been researching the RUF setup. It seems the 84-88/9 rear springs would be the way to go since they have the shortest distance between the front hanger and the center. I mention this because I'd like to lower the front (and rear), but I'm a little limited on how much I an lower the front because of the 1UZ oil pan that is right above the axle. If I could move the axle forward 3-4" more then I think I could gain quite a bit of clearance. Take a look and let me know what you think!

I have the TG front 4" on the truck now. If memory serves me correctly that moves the axle forward 1.5". The center to front hanger distance on those springs is 22", so couldn't I gain an additional 2" forward by using the 84-88 rears up front? That couple with drilling a couple new holes in the spring perch (gain another 1" maybe") and then the RUF springs are 48" long where the TG ones are 47, so I could move the front hangers up another inch. I think that would be about 4". I've already moved the steering box about as far forward as you can without adding more frame.

What do you think an acceptable distance is between the oil pan and the axle (vertical distance) if I can not get the axle in front of the oil pan. The engine is placed as far back as possible. I'm looking to run 33-35s (I have 37s now).

osv

the first thing i would check is how the two crossbars on the steering line up at full stuff.

if you want to go forward 4", you'll need 4" of horizontal clearance there, to keep those bars from hitting each other.

with spring articulation the axle moves slightly backwards, so it needs to be checked at full stuff.

to you have a side picture of the steering box location? if there isn't 4" of clearance, you'll have to move the box forward or get a short steering arm, but the latter would defeat the goal of making it a better daily driver.

live4soccer7

I looked to see if I had a pick already, but did not. I can get one though. I can take care of the box, that's not a problem. Other than being a PIA.

live4soccer7

I just took a look at the box. It is definitely something that would need to be addressed because I have it sitting at an angle right now.

I'm running 47" front springs (TG) with 5" shackles. Would I be able to get away with running the 48" RUFs and utilizing longer shackles or should I move the front hanger forward 1"? By looking at the oil pan and axle relation in person, I don't think there's anyway to get around the oil pan. The axle would have to be moved too far forward. I can only drop the truck so much based on the oil pan to axle distance. Wish I could just link the front, but it'd be a major PIA and the main vendors that do links said it was a no go with that engine in there because of the clearance along the frame rails.