7m4x4dude

Hello, JoeC here.. Wont let me post so my brother is letting me use his account for this

I have a 94' toyota pickup, 2wd 5/speed. Bought it with a 2-3" lowering kit on it.. blah.. I'm tired of this, and want to lift it. my "goal" is to fit 31" tires on it so I can actually go offroad to get into secluded camping areas, in the sand with my quad perhaps.. etc etc.

And before anyone says anything.. IVE SEARCHED! For awhile now actually.
I just don't have the knowledge about lift kits, body lifts, etc etc to know which is actually the best option to go.

I see fabtech sells their "kit".. includes new UCA's, shocks, and AAL's. kinda spendy and says to fit 30's. I'd probably have to add 1.5-2" rear shackles to level the truck out at that point too..

other option I was looking was a mixture of body lift and suspension. cost is about the same.. Not sure if it will get me where i want.. 1.5" balljoint spacers, saw torsions, AAL, rear shackles, 1-3" body lift?

What do you guys think? I'd love some opinions. I would go straight for a TC setup, but I dont want to have this truck forever.. and 2-3k isnt worth it to me. I'd just go buy a 4wd p/u at that point lol.

2DoorRunner

Why not just get a 4x4 and fit them stock?

yoder519

x2^^^^

think of it this way, no matter how high you lift it, no matter how aggresive your tires are, your still gonna be in 2wd. heck just throw a locker in rear, and cut the fenders out. i see guys runnin 35s on 4wd with no lift, so im sure with enough hackin you could clear 31s on a 2wd. correct? or am i way off?

i would just add a BL, then start cuttin from there

PismoJoe

I would stay away from Fabtech, just my opinion.

What lowering kit is on your truck? Is there just shorter coils up front? Maybe just get some adjustable coil overs and then I dunno about the rear end it depends on how your truck was lowered...

yoder519

dont most guys that lower these 2wds use lowering blocks in the rear? since there spring under? should be easy to take off

7m4x4dude

Yeah, the truck has 2 or 3" lowering blocks under the rear. Easy to take off yes. Front, they just lowered as much as possible using the torsions.

I do not believe 31" tires will fit stock height, and while yes.. I would LOVE a 4wd.. I can only afford about 1k atm and figured since I just replaced all the balljoints and bushings and timing chain, etc.. why not just drive this until I can get a 1st gen tacoma down the road. I know fabtech has some bad views.. thats why i wanted opinions from people who have actually done it.

Btw.. my plan is to fit a MK2 supra LSD into it, 31" tires.. and be able to go camping.. At the current moment.. my tires are getting worn a little, need to be replaced. So why not get bigger? I can't go down a gravel fire road at the moment in my truck because of one.. how low it is, and two.. I'm practically riding on bump stops with blown shocks most likely.

2DoorRunner

Well why dont you pull the blocks out, set the torsion bars back, and throw a set of bfg a/ts on there and drive it like that. and SAVE your money so you have the funds to do real mods on a real truck in the future.

yoder519

shoot, take the lowering crap off your truck, take that 1k and buy you an older 4wd, and drive your 2wd while you build teh 4wd???

2DoorRunner

Oh i missed the part where he had a grand. Thats plenty for a 4x4!
So im with him^!

PismoJoe

Missed that this was in the 89-95 section, scratch the lowering coils up front

Throw a lockright in the rear, get some 31's, raise the torsion bars, and take out the lowering blocks. Cost with tires will be under $1k

Or get a 4wd if you really want to be able to get to remote locations

7m4x4dude

lol.. don't really have the room to keep two cars around. Esp when my bro has 4 of his own LOL!

I enjoy the discussion for me to go 4x4 atm, but I really do not want to with 1k. Like I said before, when I go 4wd.. it will be a 1st gen Tacoma xtra cab.

Does anyone have any knowledge of putting larger tires than stock on a 2wd? Even if i'm not going as extreme as a 600 dollar kit, spending $100 on a bj spacer and either add a leaf or shackles and putting 27's or 28's under the rear to get me around.. you guys see what im talkin bout?

2DoorRunner

You could fit 33s easy....with a sawzall

7m4x4dude

Haha. Probably! I do want to keep my bed semi intact (as far as wheel wells go) cause i do put my turbo raptor 700 in there often .. But i don't mind removing the plastic and banging/cutting minor things to get things to fit.

2DoorRunner

Im sure you could fit 31x9.50s with some basic trimming. Im no 2wd expert though.

7m4x4dude

anyone with ball joint spacers and either add a leaf or shackles with larger tires wanna chime in with pics/info?

PismoJoe

Yeah my buddy SEARCH would like to chime in.

7m4x4dude

Haha. Searching here doesn't give me very much info. But looking on some other forums with the extensive use of google helped a little! I found a truck that I think is also a member here (twisted sid).. Here's a picture of his truck.



he has 1.5" balljoint spacers, rear shackles, and a 2" body lift with 29.5" tires.

I was thinking if adding a 3" body lift, perhaps an AAL would allow 31's.. but I'm not too sure the front would clear. What do you guys think? yeah? maybe some SAW torsions? *would that actually lift the front end more?*

tried4x2signN

oh so many things right off the bat...


1st off, yoder519's got it... The 2WD's are underslung, so that's a good 4" lower than a 4WD.

2nd, gear ratio... I have no idea what tire 2WD's have stock, but take .10th of the gear per 1" and by the time you get a 2WD 3:70 - 3:90 gear to 31's my guess is you'll have about a 2:50 gear

And your truck will not like that...


IMO, if you want a 4WD, or a truck with 31's just get a 4WD...

A reg cab with stock tires will get you 19mpg so that's not a huge amount to lose and you'll have 4WD when you need it.

Plus, with the BEAUTY of the Toyota 4WD's, there is nothing that moves or will break by it just hanging out... Unlike a Ferd or Chebby of the same vintage...

Fords had poop T bars that hung low under the truck, and the dial-a-Tcase was a sorry excuse for a 4WD...

And Chevy's... Google "Thermal Linear Actuator"... And don't you dare change the off set of those stock rims! You'll eat the bushings out, and kill tires with inside wear...

7m4x4dude

I just need to replace the tires on my truck, and figure if im spending $400 any ways.. why not get larger ones so I can do a little bit more than i can now? a 1k budget isnt going to get me a 4wd tacoma. Not even if I sell my pickup for 1k, will I be able to buy a tacoma for 2k.. So until I can get some better cash flow there is no reason for me to even think about it. I don't plan on having a taco for another 2 years. But I do want to improve my little truck now. as is it, my tires are rubbing on the fender liners when i turn.. annoying as heck.. when I put my 400lb quad in the back of it i'm running on bump stops. I can't deal with that. So i am wanting to improve it. Not go 4wd. I dont want to mud, or wheel, or rock crawl. Does that make any sense? lol.

Btw, the way i feel.. me and my bro already have a few mk2 LSD's laying around, and so do our friends. I can peice together a 4.10 ring and pinion with an LSD no problem. I do know its spring under axle, but i mean.. 2-3" body lift, shackles, aal.. Wouldn't that fit larger tires? And for anyone else to say "search".. I just got done spending 7 hours searching every thread under body lifts, 2wd lifts, etc on toyotanation and yotatech. I only see one or two people with 31" tires, and only one of those has a body lift but uses chevy springs under the rear.

DirtyOregonKid

Put it back to stock on the cheap and let the gas savings buy you that taco.