i live in ohio so unless i drive 6-8 hours there are no rock trails for me. just some sticky mud. so my need are big nobby tires and lots of wheel speed. i want to do a sas, but is it really worth it just to play in the mud? my other question is. i have limited mechanical experience so would i be better off buying an older yota with a solid axle or doing the swap on my 86pu with the 22r?

 

Do the SAS.

It will take you almost as much work to make a SA truck work with the big knobby tires as to do the SAS. You have to redo the steering, and beef up a ton of stuff.

 

I think that you would be better off to find an older SA truck if you don't feel mechanically inclined to convert yours

 

for your needs, you don't need one. you WILL know when a SAS is necessary, if you're just thinking about maybe doing it, you don't need one.

 

He's right, you're just one of the many that "think" they need a SA.

 

Mud =

Ide say if you want the solid axle to do the SAS because its true if you want a great suspension even on the older trucks youll want to beef up alot and it would be about just as much work.

Also the wheel power you speek of is non existant in the 22re. yes its pretty comperable to the 3.0 but i mean either motor will hold you back if what your looking for is power while in mud. Upside is its light

I dont really know what ide do in your situation. do you want to play in the rocks at some point? do you only want mud?

 

in myopinion i would do the sas on your truck cause than you know that thw work is done properly if its a mudder than i would do a full width sas

 

Depends bigarms23 - it sounds like he's not very experienced, and it's likely someone else would do it better than he could.

Whereabouts in OH? I used to live near Steubenville on the eastern edge of the state, then in Lorain ... IFS with front/rear lockers and good mud tires (33x10.50 Boggers would be ideal) will handle most anything I had seen around there ...

Stock SFA is no stronger than IFS. As mentioned above, by the time you make the stock SFA work as well as it can, you may as well SAS your existing truck, as the spring locations will have to be moved and the steering redone.

 

Yea there isnt a lot of point in a costly and lengthy SAS if your just using it for a mud rig. Put your money in some lockers instead and rock the IFS. Its breakable but you can slam some huge ass tires without upgrading too much as long as the working angles stay pretty close.

 

If you don't have the experience to do an SAS, you may not have the experience to be able to identify a well done SAS compared to one that's barely hanging on there.

A well done SAS with over 4" of lift means cutting and rotating axles - it's a huge pain. You've got to balance the rotating of the axles with correct alignment of the axle so it will self-center and not death wobble. I'll bet that neither is considered on most backyard SAS projects. The cost of having an SAS done I'm sure would be $1000-$2000 just in labor, if done right.

I see no huge advantage of SAS in mud until you need the lift.. I'd see a need for SAS in mud if you're running high HP and you're breaking things up front.


That being said, a well done SAS isn't worth the sum of it's parts on resale.. If you can identify a good one, you can get a great deal.

 

Very well said.

 

ok heres my idea f@$& it dont do ok here you got lets say $2000 bucks for this sas or a newer ride ok well done looks nice handles like crap or spend maybe $200 on a 2 or even 3in bl and throw some 33 or even 35s on her and still have money left over for what ever else you may want that should get the job done and still have the (low speed) drivablity that she had when it was got new you see what im saying bl sl or sas depends on what your doing if your doing the sas then twin stick it or triple stick it and ONLY do rocks or do a 4in ifs lift and throw some 35's on her and have fun all around or do the cheap way or a 3in bl and throw 35;s at her and drive like no ones looking lol
but like i said just an idea.....


sas-- solid front axel
bl----body lift
sl----suspension lift ( i so hope i spelled that right)

 

my truck dosent do any better in the mud now that it has a solid axle, compared to when i had ifs, it only does better in the mud now because im locked front and rear.

people do SAS for articulation, which you dont need in mud you just need ground clearence and lockers.

when i had ifs and 32's with open diffs it did just fine in all the mud i took it through.

 

Have you ever heard of "punctuation"? Damn that's hard to read!

 

AS you all no i went down the same road..


Now are you planning on rocking or just mud hills and lil things...

Im not going to sas anymore because my truck flexas prity good with ifs..(for a ifs)

get a 50mm( it think thats the one) bj spacer and a 75 mill body lift and youl be fine for mudding hills and going over rocks more then 1 1/2 foot tall..

With 33x12.5 wheels make sure there 12,5 not 10.5 the wider the better

 

this truck will not see rocks. just muddy trails and some hills when i go out. so it looks like i will just be doing a body lift and tires for now. when i get tired of gettin stuck i will add a rear locker. there is not a lot of crazy trails here in ohio like there are in the west or a couple states south. most of the wheelin i will be doin will be muddy trails through the woods that are faily flat. i never intended for this rig to be an extreme build. i just wanted a capable trail rig. i chose the yota mostly because of the weight and the turning radius. i had a hard time riding some of the more narrow trails in my full size chevy. tc i am located about 20 minutes east of dayton.

 

I think the only reason to SAS a mud truck would be for strength. You'd have to be running some pretty large tires with a different motor to need that strength.

All things the same, the IFS may have more clearance than a SA rig. Do a simple lift: ball joint spacers, body, etc., and run some tall skinnies that'll get you through without breaking your junk.

I'm thinkin a 34 x 10 LTB ought to be just right.



Not a Toyota, but you get the idea:

 

I would go with an older SA truck. The lifts are cheaper, and later on in life when you actually DO want to do something other than play in the mud, you'll be better equiped. Besides, older is simpler, simple is better.

 

34x10.50 LTB's ROCK in Ohio mud!

One of the OHTTORA guys had them open/open on a Taco and I was locked front/rear with Allterrains, and it was pretty close as to what we could get through when it was sloppy.

 

gear your old taco to the teeth, wack the fenders, and put on some 35x14 boggers. SAS it, but dont even lift it, just cut the fenders off. you dont need flex for mud


oh and weld up the diffs on the axles, front and rear, unless you can afford Detroits