GunNut

Hey everyone,

I have a 4" Trailmaster Diff Drop Down Lift Kit that I have no time to install... wife and I had a baby not too long ago, so time for the rig has been a bit on the low side.

Anyone know of someone that can do the install for a reasonable price?

I'm on the border of Orange and Los Angeles County...

Or any of you members up for the job?

Please help!!!




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Morphine

Truck's looking good. I'd be wiling to help but can't offer that much in the way of knowledge.
-=Morphine=-

GunNut

Hey Thanks Morphine!! Where ya been? Haven't heard from you since...

Any help I can get is better than just me doing it all.. It lessens the chances of me messing up badly. ha!

Hey btw, I'm starting my Safari Rack project soon... already put my new Mig Welder to work... let me know if you got any ideas.

rocket

iTrader: (1)

Installing it is just a matter of bolting it on.

Personally, i'd sale the lift and use the cash for a SAC.

GunNut

DO you mean... Solid Axle? Is that what SAC is? I wouldn't mind doing that at all but that would mean, needing more help than now. lol.

seanz0rz

yea that would be a solid axle swap. thats a big job tho...

do you have the tools to do it yourself? id be willing to come and help, give me lunch and a case of soda's (not 21 yet...) for the day, and id be happy to help!

im just around the corner from you too. we should go offroading sometime.

Morphine

I've been around, just busy with work. I blew out 2 of the swampers, so it was fun while it lasted but now I need to save up for some new tires but otherwise all good. When do you plan on starting your rack?
-=Morphine=-

deathrunner

You actually have to grind off the inner corners on the front to accomodate the crossmember drop, so you might want to have a grinder on hand.

GunNut

OH WHAT?!?! :pat: what do you mean you blew out 2 swampers??? How did it happen?

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GunNut

Hey Sean, I'll have to take you up on that offer... I could use all the help I can get. I'm going up to Azusa this Sunday, but not to go wheelin though... I usually go shooting up there. Although I've been meaning to go up there and do some muddin... or try one of the trails. Maybe we can roll together...

GunNut

Hey Deathrunner... so how much work is really involved in this anyway? I don't mind grinding the corners and stuff... I do have the tools to do all this, but I'm just not sure what to anticipate. Can you share your experiences?

deathrunner

All I know is t6he corners were missing when I took off my bracket lift. I just know that needs to be done. Get an alignment when you are done of course. And be ready to knock it out of alignment if you do any california wheelin.

GunNut

Knock it out of alignment?! Are you kidding me?! So basically this lift is a POS huh? What's the alternative besides SAS?



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deathrunner

If you are gentle with it, you may have good results. Of all the bracket kits, the trailmaster is possibly one of the weaker, mainly because the drop brackets are not welded together. Everything is bolted, i.e. able to spread apart.

As for bracket lifts, the Superlift or Procomp stage II seem to be a bit better.
The bracket lift will not gain any extra travel.flex, as it just spaces everything apart.

Ball joint spacers will gain some extra travel, but not much height.

Long travel kits are available, but quite pricey.

I like moderate crawling and going fast. I felt too top heavy crawling with a bracket kit, and I knocked my alignment silly going fast. Fast riding also has a tendency to bend the a arm mounts, this is magnified by the leverage of a bracket kit. If you want to have good luck with your bracket kit, weld it together after a good alignment, then build struts from the bottom rear bracket up to the frame, and then still be careful.

If it is mostly street driven, you should be fine. I just noticed you were from california, and I know the mindset when it comes to dirt.

This is how I got my 4runner, and yes, it is much lower now:


My 86 Hellica flexed better:

GunNut

I'm don't really plan on doing much hardcore wheelin... to be honest, I'm more interested in muddin, and sand.... My first interest is Firearms, hence my user name. So typically, I'm either up in the mountains, or out in the dessert... either way, no heavy rock krawlin. Specially now that my wife and I just had a son, free time has been mostly spent with him. So shooting/wheelin use will be limited to about once or twice a month. With that said, I'm not really worried about bustin up the lift from heavy wheelin.

I'm just worried about permanently cutting pieces of the truck and not be able to put it back to stock if I need to. Also, having it fall apart while driving under normal conditions.

Oh by the way, I didn't really understand what you meant by the whole "California Mindset" thing... what did you mean by that?

Nice Rig by the way!


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deathrunner

We tend to do more than JUST crawling out here, in fact the general pace off-road tends to be much quicker. You mentioned sand, pretty much the only thing to do in sand is go fast, which my bracket kit did terribly at.

That is all that I meant, most californians liek to go fast, which in turn bashes the truck usually.

Morphine

Ok, well I'm still in to help out,and do what ever Ican. Shot, we can install my downey shackles, new T-Bars, Ball Joint Spacers, Sliders, maybe even bolt my seats down. Everyone can gather at GunNut's place and we'll make a weekend wrench-a-thon of it. Bring your trucks, tools, parts and we'll all have it!!!!

As for the Swampers, I went to the YT meet in Greet in SD, and on my way home my Yota jerked forward and back violently. I pulled over immediately and there were 2 flats. The swampers had blown some nice size holes. I had a couple of shops look at them and all said that they could not be patched (I figured as much) and then I contacted Interco and they said, "sorry" basically. So I'm now saving for some tires and wheels. Oh well...had a good time whle I had them.

I also need to talk with you about your "Ebay" source!
-=Morphine=-

GunNut

ohhhh... lol.. duh... goes to show what I know.. lol. NOw that I think of it, you're probably right though. I'll have to rethink this lift when I have the urge to go fast... thanks for the heads up deathrunner!


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GunNut

Damn Morphine... sorry to hear that. Damn... I wonder why the heck that happened though? Did you speak to Diane from Interco?

Hey let me know when you want to do your installs... You know I'm ready to help with that.

GunNut

I'm thinking of installing the lift this Saturday....

anyone up for it?

so far, I think Morphine is helping... and hopefully seanz0rz can make it too.

Anyone else?