well..with spring around the corner, i have planned to put my 1990 4Runner under the knife. I have a 1982 parts truck that i will be sourcing the axle and other suspention parts. my question to the SAS guru's is can i use the stock steering set up? i mean i have searched throughout the forum for almost 2 days and have not found anyone with a SAS that is using stock steering, everone is using a High steer kit of some sort. I plan to make this swap as cheap as possable, i will be using stock springs, the stock shock towers, basically taking the complete front end out of the 82 and putting it under the 4Runner, minus some fabrication for the front spring hanger... this will be all done by me and my buddies so any pictures and/or info would be greatly appreciated

 

It is definetly possible. Check out this site http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/solidaxle/ Chris did his front end swap with stock steering first then later on switched to Hy-steer. He used the All-Pro kit

 

Stock steering can be done. I've seen '85's with lots of lift with stock steering.

The guy here with that huge black 4runner with the Corvette motor i think has stock steering under that 85.

When I bought my axle, the guy had a lifted '85 with the stock steering and some parts rubbed on the springs.

HY steer is stronger and is more "out of the way" of obstacles.

 

Stock SFA isn't really all that much better than stock IFS on the trail and stock IFS rides nicer on the road. I am a huge proponent of budget builds, but I have to say, do NOT do a stock SFA swap, it isn't worth it. Stock steering sucks and stock flex is not all that impressive. If you want to SAS, then save up until you can convert to hi-steer and do it right, it will be worth it.

 

X2. I would wait till you had the money to do it right. Especially if this is going to be wheeled alot. Your just setting it up to fail quick. The Solid axle is alot stronger than IFS CV's but stock steering is deinetly a weak link, stock 82 springs aswell and stock shock hoops will limit alot of flex.
My bubby has an 85 with just a shackle lift. It had about as much flex as my 94 4runner when it had no lift and IFS. He also broke his stock steering arms a few seperate times

 

This is the J-arm set up, right? Aren't those really really weak?

 

Yeah it is and yes they are, haha. I used to carry a spare around with me when I was on stock steering. Also, with a locked front end, it took ONE trip for my steering to go from working fine to popping out and crapping the bed.

 

You'll need to swap your steering box to use the stock steering. After i researched it will wind up costing you the $300 for the steering box that the Hi-Steer would cost ya...

 

With all the kits out there now, is it really worth saving the extra couple bucks to build your own kit?

All-pro, Marlin, Trail Gear etc all have very completed kits for around the $1100 mark. And they all work extremely well. Plsu they all come with high steer

You probably could do it cheaper, but sourceing and fabricating everything will take a whole lot longer, plus you run into the inevitable issue: buy a part, doesn't work, have to spend more money to get the part that does.

 

Unlikely you'll be able to get the stock springs and steering to work on the IFS frame. The solid axle frames have an upward bend over the axle for added clearance at the stock ride height. The IFS frames lack this bend so need several inches of lift just to fit the axle and steering parts. And stock steering with more than about 3" of lift sucks, BTDT. Plus you'll spend a LOT of time fitting up the solid axle steering box to the IFS frame and then when you finally do go to crossover steering you'll spend as much time again hacking that all off to put the IFS box back on. You can throw your rear springs up front and then get a low cost crossover steering kit and go from there.