Starting of my basic, budget swap...
 

After way too long of not working on it and too many delays (getting married, honeymoon, remodeling house etc.) I'm finally back at it, and have 27 days to have the truck road ready and on a shipping carrier bound for our new home in Puerto Rico

Finally got a chance to get the truck into the shop it wasn't road worthy before needing new front shocks, brakes and steering so the time was right to cut it all off and start fresh. People always ask how much you can do an SAS for or how to save money doing it etc. so here's my edition of a simple, yet effective swap.

(Revised) Plan is:
1980 axle trussed, and armored
'91 rears up front mixed with 3 leafs from an '86 pack
14" bilstein 5150s all around
New shock mounts in the rear
FJ rotors with 91 IFS V6 calipers & IFS hubs for width
4.88s open for now
Bobby Long Chromo hub gear and inners
35's
Trail Gear Hy-steer

and in addition to the SAS:
Hot water shower w/ water tank
Dual Batteries
New in floor sub mount and hidden amp
Bed organizer / sleeping platform
In bed spare tire mount
Tinted lexan windows in canopy w/ security screen inside
Tinted & Security laminated cab windows
LED lighting in & outside canopy
Tune up w/new fluids everywhere and new timing belt

Budget is out the window now with all the add ons, but the swap itself with 5 new wheels and tires is in at just under $1,700.

HHere's progress so far:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000480.jpg
As picked up:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000481.jpg
Oven cleaner: :) stripped everything!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000486.jpg
Trussed and armoured:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000508.jpg
Steering stop braces:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000511.jpg
My stock 51" 91 rears (top), my donor pack a stock 86 48" set (bottom)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000777.jpg

My new front springs :D ...order of pack, top to bottom:
91 main
91 second
91 third
86 third
86 main
86 second
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000781.jpg
Ready for paint:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000792.jpg
All primed up:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000793.jpg
7 coats of hammered paint later:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000805.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000806.jpg
As it rolled in the shop:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000801.jpg
Time to start cutting:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000802.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1000804.jpg

Looking good so far! Wish I was ready for a SAS! What are you using for springs?

91 rears are about 51" long compared to the 48" rears.
You will need to move that front hanger forward or your shackle angle will be lay really far back, and will hit the frame during up travel.
My brother used the same springs with out moving the hanger forward and had to cut it off and move it. :(

I have 51" rears on mine here is pictures of my hanger.
The front of the hanger is 4.25" in front of the frame.
The center of the bolt hole in the hanger is 2" in front of the frame.
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010017.jpg
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010163.jpg
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010038.jpg

My shackle angle
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010016.jpg
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010154.jpg
The plates where for mocking it up, but they do have the weight of the truck on them. They are 5.5" eye to eye

Also it is a little harder to get lift out of these springs compared to the 48" rears, but they flex good.
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...8/P1010102.jpg
The axle is hanging by my 14" shock.:hillbill:


If you have any questions feel free to ask.

91_4runner- I'm running my stock rears up front with 3 cut down 48" leaves mixed in for a 6 leaf pack, we'll see how it works I'm looking for about 3 inches of lift
Hey thanks for that, I've spent heaps of time on pirate without finding much good info on our springs, plan was to run the hanger 1" in front of the frame and move the shackles behind the body mount...What are you running for your pack?

Must be nice working on your rig on a lift :hillbill:

If you are going to have the shackle tube threw the frame and behind the body mount just make sure that shackles will hang in the right place side to side. Your springs should be parrallel like l l not like \ / . If the inside plate is to far out you will have to have a bent shackle plate made.

The first lift that I had with these springs was about 2.5 inchs of lift. I was trying to keep it low so it would be harder to roll. In the picture it has 2" body lift and 2.5" suspension lift. I was really happy with how it turned out.
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010018.jpg
When I took it off road and flexed the front the drag link hit the frame hard enough to leave dents. This was caused because when the driver tire went down the passenger tire went up causing the knuckle to try and go above the frame this was limited by the drag link.:roll:
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010038.jpg

I could only think of three options to fix the problem.
1) Notch the frame making a U for the drag link, I did not like this idea because it is a daily driver and I was worried about stress cracks forming in the frame around the U.
2) Make the bump stops longer so it would hit the bump stops before the drag link hit the frame, but this would cause the truck to 1/2 inch of up travel before bottoming out on the bump stops and would be a ruff ride for daily driving.
3) Lift my truck so that I could have longer bump stops and have about 1.5 inches of up travel. This is the option that I went with and now the truck is taller than I wanted but still lower than most out there.

Here is my front leaf pack
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/html/tr...I/P1010156.jpg
1 & 2 = Top 2 leafs from 51" rears
3 & 4 = Cut leafs from 48" rears
5th = 3rd leaf from 4x2 S-10
6th = a leaf from the front of a 85 4runner.
The S10 leaf provides the arch for the pack.
The 6th leaf is almost flat and just supports the S10 leaf.
This spring pack along with a 1" drop hanger gave me 4" lift.

The next time I have the front end taken apart I will try and make a 8 leaf pack with toyota, waggoneer, broncoII leafs. I hope this will make a nicer pack that will give me more stability on road, still have the same off road flex, have more resistance to make the back springs work more, and have more than one leaf providing arch. The pack I have is not bad and works well but I do not like how the toyota leafs have alot less arch than the S10 leaf.

Hope this all helps

any updates?

Alright back at it!

Here's the finished axle just awaiting the 3rd and final reassembly:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010245.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010246.jpg

Some how in the 29 year history of this thing the original knuckle bearing shims had been lost, I bit the bullet and bought the knuckle centreing SST and it made life real easy!! :rockon: Sorry no photos of it in use though, I used this for directions: http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series...tions-faq.html

Motor mounts boxed:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010247.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010248.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010249.jpg

Shackles getting pretty:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010250.jpg

I hope you welded that truss SLOW and I would have left the diff in there...if you didn't you warped that axle.

:guitar:

seems like he does good work and has researched what he is doing, im sure he knows whats up.

yep, I made sure to be careful the truss was welded with a series of small stitches over a couple hours, alternating top and bottom, diff was in while it was all being welded and then pulled for paint and regearing!! :) I was real careful as to not warp it but I guess I'll find out soon enough...off to go drill the holes for the frame tubes and somehow get new bushings into my springs now

i knew it:great:

Pictures didn't show the diff in there so that is the only reason I said anything...seen folks warp the crap out of them not being patient and taking out the diff.

:guitar:

Last night's progress, got the shackle tubes and front hanger all mocked in!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010266.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010265.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010264.jpg

Going to put the axle under and drop her down onto some jackstands to check the shackle angle tonight, and try to get the rear shocks set up.

Picked up some free scrap diamond plate today to make a switch panel for the canopy to control all my aux. camping lights. And ordered my Painless dual battery wiring harness and 6 24" LED light strips, and 4 12" to provide lighting for inside the canopy and around the outside of the truck while camping.

Looking good. :great:
If you get the 3 inches of lift out of your pack you will want to clamp the lowest leaf, they have a tendency of fanning out.
I ended up using one of the leafs off of the front of a 85 toyota pack that had a clamp. The leafs are thin and flat. I had to bend the spring up to clamp it, which lowered my truck 1/4 of a inch and made the front more stable on the road. I do not know how much it will affect flex, but I don't think it will hurt much.

SOB!!! Went to bolt the axle up and realized that TG sent me u bolts for a later model axle with the factory gussets so I've got 2 square ones, now to try and find a pair locally so I don't have to wait on shipping

Woo hoo, got my first look at roughly its final stance tonight and its looking good...a bit tall though 3" up on my rear though hopefully that will change when actually sitting on wheels and tires. Not sure on the shackle angle though, hopefully you guys can throw in some input! The angles are off a bit and I double and triple checked my measurements and the tubes and hangers are all within about 1/16th on an inch of each other. :think:

That and the axle is awfully far forward, I think I'll have to drill my perches back an 1" to try and help.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...P1010267-1.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010269.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010269.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010275.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010276.jpg

And onto the underside and rear...forgot to get a pic of the new rear shock mounts though, oh well tomorrow!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010270.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...k/P1010271.jpg
(Yes thats the iphone level, haha only good thing I've found about that damn phone so far!!!)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74...P1010272-1.jpg

Now I've just got to wait on getting my 3rd back from Crash, and picking up my new tires on Friday, a set of 5 new BFG muds on rockcrawlers :bigok:

Tomorrow will bring drilling of the perches, drilling the hub bolt pattern into my rotors and starting to mount and fab up switch plates in the canopy for my new lighting!

anyone have any ideas on my shackle angles, too far back or ok?

In order to make sure that your shackle angle is equal the truck needs to sit level side to side.
When I did it I leveled the front first by putting thin pieces of wood under the low tire until that axle was level. Then I repeated the process in the rear. My driveway looked level side to side but it was actually a ways off. Once I got the axles level my shackle angle was the same.
When the truck is level the shackle angles should be the same, but there is not really an exact angle that the shackle should be. When they are closer to straight up and down say 22deg it tends to stiffen the ride. When they are around 45deg the ride gets softer. If they lay back to far the spring will hit the frame under compression. Mine sit at about 45deg which gave the front a nice soft ride and never hits the frame..

Because you are still tacked I would take extra time and make sure that your suspension is square. Your springs should be parallel to each other and to your frame. The shackle tubes and spring hanger should be square to the springs. You can check square by using 3,4,5 here is an example http://mikelindstrom.wordpress.com/2...4-5-triangles/ Once you weld it all up it is a pain to try and move.

Personally I would leave your axle moved forward, it will give you a better approach angle. If you want you axle moved closer to the cab I would run the 48" rears and have your hanger flush with the frame which would also give you a good approach angle. I have read that if you move up to 37" tires with the 48" springs you will need to trim/beat the fire wall. With the 51" springs I stuff a 37" tire with room to spare.
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/php/tra...new_height=500

Here is how it looks with the axle forward on bigger tires and 51" springs.
http://www.gentryoffroad.com/php/tra...new_height=500

Sorry i didn't reply earlier work and sleep kept getting in the way