Used the plates from low range offroad to do a quick/rough alignment on the front end. Once everything is done front and rear it'll be going to alignment shop regardless.

 

I recently discoverd these on lowrange as well. Backing plate eliminator with a spot to hold brake line. I orderd the new brake lines as well. However im guessing because im running the 2nd gen calipers they were not an exact fit and took some bending and pulling to work. But better the nothing which was what i uad been running for past couple years.

The brake line holder was pretty tight fitting the hoses into place. I did a light sanding on the hose ends and took a 5/8 drill bit and very lightly ran the bit through the bracket.

 

Rolled the Runner outside to get a look at it and immediately noticed something was off. The passenger side tire was sticking past the fender by 1 inch more then the driver and was like wtf is going on now lol.

Checked the bracket on squareness and determined it is absolutely perfect front to back on either side. Checked the left to right squareness which is 1/8" out total which im fine with. Earlier when fitting i measured it was slightly out but decided i wasn't cutting all my tacs just to scoot it to the pass side 1/16". So then i looked at the body......The flare on the fenders is different, Passenger side is aftermarket, driver side Toyota.

 

In pics above you'll notice the headlights. I put in Lowrange offroad headlights that accept a bright bulb to ditch the factory ones. I also put in brand new headlight bezel assembly's which are kind of hard to find in the states surprisingly.
so I the ones I used are brand new from overseas for a matching body style hilux surf.
The fitment was not perfect and extremely tight so it is hard to say if that is cause they are for a overseas surf or if it is the aftermarket headlight it'self. The bezzles came with stickers marking left and right. Which I had to switch sides from what the label said and they went in.

 

So in short, That was alot of work just to lower the front by about 3/4-1" total lol. The bumper does bring it down a smidge more but not that much. I did just drop in 4inch shackles this morning to lower it down some which it did by another 1/2". Looks much better in the garage but currently still dark out so ill roll it out in a few hours. However the only thing im no too crazy about is my shackle angle now with the 4inch. Just sitting they are at 36° and pretty close to my body mount.

I'll probly knotch the body mount just slightly, but currently uncertain if I'll leave these shackles or not

 

 

Looking good!
im wondering if you have a 2wd fender on your truck. 4wd had bigger flare. Toyota did this on the 2wd and 4wd trucks until the tacoma came out.

 

. Good call, That completely slipped my mind. I bought that one off ebay from junkyard years and years ago. They probly assumed it was the same as did I apparently lol

 

I pulled one of my leaf Springs out to compare it to the 3" Springs that I picked up. I was happy to measure that there is 1" difference between the 2 also noticed that the center pin was more forward on the 3" than it was on the 5" so I proceeded to put new bushings Spring pads and Greece all the leafs on the 3" spring pack. The other one I just throw under quickly without touching it. With that keep in mind that my 5" Springs had the 1st and 3rd leaf removed out of the pack. When I put the 3" Springs under their the spring measurements are slightly different and the shackle angle is almost completely vertical now which of course then raised the truck a few inches. So instead of cutting both rear Spring mounts I'll just keep my 5" Springs and put 4" shackles on them to lower it what little I can.

 

For years the Runner has sat slightly lower to the passenger side and the only thing I can come up with as for the reason is the rear Spring mount on driver side is 1/8 inch more forward than on the passenger side.
So i'm thinking that 1/8 inch changes the shackle angle just enough to lower the truck to lean on one side over the other. So with that I will try the 4" shackles and then that will dictate if I want to move one Spring mount forward or bring the other one to match backwards. Regardless I'm not cutting both mounts off the frame lol

 

I put the 5inch springs back under with the 4inch shackles I had laying around. Frame to concrete passenger side 24 1/2"
Driver side 24 heavy 3/4", it's not much but it is very noticeable which is why it has always bugged me over the years. When I was driving it somedays I would have 1inch difference between tire to fender. Seeing how I just reside the front and tore the back out I'm assuming it would get to that point again once everything settled back down. I'll tackle this again later and decide what I'll do. Currently raining here in MD so can't roll the Runner out for comparison pic on the shackles.
For now the tubing will be here tomorrow for the rear axle. Would really like to get that cut, centered and out of the way.

 

So i did finally decide to cut on the fj80 rear housing to narrow it down. It was a very spur of the moment out of boredom so i did not really do any prep as far as measurements for before and after which is in a way irrelevant untill the hubs and rotors are back on to give a final finished width after fitment and welding it.

 

Not welded, just the jig holding it together. The 25" you see on the housing was just a reference measurement to a sharpie mark i put on the housing for a before and after measurement. With the housing and cut piece nut to butt it came to 7 3/8" narrower

Pre cut. To figure how much i wanted to cut out was simple. I took the factory long side shaft i pulled out and measured it to the factory short shaft i bought off ebay while back. The exact difference was 7 9/16". I did not want to try and cut that exact amount for fear i would over shoot and potentially cut to much which in the end would suck the shaft further into the diff. So i measured 7 1/2" and made my cut. Final length removed from axle was 7 3/8" which im fine with.

 

Cont:
The shafts have a decent amount of available splines that pulling it out further from the R&P splines by roughly 1/8" i don't see that having any major consequence. Plus currently i did not finish and it is not welded so "Final" width is still subject to minor change. Typing this up now while still fresh from last weekend.

Axle housing: 3.125" O.D .250 wall 2.625" I.D

 

The jig is some machined aluminum. Pretty self evident, no need to explain.

 

Side not from the axle, I'm currently thinking of redoing my leaf spring setup again lol. I'm looking at doing Sky's 3F springs up front with chevy springs in the rear. It seems from what i read this will potentially get me just a smidge lower and undoubtly improve my ride compared to what i have now. If anyone by chance has this setup would appreciate comments.

 

Pointless update, I have started a slow parts collection for another full rebuild on the Runner. Due to the price of skys front leaf springs im now leaning towards front 3 link and chevy rears. No matter what the god awful Trailgear spring have to go in the trash where they belong. With the front 3 link i'll get a better control over my final ride height, most likely ill have to do something custom with the 1j Oil pan for clearence between axle.
So I've picked up a new full disck clutch to get rid of the puck clutch which does its job just wrong applocation for me. It grabs so hard so fast and chatters awful from the pucks which is normal for that clucth. I also picked up a very slightly used driftmotion upgraded factory turbo and 650 injectors for it. That'll be ran with ecu masters black stand alone and that will really be it for the motor, I don't wanna get carried away again. Main goal after this rebuild is to complete final vision for the truck 10 years later lol. A nice looking CLEAN 1st gen that can be daily driven without breaking anymore axles.
So parts collection will take a couple months, like alot couple months. I'm not just gonna throw all money at once at it again. My guess will be somewhere around $10k when done.

For suspension.
Front Three link keeping hy steer. Undecided on Ruff stuff or trail gear. worry about what shocks later.
Rear will most likely be Chevy rears. By far cheapest option, They are low lift plus any variance of the spring is available.
I'll see what kind of brackets are available and get rid of my rigged trac bar for something more correct and functional. Regardless it absolutely needs one for the rear.
Drivetrain
My chopped fj80 axle is still sitting. The diff needs to be setup and axle hubs reassembled. Most likely keep 4:11 gears with front and rear.
The front is done, nothing needed for that.
I bent some tubing for a custom trans mount i'll build and ditch the plate one i made when did the 1j swap.
Gonna get rid of my lightweight flywheel and aquire a factory one from driftmotion.
I'll climb in the loft and recoinfirm what clucth i have sitting, I believe it is just a factory 2j supra clutch.
Motor.
Will get the upgraded turbo, injectors, down pipe and stand alone ecu. Should get me over or around 400hp.
I want to rip everything out around the motor and drastically clean it up, the wiring, piping and still unsure about moving the intercooler.
I don't want it ontop the motor anymore im just not fully sure on where and how i want to put it. irelavent promblem at the current junture.
Body
I want to clean it up, quickest labor wise is probly to just get new fiberglass panels. Along with the rear inner wheel wells since the one is caved in pretty bad.
along with some help on the interior.

This is all very rough at moment and im bored so throwing this on the thread more less to help me track and think on what actually it is im gonna do as parts aquisition occurs.

 

I still love this build!
I definitely get it with having to do some saving to get this stuff done, lots of stuff for my truck just waiting on funds to make it happen.
I would highly recommend that you look at 4Wheelunderground for the 3 link. I did a ton of research before pulling the trigger and it seemed near unanimous that the TG 3 link was for trailer rigs, not for the highway.
My 81 with 4WU 3 link goes down the road better than it ever did and offroad is a dream. I'm running Sky's "missing link" shackles/Chev 63's in the rear with junkyard 2WD chevy springs (less lift than 4WD, full pack including the overloads) and have the front dialed in at dead level to the rear. I get full throw out of the 14" coilovers.
I agree on keeping it as low as possible. Mine only worked because of a 2" body lift and some fender trimming for the 37's.
I think "AZtoyman" has a build thread on here doing the 4WU 3 link on a more similar gen pickup. The owner of the company is great and asked me a lot of questions to make sure he got me the kit that I needed, as well as answered any questions I had.
I'm not affiliated with them, I just love the kit that much.

Regardless, I look forward to seeing what you do with this beast in the future!

 

lol thanks for the support.
I have glanced at 4wu kit just sooo expensive. I originally did wants Skys 3F springs but since they are now $1k thats what had me thinking maybe i should just link it.
That is awesome the setup you have, 4wu 3 link front with rear chevy's. Could post a side profile pic and measure your frame height, I;m very curious what you have it sitting at. Did you runn the radflo coilvers that they offer?
I'll definetly check for a thread on here that you mentioned.
I didn't see anyfrom Aztoyman, But did find RBx runner build that used 4wu 3 link who actually isn't that far from me based on his location on yotatech.

 

I had legitimate anxiety over the purchase price of the 4WU kit. It was no small sum to me, and especially towards a 40 year old truck. That said, I would absolutely do it again. The truck is so much more enjoyable to drive now. Probably just need some new shocks out back and probably a trac bar similar to yours, mostly for the steep, loose trails where the rabbit hop is a real problem. That said, the front 3 link really cut down on that problem.
I would love (but can't afford to) build a first gen taco, and I wouldn't even think about leaf springs for a SAS. There's a reason nobody makes leaf sprung front ends anymore.
This decision really came down to "Buy once, cry once". Ton of work either way, so might as well do it right the first time.
I went with the Radflo 14" throw remote reservoirs. Brian at 4WU asked a ton of questions about my setup to get the weight/weight distribution dailed in. Custom valved shocks and spring rates all figured out for me. Air bumps too. The tuning/spring rates seem spot on to me. Totally made trail days way less fatiguing because I'm not getting tossed around all day by the leaves up front.

Bottom of frame is at 24.5" under the cab.



I had to push the axle about 2" forward to get the panhard bar to where it was below the sloped front part of the 22R oil pan for up travel clearance and to get the ride height as low as possible. Had to move the steering box further forward too, but it all works like a dream now.
I had Sky's high steer arms and had no complaints, but they were too short, kingpin to tie rod, and caused interference (driveable, but lost significant steering radius). You have to flip the tie rod to the bottom side of the high steer arms with the 4WU kit. I bored the arms out and run a heim joint tie rod, still fj80 rod ends on drag link. I think Marlin and TG ones work. I went with Front Range Offroad arms and bottom caps and it works great and lessened the effort at the wheel to turn.

I got to rambling there.... A pic from when I was installing and before I sorted it all out, but gives a pretty good idea of what you end up with. Oh, 4WU will do right or left sid uper control arm setups depending on the engine/what side the exhaust is on.

Let me know if you got any other questions.
Keep them old Yotas rolling!!