I widened the axle 3"
from above:

 

But thats after the perch? If you try to line your axle up with your current springs now I think the perches will be too far out (by however much you moved the perches out). You dont move the perches for wheel spacers or an ifs hub swap....?

Did you widen your hanger or outboard your shackles to make up for the new with of the perches?

Like I said, maybe I missed something. Just trying to save you some headache down the road.

 

I understand your question now..haha.
I'm not widening the spring perches, i'm moving both of them 1.5" towards the passenger side to account for the spacer. have to move them since i only added a spacer to one side, rather than both sides. going to have the same distance between the perches as stock when its all said and done.

 

Ahhh thats what I missed. I didnt realize you only put the spacer on one side.

 

yea, I did it this way so that it's the same as the TrailGear rock-assult +3 axle so my axle shafts are off-the-shelf from trail gear, rather than custom. in retrospect, that's probably not a big deal though and i'm already starting to regret not going a little wider... oh well, maybe on my future fj60 build

 

I agree with making it use off the shelf parts. always a good idea!

 

Nice work on the axel, its looking good! That's a cool highsteer setup, I've never seen that before. So your drag link runs from the steering box across the front to the passenger side steering arm like normal, but the tie rod runs across from one steering arm to other from behind and above the pinion, correct? That's what I like about your build, you think outside the box!

 

thanks ed! thats correct, when I started looking into high-steer kits, these guys were really the only company that put development into the steering geometry. the more i looked into it, the more i liked their kit. This thing has beefy 1 ton tie-rod ends (you can get fj80 ends too if you want) and the upgraded marlin 25mm bearings. the tie-rod behind the axle will be nice for maximizing up-travel and will alllow me to move the axle forward as much as i want.
side note: i'm going to look at some 37" mtrs tonight

 

axle update:
I got the DS knuckle rotated and put on the other spring perch.



Monday i finally got my order from TG so i could finish the axle. Armor time:





made my own long side truss from some 2x2x1/8" i had lying around. not pretty but it works. Its just tacked right now cuz i'm gonna put it on a jig and make sure its straight first



you can see in some of the pictures that i welded some short pieces of 1/8" x 2" angle to fill the gaps between the spring perch and the knuckle-gussets. It was one of those "why not" moments. every inch of this thing is trussed now haha



I also added a fill hole cuz i hate trying to fill these things from the front.



Takin it to a shop today to make sure the axle is nice and straight, then i'll finish burning in the truss and paint it. hopefully be pulling the truck in for the swap starting monday

 

Looking good man! I don't think you'll be bending that sucker anytime soon.

 

Axel looks great, can't wait to see it installed along with the new histeer!

 

slow progress, i was out of town all weekend, but last night this happened





anyone looking for an axle housing?

 

got the knuckles painted and installed and mocked up the highsteer. looks like everything will clear nicely. I really like the 4x4 labs setup.



I installed on only the top 2 leaves and jacked up the axle to where i estimate it will hit bumpstop, once the other leaves are installed. lots of room, shouldn't have any clearance issues

 

Good thing you have a 85! I dont see that BHS clearing very well on an IFS frame. They have some neat products, I really like the DIY 6 shooter knuckles.

 

Looking great! I like that steering setup. We tried that with the drag link in the back too. Steering ended up being reverse lol

 

Nice!

 

yea i'm glad i have the early frame, i'm trying to keep this thing low and i like having some uptravel

haha i imagine that was a little interesting

thanks

 

Finally got the steering box mounted, man that was a lot of work!

Had to have a special arm made (thanks 4x4labs) to put the draglink above the pitman arm to keep my current uptravel



got the diff, shafts, and spindle's installed. just waiting on wheel bearings (supposed to be in today) from marlin so i can finish bolting everything together. Hoping to get a good long test drive in before i leave for moab

 

You bastard. I have to wait another 5 1/2 months before I leave for Moab . Have fun brother and take lots of pics and video!

Are you doing the IFS hub mod with FROR's Tacoma brackets? Did I miss that?

 

yea i'm doing FROR's taco brake kit and running tundra brakes. i'll post up some more info when i get it put together