BlazeN8

I made the bracket expandable for longer shocks but probably wont ever go that route. The F4-BE5-6582-H5 shock is vehicle specific to this 4 Runner so the valving is right on. Also the shock bushings are for a 3/4" mounting post which is stout.

Photo C1: Longer mount w shock
Photo C2: Longer Mount w/o shock

BlazeN8

Here are a couple of pictures of the rear shock towers off the 4 Runner.

Photo D1: Long Mount Bracket
Photo D2: Shorty Mount Bracket A
Photo D3: Shorty Mount Bracket B

BlazeN8

Building the shock tower requires some basic machining skills. You will need a few drill bits, a hole saw and some taps. I machined it from 3/8" thick 4" wide hot rolled steel bar stock cut to a 6" length.

Photo E1: Tools needed
Photo E2: Cold Roll Steel Bar stock
Photo E3: CADD template for center punch

BlazeN8

Building the U-Bolt axle plate requres some more fab work including some welding. To start you will need two U-Bolt plates. One for the fixture and one to be cut and re-worked. You will also need some hardware. (4) half inch bolts with (4) nuts. (8) 5/8" nuts for spacers. (2) shock mount metric bolts. And some flat stock steel.

Photo F1: Symetric U-bolt Plates
Photo F2: Strategic cut location
Photo F3: Hardware and steel needed

BlazeN8

To build the bracket for the U-Bolt plate flip fixture you will need to cut some 3/16" x 1" flat stock to about 5" and drill 1/2" dia. holes as shown. You will also need to cut some 3/16" x 1.5" flat stock to a 5" length and radius one corner and bevel the edge as shown.

Photo G1: Fixture bracket
Photo G2: Flat stock for welding

BlazeN8

Once you have all the pieces ready now its time to assembel the welding fixture. Start with the uncut u-bolt plate and stack the (8) 5/8" nuts as shown. Then stack the cut u-bolt plate upside down on top and bolt it all together with the 1/2" hardware finger tight.

Photo H1: Hardware in place
Photo H2: Stack u-bolt plated back to back
Photo H3: Bolt u-bolt plates together

BlazeN8

Now you need to locate the pieces to be welded.

Photo I1: Pieces to be located
Photo I2: Set the flat stock over the cut area
Photo I3: Bolt the bolt the shock post in place

BlazeN8

You need to adjust everything to the proper location then tighten all the bolts. Tack weld everything together. Unbolt all the hardware and strip down the tack welded U-Bolt plate. Now your ready to burn in the final welds. Weld on the inside and outside, the top and bottom, any place that needs a weld. When your all done slather on some rustoleom flat black paint with a brush. Now your U-Bolt plate is done. You now have two symetrical u-bolt plates that let you mount Both shocks in front of the axle outside the frame rails.

PhotoJ1: Completed symetrical u-bolt axle plates

BlazeN8

With the shocks in this configuration there are a number of improvements. The most important on is the shocks are the correct length for the amount of travel for the Deaver MiniPack. Second is with both shocks in front of the axle, the path of travel for the shocks moves in the arch line of the leaf spring as it pivots on the stationary front spring eye. Third the angle of the shock is substantially reduce giving the shock nearly a vertical angle for its most efficient operation.

The factory "dog leg" configuration where one shock is in front of the axle facing forword and one shock in back of the axle facing rearward is designd to reduce wheel hop and axle wrap. I have not experienced any wheel hop or axle wrap with my new configuration. Jeff at Deaver explained to me the mini-pack should control the wheel hop and that running as close to a vertical angle is prefered.

So how does it ride? Even better! The shock geometry seems to be right on.

crazytoyota4x4

How did the Moog idler arm hold up in baja? I just broke my second stock one and once again will be looking to invest in another, better upgrade this time.

BlazeN8

Funny you ask! The Moog worked fine in Baja. But, this past weekend it didn't fair so well in Ocotillo Wells. I wasn't being as mellow as I was in Baja as I was on the home court. Not sure what specific impact did the damage because there were quite a few. The Fordota is just too heavy up front! The good news is everything else worked flawlessly.

I first noticed the bent idler arm just after I made it up the face of "Blow Sand" in 2WD. It took five "balls out runs" make it to the top, but I finally made it! At the top I got out of the truck to look things over and saw some shiney new metal on the frame and immediatly sighed in disbelief. I had high hopes for the Moog being the solution but I doubt it to be the case. I'll exchange it for another one since its a warranty item and try it again. It may have been a fluke that it bent, but I doubt it. It may be time for a Total Chaos unit.

toddyota

you got to figure that that the fordota is alot heavier then the stock 22-re so chaos might be the only option, but there pricey. were heading back out there in a few weeks, you should come and give the moog another run

BlazeN8

I sold my double shocks to Albert for the Mantruck. The Mantruck is going to see a lot more desert wheeling than my 4 Runner, so it is a better test rig. Albert also gave me these Tacoma coil / struts in the deal. Along with the Mantruck, Albert also has a 1999 Tacoma. He upgraded the Factory Bilsteins to a set of Kings. I figured there has got to be a ton of these factory coil/struts floating around for cheap or free! Why not attemp a cheap bastard coil over converversion for the Blazeland. This could save you $360 because your not buying HD Torsion bars and new shocks!

I built an adaptor bracket for the upper mount to fit the modular hoops and welded some new tabs onto the LCA. Here is what I came up with. First, the spring rate is too stiff and there is no adjustment to the coil- so setting the ride height is difficult. Where I set things there is almost no droop. I was expecting the weight of the rig to compress the springs more. The V-6 xtracab Tacoma front end is quite a bit heavyer than the First Gen 22re 4Runner. Second the strut itself doesn't have enough stroke for the travel and will bottom out on itself at compression.

The positive side is, it rides awsome on the street. Next expirement might be to bolt in a King threaded body coil over shock with a lighter spring rate coil. The King is adjustable so it will be easy to tune the ride height.

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

scribed. Always like watching what you're doing nate as it's always some other take on how to make our trucks function better for what you use them for.

BlazeN8

Well, the summer is over and so is my job at the beach. The past few weeks I had some time to install a few more mods to the 4 Runner. I found a Pro-Comp Stage II lift on Craigslist. It was off a T-100 so a couple of parts were wrong for the 4 Runner and some were missing but with the help of a tech at Pro Comp I got everything squared away. The install was fairly simple, especially since I didn't put the front diff back in. Not until I get some 5.29 gears! I will be a 2x4 for a while. I also ditched the original prototype Blazeland Long Arms for a set of brand new current production arms. I can no longer use the SR-5 Rims with the bracket kit because the 4-1/2" backspace is too deep. The bracket kit needs a max backspace of 3-5/8". I found a set of rims and tires on Craigslist for $200. They are American Racing Baja's. Size is 15x8 with a 3.75 backspace. The tires are Goodyear MT size 35x12.50. The tires are worn but usable as rollers and 35's are just what I wanted for the combo kit. I still need an alignment and some more lift in the rear but here is how the Runner sits today..... and how it sat a few days ago.

BlazeN8

The past weekend I installed the 3.5" lift blocks in the rear to level things out. The Block kit is from Superlift. So for recap the rear is a Deaver Mini Pack (+1.5") Longer Shackles (+1") and the Blocks (+3.5") totalling about 6" of lift. Here are the photos with the rear blocks installed. The rear is still a bit low! The tweaking continues, next I will relax the pre-load up front and drop it down an inch.

BlazeN8

FYI on the block kit, it also took some tweaking! A bit annoyed that I had to do these extra steps but what ever. The castings for the blocks had some overlap seams that wouldn't allow the u-bolts to straddle over the leafs and blocks and fit into the bottom plate without some bowing of the u-bolts. I needed to grind the seam away then re-paint with some black brush paint. Then to make matters worse the u-bolts were 1.5" too long. One more step over at the chop saw. Other than that it turned out fairly well. A quick, easy, cheap, temporary leveling job until the new All-Pro leafs are purchased.

Rob2thec

Awesome work Nate. I love your approach to off-road!

I have a 5.29 gear set that I might be willing to trade for something not so high. front and rear sets in the diffs...

-R

BlazeN8

Yeah 5.29s would be nice! Call me I'm sure I can find something to trade.

Rob2thec

Just sent you an email. I am working tonight so cant get on the phone.

-R