Well guys, my senior year of high school is starting to wind down and I've finally paid back all my debts and am starting to turn some profit at work so I figured it's time to start my own build thread! To give you a brief look at my yota history-from the day I got my license I drove my dad's stock 93 xtra cab 22re but it wasn't for a year or so before I knew I was a yota man. Fast forward to March 2014, my dad has been feeding me info. from a guy at his work who's supposedly selling a truck he built for his son. After literally months of back and forth the guy's son finally made up his mind and I pulled the trigger on this truck right here. She's not perfect but it's definitely a step up from driving my dad's little truck around. Hoping to get some suggestions and support along the way so here are some pics to get started.

 

I have more pics upon request. Basics of the truck: 3.Slow, 5-speed, 4-inch pro comp lift plus 3 inch body lift. Nearly 200,000 miles on truck with about 40-50,000 on motor from what I've been told. 33/12.50/15 Kuhmo at's on aluminum pacers. Mods so far include removal of camper top, egr delete, two 6.5" kickers behind the seat, cluster swap, and removal of bump stops in the front. Pretty much all small stuff but all things that serve a purpose (except maybe egr delete, no idea whether it actually helps or not).

 

Nice looking truck! Keep the EGR off if you don't have emissions to pass, it just hurts ya in the end.


Watch out for those bump stops, too much flex could bind a CV, but I don't know what kind of strain the pro comp lift puts on it either, just something to look out for when wheeling hard.


Look up ISR mod for the 3.0, open up the exhaust and do a crossover elimination. your 3.slow will start to become a 3.go. I am fairly happy with mine.


I look forward to your build!

 

I was wondering that about removing the bump stops. The lower control arms sit almost level with the crossmember (not that im happy with the clearance) but it sure rides nice and makes for good CV angles if you ask me! As far as the isr mod, I bought all the parts once before (3" conduit sweep with 2 2"x3" couplers) but the fitment was way off so I took everything back and havent touched it since. Have thought about the S&B kit though. Cheaper than K&N plus it comes with a box for the filter, even has a nice little plexiglass lid so you can see the filter down inside

 

Heres a couple more pictures just to get the thread going. My "custom" mounted speakers in the back.



Heres a little bit better look at the lift. Not sure what all extensions/brackets are involved with giving it the lift but without bumpstops it rides like a cadillac.

 

I have custom mounting bracketry very similar to your speaker setup used on the turn indicators on my front bumper. The first brackets lasted for well over a year before snow bank contact applied more force than design specifications allowed for leaving them dangling.

My next setup utilized thicker bracketry only this time in black to better blend with the steel tubing to which it's affixed.

 

Looks like a diff drop kit. They used to be a lot more popular than they are now. I can't say I'm a fan with one exception which would be N8's mega long travel with the centred diff.

Pretty nifty setup.

 

Listen to this guy,hes done things with ifs some people wouldnt do with sas.

 

I think I may just be getting ahead of myself but I've really been wanting to do an sas. All my friends tell me I should just leave the ifs lift on since theres already so much money in it...

 

Just checked out your build thread man, what is your ifs setup like? Looks like there's a little body lift in there too

 

She came with a whopping 3 inches of body lift to clear 33 inch tires.

When you start digging into your new love over time you will shake your head over previous owners mods and will come to the conclusion that you should have bought a stock one to begin with. However, will you learn anything like that really?


The best advice I've been given to date is by my first mechanic/suspension guy when I bought my 4Runner. I wanted to do some crazy lift and just dump money into it.

He told me to just take it and wheel it and if I like it go to Arizona buy a rust free stock one and we can do anything I want. He told me to just throw in some BJ spacers and new rear springs and shocks all around and go see if I even like wheeling.

I'm calling him tomorrow to book in for the next phase of my build. I liked his honesty and he's a good fabricator. Very good in fact.


After you gain experience just be honest with yourself and what kind of wheeling you enjoy most and build accordingly. I'm sincerely going to miss my Blazeland LT. It's super fun especially on rough logging roads up here. The kind of wheeling I ended up doing the most requires more strength and reliability after a severe beating than what I have set up.


I wouldn't know that without beating the ˟˟˟˟ out of her first.


That said, go drive the piss out of your rig and decide what you like and go from there.

 

I'm blushing.

 

Red Wagon, that is some sound advice. I have been wanting to do long travel suspension for a long time, but you have me thinking I should just wheel the truck and build up where I want, find the weaknesses and go from there.

As far as the lift, lots of ifs rigs have that kind of clearance, just the nature of the beast. Try turning up the torsion bars if the upper control arm will allow, or taller tires work too.

 

A good start would be tires lockers and gears.

 

^ This. The ifs is pretty capable to get started on.

 

Thanks to RedWagon's advice I think im going to start with small things like ventshades, husky liner mats, rocksliders, and possibly a bucket seat and console swap. Only been wheeling once and it was at night in the mud so I think ill go again soon to really test the ifs and flex it out. One question first though, are bumpstops absolutely necessary for wheeling? With my front suspension sitting the way it is the bump stops seriously limit my uptravel. Will provide more detailed pictures of the front suspension setup if it will help.

 

depends, some ifs trucks act differently than others. If you get too much travel, you could bind cvs, steering components or ball joints. Best thing to do would be put the truck on jacks, take out the torsion bars, and then cycle your suspension to see if anything binds. Put in some low profile bumps stops and do it again. In most cases, low profile bump stops are the most travel you can get out of any setup.


There are a few threads on here with guys who have done it, but if you have the time to do it yourself, it is always a great way to learn more about your rig.

 

On a torsion bar system like we have on our ifs, the suspension is not going to compress enough to make the cv's bind. It's the droop on the other side that will if you don't limit the down travel somehow. There was a guy in the "ifs flex pics" thread awhile back that had a bracket lift like yours with no compression bumpstops and he got pretty awesome flex out of it, but still not enough for the compressed side to bind.

I'm also in agreement with Red about wheeling to see if you like it, it'll also help you decide what mods would be more useful to you. If you find you're in rocks more, start thinking armor and lockers. Sand, start thinking tires and lockers. Mud, start thinking of carrying $50 in quarters in the truck for cleaning it off at the local car wash instead of your driveway...etc. Keep an eye on your steering components, though, no matter if you start to like wheeling or not, but especially if you start liking the rocks or high speed desert.

 

Some bump stop is a good idea. You can get low profile ones, or trim the stockers. Just something to slow down the control arm before it slams into the frame. Judging from the side ways pic above, you could crank up your torsion bars a bit and still be ok. Not too many people run their lower a arms parrel to the ground, most have a slight angle to them, that will gain you some up travel (but will loose down)

Dont worry about having a flexy IFS. ( I think there is even an "IFS FLEX thread") You'll go farther with lockers than you will with flex.

 

The mud comment made me laugh. I always take it to a car wash place for that. It's amazing how much mud you take home. I love mud bogging. I love seeing the rooster tails and the lack of control as you gun it though hoping you make it.



Also what Rattlewagon said about lockers. I just have one in the rear and it was the best go places mod to date.

Lot's of people like the idea of wheeling more than actually doing it. Go scare yourself some just to make sure you want to be dumb enough to try it again.



EDIT////


Don't pull out your bump stops. It's the last shock absorber before you bottom out your suspension. You definitely do not want metal on metal suspension components crashing together. I left my soft stock ones in there in my Blazeland kit. They crush down a lot and I have permanent compression marks showing evidence that they are compressing in a larger diametre than uncompressed. Even with low profile stops they are harder and add more stress under forceful compression when you are driving hard in rough terrain. Is the added stress on expensive parts worth maybe 1" of travel?