Happy Easter, guys! Yeah the Zuk is a good solution. Very happy with mine. Of course, if you decide you're gonna keep the truck for a long time, and you have the budget, you may want to go the Old Man Emu route like Chefyota4x4 did.

Terry,
May we know how yours settled? Mine, after about 4 months:

• Frame to top of leaf pack: 9.25"
• Wheel rim to wheel well rim in front: 14"
• Wheel rim to wheel well rim in rear: 12.5"

Measured with no chrome trim.

I do not notice a rake so I don't need the ball joint spacer. Truck is stock. Chefyota4x4 says, maybe PO had cranked the torsion bar already.

Would others who did Zuk on stock Runners please chime in?

 

Thanks Terrys87 Great info. I did grab two used coil springs from the junk yard, the first set was to stiff so i went back and grabbed some slightly softer ones out of the pile. I have no idea what they came out of but they are 14 inches long! I can cut them down or shrink them up a bit with my torch i guess. Thank you

 

Hey buddy..... well, I think 12.5 is very close to stock in rear... AND, if u measure the difference in that line from front to back, the fender in front seems to be cut around 1.5-2" higher than the rear....

Take a pic of ur torsion bar adjusting bolts and nuts.... Shouldnt be too hard to tell if the PO torqued on them a bit or not. I will find or take a pic of mine, relaxed after the bj spacers.. It brought the torsion bar adjusting bolt threads quite a bit further away from the underbody of the rig.

 

Cool. Will do, Mark. Hope all's well with you guys.

 

U2, buddy! And to all, ..........HAPPY EASTER!

 

Just dropped by to see what your up to great work on the bumper. Happy Easter my friend.

 

Hello sequia1977... Your welcome. There are several options available for the Zuk mod. I have even seen springs used out of a Honda car. Smeddy2 showed me that and it seemed to work on his real well.

Hello Mark... I will get some pics hopefully soon. I dont think the torstion bars were adjusted but since mine had a little rake to it, I am wondering if it may have been. I have always heard that if the torstion bars were adjusted it made for a harsher ride. One reason I have avoided doing that.

Hello Rad4Runner. I will get the meaurements hopefully Monday as I will be leaving out of town and should be back Monday. I orginally had 31s when I did the Zuk Mod an now it has the stock size tires, dont know if that will throw off the measurements.

Hello Jason..I had a great Easter and it was a nice day. Now we are back to freezing, I wish it would get warm and stay warm here. I am chomping at the bits to get out in the shop again.

 

I have been busy on everything else but the trucks and am really wanting to get out in the shop next week. Supposed to have better weather then. Today I got to see Jameser84 Extracab 86 pickup Back to the Future build. I was unable to help him do his motor swap and refered him to a friend to do it. James truck is one sweet little truck. Setting in it showed me the potential for my truck. It is nice in side and on the outside as well. Here is his build>>>https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...eplica-256752/

Getting ready for heart surgery.

 

Sorry Terry got another cold morning rolling across kansas for you tomarrow I think. Got a free day today was excited to get some body panels worked on, but it was 33 out this morning, sure looked nice out tho'. It is starting to green up again. Gotta enjoy that while it lasts, darn drought..

 

warmth isa comin your way terry! past 3 days its gotten to the high 60's here

 

Hello Co 94 PU..We got warm for a few days and of course I was out of town. Did get one warm day to be home so got started on a few things. Now we are getting back down in the 30s after being in the 80s.

Hello Cyberhorn..If it would just stay there. We are not far from may so it has got to get here soon. Or so I hope.

 

I am working on the 86 Extra cab. I have a better bumper for it and the old one is dinged up really well. It got bumped in the back end and did some damage to the back of the bed. I need it out of the way to get the back end repaired.

I would suggest not using carriage bolts for bumpers. The bolts can rust up really well and the square holes that hold the bolts usually will strip when alot of pressure is applied to them. I am replacing this bumper so saving the bolts and the bent bracket wasnt a concern so out came the cutoff wheel.


Bolt that I had to cut as it rounded and the bracket hole rounded as well.


Damage in the back below tail light. I see alot of these truck with quite similar damage in this area. I take a pry bar and from beneath the truck ( will post a pic later of how I do it as pic didnt show up) and pop the dent out. I try to keep bondo at no thicker then a nickel. It will look like a lot of bondo is applied later on, but most gets sanded off. Bondo gets a bad name as people put to much in and dont try and take the time to dt the dent as shallow as possible.

Showing size of dent where my pointer finger is beneath the pen.


After popping out the dent. I also used a pecking hammer and dolly to work other dents out. My picture settings changed on me and I will post some of those pictures later as well.

Same dent, just a little different angle to avoid glare.

 

nice work Terry!! You have a knack for explaining body work to the uneducated!

You could be like a college instructor body man!!

 

I got called last Friday and they are only sending half the troops of what was orginally intended. Since I am not a part of that unit, I dont have to go which is fine by me. I have several different things that I wanted to do this summer and it was looking like things were going to get put on hold. We are to get down in the 30s for the next few days and then if it warms up, I been slowly getting things around for what all I want to get done. My builds should take off now that I dont have to mess with getting deployed any more. Just waiting on the weather to warm up and then it is on.

I had some rusted and dented fenders and extra things laying around that I though that I would assemble the front end. The radiator support core is the orginal core I used to get my 86 Runner all together until I found a better one.


Here is the core I orginally had on the runner that I am using for in the picture below this one. The drivers side lower part was all rusted up.


Here is the rusted core and some rusted/dented parts I had laying around that I was unable to repair so thought that I will eventually add this to my shop. I want to eventually use the head lights for extra light and either get it real straight or make it look like it crashed thru the wall.

Junk parts getting used again that will be a small project for later on.

 

Terry im truely happy for you and your family that DAD gets to hang out all summer and work on the rigs!! Heck yea!!

 

I 2nd what he said. Thats great news that you get to stay with your family. That's great news!

 

good news!

lol on the truck nose comin through the wall thats too cool

 

I .....quintuplify that! Hahaha.......SUP, BUDDY? Glad they put off the deploy.... Could hear the relief in your voice! Nice work, Mr. Restonator! lol

 

Glad to hear your not deploying buddy. You have done your share in my opinion. Love the idea of the front end on the wall that's gonna look cool.

 

Great news on staying put! Enjoy following all of your threads!