hey just to clarify something, you made those hiems? Bracew looks awesome BTW. is it stainless or aluminum?

 

Also snapped some pics of my front suspension, I would like some advise on what to do next guys. I have alot more stuff avaliable than I do droop, last night I measured the distance from the bump stop to the control arm and I have 1-1/2" - 1-3/4" on the lower stops (compression travel) and 1" untill the upper stop hits (droop). You can see in the pics that I trimmed my upper bump stop to get that 1",lol. I am cutting my BJ spacers down a bit, they measure just under 2". I machined them myself awhile ago and could do a clean job of cutting them down to 1-1/2" maybe? My CV's look to be at a pretty good angle right now. It sits a little high in the front right now IMO and I have no tire rubbing problems (hammerd the pinch welds). I also have the 26mm Downey Torsion bars relaxed as much as possible so cranking them might not be so bad, but I am not a fan of cranked torsion bars because I want the front to be as flexiable as possible to prevent lifting tires offroad. Not sure how to describe how I have the bars adjusted right now excepth that there is NO threads prutruding out of the top of the adjuster lock nut. So what do you guys think?

PS, don't make fun of my shocks, I am planning on making some weld on upper shock mounts to stuff a longer shock in there,just haven't gotten around to it yet. LOL.

 

Yes I made the heims to replace my TRE's. I need to get some dust covers for them still. They seem to be working great so far.

Thanks! The brace is steel with a shiny zinc coating to prevent rust.

 

Diff Drop and a low profile bump stop should be ok. EDIT- maybe not the low profiles since you said you already shaved your OEM stops. lol.

wait a second, you said those torsions are fully relaxed and you have that much angle on your cv's?

I would think that by shaving down those BJ spacers it would give you less droop than your getting now. Since when you add them typically you have to shim low profile stops because of added space in there.

 

I was also thinking about adding a diff drop, but don't want to unless you guys think I need it. It would be no big deal to machine some aluminum spacers and get some longer grade 8 bolts. So you think my CV angles look OK?

 

Yes the torsion bars are relaxed as far as I can take them with out cutting down the taller adjusting nut. They are larger after market (Downey 26mm) torsion bars though & they may settle some, I have not wheeled since I installed them, for that matter I have only driven around the block.

 

they actually look a little too far angled but that's just IMO, I really have no clue. lol.

Just have a hard time seeing that your torsions are fully "down" and you have that much room to stuff. Maybe because they are the Downeys and are stiffer than OEM???

 

Awesome pics, Rob!

That's what I've heard from many people, including my buddy Andy, who had those Downey T-bars and later removed them because he could just not get the right angle nor comfort out of them. I'm going to try and get him a call and have him explain it to me a lil more... maybe it would help?

Yeah, wow, X,...that angle is WAY more steep than mine is, stock... But then again, I don't have any hiems, etc., to lessen the load. THANKS, SO MUCH, ROB, for throwin down with the pics and info....and also the questions.......... It's helping me MUCH to figure out my plan. bro!

Mark

 

hmmm...I'm with XXX on the CV angle. Looks a bit much. I do love the beefy TREs and brace. Great job on the bodywork too!

 

cv's don't look too bad imo but you'll find out the hard way if they're ok or not. For me, as mentioned in chef's thread, the toyota cv's are really good for the longevity and durability as far as i'm concerned. I ran mine with the bj spacers installed and had absolutely no problems with binding and cracked boots or broken cv's. Here's a pics for reference of what kind of angles i was working with.

looks close to what you're working with. i actually broke more after market cv's from auto zone and advance with out the bj lift than with using the toyota cv axles.

 

Aaron! I REALLY am sorry bout you losing that sweet lil rig! However, 'closes a door, but opens a window!', eh? lol. Thanks for all your info and advice. Between you and Rob and X, couple others... I'm now ready to slap some goodies in there! lol. My CV's are OEM, and as long as they're in good shape(the boots are, I know that)....I think I'll definitely be leaving mine in there and maybe picking up an extra set some time in the future. Great info you gave on my thread, man! Thanks again!

Thanks to you, too, Rob! ....But, More pics in the daytime of all the work you've done on this thing, Rob! PLEASE? lol I'm anxious to see what you do next with the IFS, as well.

 

any chance that you could give a somewhat "in depth" review of the spartan? i hvent heard too much about them except bad things from the Jeep and Nissan crowd... so im interested about your experiences... specifically, how smooth and quiet it is...

btw, NICE truck... wish i had the time/patience/money to build up my taco in similr fashion...

 

Firtst off I don't think you should worry too much about the Jeep & Nissan guys think about the Spartan, what do they know anyways? They like Jeeps & Nissan's for crying out loud! I wish I could tell you more about my locker, my truck is a dedicated offroader and is not street legal so I have no on road experince with it save for driving around the block in my neighborhood. I can say that it works great offroad, and that the reason I chose it in the first place was the larger pin design. I have seen a few Lock-Right's break their pins. Some might not agree with me, but I think that all lunch box type lockers are basicaly the same, just a few minor differences. I don't recall it making any noise when I did drive it around, but I have heard it on the trail several times, they all make some noise though. I would recomend the Spartan to a friend, I know this is not exactly what you where looking for but hope this helps some.

 

^^^ Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm! lol. I've been looking into it, actually... thanks for sharing, Rob.

Mark

 

Hey Mark, as a base line for comparison, could you measure the distance from your bumpstops to your control arms for me? I would like to know what a stock truck has so that I will know how my torsion bars and BJ spacers have affected potential travel.

 

Sure will, bbinafew!

 

Ok, well, my lower bump stops are around 1", maybe a TINY less, actually, from the lower arm. The upper one is even less... Around .75". Hmmmm, maybe my stuff is really bad? Not sure, hahaha. I do know that, while I really want to redo my IFS a bit, and get her up... it's still tighter than a lot of them I've driven in. Some of those are REALLY clackin all over the place... but mine is pretty quiet, UNTIL I push it on the speed bumps or off road in situations at lower speeds over sharp bumpy stuff. I don't hear any "POPPPPPP" ing, or stuff like that, too often... Only when I've really pushed it off road. It just feels like everything is a lil tired in mine, ya know?

 

Thanks Mark, That means that the BJ spacers did add some POTENTIAL travel, lol. I am still thinking about cutting mine down to 1-1/2" though.

 

You mean, adding shims? OH, right, cutting down the BJ spacers. Gotcha! Well, you can do it, I'm sure, Rob...they looked great, man... You worried about them coming out ok?

 

Rob, just thought I'd share this place near me and see what you think. I can't seem to find the option of 'lockers' for my rig, but I'm pretty sure yours are made by Yukon, right? They make Grizzly and Spartan, ....but this page of the ACCU GEAR site(it's right up the street from me, lol)... that page seems to cover only Gearing, Ujoints, etc. .........

http://www.accuautoparts.com/list1.jsp