What people don't really realize it that they are really really really alot stronger. I droped the entire truck on them a few times in Martinez and they don't budge.

The heim joint will give you more twist than the stock Toyota bushing, but the suspension will not move far enough to even use all the travel in just heims on 1 end.

So heims on both ends would be pointless on this vehicle, with the stock configuration.

If you were to cut it all off and start over, that would be a different story. You can only move so far outside of the box or you will live with things like the yoke rubbing, bending sway bars, etc.

Steve Hunt does in deed have a custom gas tank skid, You can "cut" that section out and I though about that when I made mine, but your also cutting the wall of the box out and removing the strength of that corner. I made my skid so it has 1/16" more clearance that a stock skid, without a cut out or even the notch the factory put in there. I retained the full shell shape all around to not compromise sheer strenght.

 

The strength improvement alone should be sufficient. The same rock that crunched my stock lower had Steve's arms laughing in Martinez. If you are not hitting the arms now, then don't waste the time.

If you are getting more lift, the longer arms will center the tires in the wheel well. That combined with the heims and more flex are minor advantages.

 

So, should the new arms be slightly longer than the stock then? I was thinking they were the same length. I could see how at three inches of lift, the wheels would be slightly closer to the front of the vehicle. I'd have to work some geometry calcs, but has anyone figured out what the shift actually is?

 

If I were you I would go with the same length as stock. They seem to work quite well. The Heim will let you adjust it out a bit longer if you want, but my tires stuff right were they should.

 

Hey Steve,

After installing my panhard drop bracket, I'm still rubbing on the back fender. Plus I'm getting a lot of popping coming from the panhard bar which is the gap between the panhard bar and the diameter of the bolts. Do you have any recommendations on how to cure this?

Chris

 

Yes, read the directions on my website and use the correct series of washers inside the bracket.

1 thick M12 on the outside
2 thick M12 on 1 side of the inside
1 thick M12 on the other inside
1 thin 1/2 the size of the thick M12 on the other side inside
1 thick M12 on the outside

I have experienced the poping when I was ironing out the washer spaceing. Once you get that correct your good to go, because the bar had a rubber bushing which flexes, the bar itself does not, so you should have the bolt torqued to Toyota specs. Which is alot.

 

If you are going to upgrade the arms, and you are considering making the the bottom arms longer, be sure that you make the top arms longer as well. However, making control arms longer can be dangerous as well. If the control arms are too long, the upper control arm mount will hit the cross member that holds the pan-hard bar in place. My arms are 1" longer than stock, and this has been working very well.

 

Is this the rearward side or the side facing the front?Is this on the side with only the 1 thick M12, and if so, does it go on the bracket side of the M12 or the bar side of the M12? Okay, when this solves the problem on the bracket side, do you have any recommendations for the driver's side? It's still moving back and forth, because there is a slight gap between the factory bolt and the ID of the panhard bar. I was thinking going with a next size larger bolt, and drilling the panhard bar out a tad just enough to clear this larger bolt. Do you think that will work?

Chris

 

I'll e-mail you the PDF file with the drawing. You can see the washer placement then.

My drivers side is tight, so I don't know what to tell you. All the bolts should be real tight on both the passenger and driver side, the rubber should do all the flexing.

Is your e-mail the same ???

 

You realize the sleeves are not supposed to move the rubber moves. Crank the bolts tighter.

 

Yeah chrisrademacher@fastmail.fm

Thanks a lot Steve! I'll have to figure something out for the driver's side. It's almost as if it's wearing out the panhard bar ID making it bigger and bigger as I drive it more. It wasn't doing this for a while, and then it has started back up again.

Chris

 

Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm going to make sure my spacers are correct on the passenger side, take out the bolts on both sides, put a lot of locktight on them, and tighten them down as hard as I can. I have a feeling they are loosening, then the metal on the panhard bar is spinning instead of the rubber flexing, which is also why its wearing out the ID of the metal spacer. Whatcha think?

Chris

 

Also, do you think having it slightly loose would cause it to squeek a lot, almost all the time?

Chris

 

Yeah

 

Yeah

 

Steve,

I really appreciate the help, and I look forward to receiving that email. Thanks yet again!

Chris

P.S. Just got it!

 

Hey Mike and Steve,
Recieved my skid plate Saturday. Very awesome.
The only downfall is the damn packing tape.
I will have to take adhesive tape remover to the skids before spraying them.
Other than that the skid plate was worth the wait. Very stout.

Thanks again
Mike

 

Try some Goo-Gone. The middle supports will ship hopefully later this week in the U.S. Mail (priority mail), Mike @ Xtreeme has submitted the order to Daystar already.

 

There are 2 grinder tweeks I did to mine,

1. Round all the sharp edges

2. Cut the side 2" pice streight up and down with the frome of the truck. Look at the pic, if left alone it will lean into the vehicle, I cut off 5/8" on the top to make it streight.



You can see the "new" support blocks in there as well.

 

What about a narrower/stronger driveshaft? Would you be able to shave off enough to make a difference without having to relocate the gas tank?