I just bought an 89 4runner for $500 to 3.4 swap and clean up to sell. The cv axles are both broken under the boot. It's geared to 5.29 front and rear. Trucks sitting on 35" tires. The front is body lifted >.< and rear is lifted with leafs. I don't know much about lifts at all except I can identify a body lift to a suspension lift. Rears higher than front . Hate the look of it with cheap body lift in the front.
1) is there a way to level the truck out? The rear sits an inch or two higher than the front.
2) with 5.29 gears on 35's with that lift. I'd think the reason the cv axles both snapped is because they're not beefy enough to push 35's. What cv axles should I be looking into getting? Are stock cv axles from kragen a bad idea?
3) having those cv axles broken, possible that it RUIINED my 5.29 gears up front? Thank u for any advice. Ill post a pic when I get time.

 

 

 

As far as I know, broken CVs won't affect the gears in the case, unless something just insanely catastrophic occurred. As for leveling the stance, I would suggest lowering the rear as much as you can to maintain adequate clearance of the 35's..Maybe pulling a leaf or going to shorter shackles will help out the height. It honestly looks way too high for even 35's. As for the front, definitely toss the body lift if you can. Another lifting option, if you plan on keeping the IFS, is BJ spacers/torsion bar crank along with a diff drop to level out that horrid CV angle.

However, with you planning on a 3.4 swap, generally somewhere between 1-2 inches of lift is required to fit the bigger V6. It may work to your advantage to keep the body lift in the front to create the needed clearance. Add in the BJ spacers and it will be about the limit for IFS lifting unless you go with bigger blocks, body lifts, or other kits. If you did BJ spacers, it may even out that stance, but I would still suggest attempting to remove a leaf in the rear.

Good luck!

 

Hi Mr Duke.
Thanks for your reply. I did the 3.4 swap on my 88 runner and still have it. (Hood scooped rather than body lift) I'm not gonna keep this 89 4runner. Once it's cleaned up and the swap is done ill just sell it. Jobs about to end for the winter so more so just something to keep me busy.
I was thinking of pulling a leaf I just don't wanna sell it looking like that. I won't pull the body lift though just because then ill need different tires and a hood scoop for the swap. :-/. Any suggestions on cv axles? I read about some BJ spacers and seemed like a good idea. But diff drop is probably out.

 

Definitely try pulling a leaf..it should get close to even..if it doesn't, throw that sucker in the back when you sell it and call it extra, haha. As for CV's, I'd suggest going with Toyota OEM parts.. They seem to have better build quality than the aftermarket comparable ones. However, if you plan on selling immediately anyways, just throw a set of Advanced/Autozone/etc on and call it done.

 

Right on. Thank you.