I've done some searching, and reading etc. but it's hard to keep the info sorted out between the coil sprung and leaf sprung trucks....

anyway, I'm looking for ~2-3" of lift in the rear of my first gen 4Runner. and as much flex as possible, without fabricating....I don't have access to a welder, and don't want my truck sitting in someone elses garage for any period of time. so I'm trying to eliminate longer springs at this stage.

This truck will be slowly built up to a pretty extreme rig, but one stage at a time, and I'm trying to do things that won't contradict what I'll be doing later. so if I'm lifting the rear, I want to do it right the first time. I'm looking at revolver shackles, and budbuilt rear shock relocation brackets. But still need a spring setup.

I was looking at the All-pro setup, which looks like it's right up my alley, but I'm not sure.

I'm also open to shock suggestions. There's a guy in our local club that's a dealer for Rough Country, so we get a deal, and as a result, most of the guys run their stuff, and love them. so I'll probably go that route, but if you guys have any info, that'd be sweet too


for the record, I'll be running 1.5" BJ spacers, and probably a little extra T-bar tension (~.5") for now. aswell as a 2" body and 2" drivetrain lift. and probably 35s (a buddy offered to sell me his old ones for pretty cheap...so I'll make 'em fit).

 

35's with IFS can be a bit expensive if you wheel it hard...

David

 

I suggest investing in a welder if you're going to be doing all of this "the right way"....

 

First, you want the truck to be balanced. By that, I mean it's typically not the best idea to have a ton of flex in the rear and still have the IFS up front.(which I think is where pepsi was headed)

Second, no matter how much lift and flex you have, the rocks are always bigger. Get some armor on that thing pronto! Next, I would do lockers. You would be surprised where you can go with armor, lockers, and 33's...

As for leafs, check out Deaver or Alcan. A little more expensive, but essentially a custom pack built for the weight of your rig so you get max flex. The shock relocation to /\ will help with offroad flex, but lessens the damping, so the onroad ride can suffer.

 

I'd love to invest in a welder. but I don't know how to weld, I don't have a garage, and I don't have a power source of any kind (muchless 220) within about 50 feet of the road/alley. a welder is pretty low on my list.

it's not a daily driven truck, it'll be driven the 1 hour trip to the park, and back. not really worried about street manners that much.

a laugh at the comments about breaking CVs and tie rods.....I come from wheeling a subaru station wagon. I know how to wheel carefully!

I might get a locker. not sure. mostly depends on money. I don't really want to touch the diffs until I go SFA, locker maybe. regearing, definitely not.


so....anyone have any constructive advice? Deaver/Alcan, huh? know of a good source for those? I've got class in a bit, so I'll search later, but if you've got a link handy, that'd be awesome!

 

anyone?

I realize this isn't the ideal setup. But I'm not made of money, and I don't want my truck out of commission indefinitely. So I'd like to get a spring pack for the rear that allows for some more flex.

 

dont go with revolver shackles.......

63" chevy leaf swap is common.... but you dont wanna fab
you should do a search anyway on 63" chevys

 

63" chevies are useless on a torsion bar truck. You get all that flex in the rear, and crap in the front. On a swapped truck, yes, they are a great swap, and cheap too.

You can make your rear flex in a circle, but as soon as you hit the limits of your front, you lift tires, and the rest of the flex is wasted. Get a set of regular lengths spring, and you'll have all the flex you can handle. Deaver and Alcan are great, but as with anything great, they cost a bit more. Budget?

As for lifting the rear, you will have to redo it when you swap anyway, if you still want great performance. That is the time to do the chevy swap, and its cheap and works well.

 

In post #1 you say your planning to run 35's. In post #5 you say your definately not re gearing. Sounds like a recipe for unhappy to me.

 

do tell. do you have some experience to back that up? I personally know 3 guys running them in their trucks, one of which is a 4Runner. all of them love them. and have for years.

um....huh?! only if the weight is way in the back, in which case, both rear wheels will have traction anyway. I went wheeling with a group of S10s one day last summer, and one of them had a bunch of work done to the rear to get it to flex more, and otherwise identical setup to the others (open diffs, 31s, etc.), and that one could get through more stuff because all 4 wheels where on the ground more often.

once again, personal experience? if you've done it, or have seen it done, let's hear it, and I'll reconsider. but from MY personal experience, in the same park that my truck will spend most of it's time, that isn't the case.

and why would I have to redo the rear suspension with a SAS? if I'm not increasing my ride height, it seems to me that it doesn't matter what setup I've got in the front. again, correct me if I'm wrong...


about the gearing. I'm coming from a lifted subaru, with the stock D/R 4WD trans (22:1 CR, and 90 bhp), and 28" tires. this may not be ideal, but it's an improvement!

 

Long story short - flex is overrated. My truck doesn't flex for crap, and I can go just about anywhere flexy trucks can. As long as you still have IFS in front, it doesn't make any sense to drop a ton of money into suspension. Stability comes from the truck behaving similarly when the front and rear go over an obstacle.

If you want/need traction, it's about lockers, not about flex.

 

I'm a believe that a solid axle truck's flex gives a more comfortable ride. Other than that its over rated unless your doing some serious rockcrawling.

While this holds some truth its not 100%. If you go over an obsticle that allows your front to stay flat but your rear needs to dip the flex can help.

Even if your front goes through doesnt flex and you lift and wheel when your front comes back down it will allow you to have both rear wheels on the ground for more traction. While you may say if your front made it through with a rear wheel airing why wouldnt your back, you have to remember that when your front goes through its go the weight of the back of the truck to push it through giving it some momentum.

Long story short if you stick with IFS than dont worry TOO much about your rear flex. If you think flex is king than SAS should be the first thing on your list.

 

my biggest reason for doing it now, is I want a little more height out of it now, and I don't want to redo it when I go SAS.

I'm willing to spend a little more now to avoid redoing something else in the future...

 

Personal experience...

You can make an IFS truck a sweet version of T-rex, no worries. The problem is then lockers. You have no handcuffed yourself saying mondo flex is always better but you don't want to do a bunch of work.

My advice, you are trying to be a new Corvette for 18k. Sure it would be great, but the task you are trying to complete won't be worth a darn based on the arena you are forcing yourself to play in.

I have a swapped truck because I got sick of killing steering and CV's every single trip. The crawler and two lockers do me a lot more good than all the flex I have.

 

Welllll.....I DO, as a matter of fact, have experience....funny how that works out sometimes. I know, i know, talking with facts to back up my arguement, how un YT...apologies.

I have an IFS truck with leaves in the rear. I spent money on new flexy leaves, longer shackles and long travel shocks. Then i got out on the trail. Turned out i couldn't really do all that much more....Sure, i got over a couple of rocks i couldn't do before, but those were on the same trails i was doing before. When i tried to go up more difficult trails, i couldn't go. My front was constantly lifting tires, instantly stopping me in my tracks.

The other thing i was totally bummed about was that only about 3/4 of my travel was useful. After that, i still had a tire on the ground, but not enough weight to make it work. Because my front had no flex, this happend all the time.

Terribly sorry to ruin a good time with personal experience. I'm sure most people get up really hard stuff with just flexy lifts, but i can't. Just trying to offer a different viewpoint.

 

I was thinking about this thread the other day...

If flex is the end-all and be-all, why would anyone ever use a limiting strap or bumpstops?

 

[QUOTE=AxleIke;50415150]The other thing i was totally bummed about was that only about 3/4 of my travel was useful. After that, i still had a tire on the ground, but not enough weight to make it work. Because my front had no flex, this happend all the time. QUOTE]

revolvers are for show flex.... as stated by axleike..... if no weight on the tire then you lose traction

63" chevy's are a popular/cheap swap on ifs rigs...... search

 

That argument is a little flawed. I have $25 into limit straps so I don't have to replace 1k in my coilovers. I have bumpstops for the same reason, but they are a little more spendy.

He wants a busty, tall blonde who only talks when he wants her to, cooks a good dinner and is dynamite in the sack but folds neatly for pocket carry.

Chevies require fab work and, in my eyes, are mostly a good parlor trick.

 

so does AllPro's rear lift so WTF??????????????????????

 

I have chevy springs, real easy to fab. You can get or make a hanger for $40, springs for $50 and do a double shacle to keep your rear hanger and presto. I added buggy leafs for extra down travel...

In my 88 4Runner I have rancho AAL for around 2" of lift and they flex alot better than stock and cost $40 from Summit Racing

I beleive that an open diff can really work if flex will allow the tires to get full contact, given that there is no axle rap to take energy away

before I get flamed for not having the perfect setup, I want to explain that I have $200 in my buggy springs (not including my masive u-bolt kit) While my brother has $1000 in coil overs alone.

BTW if it is not done by Flygtenstien then it can't be right.
He called me Napoliean Dinamite for putting raius arm and leafs together. He thinks radius arms are "ramp killers" even though 3 trucks in 1 top truck challenge had them and a Bronco from a current Top Truck Challenge has them.....
sorry for ranting on Mr Knowitall