I will be selling my girlfriends heep and buying an '84-'85 4runner so she can have my '91. Im looking for a big lift for this truck and dont know what to choose. Should I go with the Superlift or Skyjacker. I want the Extreme kit from All-pro but its $1800 so its a little outta my range. Anybody have any advice it would be much appreciated. I wanna run 35's or 38's.

 

Search by typing in "1st gen lifts" and there is a thread started by Stump that will come up that will give you all the links and places to look...

Good luck as it is a TON of reading, but great stuff!

 

If you want performance, you are going to have to spend some big bucks or go with junkyard stuff. The mass produced bolt-on kits are not worth a hoot.

 

What Flygenstein said... I had a 2.5" lift pack that I hybrid' out of my old spring packs. Best bang for the buck is rears up front and chevy's in the rear.
The biggest killer of flex on the first gens are the stabilizer and the torque rod.
If you remove them and keep the stock type push-pill steering you get some mad bump steer and death wobble and prolly a broken j arm resulting in steering loss. Go to cross over steering w/ an ifs box, and a quality steering arm set up.

 

whatever you do just remember this..... Northwest Off road = Crap.... i have their 3.5" springs had i known what i know now i would have just got some 4x4 post and bolted may axles straight to the frame. you can make your own suspension for very little money or you can get all pros stuff a little cheaper if you just buy the springs and make alot of your own stuff i.e. shock mounts, u bolt flip. also remember that if you run that size of tire you will need to eventually regear. with my stock gears my truck would'nt even have the power to get out of it's own way. with 4.88s i can pass uphill on the freeway. if you search all the toyota boards on rear springs up front or rancho 44044s and chevy rears you should be able to get a real cheap suspension that will work great.

 

Well after ready for 7 hours my girl friend says im a dumbass but yes im gonna do the rears in the fron chevy springs in the back. Probably gonna get the all pro or sky manufacturing hy steer kit. I really want to learn how to set up diff gears myself. Anybody have any advice on where to look for info and tools. also what size shocks will I need after doing the springs?

 

the only place i've seen that has any instructions on how to do gears is randy's ring and pinion i think they have a video but you need special tools and i think they are expensive. im not sure about shocks but you will need to add some leaves to the rears to make them tall enough for 35's i've seen some really good threads about rears up front on pirate and wildyoats search them out i know it's there somewhere and good luck.

 

The wrench you need to put Chevy's in the rear has a blue tip.

You also need an IFS steering box. Take a look on PBB about the cost break down for an 85 versus swapping a post 85. It really becomes a wash and you are getting some desirable stuff easy, like the wide rear, the chance for a V-6, etc.

 

On PBB, you got a thread or a hint of how to search for the cost anaylsis you are talking about. For some reason I can't get it to let me search, even though I signed up, won't recognize my user name/password

 

Steve. Putting the rears up front will give you some really good flex. Done the same thing to my 83, and I have around 13 inches of shock travel. I can get the passenger side tire almost 40 inches off the ground without any others lifting. But the stock rears are WAY TOO SOFT by themselves. I added some leaves from an 80's Wagoneer. Also keep in mind that putting the rears up front won't give you much of a lift. You'll need to build drop spring hangers and longer shackles. Then there is the driveshaft. It will need to be lengthened. I just built a square one. at first that was just a temp. fix. But the more I bash it off rocks, the more I like it. It's really strong.

As for the rear, I run the Chevies. And am not all that impressed. The front works way too hard. But I still need to break in my rear springs. They just don't flex like I wanted them to. If I had to do it again, I would probally use some other type of spring like Mazdas or Bronco 2 springs.

Like the others said. you will need to do something about the steering. Those J arms are a little weak. There are lots of aftermarket places that sell crossover or hy steer kits. really, the steering was the only expensive thing in my whole suspension. I figure that I have a total of about 750 in the whole thing.

As for setting up the diff. gears yourself. The only advice I have is to take your time and don't get in too much of a hurry. You'll probally have to do things a few times to get it right. I couldn't tell you where to get the tools you need to do that. My dad already had them. So I just steal them when I need to.

 

I read a good tech write-up on 4x4wire and I think I can do the gears. Im getting the crossover steering from sky manufacturing, and I still dont know about the suspension. Im thinking I could take some leaves from the original fronts add them to the rears and maybe have some stiffer fronts. Im also looking at wagoneer springs instead of chevy's. Now I just have to get rid of this stupid Jeep and start collecting parts. As for getting an 86 I may resort to that but I only have like a $4000 budget and that has to include the truck, steering, tires, gears, springs maybe some work on the engine and some tubing for bumpers and sliders. Its gonna be a tight squeez cause we will have a new baby in the family in less than 2 weeks so I have no extra cash. Plus its gotta be ready for the 4Runner jamborie!

 

4 grand is fine for a good start. just build your own lift. trust me, you'll like it better in the long run. If you can weld then you're set. If not there's always a welder near by. I've seen the All Pro kit in action. And although it's a good kit. Rears up front will flex a lot better. Plus they move your axle foward. Throw a Marlin dual case adapter on. Buy some 35's and lockers. Then wheel the piss out of it.

 

How did you make that front drive shaft? Got any pics? I do know how to weld and have access to a welder so bumper, sliders, and new spring mount locations are all in the works. Right now I got to get this done quickly so my girl can have my other truck. we had our baby 2 days ago!

 

do a search for the driveshaft. there are lots of people doing square ones. I,m going to my shop later, so i'll get some pics of the hangers and driveshaft. plus some of the truck flexed out. Then you'll see why I don't care for the Chevy rears. But a 4Runner is a bit heavier in the rear than my truck is. So you might be able to get them to work fine. They just got me so mad that I'm thinkin bout 4 linkin the rear of my truck and running air shocks.
Another thing, if you want to do the rears up front, you'll need taller front shock mounts. Use the mounts from an 80's Ford F250. There's a part number somewhere here. those mounts are almost 6 inches taller than your Toyota mounts.

Oh and by the way, CONGRATS on the little one... Boy or Girl?

 

Its a girl Im workin on getting her first word to be either Toyota or 4Runner . How do you get the rear shocks to angle in towards ech other? Ive heard good things about mounting them like that.Ill do a search on all this stuff as soon as I get time and maybe my own computer. Right now i use my parents and I cant come over here all the time. Thanks for the help ill check for those pics whenever you get them.

 

I wheel an 83. So the rear shocks are already angled. But it really isn't hard to make/buy custom shock mounts. Go to Budbuilt.com and look at thier mounts. They use exhaust clamps to relocate the mounts anywhere. I did get a few pics of mine flexed on a ramp outside the shop. But I ran outta film. So no driveshaft pics. Give me your E-mail and I'll send you some pics.
And I think you should teach the little one to say Those. My 3 year old boy can already point out 4Runners and Cherokees. I'm workin on him. Seems right now he's gonna be into Heeps instesd of a real 4x4.

 

My e-mail is Scubasteve83@msn.com
I saw a kid on real tv that was 1 1/2 he could name the make of any car it was awsome.