My IFS rig need advice
 

Hi all I am a new here and noticed you guys have a great database going.

My rig entails:

Overall
1995 ext Cab Pickup
3.0L v6
5-Speed Stick
2" 4crawler body lift
33x12.5 Goodyear Wrangler AT/s' on 15in rims

Front Suspension
4.56's
1.5" BJ spacers
Torsions cranked for 1.5"
Nitro Skyjacker shocks rated for 3-4" lift
Diff breather
swaybar delete

Rear Suspension
Yukon 4.56's
Richmond locker
3" blocks with sagging leafs :-X
Crappy advanced auto shackles (getting replaced asap)
Diff breather
Nitro Skyjacker shocks rated for 3-4" lift


Plans
Total Chaos Fab Idler arm
Snorkel
Warn Manual Hubs
Aftermarket Torsion bars
Brace from Sonorma (sp?) steel
water proofing

My biggest concern is what else I can do to prevent IFS breaks. I just recently snapped my Idler arm on the trail which in turn threw my axel bearings out on the ride home. I want to beef things up but not go dropping too much money only beause theres a SAS in the distant future hopefully.

you can drop the suspension back to stock with the BJ spacers (uncrank tbars)

In addtion, smaller tires would help.

Other than that, the steering on these trucks is so crappy that just about any change from stock starts to have it crap out. The new trucks have a much superior system to the ones on these old trucks.

Good luck

Does a Tacoma hold the same steering as far as tierods gos? Possibly a junkyard swap as an option to beef all the links in the ifs tierod?

no, the steering on these early trucks is standard mechanical. So, pitman, idler, center link, tie rods etc...

The new ones use a rack and pinon style. A swap would cost way more than its worth, as you'd need either new spindles or some creative fabbing to move the steering behind the front suspension.

Idler Arm Brace
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...dler+arm+brace

I realise they make a brace for it but the total chaos idler arm appears to use grade 8 hardware instead of a casted stud which would mean should something break I can carry a 2dollar grade 8 bolt and wahla idler arm is now fixed.

Besides I'm not really seeing the major help given by that gusset. it grabs the arm and gives it more area to hold but should I break it its still broken. Perhaps I'll use it til i save for the Total Chaos Arm.
PS: Wats the price on that brace??

The other thing i want to discuss is my tire size. Is the 12.5 wide factor contributing to the strain on my IFS? When I get my Wrangler MT/r's should I go for 33x10.5? What about 35x10.5 litle bit overload?

also may want to get rid of those blocks

Yeah I plan on getting some different leaf packs from somewhere...

Tomorrows game plan is to level out my torsion bars to the 3" lift in the rear. I have the 1.5bj spacers as I said so I'm going to bring the front up about an inch to acheive 1" from tbars and 1.5" from BJ spacers. I'm going to pickup lowprofile bumpstops to make up for the inch of downward lost and leave my top bumpstops alone.

Starting to read that I should only put low profiles ontop due to cv's on droop. Any truth to this?

get the chaos arm...wayyy better than the brace. Its not so much the arm bending, its more the joint at the end failing. The chaos arm is the shiznit.

With that much cranking, there really isn't a point on the tires. Run what you like.

CV angle is going to be affected by the top bumpstop, which is what limits your down travel. Low pro bumpstops up top plus BJ spacers will give you issues on full droop.

Alright so droop is obviously when your suspension hangs / move downard. I dont get how the top bumpstops limit this. I would think that top bumpstops limit upward travel and lower bumpstops would limit droop/downward travel. Is there a diagram or picture that could help explain this because right now I'm not understanding.

Say my axles are at droop wont my lower A-Arm be caught on my lower bumpstop or am I thinking they are mounted differently than they are?

Ah I got it this picture just spelling it out. I was thinking the bumpstops were stationary but rather they move with the a arm. So just do the bottoms got it.

No.

Bumpstops are stationary. Droop is limited by the upper bumpstop, which stops the upper A-Arm from moving downward any farther. Uptravel is limited by the lower bumpstop and prevents the lower arm from moving up any farther.

Pics:

Lower bumpstop just above lower A arm, limiting up travel.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...e/IMG_1489.jpg

Upper bumpstop sitting just below upper A-arm, limiting droop.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...e/IMG_1491.jpg

So yes, in order to protect cv's, you'd only want low profile on the bottom.

If you plan to go SAS, don't throw any more money in the front suspension.
That's the route I took anyway.....

x2

I've a solid front axle sitting in my garage to the swap, and now I don't have enought money to do it... If only I hadn't put so much momey in something I was goint to cut... Do whatever you want to do from the begginning.

David

Well the thing is I realised the SAS will never happen. Even if I do get the money I'll never be allowed to pull my truck off the road and dump $3000 all at once into by the parents. Therefor the IFS beefing begins...

Sorry, but is that ice...?

You bet. 5 degrees last night when i took that pic. Snowed the day before...you drive through some snow, and then it doesn't melt.

Definitely go with the Total Chaos Idler Arm over a brace, you'll break something else on your steering before you break it (probably an adjusting sleeve or TRE). Keep in mind you will have to drill your drag link to fit the far larger bolt on it, just a warning. Might see if your truck is covered under the recall on those before you drill it for the TC arm. Then, just keep an eye out for weak links in the steering, and upgrade/replace them as they break.

As for CV's, I would go with cheap-o Autozone or Checker stock replacements with lifetime warranties. Heck even buy some spares. They are only $70 with a core, so breaking one is no bigge, and they can be replaced for free under warantee.

Also: make sure you get the Warn "premium" manual hubs. The regular ones supposedly break (if you can even get them for your truck... I've never seen a set of Warn regulars).

Unless you really go through cars fast, you'll have your Yota long after you're done living with your parents. Then you'll be wishing you didn't spend a lot on IFS if you decide to SAS.

A couple more points to ponder: Do you want to mod forever without limits (except $), or do you want to keep your truck with the basic Toyota design for that year/model?
A lot of people are proud of their Toyotas, but only the sheetmetal is a Toyota by time they're done. So it might as well have been a Jeep or anything else.

There's also something to be said for driving with less "built" equipment, to hone your driving skills before you build up. Your well SAS will last longer if you learn to be gentle with an IFS.