wats one piece bracketry? is about everything the same as the procomp stage 2? i didnt look at superlift very much

 

Basically, 4" kits mean constant realignments to most of us. Many kits use drop brackets that come on three pieces. If you check out the Superlift, you'll see that it has (2) drop brackets consisting of (3) Procomp parts per bracket. The one piece design is better because it has less points to shift about.

Anyway, 4" kits aren't all they are cracked up to be. If you want to really wheel, you might steer clear of them as they bend and shift easily.

Frank

 

"necessary?

necessary?

is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? no, but it's sterile and I like the taste!"


sorry I couldn't resist

but yeah, like ike said, it's not necessary, but it is awesome, if you're doing gears, maybe you might want to do the locker while you're in there anyways, other wise you are repeating work later if you decide to get one

 

yeah im definitely doing lockers one day but it will be awhile. so about the 4" lifts, how bad is the bending and shifting you are talking about? if anything iv heard worse about body lifts than suspension lifts haha this is odd

 

in my opinion you should just sas it! i should have done that from the start with my truck but i keep dumping money into improving the ifs now that i have the sas done i regret ever putting a dime into the ifs. the solid axles are simpler and have a lot less to go wrong plus when it is time to re-gear or add lockers its a lot easier to do so with the solid axle

 

really well thats pretty cool then. did you go with the downey one? i may decide to do that if its more reliable but im just talkin now ya know? i really dont know whats gonna happen. how does it handle compared to the ifs?

 

This is why I advocate lift being the LAST mod you do. If you find yourself 'wheeling hard enough that you need a solid axle, you haven't wasted any money.

As for the rest of the post ... um - not really.

Solid axle simpler? NO
Less to go wrong? NO
Regear/lockers easier? NO

Can a SFA be upgraded to be stronger than IFS? YES
Will a SFA require more maintenance than IFS? YES

 

What you are leaving out is that you have to spend ALOT of money to make it WAY better than IFS. There is nothing wrong with that.

Other than that, this post is pretty spot on. But probably not for the reason he was thinking.

Early IFS works best stock. No lift, and 33's. When you start to monkey with it, it starts to show its weaknesses in a hurry.

Here's the deal. I've gone round and round with a hundred different people on the net about IFS vs SAS. In the end, very few people who SAS will EVER admit that an IFS truck could drive the trails they drive. IFS can go 95% of the places a SAS truck can, assuming your goal is for either truck to avoid body damage. Once you take damage out of the equation, then a SAS truck can go much farther.

Most people don't ever get to the point where a SAS will make or break them on the trail, but you simply can't make an IFS truck look as cool as a SAS truck on the street. No doubt.

OP,

If you truly want to wheel HARDCORE trails, with HUGE tires, and a complete disregard for body damage, then a SAS is 100% absolutely for you. If you want to look really cool driving around town, then a SAS is 100% for you.

SAS's are not the end all be all of wheeling, much contrary to the internet wisdom. However, the cost has come down, and if you do it with a stock axle, and don't upgrade in the least, you could be running 35's for 3k, including 5 35" tires.

Really, just do whats going to make you happiest. I'm pretty biased towards IFS, and others have the same bias toward SASing. There is more than enough info here on both.

 

While on the lift topic i just purchased a 4" ifs lift for my 92' 4x4 it did not come with brake extension(or replacements) and the guy i bought it from said it did not need it, any truth to it before i attempt to install

 

I have wheeled my 89 truck quite a bit, and its still fairly stock. I trimmed the front fenders and hammered back the firewall so I could clear the 33's with out rubbing. I had add a leafs in the back, but just installed a set of Downey 2" lift springs. The front suspension is stock, I have not touched the torsion bars.

The rear lock right has been the most useful upgrade in terms of offroad capability. And from the wheeling I have done, I would install a dual transfer case before doing a SAS on this truck. Gearing has held me back more then the IFS has, that and not having a front locker.

Here is how my truck sits on 33's

 

i was thinkin the other night before i read alot of these replies and i agree with TC. id rather have 32x11.50s like i already got right now and just fix my tranny and then go straight to lockers and engine mods. I think it would be better to experiment and see how much power i can get out of my motor (after a rebuild of course) before throwing gears, wheels, tires, and lift into the picture. im wantin that MSD in there pretty bad lol.

if i were to do lockers tho i just dont know how it will affect my gears and whatever. would i be able to just put arb lockers in with stock gears and then re-gear later if i were to decide on bigger tires?

 

Absolutely. But you'd pay twice that way, unless you do the gear and locker installs yourself. Then you are just doing the work twice. Its much more cost effective to regear, even if you don't jump tire size at the same time. I ran 4.88's with 28's for over a year. It worked pretty well, but it was pretty reved up to hit 75mph.

 

Yes, you could, but the installation of the ARB requires the gears to be resetup, so if you do it at the same time, you basically get the gear install for free.

There's going to be people come on and say if you use the same gears, you don't need to do a full setup. Those people can take that risk - I won't. The measurements are in the THOUSANDTHS of an inch - 0.001" - it doesn't take something being much different to be a significant change!

 

^^x2 on that one, it just makes sense to do the work, or pay someone else to, only once if it can be avoided. Depending on how much you pay someone else to do both front and rear gears after you've already paid them to do it when you got locker(s), that could be enough money to get some sliders/bumpers/lights/other crap

^^x2 on this too. On high-use, high-importance items like anything in the drivetrain, braking, or steering, it is always best to avoid the booty-fab, if you (aren't going / can't /to lazy to) do it right yourself, then pay a pro to do it for you.

zip ties and duct tape belong on radios and heater ducts, not on driveshafts and steering linkage (not saying you specifically would do that, just saying try your best to avoid it)


Oh, and about trying to get more power out of your engine, don't bother. You are fighting an up-hill battle with the 3.0, I would just rebuild it or whatever you need to do to get it running right, then worry about tires/lockers/gears/armor, then start worring about how much power you have. After everything you might just be happy with you've got, instead of worrying about headers burning your carpet or if that $300 was well spent on an ignition instead of sliders, now that you've got a huge dent (but your engine has 3 more hp!)

If you are really wanting more power, and you must have it right now, then I would look into an engine swap while you are in the process of getting it back together and running, before you throw any more money at the 3.0. Otherwise you run the possiblilty of spending money to get it running and running right, then spending money to get more power, then (after you realize you can't get what you want out of a 3.0) spending more money to do an engine swap.

You said that your cousin was the previous owner so I take it you might have driven it before it was parked, so back then did it have enough power? If you really weren't happy with the power back then, you aren't going to be happy with it after you spend $$$ on headers/ignition/exhaust/rebuild

If you don't have the money to do an engine swap, then just rebuild the 3.0 or whatever, and try to live with it. If you really need power then start saving any money that you want to spend on the 3.0, and keep it until it blows again and swap it out. You said you wanted to be able to get through almost anything, well gears/tires/lockers are going to help you much much more than anything else,

The only time I could see needing a ton more power would be if you are trying to jump really big sand dunes (<- would be more concerned with suspension there)
or going to mud bogs (<- would just get a domestic with a big block there)
or you've got 37in+ tires (<- are you going rockcrawling?)
or trying to race mustangs and/or ricers (<- just go buy a mustang and/or ricer)

sorry for the long post, just my .02

 

Hi guys , site newbie here I just picked up the 4" procomp stage 2 lift and i;m half way through it . It's going on my 90 4runner that i'm using to get back and forth to the cabin . Rocks , stumps, mud, ditches and rivers are all part of the trip . NIce !! I was thinking about the brackets and wondering the same thing about movement and shifting . After reading this post and a few more I think i'm going to spot weld everthing once i'm done . If it has to come off then the grinder comes out . I've had bodylifts before and when you bring up solid on a rock or ditch I find it tends to shift around the mounts LOL . As for wheels I went with 15x10 3.625 bs with 33x12.5's . I don't have the front finished yet so I can;t say how it's all going to work out . I do know that procomp says 8" max so I assume the new spindle will hit the rim. I'll soon find out !!. Anyway glad to be here great site

rusty bush bitch starts to get some attention


1/2 way ,, had to get a pic of that

/n

 

well as far as engines go, my dads chevy has a 350 and yeah its got hp but it spins way to easily... honestly its too much power cuz the gas is so touchy (even tho its an auto). for my truck i really really want to keep the 3.0 in it. I gonna rebuild it one day BUT it does run and it runs pretty good honestly. yeah its been parked for a while but heres the story: my cousins had it then they parked it. after about two years i bought it and iv had it a year and drove it on weekends before i parked it about two months ago and took out the tranny. with school going on and also less work hours as a result its setting me back and taking more time to get it back on its feet again.

well i guess im in a dilemma then because the ONLY time im gonna regear is if and only if (unless someone can prove me wrong) i get 35s or larger. 4.56's can handle 32x11.50s like nothin and i know that 33s wouldnt be much different at all.

here's my order for my plans:
1. fix my driveline
2. put in lockers/rebuild motor
3. suspension lift OR s.a.s.
4. bigger tires and new gears

if i HAVE to regear at the same time to put ARB lockers in, well i guess i'll just have to get some about the same ratio as what i have. cuz there is no way in hell im going with 5.29's and havin 32s. then waitin and puttin 35s on a year later. i'd have to be an idiot hahahaha

 

The lower gearing only increase the RPM a couple hundred on the highway, but being that 200 RPM low makes a HUGE difference since the powerband is so narrow and steep on the 3.0.

WAY better to cruise at 3200 RPM than 2800 ...