The "newer" SAWS all come with 675 springs- but I don't know when they made the switch. I've been thinking about switching over to ~600's, even with my TJM bumper, the front seems a bit stiff.

 

No, they were 14" 650 lb. before. I'm not sure when they changed it, but I think it must have been in the past 6 to 9 months or so.

 

I don't mind my ifs so much, albeit I have little flex. I think I managed to squeeze as much out of them as I could though... about 7.5" each side. A solid axle has alot to offer, for crawling and such you just can't beat the flex and travel of a sfa. I am considering an "upgrade" some day soon. I am not dissatisfied with the ifs, but it is weaker. My Baja Bug has more travel than my runner

 

So, on a 3rd generation is a SAS kit available? Or just the long-travel IFS kits from Camburg and Total Chaos?

Chris

 

No prepackaged kits are available. I don't think there are more than a handful of 3rd gen runners (maybe 1 or two) on this board that have gone SAS.

 

Thanks for the info! It looks like the easiest thing to do would be to get the Camburg or Total Chaos kit for the most travel. I talked with Camburg, and they said that their kits offers 12 inches of travel, versus roughly 6-7" that stock offers. Wow!

Chris

 

There are 2? I always thought 44runner was the only one in the world (exageration)?

 

Well, if I said there was only one, then some other guy out of left field would come out and flame me, so, better to be as vague as possible!

 

oh ok. I guess you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

What does a Camburg kit run, $1,500 or so maybe more installed and you have half again as much wheel travel as you did previously and you still have CV's and a 7.5" diff.

If you know what you are doing, for another $1,500 or so, you can double the Camburg kit wheel travel, get rid of CV's and have a potentially 37" tireable front end with no steering rack to worry about.

 

Try 2800 bucks. I'm not all that impressed at first glance- look at this picture:

http://www.camburg.com/images/extrem...s4Runner/4.jpg

Am I supposed to be impressed by the fact that it looks like he's not getting any flex whatsoever in the front?

How much would a SAS run? Its probably cheaper than the Camburg setup.

 

Damn, that sucks! I was expecting it to be stuffed all the way up in the fenderwell. I wonder if it's setup of for desert racing or something like that for big bumps, and not soft for articulation?

Chris

 

If your interested in SAS'n a late model, and want to see an absolutely flawless job that includes ALL the costs, check out:

fourbychef's site

let's just say it's a "bit" more that 2.8K

 

Keep in mind that his price list is only for parts, and does not include LABOR. Even if you have the tools, equipement and knowledge to perform the swap yourself, chances are you will still need to have someone do the diffs and install the locker(s) and gears.

 

That is one big tacoma! The flex didn't look all that great though for a Solid axle. I'm not knocking his setup, but just though the benefit to do SAS is increased flex, but I could dothat same shot with my IFS I think. And $6000 is a far cry for me. I hafve a ton of fun with my ifs, and that's good enough for me after I've seen this.

Chris

 

here's a few pics from the1rst annual DeSoto MineTrail run- the second one is on the 1rst of Nov. There are several pic's that clearly show the difference in flex between IFS and a SAS- unfortunately, since I was leading the run, no pic's of me going thru the one seriously twisted section were taken.

K-Tons rig flexes really good!

DeSoto Mine trail

 

In the above shot of that Camburg set up, it is actually pulling the rear wheel off the ground, no compression in front at all, it looks like!

 

Those are some cool pics. Sometimes I wonder why I live in the East, when I could live out west! Damn!

Chris

 

Yeah, I'm thinking Camburg's got the front set up waayyyy too stiff- Steve Schaeffer would spank that rig...

 

That was right after the swap, before he had it dialed in and the springs broke in.

Here are some better shots of K-ton's rig flexing...