Oh tell him again brother, tell him again!

 

Yeah, how come once they SAS'd them they suddenly want to sell them?

 

Cause it was a costly and bad idea in the first place Why SA a 20k rig when you know you can't wheel it to the max. Hell if I spent that much on my 4runner I'd keep it on the street. I'd be afraid of rolling it. Just keep your IFS, buy a crawler box, front and rear arbs, learn to drive offroad, and you'll be fine

 

as I was reading last night. Some people have done leaf springs up front and others have done coil overs. I understand that you get better on road performance and handling from the coil overs. And the leaf springs are proven off road. I didn't find too much info on the handling of coil overs off road. Anybody come across any information on comparing the two?

Also Steve, would it still be possible to swap in Chevy leaf springs in the rear, like you had planned on doing on yours? All I would have to do is weld on those brackets to the rear bumper right?

thanks

 

I was just about to chime in about Breezy's setup.

It sounds as though you are certainly going to do the SAS...Thats cool, and best of luck to you. However, for the sake of yourself, and people on the road, do it right the 1st time. Don't do a hack job like Breezys. His steering setup (critical to keeping the rig on the road) is somewhat of a nightmare. Get all your parts first, understand them, plan the install and then do it. But do it right, no cutting corners.

 

What Steve says is very true. Take your time and get all of the parts, ect that you will need. Plan everything out. I guess this is one of those times where you pay for what you get. Don't opt the cheap way out. I've seen some cut corners on a couple of rigs and it was just a total nightmare trying to correct them.

 

I'm not going to cut a single corner, and I'm not going to do this on my own either (b/c I am very inexperienced in this area). The whole point of doing the SAS now, at least in my head, was to do it right the first time.

I have you guys here, plus if I can work this out with cornfed he's done this on several tacos (including his own) already. So hopefully his experience will help out a lot as well.

The good thing so far is that everyone who has done a SAS so far as been kind enough to provide parts, part numbers, cost, and where to get them. I know you guys didn't like Breezy's steering set up. But I did gather a lot of infor from his site, as to how he went about his conversion. From what I am gathering its coming out to about $3500-4000 for all the parts. Labor cost is all over the board. I'm pretty sure its not going to be $6K for the labor. well see ....

yeah thie first step is going to be getting the parts together. There out there, but alot are overpriced. I just need to be a on the look out for a good deal. If anyone else runs across a great deal please let me know. thanks!

 

Leaves versus coilover is a wash in my mind.

Putting leaves up front has become pretty straight shooting burn it on. There are kits and it works well if done right. Approach angle is slightly hindered.

A linked front with coilovers is more BLING, but it takes more skill to do it right and have it streetable.

Travel, ride and drivability, when done right, are equal.

If you are paying someone else to do it, go all out. Tell them you want a fancy linked front with 14" coilovers. Tell them you want it low but riding on 37's. Then wait a month, write the check, and run the same trails as you did before.

As data said and I will re-echo, this was not a cheap rig to start out with. You said you have $10k in it already and paying a shop to do the swap will be another $10k I would bet. Now you have a $40k rig that you intend to wheel the poop out of? Makes a lot of sense to me.

Older junk has stronger frames, less cost and less body. If you want a real live trail truck to show all your friends, get some old junk.

 

Flygt has a point here about 37's. If you aren't planning on going to 37's, just do some trimming and run 35's.

Although it seems that you've made your decision. I still have to ask you one question. What are you gaining by doing a SAS? If you are looking for more off-road capability, 35's and a front locker will wheel circles around almost every other 3rd gen you come across. And if you add a Crawler down the road (if that's even possible with your computerized auto)...then your rig will be able to do more than anything else out there with sheet metal.

And as far as a rear leaf conversion, look at SteveO's website for a great write up. He did it right.

BTW, I think you have a good attitude about all of the suggestions and recommendations from the folks here. Keep listening and if you do this it should turn out fine.

 

DO IT! All this negativity is sad...who cares how much money it costs. If you want to do it and you can afford to...then go for it! Cornfed and company will do a great job...most of us know that.

Go leaves front and stick with the coils in rear...it's easier and you'll get mad flex in comparison to your old setup either way. Once you learn, hopefully a boatload, from the SA...do the leaf conversion yourself on the rear if you feel you need it.

It's almost like this has now become the anti-SA forum. Why? Many of you have said you were going to in the past...but now it's a bad idea? Has Steve corrupted you that much?

 

Bravo!

 

Maybe we need to identify who we are talking about....

 

Sorry SteveO...was referring to Schaefer

 

I still plan to, but I'm slowly gathering parts over time and will do this myself when I can retire this rig, or at least have access to other wheels while I do the conversion and work out the bugs...

 

I have an 83 axle sitting with my truck awaiting rebuild and prep. Hopefully with a change of venue and a new gig, that rig will be solid in a year or so.

I am only anti-swap in this case because a rear locker is no where near the limits of wheeling.

The dude asked a question about swapping. I asked the questions I faced when considering similar. He answered differently and I don't think that he needs a swap.

I am against paying someone to swap your rig and just picking it up when it is done. A solid axle should be hung, at least in part, by the owner.

If he wants a show truck, then buy or build one. If you want a wheeler, I think there are a couple more steps to take before it comes to this. The thread was started in attempts to gain insights. It has been intermitantly clear that no insights were needed and the decision was made.

Schaefer's rig with 35's and IFS spank most of the solid axle rigs here. Why? Because it is low, it has gearing and it has lockers. I am not being a kiss ass, Schaefer knows what he is talking about. I have wheeled with him, stayed at his house, spotted for him and talked shop, it is not just based on web wheeling.

Wanted my opinion? There it is.

 

I'm not against SAS, but doing it to a 3rd gen 4Runner? For starters it's the wrong rig to make into a hardcore wheeler, too top heavy and way too much sheetmetal. With that being said, I'd go up against any DD SA rig that is on 35's with the same breakover clearance as I have. I could almost guarrantee that they'ed get stuck more than me. I've proven this out on the trails, simply speaking, not only do you have your rear diff to worry about hanging up on the rocks, but you have your front diff as well. Even though I may not have the clearnace under my front, in comparison, it is fully skidplated and simply slides over them.

35's are as large as you can go without doing some major body rework and for you to have an effective SAS you'll want to run tires no smaller than 37's. It would be far cheaper to buy an older PU, then make a kick ass SA trail rig that you'd enjoy more, or better yet build a tube buggy.

As for Steve corrupting me, now that's a joke! I've disagreed with him far more than trying to copy what he's done. It's not that I'm anti-SA, but there are others options that will make a 3rd gen into a extremely good trail rig.

 

I disussed this with Brian Ellinger as well as Randy Ellis and both seemed to thik that the Chevy springs would be too soft. I can tell you they were right. They are also too long. I had a way to do it figured out but it was not a sure thing how it would work. Another big issue is the shock placement. Hunt had more to work with on 5" of lift, If you only get 2.5" your really cramped for space. Fitting longer shocks would have been the largest challenge. There was no clear way to do that.

I also discussed this with Mark Mason and several of the other BTG guys and they said to stick with the links, that even if you don't have as much flex that there are alot of obsticals that the leaf spring rears can't get up easily and the buggies with links shoot right up. He said to keep it the way it was not to lift it soo high you have no droop.


I ended up putting the entire Chevy package I had on my Cargo Trailer and it came out really nice. It has a real nice ride, 8-10" of lift and can flex like mad. It truly is an Off-Road trailer.


Then again these guys are all morons and so am I. Honestly if you want to do an SAS on your 4Runner sign up for a welding class at your local communitly college and do the work yourself, that is really the best way to keep it affordable and make sure the quality is high.


But what do I know, I know I have run Aftershock at the Hammers, I know that I made it up Double Whammy, Rock Chucker and Widow Maker in Moab. I know I can walk through Martinez Canyon with zero spotting and never stop rolling. Crossed French Creek on Holy Cross in Colorado with ease.

Web wheel all you want, I real wheel. I have a Streight Axle and it SUCKS with any tire less than 37". Like everyone has said, it's the wrong truck, to too heavy and has too much metal. No wonder they are all for sale.

 

Hey wait, didn't the Cheese say they were too soft for a heavy rear and links would climb better?

The coilover IFS works pretty well. Steve's front end is soft, like really soft. It compresses to the bumpstops and droops well. Old junk does not, that is why hanging a solid axle on them is so easy and so often done.

If you are worried about body damage now with the expensive rig on the trails you are doing with one locker and IFS, I think it will end up pretty thrashed with a solid axle.

 

i'd like to ask if any of the steve's or bruce drive their trucks as dd's. No purpose, just my curiosity

 

Every single day, it's my only means of transportation...... and I'd like to add that it drives smoother than it did stock....