Tanto

RB = Roger Brown

It actually refers to www.4crawler.com products and is incorrectly referred to as a "Roger Brown" lift. Roger is the name of the great guy who makes the stuff on the site and 4Crawler is his company.

ravencr

Wow, definitely a blast from the past. Boy, I wish I still had my 4runner. But, if you have any questions about doing this, just let me know.

Chris

BruceTS

Wow! talk about old threads....... but even more WOW....Chris I didn't even see the thread where you sold your 4Runner, but just finished reading it. Sorry that you had to sell it and I truly understand about credit card debt, I have plenty, fortunatley it's under control and I should have them paid off by next year.

As for flatbelly..... to clock the T-case, you'll need a 1 1/2" body lift if you don't want to do any modifications to the sheetmetal, but the shifter will need to be cut, repositioned and welded. A new crossmember and the fuel tank relocated. One other option is extending the rear links, to eliminate the stock mounts that seem to get hung up on the rocks. They can be relocated towards the middle, tucked up higher after the tank relocation.

ravencr

Hey Bruce,

Yeah, it was a good decision to get rid of it, and the nice thing is the kid that bought will sell it back to me after he wants to get rid of it. So, hopefully, it will be mine once again in the future.

Yeah, I didn't clock the transfer case, just raised mine. There's definitely different ways to do it, but all I can say is it was the best groups of mods I ever did to it. It was amazing at how much bigger the rocks could be.

My next step was to do exactly what you're talking about, which is lengthen the lower control arms, get rid of the stock mounts on the underside of the frame and basically do a custom 4 link in the rear. I was setting it up for a SAS, but obviously never go around to it. Moving that tank was a huge difference, no more low hangin crossmembers...nice! You'll love it Sean!

Chris

Sean K.

This is the buggy I just got done building.....I used some of my old 91 Toyota 4x4 truck as a starting platform.








I want the Runner to be able to traverse the same type of stuff (my old 91 did) but also want to keep this one streetable.


Thanks much Tanto for telling me who RB is and about his company.

Chris....I may need to take you up on the offer of advice. It will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone.

Sean

ravencr

Sean, I don't know if you'll need any of my advice after seeing that rig. Very sweet! If you do, I'd be more than happy to.

Chris

Sean K.

Thanks. I'll definitely letcha know.

BTW, do you know what is up over at TacomaTerritory.com? For some reason, one of the mods got sorta upset that someone linked me to this site when I asked this same basic question on TTORA. Is there some sort of bad blood between the sites? Not trying to stir the pot, but at the same time, I'm a little put off w/ TTORA if that's the case. I just want information and if a site's not willing to share and be helpful, I'm not sure I want to be a member.

Thanks,
Sean

Tanto

TTORA views YT in a negative way for the most part. It's been like this.

Sean K.

Not to pry too much....but why?

Sean

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

Subscribing

BruceTS

because this is a anti-flamming board......

d0ubledown

because of the fact this is a heavily modded, no swearing, family friendly forum. that said, i frequent both forums, but mostly participate here. same with my local boards..there are 2 with very different personalities, but i prefer the more mature one

nice buggy dude i remember reading about a flat belly/tank relocation thread a while back. flatbelly would definitely be cool, after looking at my beat up underside...im thinking beefier skids. dual cases + tcase clock and maybe tank relocation...

now where did i put that money tree...

Sean K.

I can respect that. I just don't see why that board is so anti-this board....considering you guys are family oriented and don't seem to bash them. Besides, from what I can tell....the tech is better here.

Thanks for the explanation.

Sean

DrBeau

Oh Burn!

I will retire back to my hole now.

PS: I believe that a link to the gas tank relocation thread is in the first post here.

glenyoshida

Anybody out there besides ravencr flat bellied their 3rd gen?

ravencr

I haven't heard of any. Did I send you my pics by any chance?

Chris

YM13

A lot goes into the design and location of a gas tank to make sure that it will not catch on fire or leak during a crash. I'm not anywhere near close to knowing anything much about this but you should probably be careful where you place the tank. I'm thinking in the rear trunk(cargo area) would be the safest. If you put it behind the axle where in front of the bumper I think you would probably risk having it leak if someone hit you from behind...

The only reason I'm bringing this up is because I remember watching a car safety show and it seemed like car manufacturers did all kinds of MINOR adjustments that in the end yielded great outcomes...such as moving the tank two inches to the left or right...up or down....

glenyoshida

No, I don't have any of the photos. I sure would love them though! I was bummed to see that they are deleted from the thread. If it's not too much trouble would you send them too me?

By the way. That is some fantastic work you did. I have to say that a lot of guys I talk to want what you accomplished.

Ravencr, what are your thoughts on clocking the transfer case? With a 1" diff drop and a 2.5" body/drivetrain lift. Do you think the angle on the front driveshaft would be too severe?

Even if I can't get the gas tank, t-case, muffler, and catalytic converter, all the way above the frame rails and I need to make spacers on the frame for the underbelly skids to clear the gas tank I'd still be happy with a few more inches of clearance. Just like you said 1" of underbelly clearance is like two inches in tire size. So a little goes a long way.

I'm not confident I can move a gas tank to a safe location in the rear like YM13 mentioned. I think I'll be happy with a body/suspension lift to make room to raise the other components.

glenyoshida

Apparently there is a difference between the 3rd gen gas tanks. I called a junk yard asking if they had a tank for a 3rd gen and he said that the 2001 and 2002 tanks are not the same as the older ones. He didn't know what the difference is. Nor do I at this point.

As far as lifting the tank up in the stock location goes, there are a few things blocking the tank from being raised with a body lift. You can see here that there is a round cross member that goes from frame rail to frame rail.


Driver's side rear wheel well



I'm lying on my back, driver's side, looking up towards the front of the 4runner.



The rear upper control arm attaches to the cross member and the axle. The rubber filler hose also goes into the gas tank about 1 inch below the round cross member. There are a couple of top-of-tank-braces that are welded to the round cross member that also would prevent the tank from being moved up.


At this point unless somebody comes up with an idea, I think that a custom or modified stock tank is probably going to be the easiest thing to keep a tank in the stock location.

I did look at moving the tank towards the front of the vehicle to clear the round cross member but the tank is shaped like a small rectangle box on a longer rectangle box. From what I could see there is only about 1.25 inches of forward movement available before the tank hits the bed and 3inches or more would be needed to clear the filler hose from the round cross member.

ravencr

Moving up the stock one, like you said, is nearly impossible, which is why I opted to use a gas tank that fit in the spare tire area. Or, you couldn't probably come up with a custom one in the stock location, but you'll most likely lose capacity.

Chris