can anyone point me in the right direction of doing an IFS rebuild? my lower ball joints are definately shot, but, while im in there, i figure i might as well rebuild it all. what all should i do? control arms, tie rod ends and ball joints? probably brakes and rotors while im at it?

kenny

 

Sure.... SAS.






Couldn't resist. I am sure you'll get some information that's actually useful here shortly.

 

touche. however, this is more of a camping, daily driver, light offroader, and unless i'm grossly misinformed, the cost to rebuild the IFS should be a fraction of an SAS.

 

You are on the right track... just having a little fun.

 

I used this kit on mine when I did it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ball-...8559QQtcZphoto

Everything is still fine. There was a thread about that kit and I didn't hear anything negative about them at all. Kit quality seems to be on par with the aftermarket stuff you'll get locally and you'll save about $500 as compared to OEM stuff. Note the guy still has 100% feedback too...

I figured since my front end was so worn out this would get me back driveable and then as stuff wore out after that I could replace that with OEM if needed. So far nothing has worn out yet.

 

That was pretty much the same kit I got too, except mine did not have the idler and pitman arms (or the sleeves, wish I had those sleeves). Mine came from Florida.

I tore the entire suspension system off, but that was because I was restoring the frame as well. But, as long as you don't have the amount of rust I had, you should be good. If you decide you need to remove the lower control arms, be sure to check the condition of the camber bolts. If they're seized onto the bushing sleeves, you'll be cutting them out, and it'll take a bunch of time (and you'll need new bolts and bushings $$$).

Since you'll be removing the spindle in order to replace the ball joints, I'd suggest you do the rotors and pads if needed, shocks, and check the wheel bearings out. You can also check out the condition of the CV boots.

Here's mine when I was all done.

 

If your doing that amount of change, why not do a Coil-Over conversion like the 3rd gens?
i plan on doing either the Coil-over kaddy kit from Chaos or a coil sprung SFA from a hilux. and i think a Coil-over would serve one better in the long run personally.

 

I'm in the middle of mine ... project to just swap the lower arms has taken all weekend so far (well, I had some work to do on my front diff too).

3 of the 4 adjuster bolts were frozen in mine. I had to cut the side with the nut, and then ground off the head of the bolt on the other side, that gave enough room to kinda twist/pry it out. It took almost 10 sawzall blades for those 3 bolts.

The 4 adjuster bolts (complete - plates and nuts) is about $90 from the dealer. If you're smart (unlike me) you could maybe save some $ by ordering from trdparts4u.

I can guarantee you that everything will be super anti-seized going back together! I'm also going to POR15 and paint the frame and brackets while everything is out and accessible.

 

well the previous owner just put new shocks on, so im hoping that if its anything like my previous vehicle's suspension, he had to loosen and remove a lot of the hardware down there, so it shouldn't be too bad to get out. im gonna keep my fingers crossed however.

 

No such luck...

Shocks in the front are one bolt and one nut. The bolt is heavy enough that you can break it pretty easily, but if the nut is seized you can just cut the shaft of the shock and get it right out. The stuff you'll be dealing with might have never been messed with.

Hopefully your cam adjusting bolts aren't stuck as you're going to need an alignment after you're done...