Best SAS Kit for a 2nd Gen 4Runner?

[Ruby]

Who makes the best SAS kit for a 2nd generation ('95) 4Runner?

I just need a 3 to 4 inch lift.

[Isotel]

They are all about the same..

Sky off road, Marlin Crawler, All Pro, Trail Gear..

my Roomate has the Trail gear and it works very good, they took care of any issues that came up during the install..

3" front, combined with the FJ80 Springs in the rear would be a sweet setup!

[r0nin89]

Despite what I've been told I'm going to go with the Trail-Gear kit. Its got alot of goodies that the other guys dont offer. You get knuckle rebuild kits, diff armor, diff truss, and a few other things I cant remember. The bad thing about them I've heard is that the springs sag down over time and have had people advise me to order an inch over what I want my truck to be lifted in the end. On top of all the extras its $1050 with free shipping so you save alot vs. other companies.

[bkg]

TG sells crappy bearings for their knuckle kits. Skip them. Also, they have business practices that many people have issues with.

All-pro has the best 4-bolt steering arms according to Brian @ Front Range Off-Road Fabrication.

Brian @ FRORF has the best hanger/shackle setup, according to... Me. Followed by All-Pro.

Marlin has the best springs; American made vs. TG's foreign made springs. I'm honestly not sure where AP's are made right now.

I'm not a fan of sky's front crossmember, but their axle widening kit is better than wheel spacers, IMHO.

Everything else is a commodity item.

[Marc P]

I have used all of them during my swap....Trail Gear has good stuff and great customer service. If you are running a V6 check into the HD springs.

[a85toy]

I feel sure if you do a search you will find a lot of people that feel TG does not have good customer service. Also I would question the quality of the bearings in their axle kit, if someone just stated they were not very good quality.

[Red_Chili]

If you want to undermine Marlin and others and support a company that does everything it can to jack them, by all means, buy TrailGear.

The best kit is not available. You are far better off sourcing subkits (like spring hanger kits) from various vendors. Front Range Offroad has the best steering geometry and least stress on the frame, and if you want to not use the whole crossmember you can order just the spring hanger bits from Brian (not a catalog item, well under $75).

Each 'kit' has strong and weak points, for instance: expensive shock towers? Or $12 Ford F250 towers that are just as strong? Get my drift? Better to spend money where it counts and cut corners where it doesn't, than to blow a bunch on the cheapest (TG) whole kit and stress your frame unnecessarily.

[Isotel]

Originally Posted by Marc P

If you are running a V6 check into the HD springs.

Or a Heavy Bumper, like an ARB

Originally Posted by a85toy

I feel sure if you do a search you will find a lot of people that feel TG does not have good customer service.

Ive Read alot of trash talking on the net about TG.. But In the Multiple Threads spanning over 30 pages of trash talking and bickering, i dont think ive ever heard anyone say anything bad about their products.

Customer Service is very good.. on My roommates truck he needed some longer shackles, they shiped them out ASAP at no charge.. he also called them a couple times and the guys talked him thru some of the tricky parts of the install.. Search on Pirate, the CS is just fine!, if not better than some of the other companys

[Red_Chili]

OK, here's something bad about their products:
The spring hanger requires additional bracing (not supplied) or you WILL crack a minitruck frame. It also is not as close to stock '85 geometry, which is important.
The winch mount will rip right off the frame, taking part of it with it.
The shock hoops are not as strong as a $12 Ford tower.
I could go on...

The trash talk is about business ethics, which IMHO matter. YMMV.

[bkg]

Originally Posted by isotel

Ive Read alot of trash talking on the net about TG.. But In the Multiple Threads spanning over 30 pages of trash talking and bickering, i dont think ive ever heard anyone say anything bad about their products.

You've missed some posts, then.

Bearings are poor; people have stated that over and over.
6-stud arms and knuckles are stolen, so they are not even their parts, nor their design.

Originally Posted by Red_Chili

The trash talk is about business ethics, which IMHO matter. YMMV.

Correct.

My favorite is how they claim they were the "first" to bring a product to the market, or have been selling x-product for y-years... They claim they have been selling/making the products for YEARS before they even existed.

[LoveHotHonda]

For me, they are all the same. It really depends on your needs.

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[H8PVMNT]

I made my own front hanger with a receiver in the middle for a tow point. The sleeves are just tubing through you frame.

Mess around with some square tube and whatever springs your using and you'll figure it out. I designed mine after seeing a stock solid axle truck, a Sky hanger and an Allpro hanger. If you have the tools to do a SAS, you have the tools to make this stuff anyway. It should cost less than half to make the parts, especially if you alredy have some leftovers from other welding projects.

I wanted to take it a bit further, so I used some longer rear 89-94 Emu springs I had left over. These have the spring pins a bit further forward than most springs people use for SAS. The result is a front end that's about 2" further forward than anybody elses. You can also run more tire with less ride height this way since the main clearance issue is the tire hitting the firewall pinchweld area.

I did have to move the steering box so far forward that it interfered with the front body mount, but this was easy to fix with a little home fab ... no big deal. I bent up my oun shock hoops as well, but most of my buddies are using the ford shock mounts that cost about $25 a pair new from the dealer with great success.

We are all using some sort of rear toyota springs up front and 90s chevy 1/2 ton spring in the back. They are cheap, plentiful and really long so you get great flex. I also found that mounting both rear shocks rear of the axle reduces axle wrap to almost none, especially if you use monotubes.