Product review: 4Crawler (Roger Brown) 1" body lift.

[IronYuppy]

I just purchased the 1" body lift kit from Roger Brown at 4Crawler.com.

For those of you who don't know him, Roger is an electrical engineer, Toyota enthusiast and long-time contributor to lots of mini-truck and 4Runner tech forums. He makes a few different things, mostly geared toward mini-trucks, but he's recently branched out into some Land Cruiser body lifts.

I'm not affiliated, but this is my third purchase from 4Crawler. I have previously bought a body lift and drivetrain lift for a first-gen 4Runner from him.

As usual, shipping was reasonable and fast. Six days passed between the day I made my PayPal payment and the box arriving on my doorstep. Pretty good for an international shipment. FWIW, if you live outside the US, 4Crawler is one of the better international shippers, providing legible paperwork for customs inspection, etc.

Now, about the kit, and why I chose it:

Lots of people have a knee-jerk anti body lift position. There are a few good reasons for a body lift: increased room for larger tires without the expense of a suspension lift, clearance for rerouting exhaust, and many more. I decided on a body lift for three reasons:

1) I bought a used set of sliders, and they were contacting the bottom seam on my truck's body. They were custom made for a '97 80, and mine is a '94. I assume that either the seams on the '94 are a little longer, or the body mounts are thinner/more compressed. At any rate, I could feel the sliders rubbing against the body, and that's no good!

2) I plan in rerouting the exhaust at some point. By raising the body, I have managed to open up some space between body and frame. Hopefully this added space will be useful for my new exhaust and for some other mods I have planned.

3) I plan on a rear platform under the body, in the space where the spare tire is mounted from factory. I want to put an air tank and winch back there between the frame rails, and I have now made a taller space for this.

I opted for the lowest lift available: 1". I also opted for Grade 8 hardware, which is probably overkill.

There are a couple of companies offering body lifts, and of course, there's the homebrew kind. I went with this kit because I know 4Crawler to be excellent quality, and because Roger uses UHMW in the body pucks. Plus, Roger does this because he wheels. Gotta keep it in the family, ya know?

UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) is a kind of plastic which is superior to rubber or poly for this kind of application. Although light, it is very strong, and will not compress or crack under load. Also, it is not compromised when exposed to gasoline, oil, ATF or brake fluid, road salt, or most other substances which can break down rubber, and other plastics.

The kit:



The kit consists of ten UHMW pucks, ten bolts, and ten nylock nuts. That's it, because that's all you need. I already had some UHMW pucks laying around, but finding the correct length bolts for this mod isn't easy, particularly when you go to the local fastener place and ask for only two or four of some obscure size. I decided on the whole kit.

The bolt sizes are as follows:

shortest bolts go in the centre three mounts, the medium bolts are for the rearmost mounts, and the longest bolts are for the front.


Installation:

Tools required:

floor jack
wooden blocks about 8" in height
socket set with two wrenches
14mm regular and deep socket
17mm deep socket
9/16" regular and deep socket
extensions
14mm crescent wrench
17mm crescent wrench
multi-driver
5' 2x4

As usual, chock your wheels and use a parking brake!

Here's a safety tip: do one side at a time, and NEVER remove the bolts from more than one side at a time. What you're going to be doing is raising one side of the truck's body from the frame, but leaving the other side attached as a "hinge". You should loosen the nuts on the side you're NOT raising, but leave them attached so the body doesn't slip out of alignment from the frame.

This is a job for technological know-how, but a job for elbow grease. If you live in the rust belt, I strongly suggest you start with Liquid Wrench a few days before you start the actual work, because 10+ years of exposure to salt will not make removing your body mount nuts very cooperative. Even my Georgia-origin Cruiser in our non-salted BC environment was a bit of a chore.

First thing you need to do (providing you've added the Liquid Wrench as required) is locate your body mounts. There are five on each side (listed here from front to rear):

#1) under the rad support
#2) right about where your heel rests when driving, next to the dead pedal
#3) just inboard of the front seat's rear mounting hole
#4) just forward of the rear wheel well
#5) at the rear corner of the body.

The sides are symmetrical, but the mount above the catalytic converter is slightly different than the others (more on that later).

Here's what the mounts look like from underneath the truck:



You'll want to remove your front seats for this job; you need to peel back the carpet quite a bit.

My truck has an adhesive sound deadening liner on the floor, so that had to be cut away. If yours doesn't you can find the mount locations by locating the small black plastic plugs in the floor - remove each and you'll find a bolt head directly underneath.

This is the #2 mount, in the driver's footwell. The small tab with the white plastic grommet is the attaching point for the dead pedal.



This is the #3 mount, next to the rear mount for the driver's seat.



Once you have located all five mounts, you can begin to unbolt them. Each stock bolt has two 14mm nuts on the end. The mount above the cats has a 17mm nut and its own heat shield which you will need to reuse.

The front bumper's corner pieces are bolted to the body. You can unbolt the bumper corners by either disconnecting them from the mounts, or disconnecting the mounts from the body.

Once you have removed all the nuts from one side of the truck and both sides of the front bumper, you can lift the body from the frame using your floor jack.



I found that putting the jack directly under the front footwell (but as far back on the footwell as possible) is a good balance point, and enabled me to access all five mounts at the same time. Use your blocks of wood to distribute the force of the jack a bit, and protect your floor from potential damage.

Be sure to SLOWLY raise the body with the jack. I didn't have any problems pulling wires or hoses loose, but depending on any aftermarket items added to your truck, you might. Just be sure. The body should pull away slowly as you raise it. The suspension will lift, too, but at some point before the tires leave the ground the weight of the suspension should pull the frame from the rising body.

Note also that you want to minimize twisting the body as best you can. Keep the doors closed when raising/lowering it, and try to avoid jacking from a corner. Although I have not heard of this happening with an FZJ80, I have seen other "SUV" style bodies flex so much during lifting that glass has cracked!

When you insert the pucks, they go directly between the body and the stock body mount.

Notes on each mount:

#1 (rad support area). LONGEST BOLT. This is the most difficult to do. It is the longest bolt in the bunch, and it is set in a very difficult to reach place. Skinny fingers or forcing a passing child into service will help immensely. Unfortunately, the bolt is surrounded on three sides by a welded enclosure, and has an opening only about 1"x2" in which you have to remove it and replace it with an even longer bolt! This mount will be your doom. When replacing the bolt, I could not get a wrench in there to hold it in place for tightening. I will be cutting a slot in the bottom of the bolt so I can hold it still while tightening the nut. If you have a welder, you can weld a nut to the bottom after threading the lock nut on, and tighten it that way. Whatever floats your boat.

#2 (front footwell area). SHORTEST BOLT. Easy. Your life should always be so good.

#2 (USPS). SHORTEST BOLT. My truck has no cats, so access is easy. I imagine having cats might cause you to have to remove them for this. YMMV. Alternately, an extra long socket extension might do the trick. Note that this one mount has a 14mm nut and then a 17mm nut on the bolt.

#3 (under front seat). SHORTEST BOLT. Easy, too.

#4 (just forward of rear wheel well). SHORTEST BOLT. Easy.

#5 (rear corner) MEDIUM LENGTH BOLT. This one is tricky as there's a small space and a longish bolt to remove/replace. But as luck would have it, Toyota's stock bolt is long enough to use with a 1" lift puck. I wedged a 5' 2"x4" between the rear bumper and the bottom of the tailgate, and levered enogh gap to simply slip the spacer in place while holding the stock bolt out of the way.


Once you've installed the pucks and replaced all the bolts on one side, lower the body into place, and finger-tighten each nut into place. Leave enough slack that you'll be able to lift the other side without stressing the "done" side mounts.

Once you've replaced all the bolts on both sides, it's time to tighten them. The 4Crawler hardware is SAE, so it's time to switch from your 14mm tools to your 9/16" tools. You will find that some mounts are easier to address with two sockets, wile others are easier with a socket at one end and a crescent wrench at the other.

I'll go around and re-tighten the bolts as required in a week, after everything has had an opportunity to settle.

Impressions:

1" isn't a huge difference in lift. In fact, it's barely noticeable at all:

Before -


After -


I can see it above the sliders, of course, and if you look carefully you can see there's a bit more space between the front turn signals and the bumper now. I immediately noticed a better, quieter ride, now that the sliders aren't contacting the body!

I also think I have room for 35"s or even 37"s without any rubbing issues. Note I'm already running an OME 2.5" suspension lift.

With the 1" lift, there's no need to modify the steering or shifter at all. I find the steering is exactly the same, with full range of motion, no vibration or funny noises. The shifter takes a bit more effort to put in "park" to remove the key. I think I'll tinker with the linkage and see if I can adjust that enough. Alternately, it just takes a bit of getting used to. No change to the movement of the t-case shifter.

With the available 2" lift, you need to add a steering shaft extension, and you might have to rework the shifter. Just things to keep in mind.

My only area of concern is the puck above the cats. I will be keeping my eye on it to make sure it doesn't melt, but I suspect I may be replacing that one with an aluminum puck in the future. I will post up if it fails the heat test.

[beno]

Nice job and nice write-up. Romer should add this to the FAQ's.

Secondly, I had no idea that you actually left Chat!

[d0ubledown]

nice write up. its a subtle difference...but an effective one. im a believer of minimal body lift, for tire clearance where more maxed out susp lift could just lead to other issues like driveline vibes & steering issues. i purchased my 1.5" lift from Roger also, great customer service and answered all my questions promptly. got the same kit w/ upgraded hardware and black paint. install was also fairly easy...mine took about 4hrs alone.

looks good though. btw...do you rub with your 2.5" lift and 295's? your hancooks look alot wider than i thought on the stocker wheel...almost like a 315.

[PKP80]

I have the 2" and I love it. I wish I would have discovered bodylift and the sawzall before I started lifting the suspension super high.

[84runner]

Roger is a very knowlegable guy, (that's putting in mildly). I met him back in the late nineties and actually bought his original sliders and rear bumper off his 4runner in 2000. Also I ran an 1 1/4" body lift, UHMW veriety, from him on the 4runner... they were perfect and didn't squeek!

His website is quite detailed for every mod he's ever done to his truck, as well as his products.

[IronYuppy]

Originally Posted by beno

Nice job and nice write-up. Romer should add this to the FAQ's.

Secondly, I had no idea that you actually left Chat!

Thanks! Chat is the devil's work for my idle hands. I need to buy more stuff that requires assembly.

[IronYuppy]

Originally Posted by d0ubledown

nice write up. its a subtle difference...but an effective one. im a believer of minimal body lift, for tire clearance where more maxed out susp lift could just lead to other issues like driveline vibes & steering issues. i purchased my 1.5" lift from Roger also, great customer service and answered all my questions promptly. got the same kit w/ upgraded hardware and black paint. install was also fairly easy...mine took about 4hrs alone.

looks good though. btw...do you rub with your 2.5" lift and 295's? your hancooks look alot wider than i thought on the stocker wheel...almost like a 315.

Thanks.

No rubbing with the 295s. In fact, I had them for about a month before adding my OME lift, and took them wheeling once at stock height. No rubbing at that time, either (although admittedly it wasn't a hardcore outing).

[douglashuft]

Good stuff, I have one of his 1" lifts on my mini and was thinking ome mediums with 1" body lift and flare removal would be the ticket to make 315's work well on the 80.

[e9999]

nice writeup
interesting that there is no issue with harnesses, linkages etc

what's the black outer layer on the pucks?

[toyman317]

Great write up. I may be rethinking the body lift option.

[robmir]

Very nice writeup. My only concern should be the vibration dampening properties of the OEM rubber versus this pucks so I am surprised you noted a softer ride unless your older rubbers were in pretty bad shape and lost their elastic properties but again I liked a lot the idea of rising the body 1" without any other link, etc, mod !!!!!

[douglashuft]

Originally Posted by robmir

Very nice writeup. My only concern should be the vibration dampening properties of the OEM rubber versus this pucks so I am surprised you noted a softer ride unless your older rubbers were in pretty bad shape and lost their elastic properties but again I liked a lot the idea of rising the body 1" without any other link, etc, mod !!!!!

The stock rubbers are still there. The "pucks" merely space down the metal body mounts. think of them as being one inch thicker. Rogers pucks are wider and shorter which puts less stress on the mounts than a taller narrower puck (which would provide more leverage over a smaller surface area).

[IronYuppy]

Update: Roger Brown assures me that UHMW has a higher melting temperature than rubber. Since the stock rubber body mount sits closer to the cat than the new puck does, it's safe to say it won't melt.

[peepers]

i installed the FJ60/62 version of this kit on my older truck (fj62). it was great and you can barely notice the difference. if you want to get rid of a "slight rub" and you know an inch will cure it, i suggest this route.

[Atticus]

Nice.

[FJnAK]

Great write up, I've been running a 1" Roger Brown bodylift for about a year now. I met Roger back in the late 90's on a Rubicon trip. Super nice guy, I ended up buying his 5.29's and True Trac from the front diff of his 4 runner. Anyway the body lift is perfect for running tires bigger than 35" with less suspension lift.

I'm running 37's with J springs:

[douglashuft]

The only thing i dont like about the body lift is (unless you have custom bumpers and sliders) all the mass produced armor is now 1" too low relative to the body.

[CreeperSleeper]

[quote=FJnAK;3072653]*snip*Anyway the body lift is perfect for running tires bigger than 35" with less suspension lift.

I'm running 37's with J springs:
*snip*
QUOTE]

IMO, you are better to cut the fender out for low lift / big tires. Any other way is raising your COG...

37's and J springs, no body lift:

[MTKID]

Yup, mine is a 94 also and I added the same BL a couple years ago for the same purpose. I already tucked the exhaust way up and had some custom sliders built recently (end of last year) that actually run up through the rocker panels. It's (the 1" BL) a great addition if you are doing custom protection. I couldn't be happier with the BL for it's purpose. I hope to also cut the fenders like MetalTech when I get the guts and clear under standing of how to blend the inner metal with the outer fender.
Micah

[d0ubledown]

Originally Posted by e9999

nice writeup

what's the black outer layer on the pucks?

black paint option. well worth the buck a puck premium...

[MSGGrunt]

Roger Brown 2" body lift and no issues. Running Slee 6" system with 38.5's

[Walking Eagle]

Nice write up, certainly FAQ worthy

Originally Posted by IronYuppy

1" isn't a huge difference in lift. In fact, it's barely noticeable at all:

I noticed the 1" right away when I started driving, I was actually surprised how much taller it felt. Now, the wife didn't notice at all. Which was good, since I did it while she was out of town for a week, and have never told her.

Originally Posted by IronYuppy

With the 1" lift, there's no need to modify the steering or shifter at all. I find the steering is exactly the same, with full range of motion, no vibration or funny noises. The shifter takes a bit more effort to put in "park" to remove the key. I think I'll tinker with the linkage and see if I can adjust that enough. Alternately, it just takes a bit of getting used to. No change to the movement of the t-case shifter.

The shifter taking more effort to go into park, that the wife noticed. It actually will go into park, but there is a extra little click, that allows you to pull the key out. That she couldn't get the key out, the wife noticed. Fortunately it's just a matter of loosening up the bolt on the lingkage and slightly adjusting it, and problem solved.

On the t-case shifter, that I did run into an issue with. My knob hits the console. I think I'll add an extension to it eventually, right now, the console isn't fitting right either so I have to take the knob off for 4low, which must change soon. The 2" I"m sure would run into issues with most trucks.

I didn't have any problems with getting any of the bolts off (my truck is dry) except the front ones at the radiator. Those, I just cut the heads off since I didn't have a bumper on anyway.

In addition to your other reasons for a body lift, is extra room for longer body shocks - something in a 14" travel is nice...

[johnnyx]

Great write-up, & I'll give another thumbs-up to Roger.

He made me some beeeefy sliders for my '00 Xterra back in 2000, and they were abused and held up great. Just some touch-up paint every once in a while on the underside was all the "maintenance" they needed.

He also did a custom mount for a rear bumper/tire carrier I found on eBay for cheap. Excellent work .