Builds 80 Build Thread - PreWork & 1 Weekend (1 Viewer)

[Charles4x4]

How are the 37's working out with the 4" Slee lift and 30mm spacers?

Have you had a chance to see if they rub at full articulation?

Would you go with the 6" Slee lift if you started over again?

What would you change with your current setup?

Thanks

Ron

37s work great with 5.25" of lift (4" + 30mm spacer). I haven't flexed it out fully, but don't think it will rub. Will know more this weekend when it is on the trail.

I think the 6" is too much for our trucks. Especially in the rear where the 4" is actually giving me 5.25" unloaded. I have heard of many who have swapped from 6" to 4" coils as it was too tippy / top heavy.

Also, just having springs and no rubber spacer will probably ride much rougher - the 30mm spacer gives the padding needed to take the edge off the pot holes.

So far I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Charles4x4]

With the Slee Shortbus bumper, the AC Evap canister hangs down in a spot that is susceptible to damage.

I have heard of many having trouble pushing it up and into the protection of the bumper, but surprisingly I didn't have any problem on mine (maybe I'm lucky or something is going to break soon...).

 

[Charles4x4]

Finally finished the wheel spacers. The rear ones needed additional trimming on all 6 flanges (both front and back sides).

Here are he final pics - I think the 4Runner wheels turned out great.

 

[retrofive]

Looking sharp.

 

[82much]

I owe a few updates to the build thread.

First, even with a 20mm spacer up front on top of the Slee 4" kit, I still felt like the rear was sitting 0.5" higher than the front.

So I ordered a 30mm spacer and sealed out. Now everything is level. And the 30mm spacer actually rides significantly better than the 20mm option - I guess the extra material soaks up the initial jolt you get from potholes better.

The old 20mm spacers came out:
View attachment 1230441

The new 30mm spacers go in.
View attachment 1230406

Hey...I'm going to put I'm spaces myself in a few days. How easy/hard was it?
Do you have a write-up on the installation?

 

[Charles4x4]

Looking sharp.

Thanks.

Hey...I'm going to put I'm spaces myself in a few days. How easy/hard was it?
Do you have a write-up on the installation?

For the spacer that goes on top of the springs I assume (not wheel spacers)?

If so, they are very straight forward -

1) Set parking break
2) Jack up the front
3) put on jack stands
4) remove the tires
5) loosen the top shock bolt in the engine compartment
6) push down on the axle on the side you are working on to loosen and pull out the springs
7) put the spacer on top of the spring
8) put it all back together in reverse order.

Took me 15-30 mins max to swap out both but I used my two lithium impact guns.

Hope this helps.

 

[Land Speeder]

Dude. I can't wait til Mardi Krawl! Even though you are totally running with the wrong wheeling crowd... I also kinda wanna go with them sometimes when I'm in town! I've been in Hoover for a few years, but just moved down to Saginaw.
See you next weekend!
Oh yeah, and super sick build!

 

[Charles4x4]

Dude. I can't wait til Mardi Krawl! Even though you are totally running with the wrong wheeling crowd... I also kinda wanna go with them sometimes when I'm in town! I've been in Hoover for a few years, but just moved down to Saginaw.
See you next weekend!
Oh yeah, and super sick build!

Thanks. And as you know there aren't many wheeling crowd options around - but being outnumbered 100:1 by Jeeps isn't fun. All the more reasons to keep growing our local Cruiser crowd.

See you next weekend.

 

[Charles4x4]

We had a great time at MardiKrawl last weekend. We missed the group photo, but there were over 55 rigs total including 40s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 100s, a 200, 4runners, Tacomas, GXs, and older Toyotas.

We did almost every "Moderate" trail and most Easy trails along the way. The Hard and Extreme trails were intimidating.

 

[Charles4x4]

A few more:

Land Speeder:

 

[Charles4x4]

Overall the lift, tire, wheel spacers, armor, and recovery combination was perfect. I was surprised that the 37s never rubbed at all in full flex / lifting tire situations.

The only thing I would change About my current setup right now is the low range gears - Marlin or Trail Gear should work, but I honestly wish they were a 50% gear reduction rather than 25%. But I'll take any reduction we can get.

I also lifted a front tire on some of the harder trails. The lockers maintained forward momentum, but more flex up front would be nice. The 4WheelUnderground 3-link coilovers kit is nice, but makes me nervous for a daily driver. If I want go that far, I likely need to keep the 80 as my DD as is and build a 40 series with coilovers and links front and rear that can be trailered to spots over an hour away.

Saturday was fairly dry (and really dusty), but the rains came Sunday morning, eliminating the dust and elevating the difficulty so much 3x lockers were needed on most obstacles.

Day 1:

 

[Charles4x4]

Day 2:

We took a number of videos, but most are likely too large to post. I honestly should have taken more pics.

 

[Charles4x4]

I also had a few people like the Slee Skid plate - that fortunately I didn't have to test too much:

And my simply LED light bar relocation idea for the Slee ShortBus bumper:

 

[Charles4x4]

On Monday the 315s on stock wheels went back on, this time with the 1.25" wheel spacers. They stick out slightly, but nothing too noticeable.

 

[Charles4x4]

Finally, Rick from the forum took this cool pic I thought everyone would love from a forum member tacking one of the more Extreme trails in his FJ40.

Perfect timing Rick.

And even a marketing shot for iH8MUD...

And believe me, safety precautions were taken - but cool pic regardless.

 

[sea bass]

You have issues.

 

[Charles4x4]

I had mentioned that I thought the only additional mod needed was new low range gears - less for crawling and more for safety to slow down the 37s when going down hills on the trails or while trailering.

I snagged a 10% off offer from Marlin a few weeks ago (thanks Marlin! - send me a sticker so I can promote you all of you have a chance). I tackled the install of their Land Cruiser Low Range Crawler Gears over the past few days.

The instructions from Big Mike were great, but it was honestly more tedious than I had expected (I should have pulled the entire case out instead of leaving it installed)...

I tried to use a friend's HF 12-ton press and a HF bearing splitter, but the jaws of the press were far to small. I ended up taking it to Keith at Off Road Connection in ***tondale for the press work (thanks Keith!). They do great work and Keith has done 4Wheel Ultimate Adventure 15-yrs in a row!

I stripped one bolt and cracked one part during the install, but everything else was smooth although time consuming - especially with the massive Slee TCase skid plate going off and back on balancing on two floor jacks.

I tested them out in the driveway and they are sweet - definitely a noticeable difference. Can't wait to test them on the trail. Next big event is TLCA Southern Cruiser Crawl at Superlift ORV in Hotsprings AR!

 

[Charles4x4]

Out with the old:

In with the new:

I was worried about clearaning the housing but the pictures in the instructions made it easy. I did remove the wrong Snap Ring (only remove the big one!) which set me back some as it was a bear to get off and back on!

It was also pretty hard to separate the cases given Factory gasket sealant and my attempts to not damage the mating surface - especially from under the truck. If I ever work on the T Case again, I'll just pull the entire thing.

Overall it was very time consuming, but well worth it. I think I spent 9-12 hrs under the truck over 2-days with 3-4 hrs of press work in between.

 

[Charles4x4]

Also, the instructions said to rotate the front driveline to ensure clearaning was successful. I jacked up the front tires and rotated the driveline but think the TCase must have slipped to N as nothing happened.

I eventually rolled the dice and prayed I had clearanced enough and put it all back together. It turned out fine as my clearaning was successful, but I would't be surprised if others have had this problem. Once it is all apart, it's hard to get it out of N if it accidentally slips in while disconnecting the low range shifter rod.

Finally, the part I cracked was the 5-bolt center diff retainer - looks like a cast type part. I was following the instructions and tightening them to spec and two small cracks appeared. Since this is my DD, I couldn't stop and got all 5-bolts torqued to spec but hate that any cracks happened.

Has this happened to anyone else? Hopefully it isn't going to break on the trail. It's the part on the left in the pic below:

Marlin, if this is common, maybe the instructions could be updated to ensure the proper tightening technique is followed - if there is one.

Another pic below once it is reinstalled:

I was worried about it at first, but I assume it simply holds the bearing races in place and therefore as long as the 5 bolts held it (which they did), it should be fine. Really hate the idea of taking it all back apart to put in a new part of I end up having to.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[davidp14]

Thanks
View attachment 1154204

Amazing LC(s) And your work is worthy of.much respect

Could you tell us a little more about this beauty?