For everyone who has installed an aftermarket lift kit (1 Viewer)

[4WD Toyota Owner Magazine]

Here's the question: Did the lift perform pretty much as expected? Meaning, did you later have to do technical adjustments to make it work "right", like relocating axles, moving center pins, adding shackles, fixing driveline vibes, etc...or did it work as you liked pretty much out of the box?

Brands aren't important here, just researching the general FJ40 lift kit experience.

 

[JohnnyC]

i had to add shackles for my 4" skyjacker lift for my 74 fj40...this was over 16 years ago...it was hitting the shackle hanger when compressed when driving...a 1 1/2 con-ferr fixed it...i think that was their 1st gen springs, the soft rides, cant comment on anything new from them

 

[car-car]

For me, I installed a kit that included extended shackles a little over a year ago. After researching 4" lifts with longer shackles, I added 3 degree shims at the time of install to front and rear, and when I got it back on the road, never had any driveline vibrations. The ride was a "little" stiff at first, but that is common. I have been happy with it though. Worst part of the whole experience was getting the old stock parts off.

 

[71FJ40]

I had to install caster correction shims and replace the u-joints

 

[Cruiserdrew]

After at least 4 lifts in 10 years on my FJ40, they all take minor tweaking to make them right.

2.5 Lift-Basically good to go, needed caster corection-used a shackle reversal kit. Very old school, but it worked ok.

4.0 Lift-Kept the SR, rear was OK with no vibe. The lift brought the worn pinion bearing to the surface and so the diff got rebuilt.

4.0 Custom Alcan lift--Basically great out of the box. I thought it was good but then a lot of mods had previously been done.

Spring over "lift"- required reworking of basically everything. Longer wheel base, rewelded mounts and perches, cut and turn, beefed up stock springs, new center pins, high steer, new steering linkage, etc.

 

[dgangle]

nothing just bolts on a 35 year old vehicle and doesn't require some fab/mods.


My 4" SUA BTB's caused untollerable rear driveline vibes that correction shims eventually minimized. Vertical rear shackle angle after 5 years caused me to both remove leafs and relocate the rear shackle hangers forward ~1", IIRC to get a decent shackle angle.

 

[vfrer]

4" HFS that sagged in the rear with metaltech family cage and wheeling with a good amount of weight... just had to add some longer shackles to get it to level back out but still have good shackle angles. have not had to do anything with the front end other than caster shims but that is to be expected. I did reverse both front and rear springs but that was just for wheelbase. I like the lift alot.

 

[wbb72fj40]

4" hell creek added 4 deg. caster shimes. (to be expected)

The only problem I can had to address was the first time I really put in a bind the front shackles would invert. (stock shakel) I built some new shakels with a cross bar 1.5" lift. that solved the inverting problem.

I do have cruiser lean plan on correcting that here pretty soon with a 3/8 shim under the left rear spring.

 

[SD_rdcruzer]

4" lift about a year and a half ago.

No real problems installing, but it took a full weekend doing it by myself in the driveway.

Had some steering issues until I put the 4* shims up front, then worked like a charm.
I already had some 1.5" over shackles and left them on.
Very happy with it overall.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

X 2 what dgangle wrote!

David, the OME 2 inch suspension is a pretty easy install, but that is to be expected with such a mild lift. John told me that the stock-length drive shafts were too short on his Orange Crate after installing the CCOT "HFS" 4 inch lift.

Regards,

Alan

nothing just bolts on a 35 year old vehicle and doesn't require some fab/mods.

 

[1911]

3" Alcan lift installed easily and bolted right up. Needed castor correction shims; otherwise perfect as provided. Very happy with these springs.

 

[nuclearlemon]

20 yrs ago, i had 2.5 in rancho's on my 78 when i got it and they sucked so bad...rode hard is an understatement. a year later, got one of the first 4" skyjacker kits and had to put shims in and get front driveshaft extended. the shock eyes broke off on two of the shocks, but other than that, it was awesome. met a guy in moab four years ago who is running my old skyjackers, so they're still going strong.

 

[40's rock]

On my 76 40, just did a shackle reversal with2-1/2" springs and 3"+ over shackles with 6* shims....added Mark's Off-Road 4" springs on the back and wheeled it at Round Up this week. Performed great and handled better than ever back and forth to town at highway speeds.
I am very impressed with Mark's 4" springs. Supple, not harsh right out of the box (actually, off the roof rack of his 40.)

 

[bakocruiser]

I have a MAF Safari 4" lift w/SR. Had to lenghthen both driveshafts, and install caster shims on both axles. Front springs are OME and ride great. Rear are safari and ride like a sherman tank. Thinking of doing something different soon. Overall, happy with the quality.

 

[Brian in Oregon]

20 yrs ago, i had 2.5 in rancho's on my 78 when i got it and they sucked so bad...rode hard is an understatement. a year later, got one of the first 4" skyjacker kits and had to put shims in and get front driveshaft extended. the shock eyes broke off on two of the shocks, but other than that, it was awesome. met a guy in moab four years ago who is running my old skyjackers, so they're still going strong.

I'm running 2.5" Ranchos, and yes, they are quite stiff. On the plus side, the rear doesn't squat much under a load, the truck corners 'flat", and the stiffness helps keep chains from smacking the stock wheel well. Still, I had to add a 3" over stock shackle in the rear for clearance (which adds 1.5" of lift at the axle) for more wheel well clearance (I'm running 33x1250x15 tires). That adds up to 4" lift, which is a good argument to not use 2.5" lift springs unless you're running a basically stock FJ40 with stock size tires.

At some point I'm going to do a swap to 4" springs, but I'm not sure what brand. I've seen pics of some that have a vertical shackle angle, which appears to be because the springs, while arched for 4" lift, are stock length, when they should be longer.

 

[wombat]

I installed 4" BDS lift springs on my 76 fj40.Compared to my sagging stock ones i got about 6" of lift. They dont sag when loaded and i dont have cruiser lean. The negatives are.
1- very stiff ride
2-steering problems that i still have to install shims to correct.
3-straight up and down shackle angle because the springs are stock length and should have been longer.
4-Width of springs are narrower than original and i had to make up washer/shims to take up slack.

 

[ginericLC]

2.5" Old Man Emu with their shackles. Only add was a caster shim.

 

[KZRSOIZE]

It appears I may be having problems on my 4" downey spring 2" spector shackle lift. I will post details as soon as I figure out what they are.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

2.5" OME.

No problems whatsoever. Took an afternoon, drove straight from day one.

Dan

 

[fj40taz]

i have installed a 4" BDS lift on my 74 cruiser.

i also noticed the straight up and down shackle angle especially in the rear.

i have not driven the rig yet as i am still building it but i did notice the springs are stiff as i tried to jack up one side of the rear to flex it out so i could measure for shocks and it really did not move.