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.
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.
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