The After AHC Removal Story (1 Viewer)

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Here is my issue this pinch lip. Can I just hammer the hell out of it?
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very nice! btw never saw you at the overland show a few months back!!
We were there all 4 days? I saw so many Cruisers didn't know where to start. Maybe next year we can get together?
 
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Here is my issue this pinch lip. Can I just hammer the hell out of it?
I think the best solution is to remove liner, hammer down pinch weld... (might have to cut a piece off lower section, near slider too). Then heat gun to the liner and flatten the bump out. See how it goes. If you need to take it a step further, trim pieces off the fender liner.... but if you do that, you'll have to clean crud out of that exposed crevice every once in awhile.
 
How would you compare the OME ride to the AHC ride? I've had the same problem with the height dropping to N or L at the most inopportune times and have considered making the same OME modification.
 
I had an interesting and helpful conversation with Keith at B&B Suspension earlier today. He suggested one turn on the torsion bars and adding some air bags in back. The air bags are available from Firestone Industrial for $100 and would probably fix my problem since it doesn't happen all the time.
 
To Pseudo

I would suggest a couple of ideas.

Why don't you make sure your AHC is operating in spec and ensure all the components are operating as Toyota designed instead of trying to find a work around (airbags) ? In my case I replaced the factory rear springs with new ones, and adjusted the torsion bars.

If your build is so heavy that it is beyond the AHC system's capability, then you need to go with a conventional system like the OME kit or one of Slee's packages. If memory serves correctly, people have not had a lot of success with the B&B accumulators.
 
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no no no air bags I believe he was going for reliability and longevity hence dumping the AHC; hey have you checked the torsion bars??? This set came from Slee which is a bar below GOD here so I wold not question the source unless something was at issue but have heard that the torsions bars are sometimes mixed up in the set??? I believe this happened to someone once with an iron man set up?? Not trying to cause trouble just offering suggestions on why you are having rubbing. Please keep us advised on solutions.
 
What did slee have to say when you spoke with them??
 
Thank you everyone for the input. I talked with Christo this morning and this is what he told me...

Lift does not necessarily give more clearance for tires, especially in the front. When the suspension compresses and you turn the wheel the available space is still the same. So if the tire rubs in that case on a stock truck, it will also rub on a lifted truck. The only difference is you might not experience the rubbing as often since the static ride height is higher and the suspension needs to compress more when lifted vs stock.


The combination of the UCA’s and the other eccentrics does change the location of the wheel in the wheel well. So one can use those to manipulate the position to get more clearance while aligning the truck. However that takes a tech that knows to look for that and what the end result should be.


Best Regards,

Christo Slee


I then called him and he thinks its to do with the alignment. Ill make an appointment and let you know how it goes.
 
Interesting thread. I've often considered putting my 04 LX into trail duty specially to take advantage of the AHC features. Having a truck that could be 'normal' for highway handling and 'low' for getting into the garage with stuff on top is appealing.

A couple of questions: has anyone tried using LC springs on an AHC/LX? The LC torsion bars and rear springs have a higher rate which might offset the sag on heavy vehicles without being too much spring force helping the hydraulics?

The other question I have is the ride comparison between AHC and OME. The AHC is super plush (too soft for me on the road) in comfort mode. Ours is a mall/kid hauler and has never been off pavement. How is the ride quality of the AHC system on the trail?

If I were to trail the LX, my thought would be 33s and a 1" body lift, LC takeoff springs, and the Slee module.
 
Im surprised no one has mentioned using 80 stock springs in the rear to help with load. Next time around I think im going to get the ome stock height 80 series rear springs to help the AHC. On my 80 the ome stock height actually gave me a lift. This is those springs and 33's. It ends up looking like a 1" lift.

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A couple of questions: has anyone tried using LC springs on an AHC/LX? The LC torsion bars and rear springs have a higher rate which might offset the sag on heavy vehicles without being too much spring force helping the hydraulics?

There shouldn't be any "sag", it's either in spec and can lift to the correct height or it's out of spec (500lbs+ was it?) and craps out on you. I did explore that route to prevent the system from going to low. I noticed that out on the trails the system gets taxed more and falls apart for a few hours.

I didn't have much luck sourcing stock TB/springs for cheap (since I planned to go conventional when it broke). I ended up with airbags in the rear, and that let me carry my front bumper, rear bumper, sliders, gear, 5 people, dogs, etc., on level ground for hours. A few hours on the trail and my AHC light started blinking.

I didn't get a chance to confirm neutral pressures or anything after the airbag.

I'm gutting it in favor of the 2.5" heavy load kit.

If I wasn't so fed up with the AHC being a ticking time bomb and otherwise making the rig feel unreliable / not dependable, I'd have been very interested in adding stock TB/Springs.

I think it's not going to be easy, but if you get your AHC dialed in with more support up front and out back, and you aren't carrying huge amounts of weight, it could work out well. Love the idea of locking H and L for the roads. It's like night and day.
 
Hey Yuji, how's it going man? Did you ever get your bumper mount straightened out with IronMan?

The LC springs 'should' be pretty available as many folks end up taking them off in exchange for OME. I ended up throwing mine away a few years back when I moved. I was in 'purge' mode, but now kinda wish I would have kept them.

If it's truly a 'fragile' system then yes it doesn't make any sense to try to make it work. Have no idea if that is the case or not. I guess my thought was that by using LC springs you might get back to stock AHC pressures in 'N' even with an outfitted truck. If pressures are normalized then it seems plausible that the system could soldier on merrily in an offroad environ, although it would definitely be stroked more than at the mall.
 
Hey man! No I didn't. I don't think it makes sense it's on 2 points but I guess that's how it is. Steel is tough.. I'm sure it's fine.

I've slid into a tree since then, before I had it fully installed :p It's banged up real good.

Yeah I put up an ad on mud, but I'm not that well connected. I love the AHC.. but it's something I think about every time I get behind the wheel: "do I have over 500lbs?", "have I driven hard, will the AHC go LO?"

I pass the graduation test with flying colors but I'm well aware my 120k 2000 LX could be on its last legs on the AHC. That said, I definitely still observed a faster drop to L after being on the trails, while many hours on the road would be OK.

My reasoning is that even though my neutral pressures were OK driving endlessly on flat ground (I did not get measurements: I only assumed from the truck NOT going to L with full people + gear) as soon as I spend a few hours bouncing around don the trails it would start blinking. Perhaps it's within 500LBS flat, but on the trails it's +-thousands of pounds as we bounce around everywhere?

In short: in my case, even if pressures were OK for level ground, it was not for the trails.

Anyways I'm not sure how stout it is. I now realize that's the problem itself: always wondering about your AHC, always giving it the benefit of the doubt, always coming up with a thousand interpretations of why it did X, Y, Z due to various factors.

Hoser was rocking one for a long long time though... but I recall not much added weight (I think).
 
I have changed the rear springs to LC100 but I have not added a lot of weight to the rig. I only have sliders but I am towing a kimberly kamper. I have not done any major offroading...just driving thru the Oregon Dunes and Sandlake dunes. Changing the rear springs is not difficult and relatively cheap. I am looking to change the front torsion bars soon. Ultimately I want to adjust the AHC height sensor to show the nominal neutral pressures when N is pressed since the damping was designed for this pressure. It does ride a little bouncy but its acceptable.

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I'm not sure if this has been talked about yet but with the new upper control arms it could very well be alignment. A good alignment guy can move the front end forward and still keep your alignment in spec. If you didn't rub before I would be willing to bet a good alignment guy could solve your prob.
 

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