Suspension Woes. Help needed (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Oct 14, 2017
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Location
Australia
Hi everyone

This is my first post on this forum. I stumbled upon it whilst trolling the web looking for answers to my issues.

Ill start off, with i own a 1994 FZJ80. 4.5 dual fuel.

Currently have 2inch HD Dobinson Springs with a 1.5inch Poly Tuff Coil Spacer all round.

The car for some reason has a serious lean to the Passenger side of the Vehicle. a good 20mm. When it comes to the landcruiser im quite the novice, but im some what handy on the tools.

What can i look for that might cause the car to lean. I have noticed that the F&R diff is slightly off center (judgin by how the wheel sits in the guard) so im thinking ADJ Panhard Rods F&R is a good start. The rest of the bushes on the vehicle look good, aside from the changing to Poly Tuff caster correction bushes the rest are stock 220000Km old.

A mate mentioned to me the Stabilizer Link might need changing??? Is there anything i can do prior to purchasing to confirm this? Can i un bolt the sway bars and see what will happen?

Once i finish typing this ill be going outside and undoing all the bolts and re tensioning them whilst wheels are on the ground to see if anything re settles.

Thanks in advanced.
 
Where is Plummer, in the US or elsewhere? Is this a RHD or LHD vehicle?
 
The springs were probably labeled for RHD & since we are LHD here, your springs need to trade sides, both front & rear - that'll be the norm answer for body lean.

Yes, you could get adj panhards to re-center the axles - and if the steering seems dicey then caster will need correction.

I had the OME heavies 2.5" lift (was more since initially was a stock/empty 80) - the off-center axles weren't so much an issue, but since I was towing with it I did a weld-in adj for the rear panhard.

Finally did the same up front once I did real 4" Slees, and had the same panhards on my old LX450 w OME 'J' springs (3-4").

So doing weld-in or complete new adj panhards is within reason guessing based on description of lift.

Is the steering nice & neutral or does it feel like it wants to hook either direction with less input than you would expect? If so, that's the caster.
 
I’m in Australia. Plumber is my occupation.

Driver side, if looking at the vehicle from the front is on the left.

Steering is s*** always pulling to the left and floats around when on the freeway, hopefully the caster fixes the floating issue.
 
Well, that kills that one.

Some 80 springs just have 'gangster lean' - I think the popular thought is it levels when you plop your butt in the seat, but 170-200#'s isn't making me a buyer on that one.

I forget the labeling, if it was RS/LS or DR/PS, but OME springs were relabeled at some point to clear up some perceived issue. IDK. I never had an issue.

Yep, sounds like worth a look at least on caster, see if that can catch a cure.
 
That means you have a RHD vehicle. Right or Left is distinguished by sitting inside the vehicle facing forward. More than likely your springs have been installed reversed. The taller springs should be installed on the passenger side of a RHD due to the increased weight of the fuel tank.
 
Yes RHd Vehicle.

Springs are correct, I stuffed them up the first time and the lean was worse

Ill get some photos shortly.
 
Are your springs in the buckets correctly and I am thinking you may got a friday set and 2 of DS or PS so it's leaning the way it is, yank them out and measure you'll see they are probably the same, and we give the new people a salute even auzzies :flipoff2:
 
As far I can tell they are seated correctly. The rears are labeled. Thats how I noticed I originally fxxxed the fronts. When I re did the front I noticed a heigh difference between the 2. Hopefully I didn’t put them back in ass about LOL.

I don’t have the middle finger meme. So I’ll just give ya the “get fxxxed” back haha
 
Hi everyone

This is my first post on this forum. I stumbled upon it whilst trolling the web looking for answers to my issues.

Ill start off, with i own a 1994 FZJ80. 4.5 dual fuel.

Currently have 2inch HD Dobinson Springs with a 1.5inch Poly Tuff Coil Spacer all round.

The car for some reason has a serious lean to the Passenger side of the Vehicle. a good 20mm. When it comes to the landcruiser im quite the novice, but im some what handy on the tools.

What can i look for that might cause the car to lean. I have noticed that the F&R diff is slightly off center (judgin by how the wheel sits in the guard) so im thinking ADJ Panhard Rods F&R is a good start. The rest of the bushes on the vehicle look good, aside from the changing to Poly Tuff caster correction bushes the rest are stock 220000Km old.

A mate mentioned to me the Stabilizer Link might need changing??? Is there anything i can do prior to purchasing to confirm this? Can i un bolt the sway bars and see what will happen?

Once i finish typing this ill be going outside and undoing all the bolts and re tensioning them whilst wheels are on the ground to see if anything re settles.

Thanks in advanced.


Hey,

The 80 series coils are offset by 10mm. Could be that you need to switch the coils from side to side. Have you gone to your nearest Dobinsons dealers or where you purchased the parts from?
 
So the springs on most kits are for RHD vehicles if your cruiser has a drastic lean swap the front coils side to side as mentioned. If the lean gets worse then swap them back to their original locations. Here is the thing most people don't get when paying out the as$ for lift springs; they will almost never level the vehicle. You will almost always have lean to one side or the other and front to rear. I don't know why suspension companies don't pull their head out of their as$es and sell appropriate sized springs to fix the front to rear lean, which is usually 25-30mm additional up front. However, there is no real way for the companies to ensure that there will be no side to side lean so that is why spring packers are sold. Yeah, you get to pay even more money to make sure your junk doesn't hang to one side and that the angle of the dangle is correct. So, in short you need to get your cruiser on a nice level slab of ground and measure the side to side difference. Swap coils side to side and remeasure. Situate the springs to get the lesser of the two differences and then buy spring packers to level it.
 
Hey,

The 80 series coils are offset by 10mm. Could be that you need to switch the coils from side to side. Have you gone to your nearest Dobinsons dealers or where you purchased the parts from?

I purchased them off Facebook. So I can’t really rock up to a dealer I would of thought.


So the springs on most kits are for RHD vehicles if your cruiser has a drastic lean swap the front coils side to side as mentioned. If the lean gets worse then swap them back to their original locations. Here is the thing most people don't get when paying out the as$ for lift springs; they will almost never level the vehicle. You will almost always have lean to one side or the other and front to rear. I don't know why suspension companies don't pull their head out of their as$es and sell appropriate sized springs to fix the front to rear lean, which is usually 25-30mm additional up front. However, there is no real way for the companies to ensure that there will be no side to side lean so that is why spring packers are sold. Yeah, you get to pay even more money to make sure your junk doesn't hang to one side and that the angle of the dangle is correct. So, in short you need to get your cruiser on a nice level slab of ground and measure the side to side difference. Swap coils side to side and remeasure. Situate the springs to get the lesser of the two differences and then buy spring packers to level it.

If that’s the case it’s piss poor. It’s not even a slight lean that you can deal with.

It’s enough for me to look at it and get pissed off each time.

Springs have been swapped like mentioned. But without access to a hoist it’s a PITA swapping springs at home.
 
If it pulls to the left, it may have been in an accident or otherwise had damage to the axle housing or frame. Take it to a good alignment shop and find out.
 
@cava454 have you made sure that there were no poly spacers or packers already in the coil bucket? Poly spacers and packers tend to stick around the metal portion of the fluid filled bump stop in the bucket.
 
@cava454 have you made sure that there were no poly spacers or packers already in the coil bucket? Poly spacers and packers tend to stick around the metal portion of the fluid filled bump stop in the bucket.

That’s something I actaully never checked... I might have to give it a suss.
 
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