What!!! What is this unicorn? Sway away can make custom bars? Basically like King Springs in the rear but T bars??? Are there spring rates lb/in for T bars? Do they know the numbers for AHC t bars vs non AHC LC bars ?? This is incredible. Let me know. Thanks !!
2-2.5" AHC Lift Using King Coils & Shock Spacers
- Thread starter DirtDawg
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Here's the thread where it's discussed in a bit more detail. I haven't called them yet, @hoser did the initial research. I'd love to purchase a set but we'd only get a discount if we could get at least 5 folks involved.
Custom Diameter Torsion Bars (Sway-A-Way)
forum.ih8mud.com
I'll be buying them regardless eventually, probably within the next couple of months since I need to do some bushings and check bearings and whatnot in the front end. Might as well do ball joints and all that at the same time.
MauiUZJ
Gotta have duct tape...
I’m interested in being one of the 5. My wife wants me to revamp the AHC on her LX470, and do basically what you have done, ~2” lift. Able to lower down some when helping Grampa into the car, then lift up plenty high on demand Offroad, and of course carry kids and gear aplenty.
GTV
SILVER Star
If you don't have a lot of added weight (body armor, etc.) you don't need stronger torsion bars. Stock bars will do what you're wanting.
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I'd rather go through more CV axles than to lower the diff to subtract from my clearance I just got.
Did you check your AHC front and rear pressures on TechStream after the non-AHC T bar install? If so what kind of extra weight does your vehicle have if any?
7 years later, and I'd still drop the diff to save $800 CVs. any loss of clearance was never an issue on trips to Colorado, WIndorck ORV or any other trips I've taken this LX on. I pulled the ahc and installed an inronman suspension for the extra weight though. I ran AHC for several years with the King springs and the system dialed into the factory pressure specs, but still had issues with the weight of my armor, gear and towing. Thanks!
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So I'm actually running the sensor lift and that had put my pressures pretty high on the front even after reindexing the stock torsion bars. I threw in the LC ones and just dialed those in. It also got my height measurements from my hub to my hood right. On my old ones, the driver one was tapped out I assume due to age and my fat ass weighing it down.
For my rear pressures, I threw in 30mm iron man spacers and barely got the pressures right. 40mm probably would've been better.
That’s really valuable information. What extra weight do you have on the vehicle if any such as roof rack, winch, bumpers, armor, gear?
Barely any extra! Just a front bumper + winch. 2 toolboxes in the back that probably weigh 100lbs total?
So I’m clear, the rears are stock AHC springs with 30mm spacers, not Kings right??
Yes, original springs! I believe the spacers cost me about 60 or $70 total.
MauiUZJ
Gotta have duct tape...
That’s right. I want a permanent 2” lift on my wife’s rig with room to elevate with AHC from there.
That way when she daily drives it can be comfortable, but when she needs to follow me to the ocean or up the mountain on a gnarly trail she can. Her rig came to us with AHC removed but poorly done. It has OME shocks, heavy rear Springs, but factory torsion bars.
She has asked specifically that I reinstate the AHC system, as soon as she learned that it was an option. She saw a newer LX at full squat, (thinking failed AHC) and she thought it looked terrible all the way down on low profile tires. She said she wants the adjustable suspension, but she never wants it go that low, and she instead would like to be able to get as high as mine when needed. I’d like to get some sport aftermarket globes to tune the suspension more toward the sport end of the spectrum.
Of course she only cares about comfort and clearance on demand, not cost, so that is my department. I recently got a 2004 parts 470 with all the components that were previously removed.
On hers I plan to change out the 2 pinion front carrier for a Eaton Harrop e-locker and keep the LSD rear and 4.30 gearing. Later on do a 10% lower high range t-case gear and 3-1 low range to compensate for the tires.
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That’s our black rig above with OEM 18” wheels and 33s. Not low profile. So the gap between tire and fender is smaller. That’s an LX470 with non lifted AHC. The picture is in normal mode. That’s nice because a canoe goes on top of the tent and at interstate speeds lower center of gravity is nice. As soon as we hit crappy dirt roads we bump it up nearly 2” in high mode. If the vehicle senses it’s stuck it automatically goes into an even higher mode. It’s the best of both worlds. Is that not sufficient? If you sensor lift it 2” permanently, hitting the high switch to get 4” isn’t really gonna work nicely. There wouldn’t be enough droop and you’d be constantly losing traction because a wheel would lift. There are “Japan extenders” for the shocks to help with that. But I’m not sure how many people are running around with 4” lift on AHC in the woods.
Also, bringing a dead AHC system back to life may be difficult. Who knows what’s now dysfunctional. As far as sporty, when you flush, get pressures right, and get new OEM globes ($110 each at Impex Parts), people report the sport comfort switch making a big difference again.
I kinda have to agree with @FLtrails here. I think I've probably taken the AHC system on my LX farther than just about anyone but it has not been easy and I've had to make up a lot of it along the way.
If you sensor lift it, you'll need to crank the torsion bars to keep the front pressures in spec, and add spacers and/or new springs to get the rear in spec. Then, the rear will dictate your height since you can't adjust the rear spring rates a la the torsion bars. You adjust the rear sensor until you have the rear pressures in their happy place, then adjust the front sensors to match, then crank the T-t-bars until your front pressures are in-spec.
Then you run into the lack of down travel. Any sort of significant bump will cause the front shocks to top out with a bit of a bang.
You solve that with the japan4x4 spacers, which get the shocks back into their happy place.
Then you realize the rear bushings are really not happy about being torqued sideways, and the front spacers hit the CV joint boot when drooped and turned. I solved this by ditching the bolt-in spacers and welding the extensions onto the front control arm and the bottom of the rear shocks.
Oh, and don't forget to at least bend your rear brake line brackets so you don't rip one off when off road. You'll want to get the steel braided extended lines for at least the two lines from the body to the rear axle. Changing those was an absolute nightmare.
Edit: oh yeah, with the extra droop with the japan4x4 spacers, your stock UCAs will hit the shock dust shield at full extension. After market UCAs will clear...but most likely won't have the attachment for the AHC sensor, so you'll need to cut that off the OEM UCA and weld it onto your new aftermarket ones. Or JB weld. Or something.
And, thanks to the extra down travel in the front end and the cranked AHC t-bars, you get a pretty damn severe case of toe-in torque steer if you ever have to plant the throttle pulling out into traffic (might not be a problem with the non-vvt 2UZ). I solved this by going to non-AHC t-bars, which take far less preload to handle the weight but are commensurately stiffer and harsher.
Edit: Oh yeah, also the rear sway bar will hit the shock bodies at full droop unless you add longer aftermarket endlinks. I bought the trail tailor ones, I think.
And THEN, your extra droop and travel absolutely decimate every rear link bushing, so you get to go through the whole rear axle suspension and either put in new links or replace all the ripped apart bushings. I'd recommend some metal-tech or trail tailor links with the johnny joints to avoid mangling rubber bushings on the regular.
Obviously you've got a decent wheeling rig already - I'd probably stay as close to stock as possible on your wife's rig just because it works fine the way it is. Some 33's and using AHC in high on occasion is probably the easiest route, and spend the extra time and maintenance on your main wheeling 100.
But, if you decide to mess with the AHC I'll have plenty of advice for you! I almost never use the high button on my AHC but I do love it auto-leveling it does when loaded down or when hooking up a trailer.
If you sensor lift it, you'll need to crank the torsion bars to keep the front pressures in spec, and add spacers and/or new springs to get the rear in spec. Then, the rear will dictate your height since you can't adjust the rear spring rates a la the torsion bars. You adjust the rear sensor until you have the rear pressures in their happy place, then adjust the front sensors to match, then crank the T-t-bars until your front pressures are in-spec.
Then you run into the lack of down travel. Any sort of significant bump will cause the front shocks to top out with a bit of a bang.
You solve that with the japan4x4 spacers, which get the shocks back into their happy place.
Then you realize the rear bushings are really not happy about being torqued sideways, and the front spacers hit the CV joint boot when drooped and turned. I solved this by ditching the bolt-in spacers and welding the extensions onto the front control arm and the bottom of the rear shocks.
Oh, and don't forget to at least bend your rear brake line brackets so you don't rip one off when off road. You'll want to get the steel braided extended lines for at least the two lines from the body to the rear axle. Changing those was an absolute nightmare.
Edit: oh yeah, with the extra droop with the japan4x4 spacers, your stock UCAs will hit the shock dust shield at full extension. After market UCAs will clear...but most likely won't have the attachment for the AHC sensor, so you'll need to cut that off the OEM UCA and weld it onto your new aftermarket ones. Or JB weld. Or something.
And, thanks to the extra down travel in the front end and the cranked AHC t-bars, you get a pretty damn severe case of toe-in torque steer if you ever have to plant the throttle pulling out into traffic (might not be a problem with the non-vvt 2UZ). I solved this by going to non-AHC t-bars, which take far less preload to handle the weight but are commensurately stiffer and harsher.
Edit: Oh yeah, also the rear sway bar will hit the shock bodies at full droop unless you add longer aftermarket endlinks. I bought the trail tailor ones, I think.
And THEN, your extra droop and travel absolutely decimate every rear link bushing, so you get to go through the whole rear axle suspension and either put in new links or replace all the ripped apart bushings. I'd recommend some metal-tech or trail tailor links with the johnny joints to avoid mangling rubber bushings on the regular.
Obviously you've got a decent wheeling rig already - I'd probably stay as close to stock as possible on your wife's rig just because it works fine the way it is. Some 33's and using AHC in high on occasion is probably the easiest route, and spend the extra time and maintenance on your main wheeling 100.
But, if you decide to mess with the AHC I'll have plenty of advice for you! I almost never use the high button on my AHC but I do love it auto-leveling it does when loaded down or when hooking up a trailer.
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I am running the Japan 4x4 spacers with stock reindexed tbs and they still have room. As stated earlier by others, the spacers will cause the factory uca to wear through the front shock dust shield so I found some that have the ahc bracket (freedom off-road). With my weight and preferred tire size Kings springs with spacers couldn’t get the rear where I wanted it so I have ome springs in the back. I installed extended sway links front and rear but there was way too much front roll so I went back to stock length.
There’s definitely a lot of time in adjusting everything and that comes with a level of frustration, but at 40 psi I barely feel the road so I am very happy with how it came out. It still rides really well for a truck with all my stupid add ons weighing it down.
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