200 Series Lift using Tundra front IFS and Icon shocks

[techster82]

I also needed tundra shock mount bolts. It was my fault, but having axle seals ready isnt the worst thing ever in case they get damaged when removing the cv’s.

Thanks for mentioning that. After reading your posts I actually ordered the Tundra front lower shock bolts as well and will keep an axle seal handy in case.

Did you do a diff drop or rear trackbar adjustment on your setup?

 

[bemerritt]

Thanks for mentioning that. After reading your posts I actually ordered the Tundra front lower shock bolts as well and will keep an axle seal handy in case.

Did you do a diff drop or rear trackbar adjustment on your setup?

I did not. But I have driven it a total of two miles to and from alignment, so can’t really comment on it other than I didn’t feel the need to.

 

[techster82]

I did not. But I have driven it a total of two miles to and from alignment, so can’t really comment on it other than I didn’t feel the need to.

I may have missed it, but what rear springs did you end up going with? Final outcome looks great.

 

[bemerritt]

I may have missed it, but what rear springs did you end up going with? Final outcome looks great.

I still have my tough dog adjustables and tourflex coils in the rear. Pretty level unloaded.

 

[bryson]

I finally caved in to the wife's wishes and got her a 200 series towards the end of November. She's been driving our 100 series but wanted something a little bigger and roomier for work/travel and with less upgrades done to it (she's not a fan of the double swingout rear bumper I put on the 100, of the one on my 80). Came across a clean one owner 2009 model with no previous accidents and 155k on the odometer. I pretty quickly swapped out wheels/tires and did a few other little upgrades/cosmetic touches and am now tackling the suspension.

I knew of the Tundra swap option and after looking through most of the threads I decided I wanted to go that route (the current suspension is all stock and a little tired). The current plan is to run stock front and rear bumpers for now but eventually replace the front bumper with a winch/bumper setup and do a removable hitch mounted setup for the spare tire/storage for trips that require it. 3rd row seats are almost always left in with the kids.

Here is what I've acquired for the swap so far (and what I'm interested in getting feedback on):

Front lower arms: OEM used from LKQ
Front upper arms: SPC
Front CV Axles: OEM (one new, one rebuilt)
Front Tie Rods: Moog (555 brand, new)
Front Shock/Strut: Fox 2.0 Performance Coilovers
Rear Shocks: Fox 2.0 Performance Shocks

Here's what I need to still acquire or decide on:

Rear Springs: OME 2722 of Dobinsons C59-545 (open to suggestions)
Rear adjustable panhard: How many are running this? (I've always addressed it on my other vehicles)
Front Diff Drop: Is it needed with the Tundra Swap (which alleviates CV angles itself)
Front Sway Bar Links: Seems like I've read of several different routes, should I stick with the LC200 ones or grab some Tundra ones?
Front Brake Lines: Any good source for extended length ones (if they're needed?)

The current wheel/tire setup on the stock suspension is TRD Pro 18" wheels (early, glossier ones) with 275/70r18 MTs. I've got Rock Warriors in storage and could go to a 17" setup like on my other vehicles but really like the TRD Pro BBS wheels and would ultimately like to go to those with a slightly larger tire (35s or maybe 34s)

Appreciate any feedback as I'm hoping to get the install done next week after we get back from a wheeling trip to Windrock.

View attachment 2889041

I'm running the 722 OME rear springs and am happy with them. I don't tow or load heavy often, so they work fine.

I didn't bother with an adjustable rear track bar, and don't notice any issues without it. If I decide in the future that I want something back there it will be an axle-side bracket adjustment to raise the track bar to center the axle and help with wiggles.

No diff drop here. I don't think they're required unless you go big(ger). No CV issues after a couple years so far.

Sway bar links are tough, because there's no perfect solution yet. The Tundra ones won't get you anywhere (I tried it and broke one PDQ), so I wouldn't bother with them. I ended up using the OEM Cruiser link (the big cast one) on the driver side (you have to trim a mm or two from the sleeve to get it to fit in the Tundra arm bracket) and build a heim joint link for the passenger side. It seems to work well.

I picked up a full set of brake lines from Crown Performance. They seem like nice parts.

 

[techster82]

I'm running the 722 OME rear springs and am happy with them. I don't tow or load heavy often, so they work fine.

I didn't bother with an adjustable rear track bar, and don't notice any issues without it. If I decide in the future that I want something back there it will be an axle-side bracket adjustment to raise the track bar to center the axle and help with wiggles.

No diff drop here. I don't think they're required unless you go big(ger). No CV issues after a couple years so far.

Sway bar links are tough, because there's no perfect solution yet. The Tundra ones won't get you anywhere (I tried it and broke one PDQ), so I wouldn't bother with them. I ended up using the OEM Cruiser link (the big cast one) on the driver side (you have to trim a mm or two from the sleeve to get it to fit in the Tundra arm bracket) and build a heim joint link for the passenger side. It seems to work well.

I picked up a full set of brake lines from Crown Performance. They seem like nice parts.

Thanks for the feedback! And I want to say I remember reading your posts on the end links.

I think the 722 rear springs is what I'll end up with as my distributors have them in stock and they should be fine until/unless I add weight.

I run a Delta rear panhard bracket on my 80 and 100. Eimkeith is supposedly going to work on a 200 series design so if you aren't noticing rear end issues I'll probably wait on the adjustable bar and go with a bracket down the road.

It would be great to see a sway bar link option from someone like Trail Tailor. Maybe in time.......

What brake lines are you running from Crown? I'm eyeing doing the Tundra brake swap as well and it seems like swapping to some of the stock Tundra lines will give me an added length compared to the LC ones.

 

[bemerritt]

Thanks for the feedback! And I want to say I remember reading your posts on the end links.

I think the 722 rear springs is what I'll end up with as my distributors have them in stock and they should be fine until/unless I add weight.

I run a Delta rear panhard bracket on my 80 and 100. Eimkeith is supposedly going to work on a 200 series design so if you aren't noticing rear end issues I'll probably wait on the adjustable bar and go with a bracket down the road.

It would be great to see a sway bar link option from someone like Trail Tailor. Maybe in time.......

What brake lines are you running from Crown? I'm eyeing doing the Tundra brake swap as well and it seems like swapping to some of the stock Tundra lines will give me an added length compared to the LC ones.

I did the tundra brake upgrade and went ahead and used the stainless lines mentioned in that thread, was simple enough and dealt with the brake line length.

 

[bemerritt]

Got the sway bar links in last night. Decided to try outside the bracket for now. Maybe I am under playing the forces involved, but not terribly worried about the single shear. But I do think at some point I may weld some reinforcement and make it a double shear. I will say though, being outside the bracket made it pretty easy to get the links mounted as the long bolt gives you a lot of leverage to get it lined up. loosely connected the upper mount, jacked up the sway bar, and then leveraged it into place. Driver side looks much better than passenger, but I completely forget what stock looks like. This also includes the KDSS relocation bracket.

 

[techster82]

Got the sway bar links in last night. Decided to try outside the bracket for now. Maybe I am under playing the forces involved, but not terribly worried about the single shear. But I do think at some point I may weld some reinforcement and make it a double shear. I will say though, being outside the bracket made it pretty easy to get the links mounted as the long bolt gives you a lot of leverage to get it lined up. loosely connected the upper mount, jacked up the sway bar, and then leveraged it into place. Driver side looks much better than passenger, but I completely forget what stock looks like. This also includes the KDSS relocation bracket.

View attachment 2890473

View attachment 2890472

View attachment 2890474

What links are you using here?

 

[bemerritt]

What links are you using here?

I'm almost certain they are stock links. I ordered a bunch of different ones and somehow this was the longest passenger side, so i must have mixed up tundra part numbers.

 

[bloc]

That nylon lock nut is not stock.. though that doesn't necessarily mean it's not a stock link otherwise.

 

[bemerritt]

Correct. Should have said stock length. Accidentally ordered a non OEM one off of partsouq. it also was tightened at the time of the picture. I now have way to many random sway bar links haha.

 

[bemerritt]

Last little bit of work was to trim up the fender well and modify the Bud Built Skid to clear the KDSS after relocation.

Had it next to my buddies Raptor on the same tires, love the look and it drives great, really cant wait to get it off pavement for a shakedown trip.

 

[bemerritt]

The only thing I am not happy about is the fact I went with non adjustable UCA's. Alignment came in as shown below.

I am rubbing the KDSS at full lock on the inner tire as well as very minor rub on UCA. And will need to remove more fender as I flex it out more. In general I need the axles moved more forward. Obviously this has more to do with the wide tire than the tundra swap.

I am not an expert by any means, but think I could get it more forward without adjustable UCA's? Or just bite the bullet, and get some SPC's and give someone a killer deal on the Camburgs?

 

[bloc]

The only thing I am not happy about is the fact I went with non adjustable UCA's. Alignment came in as shown below.View attachment 2894372

I am rubbing the KDSS at full lock on the inner tire as well as very minor rub on UCA. And will need to remove more fender as I flex it out more. In general I need the axles moved more forward. Obviously this has more to do with the wide tire than the tundra swap.

I am not an expert by any means, but think I could get it more forward without adjustable UCA's? Or just bite the bullet, and get some SPC's and give someone a killer deal on the Camburgs?

@linuxgod has written about the default caster specs in alignment machines not being correct per the service manual, but I don’t remember the numbers.

 

[bemerritt]

@linuxgod has written about the default caster specs in alignment machines not being correct per the service manual, but I don’t remember the numbers.

Thanks, I’ll try and track that down.

 

[linuxgod]

Thanks, I’ll try and track that down.

Your alignment specs look really good. The only way you’ll reduce kdss rubbing via alignment will be to reduce your caster a lot, which will make you track less stable on the highway.

My $0.02 is buy the kdss relo kit and install that. The kit will move the KDSS arm and the sway bar on the passengers side forward 1” so with 34s or smaller you won’t rub at all. You might even fit 35s without rubbing. The only downside is that is ours your sway bar end links at an angle which will wear the rubber bushing much faster. However I posted some info about how to mount the sway bar end links on the outside of the LCA cradle. 10k miles and I’m very happy with that solution.

 

[bloc]

Thanks, I’ll try and track that down.

If you wanted the details they are here:

Icon stage 1

OP, your caster is too low. That range their alignment chart is showing looks wrong - It's below the Toyota spec. Low caster causes a vehicle to wander. The shop may not have set it higher because they thought it was in range, or they may have left it so low because they were unable to get...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[techster82]

A final few parts for my front swap should be in today or tomorrow and depending on schedule and motivation I might start on it as soon as this weekend. The current tire/wheel setup at stock height is 275/70r18 MTs on early Tundra TRD Pro wheels (the gloss black ones). I bit the bullet and have a set of the TRD Pro BBS wheels coming and am trying to talk myself in to going up to a 35x12.50r18 MT or possibly a 295/70R18. (That way I keep the current setup complete and sell them as a set). To those of you who have done the swap am I going to be able to make the true 35s work with only minor issues if any?

 

[bemerritt]

A final few parts for my front swap should be in today or tomorrow and depending on schedule and motivation I might start on it as soon as this weekend. The current tire/wheel setup at stock height is 275/70r18 MTs on early Tundra TRD Pro wheels (the gloss black ones). I bit the bullet and have a set of the TRD Pro BBS wheels coming and am trying to talk myself in to going up to a 35x12.50r18 MT or possibly a 295/70R18. (That way I keep the current setup complete and sell them as a set). To those of you who have done the swap am I going to be able to make the true 35s work with only minor issues if any?

so mine are technically 34.5 x 12.4 i think. If you use adjustable UCA's to move the axle forward, relocate the kdss bracket and go after the wheel well, it should fit. If you need anymore detail than that, let me know. Im on Rock warriors which I believe offhand are +50 offset, not sure what the Tundras are.