4landrunner build-up

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it'll probably be 1" just trying to guesstimate off the top of my head. 1' of 1"od 4340 would be about 20 bucks which isn't too bad i guess...but i'd have to heat treat it after welding or i could bring it up to rutgers and use the formula race team lathe to cut the threads and tig welder to put it into the bar if they're nice... I'll call it "scrap material for practicing welding so i dont screw up the chassis of the car when we start putting that together! lol
 
oh yeah i need some help guys...which hose for the transmission is which inlet(from radiator) and which is outlet (to radiator)? i disconnected these almost 2 months ago now and i can't remember which is which. its top vs bottom. any help would be appreciated. It doesn't say in any of the service manuals it only says turn the truck on and see which end has stuff squirting out of it lol.

I think the top hard line going back to the trans is the return(pass side of the rad but i just want to confirm
 
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sorry for the delay guys! it's been pretty crazy lately for me. the truck is "done!" still have some odds and ends to tie up. I drove it around today and got about 40 miles on it. feels pretty good. I need to adjust the toe a bit...i figured since i didn't tough the tie rod that it should still be straight but it appears to have a decent toe out. that's making the steering a bit twitchy but other than that it handle's well. the trans is leaking all around the pan (dunno if i over filled it, which i'm pretty sure i didn't) but i'm planning on dropping that in the morning and throwing some rtv on it. I'll take some pictures in the morning and post them up.

I do have a couple questions for those who have done SAS's....
1. in my steering linkage i put one of the rubber rag joints...is this a good or bad idea? i think i might be getting a bit of slop with it in there but not sure if i should take it out or just leave it be.
2. I'm planning on putting a steering stabilizer/dampener on the truck, how would you suggest mounting it? i was thinking bout mounting it behind the axle right to the tie rod
3....i'm sure there's a 3 but i can't think of it right now
 
here we go!!! the 8" stock axle is still in the back...hopefully be doing the 9.5 this weekend.
I'm sitting at 109" wheelbase, stretching the back out 1" to bring the final WB to 110",
ground to frame is an even 23" all the way around!
This is what I call ground clearance! :)
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Squatting a bit because the back end is full of material, parts and tools
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a couple quick notes...
- for the break booster and mc, i had to actually clock the booster 180*, the mc on the 4runner is centered offset down and the fj80 is offset up...no biggie

- I used the stock fj80 abs wire harness to run up to the frame actually infront of the steering box and just took the old pins out of it and place the pins from the 4runner abs harness in the equivalent locations... so my speedo works! my abs light is still on but that was on before the sas so i'm assuming it's something in the rear axle... we shall see

-i've put about 150 miles on it since i finished it up and it runs great, i need to align everything still as it has a bit of a toe out going on but other than that it tracks great, rides smooth, no bump steer, a little bit of break steer but no biggie there....

- i need to install the steering stabilizer as stated before but haven't decided how i want to do it.

-I got a FROR cross member in from a guy on pirate without the bushings, thinking bout mounting it with these....
bushingsleeve.jpg
any thoughts? or should i just order the stock bushing kit from FROR

- also i love this design for a t case skid plate ....
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tacoxmember2.jpg

...and since I'm planning on going to 3link next summer anyways i figure this might be good to go ahead and get and make my life easier then
 
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I'd just call Brian at FROR and get bushings from him. From what I read he has gone through a few different versions of bushings to help reduce vibration.

As for the ballistic xmember, yeah that thing is awesome. And apparently you can have them space the link locations to where ever you want. Before you 3link, go to pirate and read ErikB's and Boogerwelds most recent sas threads. Between the two of their builds they have dialed in the link placement.

Anyways, the build looks great. I cant wait to do the same to mine.
 
Looks great, I will be starting the 80 series LC rear end swap next month when I get my Johnny Joints.

I flexed mine to the bump stop today and it looks like when I get my 35x12.50's on they may rub the coil buckets. What back spacing do those wheels have?

Can you post a pic of the fender brace behind the headlight? It looks like mine will need some more trimming with the axle that far forward.
 
Tapage said:
why you want to replace the rear with the 9.5 3rd ..
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mmml4 said:
My reasons are,
disc brakes
more width
full float axles
stronger housing
and that cool ass offset :D
Click to expand...

those are pretty much the same reasons for me... also that my stock housings are 4.30 and the front now is 4.10 so if i run the 9.5 then i can run 4wd till i save up enough money for gears. it's been a very slow fall for me and my class schedule has not allowed me to work at all so my bank account is very very very low right now.

Looks great, I will be starting the 80 series LC rear end swap next month when I get my Johnny Joints.

I flexed mine to the bump stop today and it looks like when I get my 35x12.50's on they may rub the coil buckets. What back spacing do those wheels have?

Can you post a pic of the fender brace behind the headlight? It looks like mine will need some more trimming with the axle that far forward.
Click to expand...

i'm going to try and take a torch to the towers on the axle and turn them to the correct angles to work with the stock links, i dont know if it'll work or not but that's my plan... my back up plan is the Johnny Joints.

as far as the wheels are concerned i believe they are 4" backspacing with 36x12.5x16.5" goodyear RTII's, i haven't really been able to flex it out yet. i was hoping to get a bit more flex off of that mound but it didn't want to. i'm not sure if the spring rate is too high or what.... the back end is flexing pretty well though but that is i believe 2/3rds of the spring rate of the fronts. i still need to put limiting straps on and extend the bump stops down before i do anything too crazy with it.

and with the fender bracing.... yeah it's kinda not there any more.... i just took a sledge hammer to it and bashed it up flat to the area beneath the battery box and air box...
DSC01017-1.jpg


I'd just call Brian at FROR and get bushings from him. From what I read he has gone through a few different versions of bushings to help reduce vibration.

As for the ballistic xmember, yeah that thing is awesome. And apparently you can have them space the link locations to where ever you want. Before you 3link, go to pirate and read ErikB's and Boogerwelds most recent sas threads. Between the two of their builds they have dialed in the link placement.

Anyways, the build looks great. I cant wait to do the same to mine.
Click to expand...

thanks man. yeah I'll probably getting it from FROR since it'd be the same price either way just about. I've watched both their builds along with many other's over the past few years... also action jackson's with his fzj80. I'm working pretty hard on the 3link calc to get some consistant numbers that will work with what i have as far as placement and everything
 
well i hit a little road block today, as i said the trans pan was leaking so i decided i was going to go ahead and drop it to change the filter and re rtv the thing. first i figured out that the reason it was leaking was the one bolt on the driver side wasn't even tight, i was able to remove it with my fingers (and actually had to do so because it had a burr on there so i couldn't put a socket onto it). but after i drained the trans fluid i knew it didn't look right, i put it in a clear container and to my astonishment after only 200 miles it looks like pinkish purple crap! i have the milkshake of death from the damn radiator and trans cooler!!!! tomorrow I'm getting hoses so i can hook my trans lines directly into my supplemental trans cooler and bypass the factory one all together. now i just need to re flush the whole 12 qts in the (9.5 after draining the pan) with new fluid to get rid of the crud and contaminated fluid before it ruins another trans!

also i've decided i'm going to get ballistic joints for my axle end of my upper joints and possibly do one end on the lower joints as well. I thought about it and heating up the towers to twist them into alignment is just stupid and asking for them to fail (no offense if anyone else has done it but inherently by heating it you are stressing and creating a weak spot on the metal).

also with the lower links i want to keep the stock fj80 lower arms (with ballistic ends possibly) for the length and make mounts to put further up the frame rail. having the longer arms should help with articulation a good deal and also keep the arms at a lower angle.

still have a couple other things to figure out but as i've mentioned before money is definitely tight and is strangling my capability to finish the beast up! but i can't wait for winter and having some fun!

hope everyone had a great turkey day!
 
mmml4 said:
I read thru again and unless I missed it I didn't see the front drive shaft fitting. Have you worked that out yet. What shaft are you using, do all the flange bolt patterns match, got enough slip, etc?
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nope you didn't miss it... still no front drive shaft... my buddy had one left over from his 07' tacoma that had a spicer shaft from a procomp 6" kit which would have fit perfectly length wise but both ends were too big for the landcruiser 4runner flanges. also it wasn't a DC shaft so i'm just going to take the shaft i have to a driveshaft shop near my appartment and have them lengthen it. But before i drive my truck up here i need to make sure the radiator leaking into the tranny cooler was in fact the problem which was corrupting the trans fluid. It feels fine and i've put about 300 miles on it since i finished the axle swap but with the fluid going bad that quick i want to take some precautions.
 
Nice build.
I've always liked those tires. But... Where did you get them? I didn't think they have made them for about 20 years!
 
Gerdo said:
Nice build.
I've always liked those tires. But... Where did you get them? I didn't think they have made them for about 20 years!
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Craigslist! Every once and a while you can find them in military auctions also but i have 2 sets of them, this set i have on right now i got with a set of ford 8lug wheels (which obviously I didn't need) but he wouldn't separate so i got all 4 with no dry rot with 4 wheels for 300 bucks, and then i found another set a guy ran on his super duty but didn't like them and was just trying to get rid of them and i picked them up for 100 bucks. also got a set of the 8 bolt hummer beadlock rims and mag inserts for 100 bucks as well, now i just need to get the centers to weld in to them to convert to 6 lug!
 
Quick update...I've put about 1000 miles on the truck since the "completion" of the SAS. The truck is doing well and rides/drives great on the road. It is a bit twitchy in the grooves and while changing lanes but other than that it does great. I am still working on the front drive shaft issue. I had friends tell me that drive shaft shops would lengthen one for $50 or $60 . so far the quotes i'm getting are between $150 and $200!!! As i dont have money right now I'm improvising. I measured up the length i need (approx 30.5" at ride height) then got to measuring the stock 4runner front shaft and the back half of the stock t100 shaft. the t100 shaft has a double caridan U-joint on it which provides an extra 3 or 4 inches in length over a standard U-joint. It turns out that then 4runner shaft with the u-joint end replaced with the DC end will be the perfect length! so today i got to grinding and cutting. I will post pictures and updates as they come tomorrow.
 
nice 4runner and garage
 
well today has not gone well...i started getting pretty bad death wobble and thought it was just the ice/snow on my wheels causing it...till i looked and there was no ice or snow left on my wheels...then looked at everything and still couldn't figure it out. so when i was driving to wendys on a food run from the shop with the guys, it deathwobbled really bad and the steering wheel was 90 degrees out afterwards!!!! I stopped in a little bit and looked and the only place i didn't brace the frame on the panhard drop bracket tore the frame and started tearing across the bracket itself! I'm at the shop on campus at rutgers trying to trouble shoot a solution just to be able to get home to south jersey and get it up on the lift! this is not what i needed this weekend!:bang::bang::bang::bang::bang::bang::crybaby::censor:
 
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