80 series body roll solutions. (2 Viewers)

[SFROMAN]

In an attempt to get my lx450 back to feeling stable on the road or during turns at least I am researching some solutions.

I have the old man emu heavy 2.5 inch lift with about 50k miles on it.

I hate how much body roll I have on my truck and I know it used to be way less than it rolls now.

The roof rack does have the Yakima storage canister but that thing is very light and all I have in it is my tent. I don’t think it’s enough to make that much of a difference. Especially since I used to carry the roof top tent up there.

I want to replace the shocks that came with the old man emu kit but want to upgrade to a slightly stiffer shock?

Anybody have any suggestions for an upgrade?
Please don’t suggest a product you have not personally used.

Also going to upgrade the rear sway bar to this product from white line.

Whiteline Toyota Landcruiser 80/100/105 Series Rear 30mm - BTR46X

Engineered to 'Activate More Grip', sway bars are principally designed to reduce body roll or sway. By reducing body roll, lateral loads are spread more evenly across the tires thereby increasing cornering grip and improving outright performance. This Whiteline 30mm fixed position sway bar =...

throtl.com

Anybody in the club used this product?


I have already upgraded every busing in the suspension. I also have the castor correction plates on the front control arms, not that this would matter but some people say there truck performed worse without doing the castor correction. I personally have never noticed the difference.

I think that with some upgraded shocks and the upgraded sway bar the truck will perform better hopefully. It’s worth trying because the truck just rolls way to much now and it didn’t used to do that before.

Again if your an 80 owner let me know what has worked for you personally.

Thanks

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

I had the OME 2.5" springs originally, went to OME J's with no real change in body roll, Slee medium springs made a bit of improvement but adding the Slee heavy rears with the Delta panhard bracket made a HUGE difference.

I think if you wanted to stay with the 2.5" springs, adding the Delta panhard bracket and Whiteline sway bars would get you a way better handling ride.

 

[White Sheep]

I have OME 4" spring with Fox 2.0 shocks. Front/rear Whiteline heavy swaybars, and the delta panhard bracket.

How soon are you trying to buy these? You could always take my LC for a spin.

 

[White Sheep]

I also have upgraded rear upper/lower control arms.

 

[SFROMAN]

I’m not in a hurry to purchase the parts. I’m just trying to figure out how to improve it first.

I’m not trying to lift the truck more. Just no need for it for now.

Sounds like the white line sway bar should help. I had never heard of it until I started researching so that’s good.

I might build a wooden box to carry all my crap in the back. Maybe hauling around all that weight on the floor board might help also.

As far as shocks I’m looking at possibly going with some radflo or icons.
Not going to upgrade from the ome as much as replace for now. Those poor shocks have seen better days. Don’t, plan to bomb through the desert at 100 mph so I don’t need or want to spend $700 per shock. Just not worth it for what this truck does.
I will try to find the valving specs and see if I can find something stiffer that is not ridiculously expensive.

 

[AJR]

I had the OME 2.5" springs originally, went to OME J's with no real change in body roll, Slee medium springs made a bit of improvement but adding the Slee heavy rears with the Delta panhard bracket made a HUGE difference.

I think if you wanted to stay with the 2.5" springs, adding the Delta panhard bracket and Whiteline sway bars would get you a way better handling ride.

X 2 on the Slee heavy springs, good ride too.

I think you’ll notice more from different springs then you will different sway bars, unless you have no sway bar now. I’m not really a fan of OME stuff, I’ve got/had some on some of my cruisers, and it’s just ok stuff. The cheapest solution isn’t usually the best, and this isn’t the exception. In most cases OME is sort of an entry level product into aftermarket mods for cruisers, there’s almost always a better option and it almost always costs more, for a good reason.

 

[SFROMAN]

Wait. Are you guys saying that the OME heavy springs are not the same as slee heavys? Let me go search that.

I figured that all “heavy” springs were created equal.

Adam
I 100% agree just trying to keep myself in check and not go over board modifying a rig that I will likely sell in the next year unless I can convince my son to drive this rig during high school years and I can continue to enjoy it on mostly dirt roads and the occasional hard trail.

But I def want to get it back to the way it felt before I did two California trips to include then rubicon. After, I can def feel the difference on how it handles. So I just assumed it was just worn out equipment.

 

[roadstr6]

My 80 on 35's, OME 850J / 863 springs and the OME "L" shocks handles great on road and flexes well off road. I disconnected the front sway bar for Moab and couldn't tell a huge difference in handling. Sway bar has since been re-connected. I have sway bar drop brackets front and rear and an eimkeith weld-on rear panhard relocation bracket. Landtank caster plates. Everything else is stock. I like my set-up, but I'm not a suspension connoisseur. I see so many folks spend tons of money swapping springs from OME to Slinky to Dobinson and spending big money on fancy bypass shocks in search of the perfect set-up. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but I just don't feel the need.

 

[NCFJ]

On the advice from someone in the 80 section I went with stock height Dobinson progressive springs with stock 80 series original equipment shocks. I've used this set up on two 60 body on 80 chassis with 34" tires builds with great results. Obviously, if you are running a lift the shocks will not work for you but the progressive lift springs should be at the same performance level.

 

[SFROMAN]

I agree. Not trying to go down the rabbit hole and replace the whole suspension system.

The thing is that this truck used to ride so nice with almost zero body roll.

Then after a few 1000s of miles of off-road and on road use and over a few years it has gotten noticeably worse.

That’s why I’m thinking that the shocks might just have crapped out by now and feel like I should start there.

I do not want to lift the truck anymore than it is now. With 2.5 lift and 35” tires that truck will do way more trails that I want to put it through so no point in going higher.

So I guess the plan the way I see it is to go this route

1. New shocks
2 upgraded sway bar
3. Lowered track bar mount.

If these three items don’t work along with the fact that I already changed every single suspension bushing then I will just learn to live with the body roll, although I am pretty confident that I will feel some improvement

 

[JohnVee]

When I got my stock 1996 at around 270k miles the body roll was scary. Original shocks and springs. I swapped in brand new OEM Tokiko shocks and the problem almost disappeared. Changing coils a year later for some with far less miles solved the rest of it.

I don’t really remember the four corner bounce test showing much of a problem, it was only while driving IIRC. I was surprised because I’d always been told that bad shocks will always fail the bounce test. Now I know that’s not necessarily true.

 

[jfz80]

I would think the progressive springs may induce a bit more roll than a linear rate spring. Just because the top few coils that have lower rate and are stacked until unloading and what’s separated should compress easier with less input. How I felt when I went from slee 4” (non heavy duty) to the 3” slinky progressives with their custom valved icon shocks for 80s.

I added the delta rear panhard mount and noticed some improvement. Mostly tracking straight under hard braking and a bit more predictable feel and return in cornering.

Added the RTT followed by the white line sway bar rear only and noticed immediate improvement after the install of the white line upgraded bar.

So even though the RTT snuck in there mid mods I feel I noticed the biggest difference from the sway bar. For me the shocks had more effect on the smoothness of ride than stability. So my list might be in differen order (sway,panhard mount,shocks) but between the three I think you are right on track.

 

[Roxx]

Panhard made a big difference on mine. I like my set up, ome Js with L shocks, Caster correction and new bushings.

 

[roflbox]

When I got my cruiser, it had a pretty gnarly shimmy when going through dips in the road (would move 1 tire into the next lane on some of the dips on I40), due to the panhard not being where it should have been.

Getting a DeltaVS bracket was a big help
(though to be fair the adjustable panhard was setup comically wrong, so anything was an improvement )

 

[lumbee1]

@SFROMAN I just went through this exercise.

• Delta Panhard relocation bracket
• Whiteline rear swaybar
• LandCruiser Phil endlinks
• DIY Adjustable rear panhard
• Heavy duty shocks at all four corners

The Delta panhard relocation bracket and Whiteline swaybar made a massive difference in reducing and controlling bodyroll. Before installing the panhard relocation and swaybar and just Dobi IMS shocks and adjustable panhard, the Cruiser would lean heavily in the corners and my roof rack weighs only 50 lbs at most. Don't get me wrong there is still some lean around the corners with all the upgrades installed but it doesn't feel like I'm hittin the three wheel motion like before.

The Dobi 3.5/3" springs have a progressive rate for a very soft but controlled ride. The Cruiser drives great on gravel and I can easily tackle twisty backroads with confidence.

My next step for me is to replace all the control arm bushings in the rear, the front control arm frame mount bushings, and the body to frame pucks but I'm only doing this to reduce vibrations and replace 27 year old bushings.

Part of your problem might be a defective bushing. My front control arm axle mount bushings failed which introduced some really unpredictable handling.

 

[lt1fire]

I never really had an issue with body roll even at my height. I believe all my slee 6" were the heavy springs. And all the rear arms and panhards Re adjustable. Whiteline makes great products so I imagine they would only improve body roll on an 80.

 

[SFROMAN]

I never really had an issue with it either until after I did the rubicon. Truck has never been the same since.

 

[angerhater]

I will add that the air lift bags I had in my rear springs allowed me to have some adjustability in the support of the rear on my 80. well worth the 100$ they cost. you might need research what size would fit in bigger springs.

 

[SFROMAN]

I think I found the issue with the body roll of my 80.
When I replaced all the bushings. I guess I only replaced the bushings that connect to the axle on the rear sway bar.
I never replaced the smaller bushings that are on the front not the ones on the link. They are pretty shot.
Ordered the bushings from Hendrix and hey give such good online discounts that they cost me less than $7. Can’t beat that and I’m hoping this solves my issues.

Still might replace the OME shocks with new ones because they are beat up and rusted pretty bad.

 

[White Sheep]

Hope it gets the results your looking for. With the heavy duty Whiteline front and rear swaybars, I have very little body role, but it does effect "flex" on the trail. @roadstr6 was behind me and saw how stiff my LC looked and his son drove my LC on the road and he said it's a night and day difference with handling from thiers.