FJ/FZJ80 Spare tire lift (5" the easy way)

[BuckCruiser]

Let me ask a question. I have done the exact same modification and, once I was done, it didn't seem that the tire was much higher. My observation is that moving the crankshaft down 5 inches ... Back to its original location ... Means that the tire will still raise to the same spot it always did. If the crankshaft is still in the same location, post-modification, why do we believe the tire will rise any higher? I may be missing something ...

 

[warezdog]

Basically you get the tire tucked up above the rear diff, rather than it hanging down in the front it will how hang down in the back.

You're basically tucking the front of the tire up where the second aux fuel tank would be. I did this a few months back and am OK with it however you rear departure angle is as it was, the benefit is that with it not hanging down in the front there is less chance of catching on something while moving forward.

 

[Alfafamilia]

I did this modification today with the help of this thread. Thank you it works quite well, simple, cheap and 5 inches of clearance. The only frustation was needing 4 hands a couple of times but one person can get this done in a couple of hours no problem. I'm no mechanic and really appreciate the detail that was given. Thank you again.

 

[Heckraiser]

Resurrecting this thread again. I have some buddies that work in the type of field where I could probably get aluminum blocks machined for next to nothing to take the place of multiple spacers (i.e. 3 solid spacers instead of 10 individual bolt spacers).

However, I really want to see some pictures of what the spare tire looks like once the mod is done. I.e. how much is it actually going to lift the tire vs. just realign the tire. Does anyone have an photos showing where the tire sits after this mod? I'm really looking more to lift it.

Thank you to the OP for being so descriptive, because all the photos are gone!

 

[Blade 80LC]

For the non-DIY guys, AJIK already sells a bracket to raise the crossmember. You're welcome to design something in aluminum, but be aware there is already a "store bought" solution. I haven't done the mod (DIY or new bracket) myself, but I understand the tire can't go up much at the rear (closest to the rear bumper) due to other obstructions. Raising the crossmember raises the spare tire on the side closest to the rear differential. The AJIK vendor thread has pictures of the results. 80 Series Tire Leveling Kit

 

[NLXTACY]

So, not sure many folks know but AJIK was acquired by Wits' End (me) a few weeks back. One of the products that was transitioned over to me was the Tire Leveling Kit.

The acquisition: Wits’ End Acquires AJIK Overland Exchange

The leveling kit: 80 Series Tire Leveling Kit

I have plenty of the kits in stock. Currently they have always been shipped in raw steel. Going forward (today actually) I will be changing that and powder coating all of the steel and zinc plating the hardware to help in salt prone areas. If you still want one is raw steel I can put a kit aside.

The leveling kit does just that, levels the tire and gets rid of the saggy diaper look. You can mount up to a 34.2" tire.

 

[Blade 80LC]

There are pictures in this thread of how the tire looks after the AJIK mod. Spare Tire Mod

 

[Heckraiser]

Thanks for the links, boys. I missed those in my search. $73 is a fair price for sure, but I can probably put something together for (damn near) free. After seeing better profile pictures, I'm not sure this is the direction I will ultimately go. I was hoping to get the tire mostly out of harms way without the protection of a trailer hitch.

 

[warezdog]

The leveling kit does just that, levels the tire and gets rid of the saggy diaper look. You can mount up to a 34.2" tire.

I've heard people stuffing a 35 in there after the fact but I couldn't get my GG AT2 315 to fit and it measured 34.6 new.
Didn't matter to me since I had a swingout ready to take it, how did I miss the AJIK acquisition? Congrats Joey!

 

[AndrewInf]

Resurrecting this old thread to add a data point on spare tire lift. I picked up the Wits' End (formerly AJIK) kit last week and installed it yesterday, I liked the idea of the adjustability for when I go to a different tire size down the road.

This was an easy install, the instructions were very thorough and easy to follow. I will probably go back in and stick lock washers on everything (they were mentioned in the instructions but not in the kit), but that should be fairly straightforward. I wanted to get a good idea how much of a difference this mod made so I put down a tripod and shot a timelapse video for myself. From that I pulled some frames from the start/finish for before/after comparisons and made the GIF below, showing the change with and without the spare in-place.

A few things:

• Between the start and finish I unloaded between 25-30lb of tools from the cargo area, so the suspension raised slightly from the before to the after pics.
• My suspension is 100% stock, with tired old springs with 300k+ miles and 26 years on them.
• The spare tire is of the original size Michelin LTX (doesn't match the others).
• My rough tape measure measurements for front and rear of the tire before/after:
  • Rear: ~12" → ~12"
  • Front: ~9" → ~ 12"
• The tire is pressed hard up against the body pinch seam just behind the tire winch crossmember. I'm a little concerned about it, imagining dropping the spare on the ground going through a dip and having the pinch seam dig into the spare sidewall. Thinking I'll try to half-cut some fuel line or small-ID heater hose lengthwise and stick it onto the pinch seam where the tire contacts it just to blunt the contact point a bit, wouldn't take much material as it only touches the pinch seam in a few places

Edit, tried attaching the gif but the animation gets broken, you can click through to the Imgur site above though.

 

[Fj80oregon]

I wonder if this kit would work with a 4x4 labs rear bumper? @NLXTACY @4x4labs
Thanks

 

[NLXTACY]

I wonder if this kit would work with a 4x4 labs rear bumper? @NLXTACY @4x4labs
Thanks

How much of the crossmember is removed?

 

[Fj80oregon]

How much of the crossmember is removed?

Have not received my bumper yet. But the instructions say if I remember around 2.75 inches from the body mounts in between the captive nuts that the tow receiver mounts to. Not sure if that helps?

 

[NLXTACY]

Have not received my bumper yet. But the instructions say if I remember around 2.75 inches from the body mounts in between the captive nuts that the tow receiver mounts to. Not sure if that helps?

Won’t work with the TLK then

 

[Fj80oregon]

Won’t work with the TLK then

Ok thanks for the fast response.

 

[Heckraiser]

@AndrewInf that GIF is super-cool, thanks for posting

 

[Potholesandwich]

Hey folks I thought I’d chime in and add to @imhighlander’s excellent write-up. As far as I can tell AJIK and their descendants aren’t making spare lift kits anymore. Delta says they’re going to “soon.” But I'm impatient.

Here's a write-up on my own DIY job based on @imhighlander’s post and the youtube video. I made some made mods documented here.

Background: I have a ‘97 anniversary edition that came from PO with a Kaymar rear bumper. The bumper had hinged spare carrier and dual fuel can carrier. But the way I use my LC I’m opening and closing my tailgate all the time. And I'm not doing much aggressive off-road. The hinge-outs were a huge pain. So here we are.

The details:

First, instead of 5/16 bolts I opted for M8 x 1.25’s to take advantage of the OEM welded-on nuts and tapped holes already part of the assembly.

I bought the fasteners from Mcmaster-Carr. McMaster has a great selection. I chose 140mm (but later shortened to 110 see below) hex head zinc-plated class 8.8’s because I thought this was the best combination of strength and corrosion resistance. McMaster sells stainless steel in that size but those are a lot weaker. They sell Class 10.9 too, but class 10.9 is not much stronger than class 8.8 and my understanding is they’re less corrosion-resistant. I’m by the ocean so stuff rusts a lot here.

For the spacers I wanted as much metal as possible for make-it-really-strong reasons. But I also didn’t want to design and pay for a custom machined or custom sheet metal because... time and $$$. And I never get it right on the first try, so even more $$$ and time.

So I chose ⅝” OD x 0.12” wall 304 stainless round tube. The tube comes in 1' 3' and 6' lengths, and I can cut fairly accurately with a carbon cut off wheel on my circular saw. It fits snugly around the M8s. (McMaster P/N 89895K756).

After removing the lifter assembly and treating all the rust with POR-15 I reassembled with the spacers and longer fasteners, then to the vehicle to test fit. The spacers were about an inch too long. I saw someone else on this thread mention the same issue, not sure what the deal is.

Take 2.

I cut the spacers down to 3.5”. Re-assembled, re-installed. Great fit.

Here's a pic of the assembly with the 3.5" spacers prior to install.

For the record after install it appears I gained 1.25- 2” of clearance out of this mod. I measured but it was hard to tell exactly as I'm not parked in flat ground. But definitely not 0 and definitely a lot less than the full 3.5.

 

[kenavt]

Hey folks I thought I’d chime in and add to @imhighlander’s excellent write-up. As far as I can tell AJIK and their descendants aren’t making spare lift kits anymore. Delta says they’re going to “soon.” But I'm impatient.

Here's a write-up on my own DIY job based on @imhighlander’s post and the youtube video. I made some made mods documented here.

Background: I have a ‘97 anniversary edition that came from PO with a Kaymar rear bumper. The bumper had hinged spare carrier and dual fuel can carrier. But the way I use my LC I’m opening and closing my tailgate all the time. And I'm not doing much aggressive off-road. The hinge-outs were a huge pain. So here we are.

The details:

First, instead of 5/16 bolts I opted for M8 x 1.25’s to take advantage of the OEM welded-on nuts and tapped holes already part of the assembly.

I bought the fasteners from Mcmaster-Carr. McMaster has a great selection. I chose 140mm (but later shortened to 110 see below) hex head zinc-plated class 8.8’s because I thought this was the best combination of strength and corrosion resistance. McMaster sells stainless steel in that size but those are a lot weaker. They sell Class 10.9 too, but class 10.9 is not much stronger than class 8.8 and my understanding is they’re less corrosion-resistant. I’m by the ocean so stuff rusts a lot here.

For the spacers I wanted as much metal as possible for make-it-really-strong reasons. But I also didn’t want to design and pay for a custom machined or custom sheet metal because... time and $$$. And I never get it right on the first try, so even more $$$ and time.

So I chose ⅝” OD x 0.12” wall 304 stainless round tube. The tube comes in 1' 3' and 6' lengths, and I can cut fairly accurately with a carbon cut off wheel on my circular saw. It fits snugly around the M8s. (McMaster P/N 89895K756).

After removing the lifter assembly and treating all the rust with POR-15 I reassembled with the spacers and longer fasteners, then to the vehicle to test fit. The spacers were about an inch too long. I saw someone else on this thread mention the same issue, not sure what the deal is.

Take 2.

I cut the spacers down to 3.5”. Re-assembled, re-installed. Great fit.

Here's a pic of the assembly with the 3.5" spacers prior to install.

For the record after install it appears I gained 1.25- 2” of clearance out of this mod. I measured but it was hard to tell exactly as I'm not parked in flat ground. But definitely not 0 and definitely a lot less than the full 3.5.

This is a fantastic write up! Thank you for putting this all together especially with the McMasterCarr part numbers! I think I might follow right in your footsteps, especially using M8-1.25 bolts.

Do you have any thoughts after a couple of weeks with this on your truck? And do you happen to have any “after” photos?

 

[Potholesandwich]

Hey Kenavt. Nothing to report after a few weeks. As far as thoughts....I'm glad I don't have to deal with the fold out tire carrier any more! Soooo much easer to use the trunk area. I haven't done any off-road except onto the lawn parking at our local beach. I should probably get under there and check to make sure everything is tight. I attached a pic below that I took right after install. Tire looks the same as before...but a bit higher. Good luck and let us know how it goes!