Builds Gordita Build- Finishing the 4WU 3-linked FZJ80 (2 Viewers)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Feb 5, 2013
Threads
10
Messages
145
Location
Poo-way, CA
Hey everyone,
Figured I'd throw all my pics and mods together into one place. Most may recognize this rig, I picked it up a few weeks ago from Justin up in San Jose. I sold my FJC since I was ready for something new to play with. Was a great rig- long travel, marlin lefty case, 35's. The works. Just was time to move on or dump more large sums of mula in it. It's livin in the red rocks of Utah now.

Always give my cars pet names for some reason. Callin her "Gordita" since she's big, curvy, brown and has a little attitude...

On the drive to SD from SJ
3d524ce3c3b8f8d1d032e93f5128e013_zps372130a3.jpg

0689d34b5d8bfd594414be2bcf6a6292_zps631bede6.jpg


It's already set up very well, with a host of quality parts.

- 4Wheel Underground 3Link Front Suspension
- 14" Dual Rate Radflo Coilovers w/ Remote Reservoir
- 2" Radflo Air Bumps
- RuffStuff Specialties 1 Ton Steering
- Hellfire Knuckles and High Steer Arms
- 30 Spline Longfields
- Marlin Crawler Transfercase Reduction Gears
- Slee 4" Rear Coils and OME Shocks
- Rear Lock-Right Locker
- Extended Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines
- Custom Front Winch Bumper (.25" Plate)
- 12K lb Super Winch w/ in-cab controls
- 6" Trailworthy Fab LED Lightbar
- 4x4 Labs Rear Bumper w/ dual swing outs (Tire & Dual Gas Cans)
- OPOR Sliders w/ Kick Outs
- Custom Transfercase Crossmember/Skid Plate (.25" Plate)
- 37" Goodyear MTRs w/ Spare (New, Only 1000 Miles)
- 17x9 Black Steel Rims
- Alpine Head Unit w/ Kicker 6" Speakers in all doors
- Uniden Bearcat CB w/ WagonGear's Antenna Replacement 2' Firestick Mount
- LED Cab Lights and Reverse Lights
- Two Guys Trail Gear LED Rock Lights

d4f8f225785143e43185b9a28002b1d7_zpsd462d339.jpg


Since the front is basically done, my focus will be the rear and all the other do-dads that should finish it out for me as a capable and comfortable trail rig for SoCal and long range trips.

Hangin out with a fellow Como Chingas Offroad member, who's marlin lefty decided two output shaft halves were better than a whole one.
bd573e5593ac50026bedd6e7b0b8a1c4_zps74d3e24b.jpg


First item up was replacing the inner axle seals in the front that decided not to be a part of the housing any longer. While replacing a $12 seal, thought it was the perfect time for new gears and a front locker

4e49ff971ba7eff406369544e5c78333_zpsa773a4b4.jpg


Diffs set up and ready to go in tomorrow. 5.29's and front ARB. Keeping the lock right in the back till I find a reason to ditch it for a matching ARB.

18d6622a14db43de56fae766330c7e26_zpscc4e0e22.jpg


Went with the dual compressor set up to run the front locker and serve fill duties after runs. Also got the 1 gallon tank, but going to see how the unit does by itself. Going to see if it really works as advertised and runs some tools by itself....
14gau backing plate for support. Rubber idolaters from a VW secondary air pump keep it from rattling itself loose.


fbb0efdb90d6b97461b6b071ffbef6ab_zps0772bf28.jpg



Panel trimmed around mounting points. Cubby space opens like stock.
a167f365a857538c7ba85146dd39afc4_zpsec3c487c.jpg


Wired to the front. Bus under the seat, switches going where the useless coin slots are on the center console.
5442c532678fe1b20411158c5c416620_zpsf1dc2b86.jpg


Sneaky fill hookup. Slide the window open and hook it up. Planning on a box build for tools/spares/recovery gear so the goal was to avoid having to climb up on the tail gate and over that crap to hook up the hose.

95238b3fa27abe88705d09c19a25ad37_zps8be01fb0.jpg


Next up will be straightening out a few dents, cleaning up the front fender trimming and opening up the rear wheel wells by taking out the lip. Will be changing the color up a bit. Clear coat is toast so why not. Maybe a flat tan or brown. I like my earth tones.

Once the rear is clearanced a little better, the focus goes here
4f5ed5e6fb26831952c08428eb2b0164_zps27eac1d9.jpg


Since it's a rolling minivan on 37's, it won't be a hardcore rock crawler anytime soon. Will take this thing all over, especially Baja. So I plan on matching the front with some 2.5" resi Radflos to replace the OME's. I need to down size the bumps installed to get some up travel back for faster pace fun. Will cut and adjust from there, figure out the best mix of travel and tire rubbin, then replace it all with some air bumps.

Little crap like lights and racks will come as I get bored. Haven't found any low profile mounts being made for LED bars, so I'll just make some to mount off the A pillar and throw a blingy radius bar on cause all the cool kids are doing it.

Excited to hit some trails soon. Will be up in big bear the 21st to test the rig out.
 
This gon be good.
 
Nice! If don't mind me asking what did you pay? I'm so jealous of the 3 link!! How do you feel about the ride on the road with the 3 link?
 
Curious to see what route you take with the rear suspension as I think we have the same goals in mind. I don't mind redoing the front but the rear is mostly fine. At most I want to raise the panhard at the axle, better & longer shocks, sleeve/extend the links and get a good spring. The spring is what I'm having trouble with. I'd like a 4-5" lift at the back but would like something that can do a decent amount of down travel without unseating the spring.
 
Curious to see what route you take with the rear suspension as I think we have the same goals in mind. I don't mind redoing the front but the rear is mostly fine. At most I want to raise the panhard at the axle, better & longer shocks, sleeve/extend the links and get a good spring. The spring is what I'm having trouble with. I'd like a 4-5" lift at the back but would like something that can do a decent amount of down travel without unseating the spring.

unless you want coilovers, you're looking for something like Delancy's flexy coils.
 
Nice! If don't mind me asking what did you pay? I'm so jealous of the 3 link!! How do you feel about the ride on the road with the 3 link?
I don’t mind. I paid 12k for it. The ride on the road is great, has a good feel with the Coilovers and the steering is much tighter than other 80’s I test drove. There is no sway bar, so there’s a good amount of body roll. I may try and do a sway bar similar to Dave’s 4th gen SAS on RST for the road and just disconnect for the trails. Don’t really want or need to spend dough on a fancy Antirock.
Curious to see what route you take with the rear suspension as I think we have the same goals in mind. I don't mind redoing the front but the rear is mostly fine. At most I want to raise the panhard at the axle, better & longer shocks, sleeve/extend the links and get a good spring. The spring is what I'm having trouble with. I'd like a 4-5" lift at the back but would like something that can do a decent amount of down travel without unseating the spring.
I went ahead and asked that question regarding a longer spring, possibly a progressive rate that could work with a longer bodied shock but found nothing. Delancy tried and failed. I honestly think if I were to really get any gains from the springs, it would require some kind of sway bar setup to manage the body roll. The front already has enough for me, and making the rear even flexier would be detrimental to the road qualities. Coilovers seem to be the route if you want more and keep it road worthy. Then while your doing Coilovers, mind as well change up the links, cut into the cab…slippery slope. Realistically I am looking at doing the MT lower links with the adjustable Johnny Joints to bring the axle back to center with the 4” lift, adjustable uppers (Slee or MT) since I have the driveline vibrations on deceleration. Coils and quality shocks, stock geometry. If there are any gains for me to find it’ll be in proper bump stop heights and with air bumps. I can go take this thing to the hammers and run the trails like Claw or Big Johnson no worries. Won’t even try to make it into something it’s not and run sledge every weekend. Planning on building a truggy for when being stupid sounds fun.
 
unless you want coilovers, you're looking for something like Delancy's flexy coils.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but nobody in the US sells anything like this right?
 
Awesome!! :cheers:


Hey everyone,
Figured I'd throw all my pics and mods together into one place. Most may recognize this rig, I picked it up a few weeks ago from Justin up in San Jose. I sold my FJC since I was ready for something new to play with. Was a great rig- long travel, marlin lefty case, 35's. The works. Just was time to move on or dump more large sums of mula in it. It's livin in the red rocks of Utah now.

Always give my cars pet names for some reason. Callin her "Gordita" since she's big, curvy, brown and has a little attitude...
Since it's a rolling minivan on 37's, it won't be a hardcore rock crawler anytime soon. Will take this thing all over, especially Baja. So I plan on matching the front with some 2.5" resi Radflos to replace the OME's. I need to down size the bumps installed to get some up travel back for faster pace fun. Will cut and adjust from there, figure out the best mix of travel and tire rubbin, then replace it all with some air bumps.

Little crap like lights and racks will come as I get bored. Haven't found any low profile mounts being made for LED bars, so I'll just make some to mount off the A pillar and throw a blingy radius bar on cause all the cool kids are doing it.

Excited to hit some trails soon. Will be up in big bear the 21st to test the rig out.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but nobody in the US sells anything like this right?
Correct. If you're willing to change the diameter of the coil to fit different perches you can probably find progressive springs for more common vehicles, but I would just work on packaging coilovers for that amount of work.
 
I know these are heavy pigs and won't ever do outer omits, etc but the rear suspension is really fuct geometry wise for both on road handling and rock climbing. Much more so then the talk usually surrounding TG link systems for minitrucks even.

Essentially, 'it works' cause it's suspending the 80 with the springs, not because it's good at anything else.

image.jpg

It's 115% AS and a whopping 11.5 degrees of oversteer on 4" slee coils with a 4x4 labs rear bumper to weight it down

Cut it off :D

(Photo courtesy of nuke goat)
 
Last edited:
I know these are heavy pigs and won't ever do outer omits, etc but the rear suspension is really fuct geometry wise for both on road handling and rock climbing. Much more so then the talk usually surrounding TG link systems for minitrucks even.
Essentially, 'it works' cause it's suspending the 80 with the springs, not because it's good at anything else.
View attachment 941093
It's 115% AS and a whopping 11.5 degrees of oversteer on 4" slee coils with a 4x4 labs rear bumper to weight it down
Cut it off
(Photo courtesy of nuke goat)
Haha, thanks for the picture to remind me how jacked it is. I’d love to cut it all off, but trying desperately to stay within the goals and budget I planned for this (I know, bigger joke than the geometry…).
The 80 is a whole different rig now with the 5.29’s installed. Have it up in LA for the week breaking them in with some DD duties. It’s nice to feel some responsiveness when stepping on the skinny pedal. It cruises down the freeway, going about 70mph, and does ~2500rpm so it’s not that bad. It’s not my DD so not that it really matters, but good to know for anyone considering them for 37’s.
I already had the driveline vibrations before on deceleration due to the stock length upper links, but the vibrations are much more exacerbated. I am thinking that it is the new flanges causing a slightly different angle on the driveshaft. I think that adjustable uppers need to come sooner than later to fix my pinion angle and smooth things out. Lower links are still bowed and bent so that’s not helping. It gets the same squirly/squatting feeling under braking that my FJC had with bent links. Adjustable ones will come at the same time to bring everything back to center. Panhard is already adjustable, so everything should be able to get back to where it needs to be. If I ever cut it off, I guess I could off them in the classifieds.
 
Just ordered Metal Tech adj upper and lower links. They are running their monthly sales and just happens both are on there, $45 and $50 off normal prices respectively. With shipping to Socal via freight still saves a good chunk of change. Hopefully having straight lowers and correcting the axle placement for the 4" lift makes for a better ride than it is now. My good buddy who runs a shop down here also got the same set, so we'll do an install day at his shop to play with the adjustments....plus he has lifts so that's always nice:hillbilly:
 
Getting ready for Big Bear this weekend. Needed to get my Hi Lift mounted somewhere other than inside. Got some trick little 3/8" bungs from ORW. Capped off the 2" receiver tube used on the 4x4labs tire mount and recessed the bung in the 1/4" cap. Welded all around the inside. Still needs paint, may weld the outter ring as well for peace of mind and a longer bottom bolt. Went through the arm cause if I made a tab like I was planning on top, the jack hit the rear hatch when closed. Happy with it, although it still shakes like a mofo
Pics
b370aa36feca1735d8508dd588abad59_zps238ba1da.jpg

dd50e679bee169c75923b35a9c6ea0ac_zps7baf3777.jpg

b4db73791802a94d98b1ff8b6bb69a2b_zpsb70e492b.jpg
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but nobody in the US sells anything like this right?
i may be wrong but i heard SLEE might start selling autocrafts slinky coils when i had talked to darren while he was in CO last spring.
 
I don’t mind. I paid 12k for it. The ride on the road is great, has a good feel with the Coilovers and the steering is much tighter than other 80’s I test drove.

Dude- you got one hella good base platform to start from for that price... Nice job!
 
Finally got the chance to stretch the rig out. Our SoCal group has an Adopt A Trail team partnered with the SBNF. Couldn't make Saturday due to work so I showed up for the second day and fun run. The rig did flat out awesome, so happy with how it handled. I used the front locker maybe twice, once just see if it worked and another cause I was too lazy to try a differnt line. Locked, just pulled right up. All the articulation kept the wheels on the ground and never had to break traction.
Installed these the night before. Only got the lowers on, just wanted to get rid of the bent stockers before hittin the trail. Uppers when I find time next weekend.
528ca7d167f2b21ac1244ebfc0a9262d_zps9b2a8dd3.jpg


Scouting a new trail open for adoption. Basically a fire road but found one eroded climb to mess around in.

fafb33070e4602ec043c1447e3470078_zps9727fc68.jpg

dc3b7caa46649855d31a00c83b027e02_zpsbbbf848b.jpg

b9263162e3ee36350a6d7e186364e741_zpsdc1037b4.jpg


On John Bull, Big Bear CA. Didn't hit the trail head till noon and was backed up with rigs. Rolled up and 3 FJC's stuck on the gate keeper that got left behind by their group. Once they were off, 2 JKU's rolled up. Both were built by Rebel Offroad, one was the "Rebelcon" with 40's and a 5.7 Hemi, other was also on tons and 37's. Thinking they'd fly through we let them pass only to have one bust his H.A ram a break line 30 feet in:bang:......then two TJ's behind them cut in front only for the second to hang up. I pulled ahead and yanked him out. Didn't get through the gatekeeper till 3hrs after showing up (we had 7 FJC's to get through..)
Walked right passed the stuck Jeep, became a winch point and rolled right up the trail

611861d894f532e5070082c4f27e7096_zpsa5b333b8.jpg

381655b717bcd924b9d06bbee61e2b63_zps4aea7f31.jpg

56198a02d25bc32f1fd3dca936c7e78d_zps90092ace.jpg

0bc138a9ad353f2db0fcc8b13933ae3a_zpsafeeca35.jpg

9305c25addb6b2b9b29c9b04478c8f8b_zps49142485.jpg

96fd897a6d56467a4fbfc4105f620c9e_zps2d64fcb4.jpg


From various parts of the trail. Didn't air up till 8pm.. Long day to say the least. Just a crowded day I guess. Had one FJC bust a CV at the water fall but we had the swap down to a science, 25min and it was done.

9d0e3c1c75a8e7fcbac7fbfc4a41ed61_zps477a8a6e.jpg


cfd3ccd7317f5f2a189039b3636ab868_zps53f2e56d.jpg

1e69b8f8221906fd5c549388f4ef9137_zps508abb47.jpg

7bfe62341c06ed51b7afa4e753891bec_zps8d56689a.jpg

ce557c9197b6a1ece83072043610565e_zps758c1cd6.jpg


Super happy with how it did. Some body work is needed in the rear, about the only thing I didn't enjoy was living on the super bump stops all day long. Losing some sheet metal and gaining a few inches of up travel should make a nice difference. Hitting the trails again next weekend. Possibly JB again and Holcomb Creek before the annual AAT BBQ if anyone here wants to join.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom