Builds HDJ80 LHD #snlcbuilt Ute (pickup)

[SNLC]

You're 7/10 of the way there to a linked suspension you might as well just go links... As you know the stock suspension has good road manners but falls a little short off-road compared to a 3 link. Coilovers are expensive but unlimited spring rates, easy to adjust ride height, don't have to worry about the spring falling out with extreme droop. As far as you have come might as well go all the way...

And at the beginning of this thread I was in the just get it together and go enjoy it! lol

I just don’t want to go all in, especially with Toyota axles and an 8” most of all. It’s a deep rabbit hole which from my experience having owned a linked “crawler” it’s a never ending battle to get to do it all and in the end I want to be able to do 2-3,000 mile road trips in this Cruiser without “white knuckling” it the whole way. Trails where I can really take advantage of a 3-link and c/o’s are 20% or less of the uses for me.

I wouldn’t mind linking it but would keep it coils and standard shocks. Coil spring retainers and or limit straps suffice to keep the coil springs from falling out. I just don’t want to spend the cash to got all out either. It’s not just coil overs, it’s the 4WU 3-link kit, it’s HellFire knuckles, blah blah.

I plan to run the new Fox remote resi shocks with compression and rebound adjustment. Not sure yet if that will be 12” or 14” but there will be some bling here and a lot of custom fab in the build for what I have in mind.

Cheers

 

[OffRoadScott]

I think for the Aussies the flip gets them caster, ground clearance, um what else?

For me it gets me ground clearance #1. I can set the caster to whatever I want with the Diamond axle and the knuckle balls just tacked. As long as there is no conflict tie rod to radius arms, which in a standard 80 series radius arm set up you can only rotate so much for caster before it’s a problem, aftermarket arms help. With flipped arms I would never have the same issue with tie rod to arms when it comes to setting caster so I suppose that is my #2 gain here.

For me the point of the “super flex” arm was to hopefully avoid modifying the panhard mount on the axle. As you noted these arms are going to limit up travel to much so my original plan is no go. Different arms perhaps but I am not buying more arms to find out. There is an Aussie “flip kit” which includes arms and utilizes an arm similar to the super flex I got. I tried to buy their kit but got no responses so went with the Superior instead. Sometimes you need to be willing to experiment and try new things, even if they don’t play out. That’s how you figure things out without someone spoon feeding you, in my opinion of course.

All in now regardless!

Cheers

I am super interested in seeing how this whole swap goes. I have been intrigued by the Superior Engineering Hyper Flex arms for my 80 but I am also weighing the idea of a traditional 3 link or 3 link using the factory coil springs/shocks similar to what @BayArea80 did.

 

[SNLC]

Moved 2” forwards.

Roughly center

That’s some pretty sexy ground clearance!

I am going to make my own radius arm mounts on the axle so just using the old ones to get a clearer picture here. I think I will also make new mounts on the axle for the coil bucket “hats”. I tried to get some steel Friday but the local supply house was closed.

It’s a lot of work to just move it all forward 2” but I do really like how much the front axle will be forward of the engine weight.

The whole original plan here was to gain some ground clearance and just try something new I have never done. The point was also to not mess with the panhard but that is not happening now. I am definitely going to have to move the panhard forward and will probably fab the whole thing. Going to have to move the steering box forward as well. I think I am going to plate both outer frame rails too. In the end I don’t gain a ton of benefits but I do gain some that are significant and this is cheap to do, just a bunch of labor. I have an endless supply of stock radius arms too!

Cheers

 

[mudgudgeon]

I like the idea of shifting the axle forward.

Personally think this would be improved by keeping the chassis mount in the stock location and customising some radius arms.

A buddy had a cruiser with 4" longer fabbed radius arms cut from bisalloy80
It had a heap more flex in the front than stock arms, and still had road manners.

 

[SNLC]

Here is the final for my weekend.

It’s all at what I want ride height to be. I have 5” up travel to the coil bump stops and 7” before the radius arms hit the frame. I have some 12” Fox eye to eye shocks around I use for mock up, didn’t dig them out yet. Same for the 79-series steering box, didn’t dig it out yet. Pondering ideas for my sway bar now which will be interesting.

I will get some steel tomorrow and keep on keeping on.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

A couple more advantages to all this work, much more clearance for tire to fire wall / back of wheel well and a very nice approach angle.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

A few pics from the other side where there is a little more room for a good pic.

I am liking it as far as axle location.

I have actually had it in my mind all along to carve this area up vs the back of the wheel well. I still might have to do both to clear 40’s but to me the front is easier and is more “wasted” body easily eliminated.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Yes, I like it.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

I am super interested in seeing how this whole swap goes. I have been intrigued by the Superior Engineering Hyper Flex arms for my 80 but I am also weighing the idea of a traditional 3 link or 3 link using the factory coil springs/shocks similar to what @BayArea80 did.

View attachment 3671151

I didn’t look much on purpose!

That’s definitely sweet and not off the table for me yet. I am just not doing coil overs at this time (seriously, I am not!), otherwise game on $$$ depending.

Cheers

 

[OffRoadScott]

I didn’t look much on purpose!

That’s definitely sweet and not off the table for me yet. I am just not doing coil overs at this time (seriously, I am not!), otherwise game on $$$ depending.

Cheers

Yeah that is why I am seriously considering the 3 link setup that Bayarea80 did. He still has the factory coil springs and shocks. I understand it limits the amount of flex but here in AZ I do not do a ton of rock crawling plus the cost difference is amazing.

If you want send me a PM with your email and I can send you a spread sheet of the parts and where to source them.

 

[SNLC]

Alright, I have decided, am sticking to the plan and not 3-linking it. There is certainly cheaper ways to do it than the 4WU kit but it still adds up. I am building this so if I want to hack it all off and 3-link it later it won’t be to difficult.

I have got shock towers in route as well as axle side shock mounts. I may change it up on the frame side coil buckets, meaning I may dump the 80-series. I have 70-series frame side coil buckets here which are beefier than the 80-series and 70-series coil springs are 5” diameter vs 80-series 6” diameter. Just as many options for coils too as far as spring rates and lift, I even have some new OME lifted 70-series coils (2-3” iirc) on the shelf.

I have decided on shocks too, 2.5 remote resi Fox with a 7/8” shaft and compression adjusters for high/low speed. I will run 12” in front and perhaps 14” in the rear. Like I have mentioned, going to eye to eye on my shocks. Real expensive shocks but still cheaper than coil overs by a fair amount. I need to figure out a few more details before I order them up, the mock up 2.0 12” Fox I have here will give that info.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

I like the idea of shifting the axle forward.

Personally think this would be improved by keeping the chassis mount in the stock location and customising some radius arms.

A buddy had a cruiser with 4" longer fabbed radius arms cut from bisalloy80
It had a heap more flex in the front than stock arms, and still had road manners.

Problem I see with that is binding of the panhard bushes and making the coil springs ride in a big arch, ie rest all bowed at ride height. Something commonly seen with a bunch of lift too. I also don’t know how you wouldn’t have issues with panhard into drag link.

Don’t know of any radius arms made (besides custom) that push the axle forward more than an inch. This I believe is due to #1 causing binding on the panhard bushes and #2 panhard to drag link clearance, in particular at full lock for stuff and droop.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

I have probably posted this truck in previous pages, I checked page one and didn’t there! I have definitely shared it here on mud over the years in various threads.

And a video from 15yrs ago detailing the build. Skip to the 3:52 mark if you want to see the kind of flex it was capable of.



So ya that was 15yrs ago now, it had all the goodies and more. 2” solid 7075 aluminum links long before they were a “thing”. 1.5” hems, triangulated 4-link rear, 40’s, bead locks, 16” coil overs, hydro bumps, full hydro steering, portals, cutting brakes and a lot more. I ran some way hard trails in it including in Moab. In the end it was a trailer queen and was good at pretty much one thing, off-roading. It sucked pretty hard on the street and forget doing any kind of highway driving. It would easily run with the best trucks here on mud on the hardest trails barring full on buggies. Super rare truck for the USA too, there was at most a half dozen of those in the country when we built it. Ya it’s kind of an old school build and the portals made it tall but it was the any ways!

I get a lot of this is all the rave these days on 80-series. 3-link, coil overs, 7075 aluminum steering, hydro assist blah blah blah. Been there and done that though and I am not really looking to ever build another one. I would just buy a built $10-15k mini truck if I wanted a rock crawling trailer queen.

So I am far from new to all this guys and if I sound grumpy in a post, maybe it’s because you are trying to school me on things I have zero need for schooling on. Ya know the, “hey radius arms don’t flex man” kind of posts. No doubt! Not a newb and far from my first rodeo.

Just for clarification!

Cheers

 

[mudgudgeon]

Problem I see with that is binding of the panhard bushes and making the coil springs ride in a big arch, ie rest all bowed at ride height. Something commonly seen with a bunch of lift too. I also don’t know how you wouldn’t have issues with panhard into drag link.

Don’t know of any radius arms made (besides custom) that push the axle forward more than an inch. This I believe is due to #1 causing binding on the panhard bushes and #2 panhard to drag link clearance, in particular at full lock for stuff and droop.

Cheers

Maybe. Not sure about the panhard.

My buddy used to run 6" springs for wheeling and 3" springs if he was using it on road

The coils would arch less on compression due to larger radius that the axle/radius arm moves through. The line the axle moves up and down on would be more vertical, less curved.

No one makes longer radius arms because there's no demand. The truck I'm talking about was highly modified

 

[mudgudgeon]

Cool video record of the Nissan.
What happened to it? You sell it?

I hope your grump comment ain't directed at me?
I have no intention of telling you how to suck eggs.
I find your comments on other possibilities interesting. Hopefully others do too.

 

[SNLC]

Cool video record of the Nissan.
What happened to it? You sell it?

I hope your grump comment ain't directed at me?
I have no intention of telling you how to suck eggs.
I find your comments on other possibilities interesting. Hopefully others do too.

Haha man you Aussies crack me up sometimes!

“I have no intention of telling you how to suck eggs”.



Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Maybe. Not sure about the panhard.

My buddy used to run 6" springs for wheeling and 3" springs if he was using it on road

The coils would arch less on compression due to larger radius that the axle/radius arm moves through. The line the axle moves up and down on would be more vertical, less curved.

No one makes longer radius arms because there's no demand. The truck I'm talking about was highly modified

Absolutely an issue with panhard, it is angle of a certain kind of dangle and changing that more than an inch will cause a lot of bind on the bushes. You will only push it so far before you are seriously fighting the bushes to get it where you want. It was designed by Toyota to ride at a very specific angle to the dangle and modifying not just in relation to the drag link but also off kilter between the frame rails and occupies the same space as the steering box on the frame. If you look at any 1999+ coil spring 70-series you will see Toyota separated the panhard from the steering box, thus removing most of the issue of cracked frames around both. Any ways, it all just barely fits as Toyota designed it be it stock or lifted, start modifying that and it doesn’t fit real fast. This is all why it sucks to not go the 3-link, high steering, y-link cross over steering and why most don’t do this (I will admit) funky conversion I am doing!

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Cool video record of the Nissan.
What happened to it? You sell it?

I hope your grump comment ain't directed at me?
I have no intention of telling you how to suck eggs.
I find your comments on other possibilities interesting. Hopefully others do too.

I parted the Pootroll during the economic crash here and its aftermath. By 2012 there wasn’t much left besides the body, chassis engine/trans and axles. I parted the last of it in 2016 when I did a life change and tossed the body and frame for recycling.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

For visuals on what I am blah’ing on about see this.

Take note of the axle to panhard angles of the dangles, now image that pushed 4” forward with nothing other than radius arms.

Ya not happening.

Not picking on you @mudgudgeon by any means or trying to nick pick your statements just pointing it out. It’s not a go. I wouldn’t be doing all this if there was an easier solution, once I decided to go forward more than an inch I basically decided to go all in.

Any ways it has been scorching here lately so could not stay after hours.

Took the dog for a nice walk and swim just before sunset and came back down to the shop to air it out (cool it off) and work on my cad brackets!

Thinking 5/16’s on these and will cap the bottom to the axle tube. Have a bit more in mind too but for now will keep it

Going to plate the frame rails with 3/16’s, 1/4” is to burly.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Here is a couple more pics since I am sitting here next to it. Toyota did some at the least a little funkiness in their front suspension design and packaging. We could probably argue for a few pages in the thread as to why they did this, is it packaging? Is it to balance torque on the axle from coil springs and shocks?

The coil buckets are off set on the axle tube on your 80-series front axle.

That’s fine but since I am half arse redesigning this, I cut the coil spring “hat” off and will mount it centered on the axle tube.

Cheers