Help with 3-link on '99 4-Runner (9 Viewers)

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

I'd call Brian at FROR/Diamond and double check your steering stop measurement. I've always heard a 6" ram is what you need on a toy axle.
 
I did talk to Brian the other day as well as Bobby L. These guys have a good business connection but the exact answer was not the same across the board. That being said, I think I probably run the 6" ram (unless I can get a custom length for the same $). Thanks to you all for the help.
 
I got a little time last night to work on the bumpstops. Here's a pic before tacking them on.
DSC00823.jpg
And tacked in place. The bumps contact about an inch before absolute bottum out. Hopefully this cushion will keep the panhard from becoming part of the oil pan.
DSC00825.jpg
DSC00823.jpg
DSC00825.jpg
 
Thanks Qtipp. I cycled the suspension after tacking and I think the plates on the arms will work well. The only thing is whether it's better to have the plates flat at full compression/full droop or full compression/both sides as you cannot have it both ways. I'm still thinking flat striking plates at full compression both sides will be better because I'm thinking these will be the hardest hits. That being said I am not planning on jumping this truck. Any thoughts?

Lenross1, the steering arms are Allpro's forged chromoly arms.
 
Well it's been hard to find any time for the Heepetr with the holidays and all but I was able to make some progess with a little help today. I changed my panhard bar a bit and found that with a slight bend near the frame I was able to gain about another inch of compression. Here's a pic of the old one (top) and the one I'll be using.
DSC00832.JPG
Next order of business was to address something that has been on my mind for a while. I've got two verticle posts off of my bumper that hold the hinges for the tire carrier and also mount the brake light guards. I have decided to tie them into the cage to stiffen the rear bumper and cage at the same time. Here the old tube caps are being cut off by a friend so that we can sleeve the two together. I have to be able to bolt or pin this connection because unfortunatly the only way to change a burnt brake light is to drop the entire rear bumper.
DSC00833.jpg
I bent up some 1.75"x.120 tube to make the connection. DSC00841.jpg
DSC00832.JPG
DSC00833.jpg
DSC00841.jpg
 
These are the pieces in place. I wasn't able to finish these today because I didn't have any tube for the sleeve but hopefully next week I'll get them burned in and painted.
DSC00839.jpg
Thanks to Motorhead Mike's I was also able to get the front coilover hoops bent up this last week. These are 1.75" x .120 DOM. The upper radius was a little bigger than I would have liked but as tight as the bender would allow.
DSC00834.jpg
Here's the engine bay with the fenders cut for the hoops. It's a bit hard to see but I gave up a lot of inner fender. Once I get the hoops tacked in I'm going to have to spend some time reworking everything that used to sit there.
DSC00837.jpg
DSC00839.jpg
DSC00834.jpg
DSC00837.jpg
 
It broke my heart but I had to clearance the ARB bumper today to make room for the tires at turn. Here are the before and after pictures.:frown:
DSC00843.jpg
DSC00844.jpg
DSC00843.jpg
DSC00844.jpg
 
I also got a little more done on the coilover hoops today. I made these block from some 3/16" plate to mount the tubes off of the frame.
DSC00842.JPG
This is the driver side hoop tacked in place for some measurements. Once I finally got enough fender cut out to get these in place I learned I'd cut out far too much.:bang: This is going to make putting everything back in a p.i.t.a.. Only good news is that the hoops sit inward far enough I won't have to relocate as much stuff as I originally thought.
DSC00845.jpg
DSC00842.JPG
DSC00845.jpg
 
I returned from working out of town to find some goodies had arrived from Summit. With the rear 4-link there's no way to keep the stock tank so I'll be using this 16 gallon cell and a Mallory fuel injection pump. I wanted to keep the cell under the truck and between the frame rails but the only cell I could find that would fit was an aluminum one from RCI. After talking with them it was decided that was a bad idea due to the risk of it cracking and the fuel starvation issues. Instead I found myself with this plastic one that will require me to cut out the rear bed and try to recess it as much as possible to save storage space.:rolleyes:
DSC00846.jpg
DSC00846.jpg
 
Here's the rear floor before the cut for the fuel cell and coilovers.
DSC00847.jpg
And here it is after cutting. The cell is going to mount the long way down the middle and the coilovers will pass through the floor on the outsides. I still need to fab up the mounts for the tank and coilovers. I was going to run 18" coilovers in the rear but am thinking that with inboarding them I might only need 16"s?
DSC00849.jpg
DSC00847.jpg
DSC00849.jpg
 
In IMHO I think you should go with air bumps

I am no expert but I have felt both types of bumps and I think you would like the benifits and adjustablity of bump stops


Keep up the good work


Thanks Qtipp. I cycled the suspension after tacking and I think the plates on the arms will work well. The only thing is whether it's better to have the plates flat at full compression/full droop or full compression/both sides as you cannot have it both ways. I'm still thinking flat striking plates at full compression both sides will be better because I'm thinking these will be the hardest hits. That being said I am not planning on jumping this truck. Any thoughts?

Lenross1, the steering arms are Allpro's forged chromoly arms.
 
Qtipp, I would love to go to air bumps eventually. Unfortunatly for now it's just too much $$$. I'm still trying to figure out how to pay for the coilovers. Anybody want to sponsor me?:D
 
I've received a lot more stuff over the last few days. Thanks a bunch to Dan at Ruff Stuff I finally got the rear caliper brackets for the disc brake conversion. Also I picked up my rear drive shaft that Joe at Missoula Driveline retubed 2" longer. I also received the coilover tabs, all the stuff for the hydro assist from PSC, and my high output ARB compressor from Marlin Crawler.
DSC00853.jpg
I needed to fab up a mounting plate for the fuel cell so I started with a piece of 1/8" plate.
DSC00850.jpg
To make it a little more rigid I welded pieces of 1/8" strap to the bottum and cut out a section for the sump. I'm going to bolt it to some 1 1/4" angle welded to the frame so that the cell carrier will be removable. This picture is before primer.
DSC00851.jpg
DSC00853.jpg
DSC00850.jpg
DSC00851.jpg
 
I worked on the power steering stuff this evening and got most of it done; I still have to mount the ram this weekend. I've seen alot on here and on Pirate about the issue of mounting the steering resevoir so I figured I post up what I did. I wanted the resevoir as close as possible to the stock setup so I fabbed up a bracket that would use one of the air box bolts and one of the radiator bolts.
DSC00854.jpg
This allowed me to mount the resevoir almost directly over the PSC pump. I like the way it turned out. The one problem is that it was so close it was hard to get the fittings set up just right so that the hose didn't kink. The fittings from PSC are huge and the pump and resevoir are only inches apart.:idea:
DSC00855.jpg
DSC00854.jpg
DSC00855.jpg
 
There's some phenomenal attention to detail going into this build; nice work! You seem disheartened by the lack of response a couple of times, but I hope it doesn't really get to you, those of us who are inspired by your work really appreciate the time you are taking to document everything, even if we can't help along the way
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom