HZJ77 front leaf to 76/80 series style front suspension conversion questions (1 Viewer)

[cruisermatt]

My build thread that lays it all out is annoying?

Yo bro, I got nothing for ya than!


Cheers

I read that as, annoying that he wouldn't be able to easily use the free 80 axle

 

[OGBeno]

Maybe @woody can chime in on why that's not accessible

As stated earlier in this thread, if you can’t see a thread, that person has blocked you on MUD.

 

[woody]

Maybe @woody can chime in on why that's not accessible

The thread was deleted by the OP.

 

[Loober]

Thats a bummer, someone else was the OP of it, lots of good info lost.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

I read that as, annoying that he wouldn't be able to easily use the free 80 axle

Yes, that's what I meant. I definitely didn't mean that @SNLC's thread was annoying! It was so informational! Sorry if you thought that man, it definitely wasn't my intention!!

 

[SNLC]

Yes, that's what I meant. I definitely didn't mean that @SNLC's thread was annoying! It was so informational! Sorry if you thought that man, it definitely wasn't my intention!!

Hey no worries, I was probably grumpy from Land Cruisers that day.

Cheers

 

[Loober]

As far as the ROI of doing this conversion. Of course I am bias, but there is a reason why leaf springs, at least in the front, were phased out by manufacturers nearly 30 years ago. The ride, handling, stability and safety is much improved. Sure the purest can say, thats not how Toyota built them back in that day and we should respect that and enjoy them they way Toyota intended.

Personally, I use my cruiser for long trips not just around town once a month. So I need it to perform on a similar level as say a modern 4runner. Every upgrade I have done is towards that end goal. But it is also very important for me to maintain the livery of Toyota, therefore I strive to stay true to utilizing Toyota parts and technology, leveraging their evolution from more modern eras. The 1HDFT swap was my first major upgrade along those lines.

For the coil conversion, I get comments like why didnt you go some aftermarket 3 link or 4 link option, it would have been cheaper and performed better. Mimicking the 79 series design is how Toyota would have built it if it was a little bit younger, so I stayed true to that.

To sum it up, I wouldn't say its leaps and bounds better, but it gets it closer to my goal for it than leaf springs ever could. I would say its feel is close to a stock 80 series. Which by no means is a gold standard but a significant improvement from where it started...in my opinion.

I am collecting parts and planning to do the rear soon.

 

[FJ73Texas]

My ROI comment was based on the soon availability of the HZJ76. It just seems to be a more cost effective and easier way to get that coil sprung suspension you want.

Who am I to say what you are to do with your time and money? 70 series cruisers here in the states are time consuming money pits no matter what. I don't even want to know what I have spent total over the years on the past two I owned and the one I own now. Also I went into this game as a purist myself but I don't feel that way too much anymore.

 

[Rigster]

Hey no worries, I was probably grumpy from Land Cruisers that day.

Cheers

Wait... that's even possible??


lol

 

[African]

Iv explored the option but for now I’ll just keep my teeth clenched so that no fillings fall out.

I think if I was going to really put in the effort I would put a 70 series body on a 80 series chassis

 

[bjowett]

I’m currently gathering parts for this… likely swap to 5 lug at the same time.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

@FJ73Texas … “Coil sprung heavy duty 70 series are almost legal for import starting with the JDM HZJ76 models, right”?
———————————————————————————————
Aren‘t 76 Series coil front, leaf spring rear to this day?

 

[FJ73Texas]

@FJ73Texas … “Coil sprung heavy duty 70 series are almost legal for import starting with the JDM HZJ76 models, right”?
———————————————————————————————
Aren‘t 76 Series coil front, leaf spring rear to this day?

Yeah. Just saying the JDM ones are almost legal for US import if I am not mistaken. Did they start in 1999 or 2000 for JDM?

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Yeah. Just saying the JDM ones are almost legal for US import if I am not mistaken. Did they start in 1999 or 2000 for JDM?

I think you are correct, at least the petrol and 1HZ models.

 

[JuanJ]

Yeah. Just saying the JDM ones are almost legal for US import if I am not mistaken. Did they start in 1999 or 2000 for JDM?

Hello,

They started in 1999 for all markets. Over 20 years ago. Time passes...

I would wait a little and I would get myself a coil sprung 76 Series. But that is just me.

A good suspension setup, complete with greaseable everything and lumbar support for the driver seat is a good alternative to changing front leaf springs to coils and suspension arms. I did that for my 73 Series and it worked great.





Juan

 

[MyCruiserisaHogBeast]

Decided to doom scroll through 'Mud this morning. I have worked in the off road aftermarket for years for both manufacturers and builders, I'm currently the GM for a fancy mostly Jeep shop in the Denver area...

You can get 90% of the benefits of going to coils by doing a small lift with nice aftermarket springs and shocks. My BJ74 on OME leaves and shocks drove great and was very comfy. I advocate for a small lift for most rigs because it allows you some space between the axle and bump stops, allowing the suspension to work. My advice to 95% percent of people coming to me looking to update a vintage rig is that if it came with leaf springs, best off spending a little bit of money on a nice leaf set up, investing in good springs and shocks, leaving you with money to do other updates. If you wanted to get fancy you can push your rear spring mounts back for a longer, flatter spring. Shackle reversals do help ride quality although they tend to cause nose dive.

The only exception to this is if you want to build some super high performance off road rig. If that were the case skip over springs and just go to a coil over/4 link or radius arm set up using easier to source quality aftermarket parts (I'm not super into radius arms for something with a lot of suspension travel that spends a lot of time on the street because of caster change during suspension cycling, but that's another debate for another time). Coil overs are race car parts and require race car type set up and maintenance, but once they are dialed you get a level of versatility that you can't get out of more basic set ups. If that's your thing it would be easier to source parts and create something better than the factory every came up with, performance wise, and you can choose your own adventure in regards to parts (I straight axle'd an explorer years ago using an XJ long arm 4 link set up for instance). Even the best, most well executed set ups like this are usually at the sacrifice of reliability. Toyota spent millions of dollars engineering Land Cruisers to be bulletproof, often at the expense of fun, excitement, and performance, a trend that continues to this day. Stock = reliable. Every step away from how it came from the factory means more custom stuff to do, and the potential for having to reengineer some aspect of the chassis to do something it wasn't mean to do. All this being said if I were to build an old wheeler, I'd still probably keep it leaf spring.

My $.02 but I have some experience in this arena, so figured I'd chime in.

 

[bjowett]

Leaf springs, IME, always come up short on some level… but they are simple and durable.

I was going to pick these up, but the seller won’t supply any close up high resolution pictures. I’m not spending 5 hours round trip to find all the knuckles and bearings full of water and rust. New or clean take off parts will build my future axles.

5 lug 70 Series axles.

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