If I was to start all over again, I would...

[richardlillard1]

Everyone I know run factory bumps with 315s. You could space them down, some have, but really don't need to.

When I lowered the truck from J springs with a spacer in front at a little over 5" of lift, to just the J springs at right around 4" of lift, my front drive line vibrations, what little there were to begin with, went away. This is also a common setup that a lot of guys here in AZ run and they don't get front drive line vibrations.

So why waste your time with a body lift that fails to get important s*** like rear driveshafts or lower control arm frame mounts out of the rocks (the latter of which will stop the truck on ledges and big enough rocks) for such a marginal gain of what your ass in the seat perceives as stability?

I've seen my buddy with a 6" lift, no sway bars, roof rack, etc. put his rig WAY more off camber than mine through stuff.

Oh, and he got tired of blowing up Spicer s***, so he's running the factory front drive shaft too.

 

[Heckraiser]

I'm going to update my answer to "keep the cheap and easy 4runner"

 

[richardlillard1]

Agree.

If I kept it long-term, I bet a set of Longfields & - few other goods would have robbed my wallet.

I only gripe about my OME shocks, may change to King at some point but bottom line the 3.5-4" lift & 315's seems the sweet spot if you still want ro run 65-70 MPH down a highway.

More than 3" lift & you're doing alot of correction parts, let alone the 3rd member gears for that league of rubber.

Disgree.

Why would you need Longfields? For the grease zerk on the end? About ten trucks out here (probably more, but rough estimate) have run 37s, have for years, stock birfs, none have broken because of the large tires. Generally due to misuse or neglect that was from the previous owners of the vehicles, not the current one.

Are you saying that larger than 3.5-4" lift & 315s can't run 65-70 mph on the highway? Because I've got some news...

What correction parts do you need for more than 3" of lift? Castor correction of some sort, but what else? All the other modifications we do for those lifts are to address down travel that exceeds what things like stock brake lines can handle, bump stops for larger tires than the factory bump stops can handle, etc.

So I don't see the point in all the extra BS?

 

[richardlillard1]

I'm going to update my answer to "keep the cheap and easy 4runner"

Don't buy all the pointless crap mud tells you to buy and the Land Cruiser can be cheap and easy, too.

 

[imhighlander]

Exactly my setup. In the spirit of the thread, THAT'S what I wish I had done first. Instead, I tinkered with four different suspension setups before settling on this.

• I started with the "original ride height" OMEs and went to 285s.
• Then went OME Heavy/Heavy with a front spacer.
• Then went to OME Heavy/Medium with front and rear spacers
• Then went to OME Heavy/Medium with front spacer only and went to 315 Duratracs
• Finally settled on that suspension and added 1" Roger Brown body lift.

I wasted a bit of money but fortunately found good guys to trade parts with or buy from as they made changes, so at least I didn't pay full freight. The silver lining is that with all that suspension silliness I got really good at understanding the truck.

Other things I would do differently:

• Deflare sooner. If you enjoy the rig it eventually happens anyway. (At least in Colorado.)
• Buy toggle impact sockets
• Follow the FSM verbatim. At all times. I don't know how many times I thought I understood it, ran into an issue, consulted the FSM and had to redo a job.
• Learn to weld

 

[LINUS]

Disgree.

Why would you need Longfields? For the grease zerk on the end? About ten trucks out here (probably more, but rough estimate) have run 37s, have for years, stock birfs, none have broken because of the large tires. Generally due to misuse or neglect that was from the previous owners of the vehicles, not the current one.

Are you saying that larger than 3.5-4" lift & 315s can't run 65-70 mph on the highway? Because I've got some news...

What correction parts do you need for more than 3" of lift? Castor correction of some sort, but what else? All the other modifications we do for those lifts are to address down travel that exceeds what things like stock brake lines can handle, bump stops for larger tires than the factory bump stops can handle, etc.

So I don't see the point in all the extra BS?

My personal LX450 was on J's & spacers ,5.29's & ARB lockers, 37" Boggers & I was constantly fighting worn out u-joints, repacking / swapping birfs, and not surprisingly, it was best just to stay around 60 max on the highway. I was buying used birfs, but they were decent - but I went through 2 sets on a 80 that in hindsight would have benefitted from Longs from a maint standpoint.

I don't know where you live, but here wheeling means inertia & just trying not to break traction on wet surfaces. The Moab guys get to go slow & articulate over/around rocks - we basically have to skip rocks / bounce off stuff if you want to more than just cruise fire / logging roads. The tire size / need for Longs isn't a hard & fast rule since we have easily as many types of wheeling as we do terrain in the States alone. Here in Coastal WA, if you are on more than fire roads & running 37"+ tire, Longs are a smart invest when you wear out some birfs - even just jumping East across the Cascades I would need to rethink Longs, thats how fast environmental changes dictate how I'd spend a fixed amount of money.

The rest of your post is 100% what I do with my black 4" Slee /315's 80 - I absolutely agree they do 65-70 on the highway safely, so I don't see how that got tossed my way as a disagreement.

Lastly my 40th is on 360K stock springs & it's fun having had 3 very different 80's & seeing how little work we really need to do to any 80 - really, sliders & a winch would be the 2 needed mods - that would be all I'd do if I planned to use my 40th on mild trails & fire roads regularly or didn't have the black 80.

 

[SmokingRocks]

Buy a 10th scale RC land cruiser.... Much cheaper

 

[TexasJack]

My personal LX450 was on J's & spacers ,5.29's & ARB lockers, 37" Boggers & I was constantly fighting worn out u-joints, repacking / swapping birfs, and not surprisingly, it was best just to stay around 60 max on the highway. I was buying used birfs, but they were decent - but I went through 2 sets on a 80 that in hindsight would have benefitted from Longs from a maint standpoint.

I don't know where you live, but here wheeling means inertia & just trying not to break traction on wet surfaces. The Moab guys get to go slow & articulate over/around rocks - we basically have to skip rocks / bounce off stuff if you want to more than just cruise fire / logging roads. The tire size / need for Longs isn't a hard & fast rule since we have easily as many types of wheeling as we do terrain in the States alone. Here in Coastal WA, if you are on more than fire roads & running 37"+ tire, Longs are a smart invest when you wear out some birfs - even just jumping East across the Cascades I would need to rethink Longs, thats how fast environmental changes dictate how I'd spend a fixed amount of money.

The rest of your post is 100% what I do with my black 4" Slee /315's 80 - I absolutely agree they do 65-70 on the highway safely, so I don't see how that got tossed my way as a disagreement.

Lastly my 40th is on 360K stock springs & it's fun having had 3 very different 80's & seeing how little work we really need to do to any 80 - really, sliders & a winch would be the 2 needed mods - that would be all I'd do if I planned to use my 40th on mild trails & fire roads regularly or didn't have the black 80.

I ran stock from 97 to 2010 and wheeled a lot! When I started to bend my running boards and got stuck in the mud too often, I started trying to find people who knew how to modify an 80 for maximum performance. Mud was a primary source. When I started modifying the vehicle I simply went with the IPOR 3.5 inch lift and it worked fine until I started adding significant armor and a heavy toolbox (weight). At that point, I decided I wanted air lockers so I regeared when adding the lockers and went to the Slee 4 inch lift so I could get everything back to stock alignment. The on highway ride and off-road performance are both significantly better with these additions.

 

[Comet]

Deflare, remove running boards, not get an ARB bumper, 255 instead of 285, remove all carpeting and power wash, new leather and foam in seats, actually pull the engine sooner to fix all the leaks (easier than kneeling on a board), line-x (or equivalent) the deflared wheel wells, shave weight any way I could. Winch in the stock bumper. Basically simplify everything I could so less issues later on.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Winch in the stock bumper. Basically simplify everything I could so less issues later on.

I never thought of a winch in the stock bumper. Don't think I've even ever seen that.

 

[math]

I never thought of a winch in the stock bumper. Don't think I've even ever seen that.

Very common on overseas 80's, I wonder how different our own stock bumpers are.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

The Rover people do it some also.

 

[Notch]

I never thought of a winch in the stock bumper. Don't think I've even ever seen that.

Warn Zeon 10-S in stock bumper.

 

[bugsnbikes]

i would simply have set up direct deposit with Dan or beno with my work.....

 

[ZackR]

Warn Zeon 10-S in stock bumper.

Now that's a clean look! It passes for a factory install.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I never thought of a winch in the stock bumper. Don't think I've even ever seen that.

@ChaseTruck also did it '93 80 vs. '97 LX

 

[paladek]

yeap.... one in a while you can find it on Japan/Europe ebay, craigslist, amazon sites (https://www.amazon.co.jp/TOYOTA-純正部品-ウインチASSY-ランドクルーザー-品番38110-60174/dp/B01M0GPDSV for example)
kind of pricey.....

or amayama.....3811060174 - Search Results - Search for Genuine Parts - Amayama Trading Co.

regards,

 

[ChaseTruck]

@ChaseTruck also did it '93 80 vs. '97 LX

Disclaimer: I didn't get to try it out before the Slee shortbus bumper went on...

 

[Tennessee Jed]

@ChaseTruck also did it '93 80 vs. '97 LX

That's slick as a lizard.

 

[SCDreamer]

I would have gotten a nicer starting point. I spent more making mine half as a good as a clean one than it would have cost me to go that route to start.

I would not have done a diesel swap.

Maybe I'm a little late to the party, but I honestly really enjoyed your build thread and those most recent pics you put up in the snow were pretty darn cool. Do you still feel like you shouldn't have done the diesel swap? Being the noob that I am I still have pipe dreams of one day doing a 6BT swap...