IFS Lift kit

[cruzizzle]

One point to note is that no matter whose kit you go with (AFAIK), expect to cut the lower right (1 of 4) bolt hole out of the frame where the original crossmember bolted in for clearance. Its pretty permanent.

 

[ajfriz]

I think that N8 and bear should have a cage match . With that aside, I've heard some good things about aftermarket tbars compared to stock. I use to work for a 4x4 suspension shop that mainly stuck with samis and toyotas. I know that some of the customers were very happy with the flex that they could pull out of aftermarket tbars compared to stock. They weren't our bars so I can't remember the brand. I will have to go over some old emails to find that out.

 

[Bear80]

By shear definition, a 25mm or 26mm will not twist as easily as a 21 mm, everything else being equal.

bkg sums it up. The only way you do not lose upward wheel travel is by using a narrow t-bar. OME is the only company that makes a narrow t-bar, at 23.5mm vs the stock 22.8mm. I think maybe Rancho has a 24mm t-bar.

I'm not saying that going to a larger t-bar is bad. I was happy with my stock suspension runnning sway-a-way 25mm bars but the potential for wheel travel was limited. What I am pointing out is that when you crank the stock t-bar to the max you effectively increase the spring rate and increase the pre-load. This is by far worse off then using a larger bar to achieve the hight.

ajfriz, I think what you are referring to is the overall benifit of new t-bars. They can handle being cranked for lift without radical pre-load while still giving adaquit travel. But if you want to upgrade the IFS for 'wheeling usally what you are looking for is flex, unless you want something like the Total Chaos kit for high speed stuff.

 

[Bear80]

Who makes the best lift kit for ifs ????????????? And is it worth lifting a ifs ??

To come back to this, you have three options:

1. SAS, not much more than a 4" bracket lift but a bit technical on your part job

2. 4" Bracket lift, gains lift with useability and most guys can install it

3. Ball joint spacer lift, cheap cheap cheap, 2" lift, adds wheel travel, moderate lift, keeps the stock street ride, job

With any of these you can clear 33" tires but the main issue is the wheel offest you run.

I have no first hand experience with a 4" bracket lift but I've heard a few good things about the superlift. Other than that, I've only seen Pro Comp and Trail Master that still sell lifts for the 1st gen IFS.

 

[bullet]

I think i'm going to look into the sas front end some more.

 

[nat88toy]

N8, I was not exactly trying to personally attack you. However, there is NO SUCH THING as flexy torsion bars other than the stock bars. If you know of a set or brand PLEASE let me know. And if you are ridding with your truck toped out on the upper a-arms you haven't been around enough. 33" tires will fit on a STOCK truck (possible pinch weld hammering needed), with the t-bars adjusted up maybe 1", no where near what you are recommending. From your pictures you also have zero front wheel travel which is useless. Just cause you have an IFS doen't mean you know what your doing.....

Wow someone forgot to take their meds . I believe what N8 was trying to say was that if you are cranking your stock torsion bars up for added lift that you are going to add to much preload to them making them stiffer. If you upgrade your torsion bars you add ride height and since they are NOT preloaded you get a much flexier ride from them. Larger torsion bars also help bottoming out after you have crested an obstacle.
I have them on my 4runner and am very happy with them they help allot with the added weight of the ARB and the Warn winch

I have wheeled with N8 in the past the truck does flex like the one in your photo you posted, those pick he posted were not very good for his description I will check my computer later for some proper photos of that trucks flex

 

[nat88toy]

So what's your point with the link Nate???? The short about the Total Chaos kit?? Seriously if that is the exent of your reading you need to do more before telling someone total BS here. PLEASE show me where it talks about the larger t-bars NOT limiting travel. Bottom line is if you are using the stock A-arms and their geomerty any bar larger than stock will KILL your designed travel. PERIOD. Been there done that. Even with my long travel kit, larger 25mm t-bars SUCK compaired to the stock bars in regard to flex. On the street and high speed it's a COMPLETELY different story.

ummm this part maybe....
Adjusting the torsion bars for 1986-1995 trucks can be the cheapest suspension mod. It is possible to simply crank up the torsion-bar preload, which in turn raises the truck, but you are effectively putting the truck on stiffer springs, and the ride quality and torsion-bar longevity will greatly suffer. Plus you still need to do something about the rear suspension. A better option is going to a larger-diameter aftermarket torsion bar, such as those offered by Sway-A-Way or Downey. Though it may seem counterproductive to go to a thicker torsion bar, think of it like a tire - a stock torsion bar that has been cranked up for more height is like a 30-inch tire at high air pressure - very hard to ride on. On the other had, a thicker torsion bar that has not been cranked up excessively is like a 36-inch tire with low pressure - it's just as tall as the 33, but rides much better. You can crank up the big torsion bars for even more height, but you will eventually ruin the ride quality again. Another bonus of the aftermarket torsion bars is that they will take more abuse from off-roading than the stock units without losing their spring rate as quickly, if at all.

 

["N8"]

I think that N8 and bear should have a cage match .


Cage match eh? Sounds like fun to me...

Heres a photo of my brother and I
by the way im the one in the back with the samuri sword.

 

[bkg]

Wow someone forgot to take their meds . I believe what N8 was trying to say was that if you are cranking your stock torsion bars up for added lift that you are going to add to much preload to them making them stiffer. If you upgrade your torsion bars you add ride height and since they are NOT preloaded you get a much flexier ride from them. Larger torsion bars also help bottoming out after you have crested an obstacle.

You are correct to mention pre-load. A thicker bar will not require as much preloading to maintain the same elevation of the truck. The reason for this is that the bar is STIFFER than the stock bar. A stiffer bar takes more to twist than a thinner bar; that's just a fact. So if a person is attempting to gain lift via torsion bars, then a non-preloaded thicker bar will likely have a lower relative spring rate than a preloaded thinner bar. Again, that's just fact.

So, when I said earlier that a thinner bar will twist more than a thicker one all things equal, that is 100% correct. But it assumes the same preload on the bars, not the same ride height.

Regardless, a person should be using cranked t-bars to gain ride-height; there are better, smarter ways.

 

[Speed_Cult]

I can vouch for the stiffer bars inhibiting flex. In fact I just went out to a little romp area that's like 5 minutes from me to see if I need to remove the rear bump stops . I have the red SAW t-bars and these pics show that the front tires were almost the same the entire time, while the rear flexed instead. These are great bars for pre-runner style romps or catching some air at the dunes. They SUCK for crawling around as you can see. I MAY run airbags up front for now as I have the most of the equipment laying around from my old mini.

I removed my grill to replace a busted light .... damn rock.

Don't let my good looks fool you (yeah right LOL), that rear tire was nearly 3 feet in the air thanks again to stiff t-bars that kept the DS front tire from compressing.

Same pic without the white gorilla LOL, seriously, see the front tire-to-fender gap? Nearly the same as when it sits in my driveway! You also can't really see the crevice under that tire that I could lay in and you wouldn't see me from that angle.

Point is that airbags would offer more flex for me right now as long as I use limiter-straps to keep from over extending the bags and tearing them. Just until I go SAS next year at tax time. Just my opinion. Sorry for the long post guys, just thought this would actually show what you're trying to say about stiffer bars limiting flex.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

Who makes the best lift kit for ifs ????????????? And is it worth lifting a ifs ??

Total Chaos makes a pretty darned good one.
http://www.chaosfab.com/gen2caddy.html
They also have a Gen3 kit with fabricated steering knuckles.

you'll probably want to reconsider a SAS...

 

[Bear80]

I'm no fan of Downey, but if someone is looking at the TC kit they should take a look at the new Downey kit. IMO the worst part of the Downey kit is the price of the axles but the prosche axles are indestructible. The TC kit will widen the track a lot and IMO should be run with coil overs, the Downey retains the t-bars and keeps the track realitivly narrow. But still price vs. flex makes a SAS better overall.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

The Downey kit uses high priced axles, and custom adapters to make them work.

TC uses T100 axles.
Available pretty much anywhere.
No adapters.

 

[slosurfer]

One more vote for bj spacers.

 

[Bear80]

The Downey kit uses high priced axles, and custom adapters to make them work.

TC uses T100 axles.
Available pretty much anywhere.
No adapters.

You do know that the TC kit is 3" wider than the Downey right?? That's just goofy and the porsche axles are waaaay stronger than stock t-100 axles.

 

[Speed_Cult]

I have to agree that having bullet-proof parts is great, but things do wear and break over time. So it all depends on what your budget allows and what you can afford to maintain.

 

[bullet]

Thanks guys fo all your input. I think i might try the ball joint spacers, they seem to be the way to go for now. The sas is alot of money, and i can't even find a axle for the swap as of yet. If you guys can think of any thing else, i'm all ears...................

 

["N8"]

Sounds like a good plan of atack, get some bj spacers down there and save up for later when you want to do some searious wheeling so you can afford that sas.

 

["N8"]

You do know that the TC kit is 3" wider than the Downey right?? That's just goofy and the porsche axles are waaaay stronger than stock t-100 axles.

dude you’ve got some misfiring going on inside that head of yours. That extra 3 inches may look goofy to your ugly ass but to all of us it means that that suspention is going to have MORE articulation. Also when you go out and snap one of those Porsche axles good luck finding one on short notice. The TC kit is probably the best ifs kit out there for now.

:shotts:

P.S. what about that cage match?

 

[Bear80]

dude you’ve got some misfiring going on inside that head of yours. That extra 3 inches may look goofy to your ugly ass but to all of us it means that that suspention is going to have MORE articulation. Also when you go out and snap one of those Porsche axles good luck finding one on short notice. The TC kit is probably the best ifs kit out there for now.

:shotts:

P.S. what about that cage match?

Stop showing what you don't know. IF you brake one of the porsche axles you should already be on a SAS. WTF about more travel, I HAVE THE SAME 12" of travel as the gen 2 caddy kit with STOCK TRACK WIDTH. Go home kid. The gen 3 kit has 17" of travel but wider is not the answer. Longer arms are significant for alignment, CV angle issues and stability.

I got your cage match right here bud

This is so far off topic now I won't respond to anything else. This is not pirate