70 series on an 80 frame
Build Live in Texas, drive a pickup: HDJ79 single cab build
- Thread starter bottombracket
- Start date
Member Builds and Stories
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #1,343
Yeah- remember this is an 80 frame with coil springs at all 4 corners. I’m pretty sure I have stock (and worn out) OEM Toyota springs and shocks from the original 1996 FZJ80… And with the heavy FTE and the ARB bumper on the front, it’s really quite saggy. And we can’t have saggy fronts in this household.
RevISK
SILVER Star
Ah yes, forgot about the frame sitch.
I’m collecting parts to redo the suspension in the Highlander, learning about more complicated systems whether I want to or not. Though, I did redo the suspension in my tundra but all I remember from that was how sore I was after.
G, @Broski got my wheels spinning. Go to the 80’s section and look at the suspension sticky. You only need to see the first free pages where the stats on a stock spring starts. Your front is going to be significantly heavier that your butt. Spring ratings and their flex from original free height is based on the weight of the truck, ie an 80! I’d think about weighing the trucks front and then rear, then call david otero or crickymike. With weights you could end up on a small lift front coil and a stock height rear. You could even have a stock 80 coil in the rear! I can’t remember what the compression of a stock coil is, or it it’s in the sticky. If not, you could as someone with an 80 with new TEQ springs to measure the installed length of the rear coil, then do the math to determine how much a stock spring compresses from its free height. You could end up on Dobs up front and stock rear with a spacer.
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2004
- Threads
- 187
- Messages
- 13,556
- Location
- Boise - Idaho
- Website
- www.snlandcruisers.com
Front is pretty heavy actually.
I have weighed these built on 80-series chassis too and they surprise you.
Cheers
All,
From a spring and shock perspective, it is important that one matches the shocks with the spring rate of choice. We have found that even high end Dobinson MRR shocks are over-valved for a light to medium spring rate. I cannot comment on non adjustable shocks from any vendor but given the wide range of feedback we see on the forums, one can deduce that the spring/shock valving are not matched. We also see a wide range of tires with load ratings and pressures not being set correctly for the load range, GVR and driving conditions which can further exacerbate poor ride quality.
Springs:
For leaf springs, many companies only list the payload range which should not be confused with the actual spring rate like what is typically listed for coil springs. The historical reason for this is that leaf spring packs are typically used for trucks where payload is the primary design consideration and handling is a distant second. As we mature in our use of leaf springs, we see the trend going to lighter and lighter spring packs as; 1. Loads are not as high and 2. More modern steel alloys are being used. Furthermore, we now have parabolic leaf springs on the market that take advantage of the better steels and an inherent design that significantly reduces stiction that is present in traditional leaf packs. Parabolic springs also have the advantage of much less unsprung weight due to their inherent design which again will improve the ride. All that said, they will still benefit from properly matched shock valving to take the most advantage of their potential. We will be working with Valley Hybrids and will have a set of their parabolic springs at our shop soon where we will have a NIST compliant metrology house gather the spring rate data from parabolic and Dobinson spring packs for the 70 and 60 series trucks. This will allow us to do a fair apples to apples comparison to coil springs and allow us to work with our shock vendor on appropriate valving. We will share this data on our website as soon as it becomes available. We will also be sharing this information in a dedicated thread but wanted to give some of you a heads up here.
Hope this was helpful and feel free to provide any feedback.
Cheers, James
From a spring and shock perspective, it is important that one matches the shocks with the spring rate of choice. We have found that even high end Dobinson MRR shocks are over-valved for a light to medium spring rate. I cannot comment on non adjustable shocks from any vendor but given the wide range of feedback we see on the forums, one can deduce that the spring/shock valving are not matched. We also see a wide range of tires with load ratings and pressures not being set correctly for the load range, GVR and driving conditions which can further exacerbate poor ride quality.
Springs:
For leaf springs, many companies only list the payload range which should not be confused with the actual spring rate like what is typically listed for coil springs. The historical reason for this is that leaf spring packs are typically used for trucks where payload is the primary design consideration and handling is a distant second. As we mature in our use of leaf springs, we see the trend going to lighter and lighter spring packs as; 1. Loads are not as high and 2. More modern steel alloys are being used. Furthermore, we now have parabolic leaf springs on the market that take advantage of the better steels and an inherent design that significantly reduces stiction that is present in traditional leaf packs. Parabolic springs also have the advantage of much less unsprung weight due to their inherent design which again will improve the ride. All that said, they will still benefit from properly matched shock valving to take the most advantage of their potential. We will be working with Valley Hybrids and will have a set of their parabolic springs at our shop soon where we will have a NIST compliant metrology house gather the spring rate data from parabolic and Dobinson spring packs for the 70 and 60 series trucks. This will allow us to do a fair apples to apples comparison to coil springs and allow us to work with our shock vendor on appropriate valving. We will share this data on our website as soon as it becomes available. We will also be sharing this information in a dedicated thread but wanted to give some of you a heads up here.
Hope this was helpful and feel free to provide any feedback.
Cheers, James
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2004
- Threads
- 187
- Messages
- 13,556
- Location
- Boise - Idaho
- Website
- www.snlandcruisers.com
It has coil springs what all this stuff about leaf springs??
Cheers
Cheers
Yes Ian, thanks for the feedback. I figured I’d include this as some trucks have coils up front and leafs in the rear so folks have this for future reference.
RevISK
SILVER Star
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2004
- Threads
- 187
- Messages
- 13,556
- Location
- Boise - Idaho
- Website
- www.snlandcruisers.com
Well it just seemed to have nothing to do with Galen’s build.
70-series coils are different than 80-series coils.
The parabolics are super stiff, they are rated for a lot of load, without it, they are like a brick.
I am having custom coils made for the 70/80 mashups because they can get real heavy.
Cheers
RevISK
SILVER Star
I just wrapped up a months long spring rebuild/exchange/tryout period with various leafs in my 40. I truly think each truck has it's own nuances and what I do like about sprung trucks is you can tune them brutishly.Well it just seemed to have nothing to do with Galen’s build.
70-series coils are different than 80-series coils.
The parabolics are super stiff, they are rated for a lot of load, without it, they are like a brick.
I am having custom coils made for the 70/80 mashups because they can get real heavy.
Cheers
My coiled vehicle is a cloud by comparison and I accept whatever ride it deems fit for me to have...
Basic Google Search put fully dressed motors within 25 pounds of each other. I would assume that the 70 body is lighter but have no facts to back that up.
Like others have said weighing both ends would be a good starting point.
Great job on putting this together !!
Like others have said weighing both ends would be a good starting point.
Great job on putting this together !!
- Thread starter
- #1,354
Thanks fellas.
Small moves today.
Door bumpers. Also known as cushion, front door panel. 2 per side.
Ahhhh.
Small moves today.
Door bumpers. Also known as cushion, front door panel. 2 per side.
Ahhhh.
- Thread starter
- #1,355
Suspension has been ordered. I call @orangefj45. He tells me what to do. It’s on the waaaay.
Looking forward to seeing some pics of this sweet cruiser with our Terrain Tamer suspension installed!!!!!
Georg
You need to get with AI @Broski
. It does some cool stuff on comparisons. Doing a 60 body on 80 chassis. Wanted to see how 60 vs 80 ARB bumpers fit. AI did this in 2 mins. 
.
- Thread starter
- #1,358
I have tried to stay out of the AI world, but I have reluctantly started using ChatGPT to try to find the correct circuit trace for the cluster… kinda creepy that Chatty figured out who I was.
"I resemble that remark"! Broski and I are about the same age from what I can tell and we've never met, but I really want to meet him and to see what I think is one of coolest 80's out there. Some of the older dogs just learned on our own and may never adopt transformational change like AI at the later stages of lifeYou need to get with AI @Broski
View attachment 4201574
Carry on ....
RevISK
SILVER Star
I’ve met both of you and I wouldn’t be surprised if you became fast friends.
Y’all are like kiwi fruit, a little prickly on the outside but perfectly tart on the inside and great in smoothies.