i'm calling hack - crappy, pitted butt welds on the drop brackets means that if your lucky you'll have the equivalent of sheet metal holding your front suspension on. That combined with the open cuts for clearance make for a huge stress riser. the first thing i'd do was cut that off and have it done right.
Long: Noob with a new 80. Lift...Engineering marvel or backyard hack? You decide.
- Thread starter VacMan
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rear LC springs in 2nd gen 4runners, front LC springs in 3rd gen 4 runners. there is a reason to use them when you are on a budget...
edit: however i dont think there is a spacer available to "buy" that would match the height of the front suspension spacer anyways. lol
Take it on Rubicon. If it makes it out OK, I wouldn't be worried about it holding up.
That is just crazy that someone would do that to suspension components. I'd hate to see that control arm mount fail at freeway speeds....IIRC Js93cruiser had a control arm bolt back out and he rolled it at 70mph and is a very lucky man to be able to walk away and share his experience.
IMO if I saw that on a cruiser I would have stayed far away from it. Springs are so cheap it is beyond me why someone would add spacers/spreaders like this. Take it to a Pro and have them rip everything out and do it all over. Nothing against backyard fabricators(got some really good ones here) but this is ridiculous. I hope you get this sorted out soon for your own safety. Those welds look like a blind man did it and like others stated it lacks penetration and is full of pits.
IMO if I saw that on a cruiser I would have stayed far away from it. Springs are so cheap it is beyond me why someone would add spacers/spreaders like this. Take it to a Pro and have them rip everything out and do it all over. Nothing against backyard fabricators(got some really good ones here) but this is ridiculous. I hope you get this sorted out soon for your own safety. Those welds look like a blind man did it and like others stated it lacks penetration and is full of pits.
- Thread starter
- #25
Thanks for all the input, all. I plan on ordering a 2.5" kit ASAP but will need to find someone capable of putting in the replacement LCA bracket. Any suggestions in socal? I fairly certain I can do the rest myself.
Georg is in Socal isn't he? or is he in Norcal? Mudrack?
Checking...
Nope, Georg (orangefj45) is Norcal
Check with these guys:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/ca-socal-80s/
Others will have suggestions too...
Checking...
Nope, Georg (orangefj45) is Norcal
Check with these guys:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/ca-socal-80s/
Others will have suggestions too...
Any machine shop can do it. All you really need is someone with a welder, and grinder. Look for metal fabricators near you.
rove_mcanus suggestion of cutting off only the added on part, then welding the MAF bracket to what's left (and the frame) is a money suggestion and the route I'd go. I don't think that a drop bracket is ideal, but it'd be a lot faster (and likely cheaper) than sourcing either a replacement bracket or fabbing one from scratch.
+1, I'd weld a mild drop bracket up!!! maybe one of the MAF 2" drops... that way it isnt too much, but it will still aid in caster correction and suspension geometry retention with lift!!
Like others have said if you plan on installing a nice lift you just need to fix those brackets. There should be no shortage of good fabricators in SoCal who are willing to help a mudder. If you don't have any luck here you might try pirate.
Agree with all the others so I won't repeat in detail but I would replace/rebuild the radius arm mounts ASAP, crappy welding, crappy work all putting savings before safety. As stated above the hack cutting on the box section visible above the radius arm not only indicates the quality level of the "modification", but the right angle of the cut is a no no because it will eventually crack. The cut past it dead ending is begging to crack. 
That said otherwise it looks like you got a nice truck. Congrats.
That said otherwise it looks like you got a nice truck. Congrats.
Congrats on getting a Cruiser, but this is a hack suspension job. You're making the right decision in removing this botch job and installing a proper lift. You might actually have the first reverse "stink bug" Cruiser.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p92/timrmoore/cruiser/2012-02-21_16-52-37_877.jpg
These spacers make no sense, as others have noted, springs are not that expensive...
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p92/timrmoore/cruiser/2012-02-21_16-53-35_80.jpg
These hemorrhoid welds are hideous and shouldn't be trusted... definitely do something about those!
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p92/timrmoore/cruiser/2012-02-21_16-54-02_562.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p92/timrmoore/cruiser/2012-02-21_16-52-37_877.jpg
These spacers make no sense, as others have noted, springs are not that expensive...
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p92/timrmoore/cruiser/2012-02-21_16-53-35_80.jpg
These hemorrhoid welds are hideous and shouldn't be trusted... definitely do something about those!
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p92/timrmoore/cruiser/2012-02-21_16-54-02_562.jpg
Having a 2 yearold myself and being a welder I would not put the little ones in it myself till I got rid of that pos hackyob, absolutly no reason to hack the suspension on a stock 80, I cant see that front radius arm holding up to long? Especially with those s***ty butt welds there is absolutly no penetration on those welds unless he bevelled and did proper multiple pass welds, dead give away is the fact that those welds are protruding and are very skinny hinting at bad penetration, quality weld should be nice and flat. Get a quality lift ome, ironman, tjm. They show up used here quite often just gotta check those classifieds, btw welcome to the addiction glad to have ya here! Aside from the hackyob very clewn looking truck