So I just bought a CE 1997 FZJ80 from @flow. He was generous enough to sell me the fruits of his labors. The advert can be seen here.
I'm not new to Toyota's, but I am a fairly novice mechanic. I've previously owned a 1995 Pickup, 1985 FJ60 (all too briefly), and a 1988 Samurai (that was mostly Toyota). I've been hunting for the right LC for awhile now, and I'm sorry if I wasted anyone's time in the classifieds section here at mud.
Things I'm looking to take care of first and foremost:
Let's just start with the caster correction:
@flow was generous enough to pass down all of the associated paperwork, and part of that paperwork was an alignment sheet. The previous alignment showed a caster of about .3 with the current ~4" of lift (I can get a more accurate measurement tomorrow).
I've read a couple different ways to get the correct amount of caster. Seems to be bushings, caster correction plates, and new radius arms. I'm not a welder, yet, so I don't think I'll be doing the washer-mod...
I crawled under tonight and snapped some pictures of the current bushings, they are NOT stock and seem to be off-center.
I'm guessing the previous owner(not flow), attempted to correct the caster with bushings. Clearly not enough. My question is, what would you recommend for correcting the caster?
I'm currently leaning towards new OEM bushings all around up front and getting some caster correction plates from metaltech. But, I have been eye-balling new radius arms from @Delta VS and could be persuaded to go that route if that's the way to do it right the first time.
I'm not new to Toyota's, but I am a fairly novice mechanic. I've previously owned a 1995 Pickup, 1985 FJ60 (all too briefly), and a 1988 Samurai (that was mostly Toyota). I've been hunting for the right LC for awhile now, and I'm sorry if I wasted anyone's time in the classifieds section here at mud.
Things I'm looking to take care of first and foremost:
- Tires - Nitto Terra Grappler G2's (who's running these? How do you like them?)
- Fix the caster (it seems to be off)
- 4.88 gears so I can drive in Colorado without rolling backwards
Let's just start with the caster correction:
@flow was generous enough to pass down all of the associated paperwork, and part of that paperwork was an alignment sheet. The previous alignment showed a caster of about .3 with the current ~4" of lift (I can get a more accurate measurement tomorrow).
I've read a couple different ways to get the correct amount of caster. Seems to be bushings, caster correction plates, and new radius arms. I'm not a welder, yet, so I don't think I'll be doing the washer-mod...
I crawled under tonight and snapped some pictures of the current bushings, they are NOT stock and seem to be off-center.
I'm guessing the previous owner(not flow), attempted to correct the caster with bushings. Clearly not enough. My question is, what would you recommend for correcting the caster?
I'm currently leaning towards new OEM bushings all around up front and getting some caster correction plates from metaltech. But, I have been eye-balling new radius arms from @Delta VS and could be persuaded to go that route if that's the way to do it right the first time.