So after what amounts to a couple of years of just removing stuff from the cruiser (fender flares, paint stripe, fake wood, running boards, rear spoiler, roof rack), I've finally got around to adding some things back. I spent the weekend before last with help from my brother-in-law putting in the Medium 2.5" lift kit from Slee. That is the 860 rear springs, nitrocharger sport shocks (6000,6002), OME t-bars and Slee diff drop. So here it is...
Pre Lift - sans plastics
Post Lift - with stock tundra steelies (with 255/70R18)
And then back with the powder coated stock rims with 275/70R18 GY Duratracs
The install went well. A special thanks to uHu for saving Bull's photos from his old build thread. Everything on the site helped me in so many ways. I don't think I understood much reading about the torsion bars until I had the chance to play with them. Even the dreaded top of the rear shocks went surprisingly well with the suggested tools and techniques from previous threads.
One issue I ran into was with the size of the springs. The B spring was the taller of the two and for some reason I was expecting the A to be the taller. I also thought that you install the taller on the drivers side. So I installed the taller B on the drivers side and the drivers side is now a little taller in the back than the passenger side(somewhere in the range of a quarter to half an inch taller). Not sure if that is what others have experienced or if I put it on the wrong side. Or even if I should be bothered by it. In talking with Christo he suggested try and switch the sides to see how they sit and if it is not to liking then add trim packers to level it out.
So the numbers from my notes (measurements from center of hub to fender lip):
Before:
DriverFront - 19.5"
PassFront - 19.5"
DriverRear - 20.75"
PassRear - 20.75"
After:
DriverFront - 20.75"
PassFront - 20.75"
DriverRear - 23.25"
PassRear - 23"
Front end droop was well over 2" though I didn't note the exact value. I am still going to be doing some tweaking of the front(maybe go to 21") and rear(switching sides or adding trims) but those are what the initial set up settled into. Also on the list is getting an alignment.
The ride is firm, but not as jarring as I was anticipating from the sports. The best part so far has been the elimination of the side to side wallow that had made the cruiser seem like a boat. I did notice some slight, smaller high frequency bounces that pop up sometimes. These seem to happen less as it has gone along. With the wholesale changes it is hard to know what to attribute what to. Overall very pleased with the new ride.
Pre Lift - sans plastics
Post Lift - with stock tundra steelies (with 255/70R18)
And then back with the powder coated stock rims with 275/70R18 GY Duratracs
The install went well. A special thanks to uHu for saving Bull's photos from his old build thread. Everything on the site helped me in so many ways. I don't think I understood much reading about the torsion bars until I had the chance to play with them. Even the dreaded top of the rear shocks went surprisingly well with the suggested tools and techniques from previous threads.
One issue I ran into was with the size of the springs. The B spring was the taller of the two and for some reason I was expecting the A to be the taller. I also thought that you install the taller on the drivers side. So I installed the taller B on the drivers side and the drivers side is now a little taller in the back than the passenger side(somewhere in the range of a quarter to half an inch taller). Not sure if that is what others have experienced or if I put it on the wrong side. Or even if I should be bothered by it. In talking with Christo he suggested try and switch the sides to see how they sit and if it is not to liking then add trim packers to level it out.
So the numbers from my notes (measurements from center of hub to fender lip):
Before:
DriverFront - 19.5"
PassFront - 19.5"
DriverRear - 20.75"
PassRear - 20.75"
After:
DriverFront - 20.75"
PassFront - 20.75"
DriverRear - 23.25"
PassRear - 23"
Front end droop was well over 2" though I didn't note the exact value. I am still going to be doing some tweaking of the front(maybe go to 21") and rear(switching sides or adding trims) but those are what the initial set up settled into. Also on the list is getting an alignment.
The ride is firm, but not as jarring as I was anticipating from the sports. The best part so far has been the elimination of the side to side wallow that had made the cruiser seem like a boat. I did notice some slight, smaller high frequency bounces that pop up sometimes. These seem to happen less as it has gone along. With the wholesale changes it is hard to know what to attribute what to. Overall very pleased with the new ride.
