SOA: The begining (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 6, 2010
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Well I traded a 71 scamp for a 1981 fj60 with 4" SUA lift springs and a 383 chevy stroker motor last month. I drove it on a couple of wheeling trips and while it has tons of power can't get any of it to the ground with my worn 32" bfg a/t and stiff suspension. Probably would have been an OK wheeler with some decent 33's and a locker but I figured why not pull out the lift, SOA with 63" chevy's and throw in some 37's:D Got the rear mostly done today so thought I'd post some pics. Its not all finished in the rear but the springs are in and I can drive it out of the garage.



Maxed out the hi lift jack on rear driver bumper frame rail and neither tire was close to coming off the ground (32" tires).
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Give an idea of just how much longer these are over stock
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Double shackle setup, going to try to make the upper shackle longer to improve my shackle angle without adding anymore lift or relocating hanger
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Sorry for bad pics but was raining hard and near dark. Gained 4" of lift over the lift springs so approx 8" over stock. Not sure for articulation yet but the axle drop is amazing compared to those stiff lift springs. So far I've managed to do the rear for less than $100 including the springs hardware, grinding/cutoff wheels and the steel I bought for front hangers/shackles(didn't use either yet:doh:) Still have to get new shocks a longer flexible brake line, I may end up needing to building some sort of anti-wrap and figure out how to keep my double shackle from reversing itself when not loaded(i.e jump):hillbilly:. Few things I'd do different next time, buy new U bolts what a PIMA those were to get off and back on, Build perch mounts rather than removing and remounting. I think if we would have gone that route we would have been able to finish the rear in a day including all the fab work. As it were, took 2 of us 2 full days and 1, 3 hour day. (about 3 hours per perchmount and probably 6 total removing and installing the u bolts(even with new nuts) 15 years of scraping across the trail).

After the couple things to finish on the rear its on to the front for a SOA with stock springs(probably add 1 leaf out of the lifts) and a lift block made from the MASSIVE overload on the chevys. CNT for the front axle, rebuild hubs and some sort of highsteer(not certain what yet). Should have my new poly bushings on friday so start saturday. I'll try to get some better pics aswell. Thanks for all the info ya'll got on here.
Dan
 
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So did you end up going with a chevy axle? I have an almost new DC rear driveshaft long spline for Toyota flanges I had made for my spring over. Im only trying to get rid of it because I'm putting a Chevy axle and transfer case in so it does me no good. Either way let us know how those 37s work out and how well the do or do not fit. Are you going to trim anything?
 
63 inch chevys are sweet but back in the day I had issues with my double shackle and unloading.

Are you going to cut and turn the front axle? What kind of high steer arms are you going to run, I love my 4x4 labs setup.
 
Mooooooalla as in Moalla, Oregon?
Yep Where else could you do something like this?:hillbilly:

Where did you put the front spring hangers?
10" center to center approx. It was exactly 6" from the old front rivet to the back of the hanger in the new position. This way we had something consistant to measure off of once it was off. Wasn't my idea but thank you:) Found it on here but couldn't find very much info about exactly how to do it so lots of measuring and make sure to get 3/4ton springs to handle the weight, If you were after more lift you could go with a single long ass shackle and use the chevy overload(about 1 1/4" thick). They still seem to flex excellent.

63 inch chevys are sweet but back in the day I had issues with my double shackle and unloading.

Are you going to cut and turn the front axle? What kind of high steer arms are you going to run, I love my 4x4 labs setup.

Yeah I have to do some sort of limiting strap to keep it from reversing when unloaded, I was trying to get maximum travel with less lift was my reasoning for the double shackle. From what i've read the mini trucks can run the double shackle with the stock ones and end up with a very good shackle angle the cruisers seem to require some longer shackles. Definately going to cut and turn but have to wait for my knuckle rebuild kit. I'm not 100% what I'm doing for high steer yet, I was hoping to be able to get the trail gear kit but they told me it wouldn't work for a 60 not sure whats different(I think its just the width) So I may buy arms, tie rod ends with bungs and weld up my own or I may end up just buying the whole kit(I'm getting married so I'm poor):)

What are you doing with the 4 in lift? :)
Probabably going to sell it once I'm certain I don't need to add any leafs to the front I'll post on craigslist and the classifieds here when I sell it

So did you end up going with a chevy axle? I have an almost new DC rear driveshaft long spline for Toyota flanges I had made for my spring over. Im only trying to get rid of it because I'm putting a Chevy axle and transfer case in so it does me no good. Either way let us know how those 37s work out and how well the do or do not fit. Are you going to trim anything?

Nope sticking with the landcruiser ones as long as I can all my running gear is toyota just chevy motor and springs. This may be a silly question but I'm new to the offroading what does DC mean? I havn't been able to max out my travel yet so not sure if I need a longer spline shaft yet I'll let you know though. Fronts going up this weekend so I'll measure and check for 37's I think I'll have to either run wheel spacers or less backspacing on my wheels to avoid rubbing on my leaf springs when turned. Before starting this I turned hard with my 32's and jacked to full articulation in the front and only had 2" from rubbing the spring. With the springs being above the axle I don't think it'll hit but I'll measure to be sure. I'm not going to trim anything because the body is very straight and almost rust free so if they arn't going to clear I'll just downsize to 36's or 35's(or lift more:D).
 
So my poly bushings are in. If anyone buys the energy suspension bushings for fj60's I highly suggest carquest. Best delivered price I found online was $40 and they got them in 2 days for $27. Going to start on the front this weekend and fab up some longer shackles for the rear I'll post pics and more info as it goes. I'm almost certain it will actually handle better due to it was way out of alignment and the rear bushings from the lift were pretty much worn through:)
 
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good luck on the front!
 
:popcorn:
 
Well got a lot done on the front today. Disconnected everything and figured out just why my landcruiser handled so poorly. 1st I pulled out my shackle on the front of the leaf springs and found my bushings were pretty much just gone, the pin was actually riding on the bottom of the spring hole. 2nd got my u bolts out and found that whoever installed the lift used a shim but the wrong way. So that rather than correcting the caster(think thats the right term) it actually tilted the entire axle forward more causing an incredible amount of bump steer. I guess perhaps they were thinking of fixing dif angle.

Rather than f-ing the dog all day trying to remove my old spring perches just built some new ones for the front. Used an old cutoff wheel that happened to be exactly 3 1/4" to help mark off a semi circle on some square stock after it had been cut down to 2" high. Kind of pie cut it out until was close then carefully used a grinding wheel to circle it out. To be honest I was surprised how well it fit on the first try, a little trim on one side and it was ready to go.

The u bolts were not near as beat up as the rears so they came right off.

I highly suggest taking off your brake lines when removing the u bolt holder bracket on top of the axle. I didn't mess it up but came VERY close and decided it was worth the 5 minutes to take it all the way off. Also took the front axle out from under the cruiser, compared to leaving in the rear and it is much easier to work on. Definitely worth the time.

Only other real difficulties today were I had a HELL of a time getting one of shocks off. I think the bushing had just about fused itself to the mount. I got it to move a little after about 15 minutes of "persuasion" than sprayed with penetrating oil and let it sit. I find if I stick on a something that isn't working well something is likely to break:bang: but if I leave it and come back, 9/10 comes right off:D

Front hanger on rears, Those pins are heat pressed in so heat, beat and replace with a chevy bolt(14mm was stock used them but hard to find)

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Bad shot of what the ride height was before 36" measured to bottom of seam now 40" going to 41-2 with new shackle(all the pics I have:)
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Sorry for no pics working 1 hour away from where I live and left the damn camera. Have some from the other day though. I'll be certain to take it tomorrow and get better pics of the rear and some of the front. Hopefully it'll be in and waiting to be CNT/highsteer. Oh for those of you dieing to know, I'm going ghetto with my high steer for a short while(poor).
 
Ordered my u bolts from manafre hoping they'll get here by the weekend but may be monday. Should be offroad and breaking s*** by next weekend:D
 
i have trail gear high steer on mine
Whole kit or just the arms? They told me it wouldn't work (didn't really ask why) but maybe I'll give it a second look. Thanks
 
They told me that they didn't work either. I'm pretty sure it would though... I went with Marlins kit as I liked the cnc constructed arms. I think a couple people on here have used it.
 
U bolts have arrived. All 8 Round grade 8 9/16 bolts with the longer nuts and washers for $65 delivered in 5 days. Can't beat that:) Would highly suggest manafre for those. Napa's were over $20 a bolt for grade 5 junk. Tomorrow i will be doing a little bit but will have more pics(for real this time):eek:. Save a lot of time and effort(wasted as I couldn't get the damn things all the way tight) buy new U bolts:doh:
 
So got some new pics today. I cut down the chevy overloads to use as lift blocks under the front springs to help even it out a little. Used an angle grinder and cut off wheel so took a LONG time:D Also pulled my spring packs apart and took them down to bare metal with a grinder sanding disc/wire cup. Than primed with red oxide based primer and painting them 3 coats of satin black if they peel now there is no hope of keeping them half way nice.

one spring pack all cleaned and painted
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Custom spring perch made with a grinder

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Rear stance not jacked up. Sitting on 32x12.5 tires

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Would have had it rolling today but decided I've invested so much time already I might as well take the time to make sure my springs don't rust away and look decent. Lot of a surface area so a time investment of about 2 hours per pack but worth it in my opinion.
 
Well got the front on for the second time today:whoops: First go at it ended up with a very FxxxED up diff angle that would have caused massive binding issues. I've never really worked on suspension/steering or anything 4x4 before I'm new:D Pulled the front axle back out saturday morning, cut off my old new perch mounts and built my new new perch's out of 1/4" sidewall square stock. I think they'll hold up better anyways. The really tricky part was getting the mount to fit on the inner passenger side with the differential tilted. Made a cardboard template and used my angle finder to transfer it onto the square stock with the correct angle to allow the top of the perch to sit at 0. 2 hours of grinding later and it was sittin pretty. Second real issue came when I tried to set weight on it to test fit before welding. The damn perch kept moving when I'd set a little weight on it and I couldn't get my center pin to sit in the hole on the perch with the u bolt attached. After fighting with it for about 2 hours last night I finally realized what was causing my center pin problem and decided I needed to bend the u bolt. This morning I went back with my now bent u bolt and was still having perch sliding issues but the center pin would fall right where it was suppose to. I ended up just setting the diff angle tacking the drivers side, pulling the axle back out and matching the pass side perch angle with the drivers. It test fitted very nicely so I threw it all back together to make it moveable out of the garage and flew back up to portland to make it to mothers day dinner with a cool 3 minutes to spare. I can now remove/reinstall an axle in less than an hour:D I have everything to do my cut and turn but getting married in june so pretty busy on the weekends right now. Still sitting pretty low in the budget (less than 450 including knuckle rebuild/wheel bearings/spindle nut socket) but very high in time commitment as I've never done anything like this before. If one knew what they were doing and had the parts all lined out I'd imagine the front would be a single day project + a weekend for CNT.

THE TO-DO LIST: CNT knuckles/Download some info on rebuilding the knuckles
Buy and install high steer kit
Figure out where/how I'm going to remount front shocks on the axle housing
Alignment
50 small things i forgot
Take it for a test run and find 10 things I fxxxed up on:steer:

Profile pic, Rear will end up lifting a bit more when I extend my double shackle
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Picture of my handywork(used loosely)

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