That's what I was thinking. But thats odd because I talked to the auto tech teacher at my highschool, about installing them there, he said it couldnt be done at the shop because shims and whatnot was needed? Not true from what you guys say?
-Carl
Carl--I think you need to just slow down a bit. Your shop teacher is right. Typically if you use longer shackles, you change the geometry(caster) of the front end, and the pinion angle on the rear end. If you don't understand why longer shackles do that, then you need to stop and re-evaluate your plans and knowledge base.
Let's go over what you are trying to accomplish. You want lift presumably for bigger tires. But in an FJ62, the tranny goes out of it's shifting sweet spot quickly, so bigger tires will make you want to regear the diffs which is an expensive and complicated process. How big are the tires you want to run??? On a 62 I would not go above 31 inch tires with the existing stock gearing.
My advice: leave it alone, unless you are prepared to go all the way through it. You can't just throw a lift on a 62, buy bigger tires and call it good. It's way more complicated. SO before you ruin a perfectly good truck, spend more time fixing the stuff that is broken or not working and then start to think about what you want the truck to do.
I think more Land Cruisers are ruined by underfunded, and poorly thought out "mods" than anything else. You have a working truck now, so there is no urgency to do major mods without a full understanding of what is involved. Before you do anything, hook up with some local Cruiserheads. Go on an easy run or two, your stock 62 will do better than you think. Then decide where you really want to go that you can't go now. That's how you decide how to build a truck. If you just want a big tall truck with big tires, buy a Chevy as the parts will be cheaper and the V8 power will make up for a lot of deficiencies in the gearing.
A complete suspension system like OME is going to be the easiest, cheapest and most satisfactory lift you can do, and putting it on will not ruin your existing truck or destroy it's value. Add a leafs can help to bolster sagging stock springs, but won't net much lift above stock.
What is your budget? That is a critical question. Anything you do will cost more than you think, and you need to be prepared for unforseen expenses, or you will be left with a partially completed truck that you can't drive. Be realistic. If you are a normal high school kid, you don't really have a meaningful budget, which means you should be thankful for a running truck and leave it at that.
Is every system in the truck baselined and running well? If not, do
all the maintenance issues first, including fixing the leaks, replacing all the fluids, and rebuilding the knuckles (I can tell from here that it needs it
). That will familiarize you with the truck, and make you realize how elegant the Land Cruiser is even in stock form. Remember that the Cruiser that have gone on round the world travels, and the Schmidt's who have been on the road for 25 years, are all driving basically stock Land Cruisers.
In the front end caster is god. Anything you do must leave you with 1-3 degrees of caster or your truck will be unstable at speed and dangerous under hard braking. Getting back to your shop teacher-the longer shackles decrease the caster, and the "shims" he mentioned rotate the whole axle back to preserve the proper caster. The liability involved in getting that right, is the reason he doesn't want to mess with it. I don't blame him.
Anyway, I don't mean to be a downer, but go slow here. Your truck has lasted 20 years already so it will still be around in a few years when you know more and have an actual income. "First, do no harm."
always good help.
. Took it over to Molle, to see how much it would be to get fixed (I dont have the tools or know how to do it myself) and there quote was enough for me to stop what I was doing and get it back home within two hours. But I love my Cruiser and however somewhat dissapointed that I shouldn't get bigger shackles, on top of the 2" now. I'm glad you told me that it could potentially ruin my truck. I love that big 'ol tank of a truck....
