Stay SOA or go back to SUA (1 Viewer)

[FJ40Roland]

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and I’m having a bit of a dilemma when it comes to keeping my FJ40 SOA or returning to SUA. The plan for this vehicle has changed over the past two years of it sitting in my garage. I’d like to be able to use it as a daily driver and mild off road.

The vehicle currently sits on 35’s there is no body lift on it (rear springs to frame are 12”) I think I read that measurement somewhere. The garage floor to the bottom of the running board? Is 27.5” at the back with nothing in it (the front axle is currently not attached as it sustained damage in the rollover a couple years ago) See Here Because of this height the vehicle doesn’t fit through the garage door with the side panels and roof on, or in the parkade at work for that matter.

I feel I don’t need 35’s for every day driving but like the looks of 31’s or 33’s. Is there a way I can safely lower it without having to change the setup to SUA and not have it look ridiculous? The current springs are totally shot/broken and need to be replaced. I cleaned up the front axle and have noticed CnT has been completed. Not sure if it matters but future plans are to add power steering as well.

There is a guy in my area selling stock axles so I might be able to trade straight across if SUA is a better option.

 

[Varty Yo]

Get some bagged out springs.

 

[pjohnson]

Pics of your SOA design would be helpful. Converting back to SUA wouldn't be that difficult unless you also have a shackle reversal. Even then, it's not terribly difficult. Since your front axle has been Cut-n-turned, you would want to replace the housing with a un-altered housing.

 

[FJ40Roland]

There hasn't been a shackle reversal done. The shackles are at the front of the vehicle. I don't have any great photos of the setup in the front. The shackles are 2.75" pin centre to pin centre. The springs are stock as best as I can tell. The shocks are Rancho RS5000's. I have the crossover steering with double arm on the passenger side.

If I set the axle housing with the SOA leaf mounts at level the mounting flange for the diff looks to be at about 2 degrees and the knuckles at 3 degrees across the top of the hole for the bearing race. (Photos Attached)

 

[White Stripe]

If your springs are shot, and your installing power steering I would just buy the sua housings and go sua and buy some OME springs.