Suspension lift (1 Viewer)

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May 23, 2011
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I went to my grand fathers birthday today and found out my uncle has 2 land cruisers. 73 and 75. anyway I told him my plans on the brake conversion and he was like no don't do that drums are pretty much the same just keep them adjusted well after I ignored that because I want disc I told him i was doing a 4inch lift and again he said no don't do that fj40's are bad top heavy and its bad enough stock much less with a lift.. So my Question to everyone is lift it or not!? Yes I plan on doing some off roading yes i will be using it on road a lot too.. trail riding so on.. planned on getting lockers, winch, power steering, and snorkel... please tell me its safe to lift these things.. and that I can climb and crawl and trail ride.. nothing extreme, but i do like to venture off from time to time...
 
Hi All:

No disrespect to your uncle, but no reason for you to stay stuck in the 1970s like he is! ;p :lol:

You are "spot on" with the disc brake upgrade! :)

Regarding lifting the suspension, chances are new springs and shocks will make the rig ride and handle *better* than the 35 year old stock suspension parts!! :rolleyes:

Do some reading here on MUD, and don't forget to use the "search" function! :beer:

Good luck!

Alan
 
No questions on the disc brake conversions and I did do some research, but wanted your opinion because I know no one with cruisers everyone has freaking jeeps.
 
Disc brakes are not mandatory and work fine for stockish trucks If the drums keep adjusted if are not working fix'em, If you are running a V8 auto go disc, IMHO
 
basically need to know if 4 inch lift is to tipsy

this cannot be answered in general

any lift feels too tipsy of you are in a bad off-camber obstacle

a 40 can feel tipsy when you take corners too fast

it can also feel quite stable when you are cruising straight on the highway

why don't you drive yours for a bit before modifications to get a better feel :steer:
 
My lift made my cruiser ride much better. When your wheeling, it might make it a bit more top heavy, but you can roll without a lift, hence the roll bar. When i look at a route, if rolling is a possibility, i dont take it. I dont have a full cage, or do serious wheeling, i mostly use mine for playing in the hills and hunting and have never had any problems with my lift.
Plus they look bitchin! I say go for it!
 
What size tires do you want to run, as you make any vehicle higher will make it feel more tipsy especially short wheel based ones, but larger tires help in lots of off roading conditions and a lift helps them fit. Just take it into consideration when going around turns.

He is right with the drum brakes, keep them adjusted and they work very good, you just also have to also remember to pump them to dry them if you went through deep water to dry them. If you do any rock climbing or a lot of off roading then I would want to go disc same if I was running tires over 33. If not then its a personal choice, not required at all but also not bad. I am going disc front on my 1962 but only because my axles were leaking and needed newer axles. I would have been happy with post 1968 drum axles if I had found them, but I will not lie I am happier that I found disc axles first and got them. When I found how rotted out the leaf springs were I got 4 inch H@lls Creek 4 inch suspension lift. A huge thing to keeping them from feeling tipsy will also be new shock absorbers.
 
I recently completed the 1.5 inch body lift on my 77 fj40 and am really happy with it. Tires are BFG 33 X 10.5.

UHMW blocks on top of Energy Suspension bushings and tubing under the back of the tub and another under the front grill mount. I repositioned the fenders and secured them with tec-screws. The hard part was matching the steering column to the later-model Toyota pickup power steering. It took a little head scratching, two unversal joints cut to fit and welded in place and a drill bushing pressed into the column for the steering shaft to slip through. I could probably do it again in one long day, or a shorter day with a helper. All of the head scratching was aggravating
fj40 body lift 003.jpg
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fj40 body lift 005.jpg
 
There is something leaking on my front left tire looks like brake fluid that's why I was gonna do a new disc brake swap from orangefj. Replaces the hoses knuckles and so on. Far a lifts go I was looking at a sky jacker 4 inch and running 33's to 35's any thoughts on this
 

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