Thoughts on the 80

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

little_joe

little_joe

SILVER Star
10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Threads
232
Messages
3,300
Location
RDU, NC
Ok so I've had the 80 on 2 trailrides now, IMHO it's enough to get a good feel for it, which I wanted to do before trying anything more difficult. Here are some thoughts, none of which are original:

1. 285's are just too small for this thing. The clearance is still not very good under the cats, rear corners, t-case, etc. Even in mild situations when one front wheel is stuffed, a rear corner is getting closer to the ground, or banging on something like a rock or tree. Yes a lift would help. However......

2. Stability is amazing. We didn't do anything tough yesterday or at Cullowhee, but there were a few chances to cross it up a bit and it is just so smooth and stays level for so long. It really inspires great confidence. Onroad, too.

3. I think 1-2" lift would be nice w/ 295's or 305's and protected/hacked rear quarters.

4. Whatever I do, weight has to be a huge concern. This thing is heavy enough as is and I just don't want to weigh it down more, not for the trails nor for DD duty, the penalties are too much. This will be the biggest challenge as time goes on.

5. I hate leather seats in North Carolina.:mad: The term swamp-ass comes to mind.:eek::princess: Cloth seats are now #1 on my to-do list.

So now I have more thinking and planning.:D It should be fun to try and retain what makes this thing so great in stock form while evolving it w/o adding additional burdens.
 
Slee's 4" kit, 35-37" tires, 4.88 or 5.29 gears.

Expensive route. Start with the tires, and end with the lift if you can't do it all at once. Piece together the lift if need be. But realistically, that is where you will want to end up anyways. So might as well make it the goal and go from there.
 
alkaline747trio said:
Slee's 4" kit, 35-37" tires, 4.88 or 5.29 gears.

Expensive route. Start with the tires, and end with the lift if you can't do it all at once. Piece together the lift if need be. But realistically, that is where you will want to end up anyways. So might as well make it the goal and go from there.
Click to expand...

It's easy for you to spend other peoples' money!;)

That just doesn't jive with what I want. I want to retain the stability this thing has, so minimal lift and reasonably large tire. I think the highest I'd go is Frankie's 3.5" and maybe 315's. 4.88's would be a nice complement.

I have to figure out how to either shave weight or minimize addt'l weight - that should help quite a bit.
 
Joe - It was good to meet you and ride with you on Saturday. I don't remember you having a hard time at any point but the trails we ran were on the easy side. I did notice you had your lockers engaged a few times and I am sure you could run the same route again without touching that dial. I only used my CDL once and it was on the steep climb on Dutch John. Otherwise my t-case never came out of H all day.

As far as stability goes, you'll be surprised how stable the 80 remains with a lifted suspension. Nothing too extreme but even with the lift I run, I never worry about stability - on the trail or on the road. In fact, many times I think it's more stable than the OEM suspension just due to the miles and wear the original setup had.

For the weight issues, you'll just have to prioritize want you want added to assist with trail duty. Your needs and priorities will change as you spend more time on the trail and attempt more challenging terrain. For example, you made a good move by taking the spare tire out from the stock location (that's certain carnage at Uwharrie) but now it's either in the cabin or on the roof. You compromise things with either choice and a rear bumper with a tire carrier was the best solution in my build. The big down side there? LOTS of additional weight...

Bumpers, winches, larger tires, tools, recovery equipment, etc. all add weight.

You'll get it worked out, it is all part of the fun!! Glad you made it out! :cheers:
 
Hey Andy, thanks again for leading us! I enjoyed the trails and look forward to doing it again soon, hopefully we can get the same folks together again. Wish I could have camped, but I did get to see my buddy in Durham and his son (who is a sought-after high school defensive back).

My rear locker is extremely slow to engage, thus I was exercising it. By the time we got off the trails it hadn't improved at all, guess I need to tear into the actuator/motor. The front one pops right in.

I wheeled a mini for ~9 years and with mild lift and 33's it was a bit tippy. I blame it on IFS. ;) I'd like to spend a bit of time in a lifted 80 to get a feel for it before making any decisions.
 
You know my vote, keep the 80 for a DD and buy a 40 to wheel. :cheers:
 
Swamp Ass!!! hahahaha, i know exactly what you speak of. I have issues with it in the 80 as well. I put some greatcover fake leather covers on my seats and now it's even worse.

two schools of thought on this. 1. keep it low as possible and stuff the biggest tire you can in there. This would require the removal of the flares and maybe a little trimming of the fenders, bumpstops. But you will keep your center of gravity low. Another way (and the way i will approach when i have the $) is keep a low lift, OME medium or heavy depending on armor, and portal that sucker.

2. go with frankie or the slee 4 inch lift. You will be amazed at how stable it will be with these springs/shock combination.

Just don't put a roof rack on it, then it will start to feel tippy again.
 
Swamp Ass? Isn't that something the FJ40 guys get? It's an 80, aren't you supposed to be running the A/C! :D
 
even with the AC running i'm having some serious backside moisture issues! not fun at all when you walk into a meeting and your ass is sweaty! :(
 
Juan, you probably never break a sweat anywhere over 10* longitude, regardless of the time of year :)

Didn't you tell me you played hop-scotch on the equator growing up?
 
Last edited:
little_joe said:
Hey Andy, thanks again for leading us! I enjoyed the trails and look forward to doing it again soon, hopefully we can get the same folks together again. Wish I could have camped, but I did get to see my buddy in Durham and his son (who is a sought-after high school defensive back).

My rear locker is extremely slow to engage, thus I was exercising it. By the time we got off the trails it hadn't improved at all, guess I need to tear into the actuator/motor. The front one pops right in.

I wheeled a mini for ~9 years and with mild lift and 33's it was a bit tippy. I blame it on IFS. ;) I'd like to spend a bit of time in a lifted 80 to get a feel for it before making any decisions.
Click to expand...

Yep, a good time was had by all. Can't wait to go again.

Good luck with your lockers. Of course, the front won't engage until the rear does and getting the rear to lock is sometimes a matter of turning the wheel sharply in both directions while maintaining a crawl.

Yeah, I am not a fan of IFS either and it is one of the main reasons I sold my trail 100. You're welcome to hitch a ride in my lifted 80 any time, though they are all different and YMMV.
 
little_joe said:
I wheeled a mini for ~9 years and with mild lift and 33's it was a bit tippy. I blame it on IFS. ;) I'd like to spend a bit of time in a lifted 80 to get a feel for it before making any decisions.
Click to expand...

How many times did it fully go over? You might be surprised how tippy something can feel but is still stable with no chance of going over. The one I drove just had a body lift, a little crank on the torsion bars, and 33's. It was pretty well planted. If you weren't very happy with that, I'm afraid you'll never be happy with your 80.

Not trying to discourage you or anything, just my feelings.
 
How many times did it fully go over?
Click to expand...

I laid it on the passenger side once, nice and easy.

You might be surprised how tippy something can feel but is still stable with no chance of going over. The one I drove just had a body lift, a little crank on the torsion bars, and 33's. It was pretty well planted.
Click to expand...

Mine was set up pretty much the same, xcab w/ 33's and 2" body lift, no torsion crank though. It was a great truck, but I just did not care for the lack of articulation. I did little things to the front such as no swaybar, hacked bumpstops, spaced the shocks down for more "travel". I also had OME springs in the rear w/ 2 leafs removed to soften them up. There's only so much you can do to IFS, short of replacing it.

Weight transfer was always scary. The lack of travel, the lack of weight in the rear, and the weight of the 33's combined to throw it around, esp when offcamber and in ruts or small/medium rocks. So while I never went completely over, I had to inch along to minimize the sudden weight transfers; and compensate for that.

If you weren't very happy with that, I'm afraid you'll never be happy with your 80.
Click to expand...

Already the 80 feels entirely different and better. The wider track, the travel at both ends, and the weight make it feel incredibly more stable. I haven't had it at any spooky angles but the mild ones where my mini would be about to toss to one side, in the 80 it just glides on through.

The 80 is a whole different league IMHO. It's not perfect - size and weight are drawbacks - but for the wheeling I intend it is fantastic and it *feels* so much better. A lot of guys I know who wheeled IFS minis and moved to 80s all comment on it as well, it is much more stable and confidence-inspiring.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom