To body lift or not to body lift, that is the question!

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

I think you'll be really happy with 4.88's with the 33's. I wouldn't want to run 4.56's. With the 4.88s your speedo will be just about right and you'll be geared a little bit lower than factory. I had no problems keeping up with Colorado interstate traffic (always at least 80mph...) with the revs right where I wanted them, and I could climb the i70 passes in 3rd gear no problem. 33's and stock gearing force you into 2nd gear on those hills, and you're at 40 mph tops. not fun...

As for lockers and what not everything that fits a toyota 8" diff will go in this one. The third member housing has a very slightly offset pinion to account for the different ring gear size. The carrier is the same.

That Chinook is gonna be sweeeeet. I have a buddy with a late 70's one on a 2 wheel drive with a rusty cab, and I'm trying to convince him to chop it off and mount it on a 80's 4x4. cool little campers!
 
Well I think I am going to start with a 1.5 ball joint spacer up front from 4crawler and then add some leafs to the back pack from an extra set I have to lift the rear and give me a little more carying capacity.

Once I have that in I can get my 33's and see how much more room I need and go body lift from there. Hopefully by then I will have tracked down or built up some 4.88 thirds to throw in.

Here is a quote I found from H8PVMNT about the rear spring pack modification:

"For our cheap setup we take a few stock spring packs apart and make new re-arranged leaf packs to suit our needs. I usually add one longer thinner leaf from a rear pack trimmed down to fit to my front springs. On the rears I take out the overloads and throw them in the scrap pile and add 3 of 4 leaves cut from the other spring packs cut to progressively shorter lengths as they go down. You want a 5 or 6 leaf front and 6 or 7 leaves in the rear. I like to round off the edge of the new cuts with an angle grinder so it's not sharp on the next leaf. I even go as far as to slather some cheap grease between the leaves.

Another trick we learned from an old timer is to put another half leaf on the top of the pack going from the u bolt area to the front spring clamp. This almost competely eliminates axle wrap but adds no stiffness at all.

This setup will yeild about a 1.5 to 2 inch lift and can be tuned by adding or deleating leafs. My buddy wanted more lift on his '85 4Runner so we added about 1.5" of shackle lift and it works great. He has about 3" of lift with the re-worked springs and the shackle lift. We also did the J-Ball flip to correct his steering and eliminate any bump steer that might have occured from the increased angle on his drag link. Longer shocks are necessary but not hard to figure out as they are just a little longer than stock. As far as break lines, extended ones would be good but if you want to go cheap the fronts are just long enough if you bend the top harline mounts down a bit and to extend the rear you can just add another rear break line and zip tie it to the equalizer bar. The best part is that you are allready working with broken in materials so it won't sag out and since they are made from stock springs the quality is pretty good and the ride is not much different than stock except you aren't constantly smacking down on your front bump stops and jaring your kidneys.

We have done this on three different trucks and it has worked great so far. You will have your modest lift, increased travel and a better ride, all for the price of some used Toyota leaf springs, 4 new spring pins and a new set of shocks."

modified toyota puckup rear leafs, leafs added.webp
 
Still picking up parts here and there and waiting for the snow to melt. Just snowed again lastnight 1" but most has melted away today.

I snagged these for under $200, 33x12.5x15 MT's almost new with rims. SWEEEEEET! Hope they fit. They measure out at 32.5" as they sit. I think I will test them out on the FJ60 untill I get the hilux up in the air. The 1.5" ball joint spacers on the way. I think I will back down the T-bars so they give me 1". Then I am thinking a 2" body lift or fiberglass front fenders and cut out fender flairs in the rear, or possibly just cut out fender flairs at both ends. Any opinions on the cut out fender flairs?

I also found a e-locker with my choice of rear axle either a early 90's ifs rear axle or a tacoma rear axle, which is quite tempting. I can get it with 5.29's or 4.56's. I could also just buy the third member without the axle housing. What is the going rate for the diff and the axle or just the diff? He quoted me $500 and $800. What do you think?

Having a little harder time finding the 4.88's but found these cheap gears here:Ring & Pinion Gears | WabFab Off Road
Anyone use these and have any opinions on the gears and company?

Should I upgrade to a v6 diff from the I4 diff when I re-gear. I found one for $100. Are they that much stronger and would it be wort it?
tires and dog 001.webp
tires and dog 002.webp
 
Last edited:
I could not wait so I threw these on with no lift and went for a drive today. They fit but don't look that great with the sagged out back and no lift. The tires tried to chew up my passenger front fender at one point. Definatly need a little lift but probably not the 3" total I was thinking. I may still lift it the 3" in hopes to get 35's under it eventually. But I will start with the BJ spacers and spring/shackel level first. Then see where I am at and if I need the 2" body lift.

Putting these on just made me want 35's for some reason.:doh:

These tires almost fit, and combined with the fact that the rear is low, and the front driver side sits higher than the pass. side makes me think that the t-bars have been torked a little.

Can anyone tell me the stock ride height that these should have or the stock angle of the upper A-arm. I need to see how much mine are raised so I know where they are at.
007.webp
 
Stock ride height should be in the FSM in the Suspension sections under Wheel Alignment and Service Specifications. It is given as a difference in height between two spots. The ball joint spacers will change the number.
 
I had a friend of mine give me a three inch lift in college so I figured what the heck and went ahead and did it. I ran 33 12.50 BFGs for about a year like that on my old 95 daily driver.

The lifts are easy to put on with a buddy. The biggest hassle was the shift boots not fitting quite right around the new longer sticks. May not even be an issue on your rig.

Very rarely if the suspension was articulated just right it would rub the inner plastic fender well but never any metal. I eventually sold the tires and went back to 31s. I liked the look but unless you change gear ratios you may as well forget about fifth gear and anything off road means you're in 4Low.
 
Those springs would be great but would probably be more in shipping than the springs cost. Otherwhise I would probably get them.

So far I have spent roughly:
$300 for front axle w/4.88 gears
$300 for 4-cyl diff w/4.88 gears
$100 1.5" ball joint spacers
$free extra spring pack from another project
$170 for 4 33" tires and rims
$30 for a 33" spair (plug in sidewall)
$100 for gaskets, oil seals, bushings, gear oil etc.
$free rear lift shackel from another project parts
$free top shift t-case (if I decide to do a doubler case)
Total = $1000 so far

I will eventually add body lift, drivetrain lift, rebuildable front and rear shocks, rock sliders, extended break lines?, snorkel?, rear disc breaks? double t-case?, so I need to keep saving.:doh:

The rear e-locker would have been sweet but I did not really have the $ for it and it would have about doubled my build cost so far.

After driving around for a while on 31's I must say it will be nice to be geared right again. Lots of hills and or towing will be better with matched gears. The 4.88 should be a good middle road sort to speek. Just about dead on for 33's but should not be too bad if I run 31's or 35's. So I have a little leeway in either direction if needed. Of course the 33's will be best.

I am finaly going to start on it tomarrow. Got the garage cleaned out enough to get the truck in and am going to start on the front end first with the ball joint spacers, and dropping the axle and putting in the 4.88 axle I bought. Then I will do the rear diff. Picking up another set of rear springs later this week so I can make a bigger spring pack and a taller lift shackel should show up about that time too.

I am still undecided on size of body lift so once I get the small suspension lift on I can see what I will need to clear the 33's and maybe 35's. I bought some cheap 35"s this week so I have the option and can do some test fitting if I decide to.
 
Last edited:
You do not need a body lift to run 33s. I ran them with minimal rubbing with a torsion crank and AAL.

It looks like several of us are all running or about to run similar combos. I have some 35s to run and my 2" RB BL arrived yesterday. I have to regear first though as it's slow going with no hwy power with 33s.

I test fit the 35s in the driveway but decided against it as there would be major rubbage just dd.
 
89's rule:
What is a RB body lift? what company?

Everyone says that they will fit with a t-bar crank. I guess I need to play with my t-bar adjustments. So you are going to try to fit 35's with a 2" body lift and 1.5" t-bar crank? Let me if that works and if you have to do any fender trimming. I have 33's and 35's but not sure I can get the 35"s to fit. I am having a hard time getting the 33x12.50's to fit.

I got the ball joint spacers on today and relaxed the t-bars down a bit and I don't think I got any lift. 14" from bottom of fender to top of rim. Stock is 13.5-14". I need to adjust them some more tomarrow. Maybe my shocks are limiting my lift. I will have to remove them to check.

The 4-crawl instructions are good and it worked well. The only hitch I had was a couple of the studs were hard to remove so I used a socket and big c-clamp to press them out like a vise. Also some of the bolt holes in the ball joint were slightly small for the bolts so I use d die grinder(or round file, or drill) to make them barley bigger to fit the bolts. I also need new grease zerks that are straight for the ball joints. Mine are bent at an angle and are not acessable with the spacers on.

I was thinking, :hhmm: Is it possible to crank the tortion bars up 1-1.5" and add the 1.5 ball joint spacers to get 2-3" of lift in front? I know this would be extreme angles on the cv joints so I was thinking of using 4 crawler 1" axle drop kit in conjunction. 4Crawler Offroad Products - Front Differential and Sway Bar Drop Kits
Would this work or are the ball joints going to bottom out and limit lift?

Anyone try this or use this 1" drop kit?

Wish I could afford the rough country lift kit for 35's but maybe next year. Toyota Suspension Lift Kit

I am trying to get my lift and ride height set up to where I want it and test it out with the tires a little. Then this week I will swap out the gears if I can get the lift I need for them. If I can't I will wait on the gears untill I get the body lift on.
 
RB is Roger Brown he makes the 4 Crawler stuff. Guys call them either one.

Yes I ran 285/75/16s with little to no rubbing. I did flatten out the seam on the cab behind the front tires. I am running Glassworks front fenders so not too sure about stock fenders. Trim them if needed you can get replacements for $50 set off craigslist or the junkyard if you shop around.

I may need to trim the rear for 35s but I plan on 63" Chevy rear springs eventually as everyone says they ride so much better than AAL or other lift springs.

I would not go for a rough country lift unless you have $ to burn. If all you want to run is 33s and possibly 35s then you should be ok with BJ spacers, AAL & BL. If you go bigger then SAS.

Here is a pic of my truck on 33s and then on 35s in the driveway. Same suspension: torsion crank and AAL & no BL.

33s
8450277c.jpg


35s
be55f29c.jpg
 
Man that looks good with those 33's. I hope I can get mine looking that good at the end of the day. I like those front fenders too.

I will post a progress picture later today of mine.

Looks a little stuffed with the 35's, but that body lift should help with that. IF you can I would love to see pictures of it on both 33's and 35's when you get the body lift on. Let me know if you have any tire clearance issues anywhere.

I like that bumper, did you upgrade your tortion bars or are they stock?

Thanks.
 
Torsion bars are stock as far as I know. Warn front bumper, have a 9kwinch and a few sets of Lightforce 240 blitz lights in the garage.

The 33s are off my wife's 80 takes a good afternoon to swap between the two :) I'm back to my 32s on tundra rims for now, the 22re and 4.10s like them much better! I need to decide on gears and front suspension setup soon. My entire front suspension needs rebuilt so I'm debating sas now. Not sure I want to invest a bunch of $ in the ifs???

See more info on my rig by clicking the link in my sig for my build thread.
 
89's rule: That is a good write up on your truck.

I got the ball joint spacers in and the t-bars adjusted so it is sitting taller now. I had to take off my shocks and add some spacers. They are a little short. I will have to get some new ones before I do any 4-wheeling. I may need longer rears too.

I am working on the rear springs. I added two leafs and one overload to the pack and it should give me about 2.5-2.75" lift with the stock shackel. I got one side done yesterday and hope to finish it up Sunday.

It should clear the 33's ok. I may have to trim the pinch weld seam a bit.

If I leave it like it is then I went the right route with a cheap lift, 33's and 4.88 gears. If I decide to put on 2" body and drivetrain lift then I should have gone with the Rough Country IFS lift kit. It would only be $200 more and I would have the option of running 33's or 35's.

If you like your IFS, your truck is a daily driver, and you don't want to go bigger I would suggest the R.C. IFS kit and 4.88 for 33's or 5.29 for 35's.

If you are going to use it for serious off roading and 35"+ tries then SAS w/5.29 no question.
 
It is definatly taller now, does not look like much in the pic but better than stock. The front shocks were limiting the drop/lift so I made some spacers with washers for now. The rear shocks will need to be longer too but will have to do for daily dribing for now. I need to weld the shock mounting tabs on the rear still.

I combined the spring packs and put them in with a u-bolt flip kit. It sits low on the pasenger side. It use to sit low in the front and now it low in the front and about 1" low in the rear. I am going to fiddle with the t-bars to get the front level and switch the rear springs and see if that helps. I think the gas tank on that side may make sag on that side worse. I may have to add one more leaf to that side.

The springs also squeek a bit, there is more arc on the 1980's springs and no tefelon pads on the old ones. I will throw some grease on them when I switch them around and see if that helps and give it a try for a bit. I could drill them and buy pads for those leaves but I don't want to put more $ into this old leaf set up. I also did not put on the lift shackel I had. I wanted to see how much lift I got without it and it would have required removing the stock bushing and puting in poly pushings which I do not have now. I would have to have a shop remove the bushings so I have not done this yet.

I think I will eventually go with OME heavy 2" lift springs. I found a couple of dealers up here and hopefully they can order me some stuff and not kill me on the shipping. The springs are not too much $ so hopefully I can go this route in a month or so. I am going to look into this in the next couple of days.
004.webp
009.webp
015.webp
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom