What Did You Do with Your 80 This Weekend? (64 Viewers)

[Box Rocket]

Got a chance to check pre- lift (3.5") stuff and rub on the 37's Hope to find a much bigger dock drop post lift(thinking 4.5"??). First take is 37's took away quite a bit of travel before rear rub vs. 35's. Front didn't even come close to full compression or rub before the rear upper center hit pretty solid. Tons of room up front minus the inner rear rub, rear- not so much. Intent is a solid all around 80 so not sweating it yet but home to see quite a bit more travel once I have the springs, bump stops and arms in place. Front approach didn't get quite as far before solid rub.
More focus on rub and if proper bumpstops were in it obviously could have gone much further. didn't feel like it even started to flex, baby steps, again...
Also got a chance to pull a bead lock after hitting a huge snow caused pothole paying in the storm. Hit so hard, knocked tire out of center. Need to remember to check torque quite a bit and add thread lock soon. Felt like new after test drive after and was super simple.
View attachment 2625911View attachment 2625912

What lift is on the truck in the photos? what lift are you changing to? I haven't seen a set of 37's not rub on a truck lifted 4.5" or less especially one that still has the flares on. The ones that claim to not rub are limiting travel in some way, either with bumpstops, shocks that are too short etc. If you want full suspension travel with 37's and want to keep your flares, you're gonna need to do some trimming.

 

[on the rocks]

What lift is on the truck in the photos? what lift are you changing to? I haven't seen a set of 37's not rub on a truck lifted 4.5" or less especially one that still has the flares on. The ones that claim to not rub are limiting travel in some way, either with bumpstops, shocks that are too short etc. If you want full suspension travel with 37's and want to keep your flares, you're gonna need to do some trimming.

OME med/ heavy combo and slee original arms with about 1"+ spacers and 20 years of sag. Going144/145VT only because I cant wait for Slinkys and an easy one stop shop at Delta. Wanted to stack a 1" body on this but sounding like the 144/145 is running close to 4" already. TBH, 4" and these tall/ wide Toyo almost doesn't seem enough. I'll start the Dobinson springs, and either add 1" body or trim a coil or 1/2" off the 1" body. I would never have thought body lift but see a lot of advantages on the 80.
Too bad my Slee arms have long since been welded, would have liked to threaded them out to see what I needed to get out of the inner fender rub. Oh well, they did their job.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

OME med/ heavy combo and slee original arms with about 1"+ spacers and 20 years of sag. Going144/145VT only because I cant wait for Slinkys and an easy one stop shop at Delta. Wanted to stack a 1" body on this but sounding like the 144/145 is running close to 4" already. TBH, 4" and these tall/ wide Toyo almost doesn't seem enough. I'll start the Dobinson springs, and either add 1" body or trim a coil or 1/2" off the 1" body. I would never have thought body lift but see a lot of advantages on the 80.
Too bad my Slee arms have long since been welded, would have liked to threaded them out to see what I needed to get out of the inner fender rub. Oh well, they did their job.

Be careful with the body lift. I have seen lots of guys post on here that an 80 can handle a body lift but my personal experience was bad.

I think an 80 can handle a body lift depending on level of abuse., but for my level of abuse I ended up cracking the body above body lift pucks in two different locations on two separate occasions.

Both times I developed cracks in the body on my 91, I was driving fast over extremely bumpy roads.

The first time I was trying to keep my speed up going across a muddy meadow covered in tall grass. The grass was deceptive and the meadow looked nice and flat, in reality the meadow was filled with basketball sized basalt boulders. Needless to say it was a rough head into the ceiling ride and it resulted in a new clunk that was determined to be a cracked body above the body mount located under the passenger foot area. This one was pretty easy to access and repair.

The second time this happened I was driving pretty fast, 50-60mph down a high speed gravel road that was covered in pot holes and extremely bad washboard at the time. I should have realized something was wrong sooner because the ride felt extremely harsh.... When I started wondering if I somehow broke a spring or had all my shocks simultaneously fail I should have trusted my instincts and stopped. Instead I kept on driving and figured the road was really really bad. About 5 minutes later I noticed a new clunk in the rear of the truck. I pulled over to investigate and realized my tires had been aired up to 80 psi at discount tire during my previous rotation and balance. This event caused the body to crack and fail above the rear most driver body mount.

Sorry about the long winded post but I just want people to know that body lifts can crack the body on an 80 series. But if you aren't stupid and don't drive like a maniac it should probably never be an issue. I bet 95% of 80 owners would never have a problem with a body lift.

 

[nigelsiam]

Replaced my old OME shocks with Dobinsons, big thanks to Mike at Exit Offroad and his mud discount. Shocks feel great! Fwiw, I replaced OME N73 with Dobinsons GS59-683 and GS59-682 (0-3” lift). I’m running OME 2.5 850/860 springs. Also installed sway bar drop brackets and Land Cruiser Products (Land Cruiser Phil) front sway bar disconnect kit. View attachment 2625892

How are you liking the ride? I put those same shocks with the Dobinson's 2" springs and I like it. Mike @crikeymike sure is a great dude. I've never called a business where someone was so willing to chat, shoot the s*** and actually help without trying to hurriedly get off the line.

 

[Jason Andrews]

Put in a new fusible link. And added some Timbren AOR bumps.
Dropped down from 6” Slees to 3” front and 2” rears. Put on @LandCruiserPhil severe duty rear sway links which forces the front to flex more.

Feels way more capable and stable all around. With previous Slee billet front control arms only managed 2.75” down travel in front. Hyperflex arms got that to 5”. I’m now measuring 6” down travel in front now with 0.5” left in shocks.

Tha old adage of “you need uptravel to be stable off road” isn’t what what I’m gathering from my data and testing.

Surprisingly only lost 1.25” up travel in rear and have the same 3.5” uptravel in front. Calculated using the zip tie on the shock shaft at static ride height test.

4-5 weekends back I added a 3rd pair of grooves since the winter traction was still lacking.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Put in a new fusible link. And added some Timbren AOR bumps.
Dropped down from 6” Slees to 3” front and 2” rears. Put on @LandCruiserPhil severe duty rear sway links which forces the front to flex more.

Feels way more capable and stable all around. With previous Slee billet front control arms only managed 2.75” down travel in front. Hyperflex arms got that to 5”. I’m now measuring 6” down travel in front now with 0.5” left in shocks.

Tha old adage of “you need uptravel to be stable off road” isn’t what what I’m gathering from my data and testing.
View attachment 2626078
View attachment 2626092
Surprisingly only lost 1.25” up travel in rear and have the same 3.5” uptravel in front. Calculated using the zip tie on the shock shaft at static ride height test.
View attachment 2626097
4-5 weekends back I added a 3rd pair of grooves since the winter traction was still lacking.

Nice flex on a over the top built 80 series

 

[on the rocks]

Be careful with the body lift. I have seen lots of guys post on here that an 80 can handle a body lift but my personal experience was bad.

I think an 80 can handle a body lift depending on level of abuse., but for my level of abuse I ended up cracking the body above body lift pucks in two different locations on two separate occasions.

Both times I developed cracks in the body on my 91, I was driving fast over extremely bumpy roads.

The first time I was trying to keep my speed up going across a muddy meadow covered in tall grass. The grass was deceptive and the meadow looked nice and flat, in reality the meadow was filled with basketball sized basalt boulders. Needless to say it was a rough head into the ceiling ride and it resulted in a new clunk that was determined to be a cracked body above the body mount located under the passenger foot area. This one was pretty easy to access and repair.

The second time this happened I was driving pretty fast, 50-60mph down a high speed gravel road that was covered in pot holes and extremely bad washboard at the time. I should have realized something was wrong sooner because the ride felt extremely harsh.... When I started wondering if I somehow broke a spring or had all my shocks simultaneously fail I should have trusted my instincts and stopped. Instead I kept on driving and figured the road was really really bad. About 5 minutes later I noticed a new clunk in the rear of the truck. I pulled over to investigate and realized my tires had been aired up to 80 psi at discount tire during my previous rotation and balance. This event caused the body to crack and fail above the rear most driver body mount.

Sorry about the long winded post but I just want people to know that body lifts can crack the body on an 80 series. But if you aren't stupid and don't drive like a maniac it should probably never be an issue. I bet 95% of 80 owners would never have a problem with a body lift.

sounds like you need a dessert runner LOL! Just kidding thanks for the heads up. Never a fan of them here and not sold yet, it just makes sense in a lot of ways for my 80. Not diving right in on the body, exploring options first.

 

[crikeymike]

Replaced my old OME shocks with Dobinsons, big thanks to Mike at Exit Offroad and his mud discount. Shocks feel great! Fwiw, I replaced OME N73 with Dobinsons GS59-683 and GS59-682 (0-3” lift). I’m running OME 2.5 850/860 springs. Also installed sway bar drop brackets and Land Cruiser Products (Land Cruiser Phil) front sway bar disconnect kit. View attachment 2625892

That's great man. Those old shocks look pretty old and worn out too, since it didn't extend out!!

 

[bonestock]

Installed these Hella bulbs on my high beams after reading from another member. I live on a Mountain and there has, recently, been lots of fog during my morning commute. I can definitely use the high beams a bit more liberally now with these yeller uns.

 

[highsierra4x4]

Went up to play in the snow got stuck in the creek and blew up some ARB Treds

 

[Box Rocket]

That's great man. Those old shocks look pretty old and worn out too, since it didn't extend out!!

Body lifts get a bad rep (deservedly so) because there are a lot of them that are total garbage. It all comes down to leverage and surface area. Body lifts have higher leverage forces on them because the separation between the body mount and body increases. There’s plenty of horror stories out there of 3” body lift bolts snapping. Keep the leverage forces low and there’s less chance of failure. I’m not aware of any failures of 1” body lifts unless they are junk kits. For the record I’m NOT recommending a body lift but just saying the a 1” body lift is pretty safe and there are some benefits.
The other problem with body lifts is that the pucks in some kits don’t have enough surface area on the top and bottom of the puck. Small pucks can fatigue or (in severe cases) punch through the sheet metal of the body mount. Find a kit with pucks as large as possible (diameter) for more surface area and less chance of them punching through or cracking the sheet metal.

Also, use grade8 hardware.

full disclosure. I run a 1” body lift. I also drive my truck pretty hard and fast. No issues. I’d never do more than a 1” body lift.

 

[CPACruiser]

Went up to play in the snow got stuck in the creek and blew up some ARB TredsView attachment 2626459View attachment 2626460View attachment 2626462View attachment 2626463View attachment 2626464

Proper rear sliding glass usage

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Body lifts get a bad rep (deservedly so) because there are a lot of them that are total garbage. It all comes down to leverage and surface area. Body lifts have higher leverage forces on them because the separation between the body mount and body increases. There’s plenty of horror stories out there of 3” body lift bolts snapping. Keep the leverage forces low and there’s less chance of failure. I’m not aware of any failures of 1” body lifts unless they are junk kits. For the record I’m NOT recommending a body lift but just saying the a 1” body lift is pretty safe and there are some benefits.
The other problem with body lifts is that the pucks in some kits don’t have enough surface area on the top and bottom of the puck. Small pucks can fatigue or (in severe cases) punch through the sheet metal of the body mount. Find a kit with pucks as large as possible (diameter) for more surface area and less chance of them punching through or cracking the sheet metal.

Also, use grade8 hardware.

full disclosure. I run a 1” body lift. I also drive my truck pretty hard and fast. No issues. I’d never do more than a 1” body lift.

Yeah my body lift was more than 1". I am not sure how the height could cause the puck to crack the body above the puck. These pucks were 2" tall and 3" wide. This is the only picture I could fine but the sheet metal above this puck was all cracked and busted. I had to weld all the cracks, grind the welds flat, and than I reinforced the area with a new piece of sheet metal.

This is what happened to the body lift with grade 8 hardware when I totalled her last year. The impact was strong enough to badly bend the frame. I bet a shorter body lift would have held up a lot better in this wreck. This is why tall body lifts are bad....

 

[Mtntopper]

Finished the rest of the alloy parts and got them over to the shop that's doing the new short block.

Then this happened...

 

[CPACruiser]

Finished the rest of the alloy parts and got them over to the shop that's doing the new short block.View attachment 2626738
Then this happened...View attachment 2626739View attachment 2626740View attachment 2626742

View attachment 2626741

Man that looks so nice all clean and fresh

 

[Feldrian]

Yeah my body lift was more than 1". I am not sure how the height could cause the puck to crack the body above the puck. These pucks were 2" tall and 3" wide. This is the only picture I could fine but the sheet metal above this puck was all cracked and busted. I had to weld all the cracks, grind the welds flat, and than I reinforced the area with a new piece of sheet metal.

View attachment 2626706

This is what happened to the body lift with grade 8 hardware when I totalled her last year. The impact was strong enough to badly bend the frame. I bet a shorter body lift would have held up a lot better in this wreck. This is why tall body lifts are bad....

View attachment 2626709

Man, that bushing is pretty pooched under the lift block. Taller blocks put more leverage on the mounts as you pretzel your frame or experience any significant jolts, which cause premature failure of the bushings and can bend the cab and frame mounts - sounds like you had both happen.

Opening myself up to be flamed here - I actually like body lifts. Yes, they look dumb (especially big ones) and you have alignment issued with shifter linkages and steering columns, etc, but they offer clearance with out raising your center of gravity as much as a suspension lift. That said, I don't have a body lift on my 80 and don't plan on one. If I did feel the need I'd stay to an inch.

I've run a significant body lift (3") on a truck in the past in conjunction with 6" of suspension and some aggressive fender cutting to clear 44X18.5s. Never had a problem, including after some pretty significant jumps (15+feet vertical) at tough truck events. I welded the lift to the frame perches though - I ran 3" 0.188 wall DOM tube with a 4" x 3/16" plate washer welded to the top, welded the bottom of that to the body perch. Cut out the center of the body perch so I could get a lower bushing, socket and extension inside to the underside of the welded washer and then ran a stock height body bushing on top of that. The perches at the front of the cab also received 45 degree (lateral) gussets for the full height of the DOM tube. Rear cab mounts had some space so instead of fabricated risers I ran a piece of 3"x 2" HSS across both body perches and then ran stock height body bushings on top. Ran long bolts all the way through these instead of cutting the perch and HSS since it would have been awkward to get a socket in there and I couldn't cut big enough hole for a lower bushing install inside the 2" wide HSS.

Poly lower body bushings were turned down to fit inside the tubes, which despite being a pain worked out really well. Under compression the lower bushings were encased by the tube and made for a great mount.

As I type this and remember how much work the last body lift was, I don't think I'm going to pull the body off my 80 and put one on this rig.

 

[on the rocks]

Not sure what this is about but likely a big part of the issue you had. Original spacer left in of some bushing? I would do all new body mounts(20"YO now) and pucks from a guy here on mud that put a lot of effort and research in up front from what I read.

 

[Feldrian]

Not sure what this is about but likely a big part of the issue you had. Original spacer left in of some bushing? I would do all new body mounts(20"YO now) and pucks from a guy here on mud that put a lot of effort and research in up front from what I read.
View attachment 2626844

Doesn't the bushing go on top? Never done one on the bottom before, but also never done one on an 80.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Not sure what this is about but likely a big part of the issue you had. Original spacer left in of some bushing? I would do all new body mounts(20"YO now) and pucks from a guy here on mud that put a lot of effort and research in up front from what I read.
View attachment 2626844

Have you ever taken the body mount under the driver's feet apart. It is a series of bushings that all fit together. It sure didn't seem to me like I could have tossed out the top part of the oem bushing you have circled without causing problems for the bottom half of the oem bushing.

Doesn't the bushing go on top? Never done one on the bottom before, but also never done one on an 80.

Same as above. The OEM bushing is multiple parts that fit together. I didn't think it was logical to put half of the oem bushing on top of the puck because of the way the oem parts are designed to fit together.

Here is a link showing how the oem bushing works/fits. For reference the bushing in the photo is #2.

PartSouq Auto Parts Around the World - https://partsouq.com/en/catalog/genuine/unit?c=Toyota&ssd=%24%2AKwHX4_LElKbXsbeOzoSN1Y-bu7yi09zR0MLc7p7Gl8DfxrnDkJDNx97Qn5uRioX8yYyGjYfA39fPw9rbysfewdfX0dLDkJDHi8bZwKimttCOg-3HmZ2UjICjmp7Rzcfew8DS3dLSiIKMycTBi5HG2cGe4u-3pa7AycTBjN-QlMXGpbiv3NOtkfXgtaqowMnEwZffkJTFipaOicjDw9rbysfew9bWmQAAAAAOnsp2%24&vid=0&cid=3&uid=345864&q=

This damage happened in a bad collision. The two times the pucks cracked through the body did not involve collisions. Just extremely stupid abusive driving lol.

Honestly I do think 95%+ of 80 series would never have problems with a body lift except for situations involving bad collisions. Bad enough to bend the frame. When I damaged the mount in the photo the other vehicle impacted my front driver's side bumper and the front passenger door wouldn't open afterwords.....

 

[on the rocks]

I have not tackled that yet and never a fan of them honestly. Just making sense here on the 80 more than ever. 4crawler instructions are way overcomplicated as is their order form so I threw in a box and will revisit after the lift is done. Was speeding a bit on the body lift but not ruling it out yet. My point was it looked odd and wore and may have been the weak point and causing failure but overlooked the fact it was wrecked or forgot anyway .
EDIT: nice link BTW, not sure if in the FSM but I have a hard time following the order there sometimes lol