Tough Dog 4" Kit In an 80 / Pics?

[[WANAPLAY]]

Hey all,

Anyone running a tough dog 4 inch kit?

Had problems / or got gripes?

Im gonna go the full tough dog kit, with RTC steering stabiliser, springs shocks, caster bushes, panards, brake lines etc etc...

Also has anyone got any pics of thier 4' inch or close too 80???

Cheers Ryan

[sniper]

A mate of mine just had this kit installed. Has had no problems yet, he is very happy with it. He had the 45mm bore adjustable stocks put in with the kit.

Although his RTC did break (he installed it) on a weld. It was only a tack weld and when bolting up this broke. He reweld it properly and has had no probs.

He has put 35s mudzillas on it and now his diff is dyeing because of this so he needs to rebuild both diffs. Also is changing his ratios to 4.88

Has not been off road yet (not till diffs rebuilt). But we have high expectations

When installed it sometimes needs adjusting (the kit) as you can get vibrations so he was informed, but so far nothig drives great.

I will try to get a pick, unfortunetly no off road ones.

[[WANAPLAY]]

Thanks sniper!

Good to hear, the kit i got priced comes with the 45mm adjustables aswell and I'm gonna run 315's the equivalent to 35's on it.

Did he put it in himself? Iv'e done springs and shocks before but not bushes? Ive heard its not too hard...

Love to see some pics and yeah I dont mind if there not offroad, coz im just after the height / look etc

Cheers Ryan

[DIRTY ROCK STAR]

ferogs 80 runs toughdog....
i thought it was more then 4" though....

you will see it in the members area.

[Surfection]

Try to steer clear of caster bushes and go with caster plates instead, you'll find the front end will work a little better giving you more flex and a better balanced system. Caster bushes being the shape that they are don't allow for the full range of twisting movement that a normal bush allows for, hence not allowing quite as much flex as a normal round bush.

Cheers and good luck, Jeremy

[Tiny]

I agree with jeremy, they are easy to put in, and if you are handy with a welder I would consider laminating the control arms while everything is out, lowers at leats as theyu will get the impact. what bar etc do you have? this will effect the over al lift and what spring are best for the duty.

give me a bell if you have any Qs

[Mud_5lut]

i dont have an 80 but there is no way in hel i would boubt the tough dog lift. i have 4 inch coils, 5 inch shocks, adjustable panhards and 5 inch castor plates. the settings on the shocks are unreal. i do alot of towing and wheeling and they suit everything. as for height goes it's a little bit of a jump,step into the cab but not to much of a hassle.

[Mud_5lut]

i dont have an 80 but there is no way in hel i would boubt the tough dog lift. i have 4 inch coils, 5 inch shocks, adjustable panhards and 5 inch castor plates. the settings on the shocks are unreal. i do alot of towing and wheeling and they suit everything. as for height goes it's a little bit of a jump,step into the cab but not to much of a hassle.

[guzzla]

didnt know they did a 4in shock unless your getting the 5in shock instead. if thats the case go with the 5in kit as its a better matched kit - i reckon its the best compromise when trying to achieve great flex with great on road manners. will post pics shortly.

cheers,
nathan

[Mud_5lut]

one thing i did have to play with alot was the settings while driving on road to get right. to soft while roll alot and bounce feel real unsafe, to hard well it was like riding in a hilux (no offence). those setting numbers will stay with you when you hop out to unlock your hubs. if not you will learn quik. my 2 cents.

[guzzla]

here.......

[sniper]

My mate just put in the RTC himself he took it to BBM to install the rest.

Will try to put up a few picks tomorrow of my mates truck.

And anything over 4" and 35 dont think you could get engineered so 4" is a good choice.

Cant remeber how high the limit is i think its 1100mm to your headlights.
Until the new law starts then nothin over 150mm from standard, i think.

[guzzla]

mines fully engineered with 5in lift and 35's. still got the body lift to do and i'll still be under the limit of 1200mm to top of head lights and still legal but that in sydney and it appears to be changing so i hear

ive made it with time to spare.

[[WANAPLAY]]

Thanks for the pics guzzla and everyone, I'm definetely gonna go a 4 inch, any smaller and its not worth doing...

Over here in WA they reckon anything over 50mm from standard, no matter if its tyres body or suspension lift it is illigal, unless you get an engineers certificate, modification forms for a permit filled out and a lane change or swerve test.

So ill go the 4 inch and make my decision as to filling out all the relevant info later.

If it wasnt for insurance I wouldnt bother doing anything till i got picked up by the cops, but they wont cover me unless its legal.

[udm]

From toughdog I have only bought shocks and steering damper, but anyway... here are some pics of my 4" lift: http://www.ozsigns.com/aussie/fj80tohzj ... index.html

PS. i´ve already got 1 shock and the damper leaking (only 3 months later)

Ulises

[CHILLI 2]

I had an 80 GXL with a 5 inch lift using Ranchos originally and changed to tough dogs in the rear it made a huge difference just changing the 2 shocks not only off road but on as well !!!!as for the caster plates you'll have no option if it's a true 4 inch lift but to run them and the flex should be exactly the same as your using the same bushes!!!on mine i had to muck around with the caster plates a little to stop the steering arm rubbing on trailing arms!extend the sway bar links a couple of inches and will still drive good!!

[grub_80]

I have an 80 with 5" springs & 6" toughdog shocks, I had the same issues as chilli 2 with the ranchos, putting the toughdogs on fixed the handling problems, originally I only put them on the rear and this was good enough but now I have them all round and I am very happy with their performance. I also have snake racing radius arms, adjustable pan hards and I made 50mm spacers to lower front sway bar. I don't beleive I lost any wheel travel when I put this back on (only done to compensate for rancho lack of performance and never taken back off).
I got the radius arms as I was told the caster plates never fit right and they are more trouble than they are worth. Very pricey but worth it for handling and off road performance.

Dave

[guzzla]

ive got the snake dropped radius arms as well. while im more than happy with them in hindsight i would have gone with the flip arm setup instead. may change to a 5 link front when they can make it go all right on road though !!!!