Outer Limits 4x4 Board

ferrit wrote:yeah... i dont see the springs lasting very long if you cut them back to 2 leafs and feed a turbo motor into them. and if your then going to the effort of designing and installing track rods to stop axle wrap, then why wouldnt you just buy the arse out of a factory coiled truck and just weld that on instead?

Do it

You won't regret it, so long as it's done right.

Probably the 3 most uncomfortable 4WD's I've ever ridden in had leaves in the back and were called Hilux's

-Nemesis- wrote:

ferrit wrote:yeah... i dont see the springs lasting very long if you cut them back to 2 leafs and feed a turbo motor into them. and if your then going to the effort of designing and installing track rods to stop axle wrap, then why wouldnt you just buy the arse out of a factory coiled truck and just weld that on instead?

Do it

You won't regret it, so long as it's done right.

Probably the 3 most uncomfortable 4WD's I've ever ridden in had leaves in the back and were called Hilux's

Hey at least mine had a V8 :D
I will admit though that Twisty had the same rim and tyre combo and almost identical front end setup to mine in his runner and it drove a lot smoother than my lux did. Mine also had the rears downrated to ride better as well.

well it looks like im tracking down at least half a 4runner to start with, and then deciding on a donor for the front end- would i need sway bars to get it engineered?

the final straw was on the weekend when the lack of rear end flex nearly put me onto my side going down a rutted hill Rear end couldnt follow the ground properly, lifted a wheel and she fell over and touched the bank!

Thats easily fixed just Trail Gear it



Just airbag it for carrying

did you miss the bit where i said im sick of leaf springs?

I ruined myself- spent a week running around in a 100 series TD at work... those things are just sooooo comfy

plus jumping from my lux to dads prado, you realise just how rough riding leafs actually are

if you wanna go hard... patrols rear stuff with a frame as ryan said. semi hard just cut the arse out of a surf n drop that in, easy as and works alright... wanna be even better, stay with leafs?? I set up a set of ifs rears, layed the shocks over and got longer shackles for well under 300 bucks, works just as good as a surf rear when setup properly, play ya leafs right and ya wont even need a track bar.. BUT it wil help out by having one. You could put any kind of leaf in it, run a certain legth shackle that the dot wanks wont pull ya over for and ya set?? Trail gear has awesome kits just hack all ya mounts off and weld the new stuff on and if ya keep em low enuf, they flex really well. I personally think leafs have alot of potential, ppl just give up with the smell of a lil hard work.

best thing bout living in SA is DOT dont sit there and harrass you for a bodylift

im setting this truck up as a hardcore tourer- something i can drive the cape in, but also play with on the way up, so comfort and capable is my aim- coils with airbags seem the best approach to that.

And the runner rear end seems to be the most straight forward- why bother cutting all the stock leaf gear off only to weld more leaf sprung gear on? toyota have done all the hard work with the coil rear in a runner getting links right etc.

shame your not open to ideas!
good luck with it

Triangulated 4 link with coilovers should be right yeah?

-Nemesis- wrote:I would start with the rear and leave the front as is for now, as you said the Lux front can work quiet well.

I sold a Surf chassis to a guy on here (bradchlux or something???) and he did the rear link conversion in a weekend.

All I would suggest to revise on the rear end would be use 80 series trailing arms as opposed to the short Surf/Runner ones. This will soften the arc of the diff's movement and make it more comfortable again, plus easier flex (not that the Runners are bad)

You'll be amazed the ride difference with a coily rear, can't even feel it working off road

Hey mate, i bought a surf chassy off nemesis and changed my hilux rear end from leafs to toyota surf rear coils fairly easily.

Basically to give you an idea, the surf rear end (with rancho's and new coils) flex really well from factory. The only restriction on my coil rear is the length of the shocks and the shorter trailing arms then alot of other setups.

The surf and hilux chassy are almost identical, they are the same width and the curvature of the chassy matches up beautifully. All i did was remove the tray and carefully cut away my leaf spring mounts and cross members, carefully remove the surf cross members and trailing arm mounts...
Then the whole piece dropps out and can be wheeled under the lux chassy and positioned with a few measurements, then basically just welded back on.

Now mine i believe it flexes awesome and have no need to chase more flex but if you wanted you could add 80 series trailing arms (longer) whch would free up the links even more but in my opinion if your gonna do this then you may as well go a complete custom setup.

I chose this because all the arms and mounts are factory toyota hilux and were made for the chassy and it makes engineering really easy as all the geometry is factory and they basically only engineer the welds.

i have heaps of pics of the whole setup from start to finish if you need them but i can up load a couple to give you an idea.

Also because i had the room with being able to remove (was checked by an engineer) the spare wheel holder i tucked up a toyota prado 80L tank.

All in all, has a awsome ride, flexes well and with new tank, coils, shocks it ended up costing me $400 by the time i sold my standard rear end and some stuff off the ifs surf chassy.

Brad

All in all depends what your after, i have had it in there for about 18months now and no hassles, yeh you can get some really good kits but i wanted something easy that i knew could be engineered...

I'm happy and every one has a opinion that varies slightly so this is what i did..

Hope it helps mate, if you need more info pm me and ill give you alot more info as there is a little more to it then 5 mins of typin..

Brad

mate, that is EXACTLY what i was after!

Looks fantastic!

Few questions:

Would you still be able to squeeze a 33x12.5 spare under there with the new crossmembers

Would a Long ranger fuel tank fit in the stock location?

So now i ring the local wreckers and find out how much for a surf/4runner rear chassis cut!

ferrit wrote:mate, that is EXACTLY what i was after!

Looks fantastic!

Few questions:

Would you still be able to squeeze a 33x12.5 spare under there with the new crossmembers

Would a Long ranger fuel tank fit in the stock location?

So now i ring the local wreckers and find out how much for a surf/4runner rear chassis cut!

Your Hilux tank will not work with the surf rear, the upper arms will hit it. You will need to relocate a tank to where Brad has, the runners option for a long range tank is a second tank mounted where Brad has his. This means if you want the spare underneath you will have to go to a factory runner tank and lose the range. Or go the two tanks and put the spare in the tray or build a rear wheel carrier.

bugger... Wonder if there is any way to modify the LR tank to suit the coil rear?

The last thing i want to do is loose the range ive already got, or loose tray space to a 33" tyre

ferrit wrote:bugger... Wonder if there is any way to modify the LR tank to suit the coil rear?

The last thing i want to do is loose the range ive already got, or loose tray space to a 33" tyre

Not that I found I looked into it all when I was going to fit one, I decided that I would sell my tank off fit a runner one and the second tank like Brad has done and run the spare in the tray.

Aint modding fun

The factory surf/ 4runner tank is located same as hilux, its just a bit shorter, should fit up to factory hilux tank brackets. I got one lying around if you want it, and some stock coils.
You could mod your long ranger to fit under pass side? Squeeze the exhaust thru the middle? Most welding shops can modify the tank.

yeah- went and had a good look at a surf chassis with tank in it today. theres a significant dent in the tank where the upper arm mounts in- so theres no way i can modify the long ranger to fit.

Though i could get the runner tank, and a prado 90L tank, and all the dual tank plumbing from a prado and run that with the coil rear.

got quoted $500 for the coil rear cut.

Sounds about fair, they are normally around the $400 mark.
I reckon sell the long ranger and do the tank setup you suggested then just make a rear bar with wheel carrrier for the spare.

Hey Brad are the chassis on the later hiluxs the same width as a gen1 '83 lux.

Looks like the coil swap worked out well.

Matt

booflux wrote:Sounds about fair, they are normally around the $400 mark.
I reckon sell the long ranger and do the tank setup you suggested then just make a rear bar with wheel carrrier for the spare.

Rear wheel carrier also allows me to mount up a HF antenna when i buy it!

Christ! Just saw what the trail gear kits going for at the moment! $1500 for the rear end, and that KEEPS leaf springs!!!

might do some more pricing- if i go the dual tanks route, using a stock 65L tank and a prado 90L tank, i'll wind up with 155L of fuel, which is 20L more than I already have.

Im sure i can sell my long ranger for the price of the prado tank, runner tank and the plumbing to make them dual tanks...

Frankenyota wrote:Hey Brad are the chassis on the later hiluxs the same width as a gen1 '83 lux.

Looks like the coil swap worked out well.

Matt

As i believe the chassy is very close and it can be done, between the leaf sprung model and the 3.0L model with ifs the only real difference with this conversion is the ifs model front tank mount will be 35mm further forward and you can run the 4 runner tank as well as what i did in the rear... (or just position the coil setup back a little)

I could fit the 4 runner tank but being 35mm out i would have had to make new brackets and for the effort 80L was enough for now.

ferrit, every thing booflux is correct in relation to the tanks and the spare wheel, you will fit the 4 runner tank, run a rear tank as i did and make the spare wheel holder... Will turn out good.

Brad

mate i put ifs rear springs on my 84 lux with extended shackels and set the shocks on angle and took out the 2 lower sprinds and got a one peace drive shaft flexed awesome .. if your head is stuck on 4 link rear i would do the lockedup4x4 rear 4link set up and run coils, air shocks dont work too well too light.... or even lockedup 3link rear probly better then you dont have to move fuel tank.....

4runner lower control arms are a bit short... if you want custom links see superior theyll make up any arms you want...

as he said he isnt after serious flex or that, and for the cost of about 500 and a bit of work for coil sprung rear its not to bad.

its come at right time for me, almost 100% convinced to keep the hilux now.... almost bought a pootrol

How much flex could he possibly want?

5 link custom front. Stock 4Runner rear with lift and shocks:

very nice

Similar but different ...

Std rear with coils & shocks and 3 link coil Bundera front end on 35's

AcTioN13 wrote:as he said he isnt after serious flex or that, and for the cost of about 500 and a bit of work for coil sprung rear its not to bad.

its come at right time for me, almost 100% convinced to keep the hilux now.... almost bought a pootrol

Yeah- it shouldnt come out costing me more than a grand at most.

$500 for runner/surf rear chassis cut
$50 each for tanks? 2nd hand- just get a 90L main tank from any gas fitter thats done an LPG conversion on a V6 90 series
$200 for prado filler neck and solenoid setup, plus wiring and 2nd fuel gauge
$200 new shocks
$200 new springs
$300 steel and sundries

Then you can sell the shocks and springs from the lux (the rears are about a month old, same with shackles, shocks are about 2yrs old- sell the whole shebang for around $400 (springs were $160 each!)

Time to start collecting bits i think... im not allowed to do anything till i get rid of my old 2.8D motor! How the hell can i shift this stupid thing!!!

When i can track down the front cut of a bundera, thats the next stage

I want full coils damnit!

yeah i am with you mate.


is it a fairly simple cut clean and weld job for bundera onto lux?