Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey guys, thinking about converting my 1981 Lux to coils, and just wondering if I can do the 4Runner/Surf coil conversion on this chassis, or are the dimensions completely wrong? I have an 80 series rear diff under the truck already set up for leaf springs, so was going to use the 80 series lower coil mounts on the axle, 4runner upper coil towers, an adjustable panhard rod, 80 series lower control arms, surf lowers as the uppers, and a set of standard rate aftermarket 80 series coils to give it some height. I know a 4 link would be better all round, but I can get all this stuff for next to nothing, and as the car is a daily, getting it all engineered will be a walk in the park being factory Tojo parts. The car already has high steer/ruf etc so the front end works great, and the rear has longer springs/shackles/ inverted shocks etc, track rod etc, but I'm just not happy with the rear end, even after playing with leafs/track rod/shocks...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I know this topic has been done to death, but being new to series 1 Lux's, I just need clarification before I start cutting

Cheers guys
Evan

i dont think engineering will be a walk in park
you will be making all the mounting points on the chassis many of them from scratch and doing a lot of welding
the 80 series chassis is much flatter and a totally different shape
you can use the surf panard rod mount the rails are the same spacing the problem is mounting the 80 upper and lower arms in the right place
have you ever done any of this kinda fab before?

i think it would be easier if you want to run 80 series diffs to use an 80 series chassis and mount your cab on it

The car already has an 80 series diff under it using leaf springs as mentioned and has been under there for years (and engineered for it). I want to use the panhard rod brackets, as well as the chassis mounts off the 4 runner on the Lux chassis, ands use coil seats etc off an 80 series to sort the axle side of things out. I was just wanting to know if the 4runner brackets and crossmembers will fit the Lux, which judging by your comments they will. I'll be running 80 series lower control arms which is what many 4runnner owners run sucessfully, and use the surf lowers as uppers.

Ive worked on cars my whole life so know how to spin a spanner, but i'll be enlisting the help of a few suspects off here who are more than qualified to do this job... Just wanted to know is the 4runner stuff wil fit this chassis, as I've only ever owned LN106 Lux's and wanted to double check.

Cheers
Evan

I think most the 4 runner gear should fit most suff is easy enough to retro fit between models.

Evski wrote:The car already has an 80 series diff under it using leaf springs as mentioned and has been under there for years (and engineered for it). I want to use the panhard rod brackets, as well as the chassis mounts off the 4 runner on the Lux chassis, ands use coil seats etc off an 80 series to sort the axle side of things out. I was just wanting to know if the 4runner brackets and crossmembers will fit the Lux, which judging by your comments they will. I'll be running 80 series lower control arms which is what many 4runnner owners run sucessfully, and use the surf lowers as uppers.

Ive worked on cars my whole life so know how to spin a spanner, but i'll be enlisting the help of a few suspects off here who are more than qualified to do this job... Just wanted to know is the 4runner stuff wil fit this chassis, as I've only ever owned LN106 Lux's and wanted to double check.

Cheers
Evan

Basically what i am trying to say is that if you were to go all 4 runner?surf it will all fit in ok but........
you are not you are mixing 80 series components into the mix none of the 80 series componets will line up at all with the 4 runner geometry
it is one thing to cut the brackets off a 80 series diff and bolt it into the leaves and get it complied as its all original geometry
it is quite another to custom design a full custom multi link rear end and weld it in

basically the only thing you can use from the 4 runner is the panard rod mount and crosmember
the other 4 mounts will need to be custom made
for the upper control arms when mounting them in a hilux chassis there is nothing close to mount them to and they will be in the middle of the fuel tank

the 4runner spring mounts are all wrong because they limmit up travel and sit under the chassis where as the 80 series ones mount between the rails

once you have worked out where you are going to mount your arms then you need to the diff pinion angle correct throughout the travel of the suspension

also when using the 4runner panard rod assy with a hilux chassis the roll center ends up too high

this is what i did

Hmm, no good. So I couldnt use 80 series coil seats and upper/lower control arm mounts on the axle, and the 4runner stuff on the HiLux chassis? I just dont see how having a different axle would make things so difficult. Sorry not trying to fight it, I just cant see how this would be a problem as I can weld the coil seats wherever they need to be as essentially it will be returned to a bare chassis If it's not going to work then I'll just have to go custom, but I thought using things like the lower control arm chassis mount would save heaps of time over making things from scratch. Also I know the fuel tank will be a problem, but I have a custom steel tray so there's plenty of room to mount a rear mounted tank like a GQ or Prado one.

Cheers for the pics though, looks like it works well for you! Is that flex with 4runner lowers?

If you can fab then just use 4 Runner lower coil perches (easy to remove from the diff so they can be re-used), you can splice the 4 Runner upper and lower axle link brackets on to, but it's just as easy to make new ones.

Use the 4 Runner axle shock mounts, again easy to slice off and re-use.

80 series upper and lower arms onto custom chassis mounts and you are 90% there.

Cheers

Evski wrote:Hmm, no good. So I couldnt use 80 series coil seats and upper/lower control arm mounts on the axle, and the 4runner stuff on the HiLux chassis? I just dont see how having a different axle would make things so difficult. Sorry not trying to fight it, I just cant see how this would be a problem as I can weld the coil seats wherever they need to be as essentially it will be returned to a bare chassis If it's not going to work then I'll just have to go custom, but I thought using things like the lower control arm chassis mount would save heaps of time over making things from scratch. Also I know the fuel tank will be a problem, but I have a custom steel tray so there's plenty of room to mount a rear mounted tank like a GQ or Prado one.

Cheers for the pics though, looks like it works well for you! Is that flex with 4runner lowers?

i have used 4 runner axle mounts with 80 series spring perches the shock mounts are 4runner
all arms uper lower and panard rod are 80series
the chassis mounts are all custom as its easier to fab em than cut the old ones off
plus the 80 series ones are all wrong for the 46 chassis and the 4runner ones are all wrong for the 80 arms(so you cannot use any of them)

once you get knee deep into it you will see what i mean