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2002 TuRD

I don’t necessarily disagree with you at all. I like the added safety of the ram on tie rod


Then again, it’s worked for a number of high end builds… and if all he’s trying to accomplish is reducing load on the steering box, it should work fine. Plus, packaging might be easier.

I know they work. I'd for sure be going with a bigger tre/hiem on the draglink
 
What about doing a spring under front? Would lower your leafs and give you room to fit a ram. We run a full hydro ram on our toyota buggy at work that's set up with a tie rod and drag link and it works fine with 37s
 
What about doing a spring under front? Would lower your leafs and give you room to fit a ram. We run a full hydro ram on our toyota buggy at work that's set up with a tie rod and drag link and it works fine with 37s
Possibly, but if I'm going to do all that, change it to spring under, I'll just link it and be done.
 
Possibly, but if I'm going to do all that, change it to spring under, I'll just link it and be done.

Spua actually isn't a bad idea at all, would just have to weld pads on and get some roughly 4" lift springs for the same vehicle your leafs are from. Would be damn near bolt in vs lots of Fab and fitment, plus tons of money for links.
 
Spua actually isn't a bad idea at all, would just have to weld pads on and get some roughly 4" lift springs for the same vehicle your leafs are from. Would be damn near bolt in vs lots of Fab and fitment, plus tons of money for links.
I know how my brain works and I would get 30% of the way into that and say fuck this and link it lol.
 
Order leafs

Order leaf pads

weld pads on

install leafs

Party?:flipoff2:

Obviously you'll have to do a little extra fab on the diff side again, but probably not too bad.

Go price out a 4wu kit and shocks and it will look pretty good :laughing:
 
Order leafs

Order leaf pads

weld pads on

install leafs

Party?:flipoff2:

Obviously you'll have to do a little extra fab on the diff side again, but probably not too bad.

Go price out a 4wu kit and shocks and it will look pretty good :laughing:
Lol! I would piece a link kit together anyway, I doubt they have the "flipped fj60 axle in a 1st gen Tacoma" weld in kit :laughing:
 
You would be 3-4k into front end if you do a custom 3 link, cheaper to do spring under but if your in there doing all that work may as well make it better
 
seems like a perfect candidate for the spring sliders, if you stay leaf spring that is. maybe
I looked at those when I built it and after finally seeing some in person I'm glad I didn't go with them. Im planning on laying under this thing tonight when I yank the driveshafts to get them retubed and do some measuring and see what I can move around.
 
how did this go from "packaging a ram looks difficult" to "you need to SUA"???

EDIT: I've seen this rig work (small hole in a parking lot... :flipoff2:) No reason to change suspension that has worked very well.
 
speaking of the ram, can you fit it on the backside of the longside like the landcruiser dudes did back in the day? use a stock arm on the bottom and then double sheer it to the top?
 
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speaking of the ram, can you fit it on the backside of the longside like the landcruiser dudes did back in the day? use a stock arm on the bottom and then double sheer it to the top?
I thought about that and keep going back to that. I need to call FROR and see if I can get some flat arms made for the lowers and double sheer it and drop that tie rod below the leaf springs and build a skid. I'm still interested in the DE ram though, but I will for sure replace that heat sink cooler before the next trip in a couple weeks and see if that fixes anything. It should be hot and humid for my next few trips out so it should be a good test.

rockota yea it does work and drives great on the street up to 80, I just want to get off the air bumps and not have it ride like a tractor between obstacles. My wife's got a bad back and doesn't really wheel with me because of that and I want to get her back on the trail with me. I know linking is the way, but that's a ways off with competing priorities, so I need something in the interim.


I have been kicking around just shoving the front axle forward 4" and getting some uptravel that way. The DE ram thread got me thinking about ditching that ford box, and going with a rear swing box and more conventional type setup, and if I'm building out that whole frame section anyway, I may as well move the shackle mounts forward and spin around my rear spring hangars.

In the meantime time I dropped my driveshafts off today to get retubed with some thicker tube and fix some conversion joint fuckery on the rear shaft as I have some trips coming up.
 
@rockota yea it does work and drives great on the street up to 80, I just want to get off the air bumps and not have it ride like a tractor between obstacles. My wife's got a bad back and doesn't really wheel with me because of that and I want to get her back on the trail with me. I know linking is the way, but that's a ways off with competing priorities, so I need something in the interim.

flat springs suck, get new springs, a 2.0 fox remote reservoir shock in there and life will be better. 4" min uptravel, take the ride height increase it wont be as bad as you think. dropping the tierod under the springs wont fix the uptravel problem.

how many PSI in bumps?
 
I thought about that and keep going back to that. I need to call FROR and see if I can get some flat arms made for the lowers and double sheer it and drop that tie rod below the leaf springs and build a skid. I'm still interested in the DE ram though, but I will for sure replace that heat sink cooler before the next trip in a couple weeks and see if that fixes anything. It should be hot and humid for my next few trips out so it should be a good test.

rockota yea it does work and drives great on the street up to 80, I just want to get off the air bumps and not have it ride like a tractor between obstacles. My wife's got a bad back and doesn't really wheel with me because of that and I want to get her back on the trail with me. I know linking is the way, but that's a ways off with competing priorities, so I need something in the interim.


I have been kicking around just shoving the front axle forward 4" and getting some uptravel that way. The DE ram thread got me thinking about ditching that ford box, and going with a rear swing box and more conventional type setup, and if I'm building out that whole frame section anyway, I may as well move the shackle mounts forward and spin around my rear spring hangars.

In the meantime time I dropped my driveshafts off today to get retubed with some thicker tube and fix some conversion joint fuckery on the rear shaft as I have some trips coming up.

What's your total uptravel right now? I usually sit about 1-1.5" off the air bumps right now... so about 4" total up travel. Only way I can get more up travel is to raise ride height. I should have never gone to 14" CO's... 12" would have been a much better solution given the height, frame, oil pan, and packaging for CO mounts.

Still rides pretty well. Probably does need new front springs - It's actually a wee bit soft.
 
linking does solve some issues but create more. the best linking on toyotas front i think i have seen is where they cut the frame off at its highest point in the front and use 2x3 tube all the way out. i think it is new motor mounts and everything. but then you can link with out lifting. there was a build on here that did that and i thought it was sweet. maybe alot more than you want to do also..

best thing is sit and stare at it and digest all these ideas.
 
linking does solve some issues but create more. the best linking on toyotas front i think i have seen is where they cut the frame off at its highest point in the front and use 2x3 tube all the way out. i think it is new motor mounts and everything. but then you can link with out lifting. there was a build on here that did that and i thought it was sweet. maybe alot more than you want to do also..

best thing is sit and stare at it and digest all these ideas.

he can link it with what he has now and it will be significantly better. im willing to be he could get 6" of uptravel and address his other issues all in one shot with very little headache.
 
linking does solve some issues but create more. the best linking on toyotas front i think i have seen is where they cut the frame off at its highest point in the front and use 2x3 tube all the way out. i think it is new motor mounts and everything. but then you can link with out lifting. there was a build on here that did that and i thought it was sweet. maybe alot more than you want to do also..

best thing is sit and stare at it and digest all these ideas.
I did that on my taco, cut off frame, raised motor made new frame with 2x3" box tube. Pulling 5.5" of uptravel at 25" frame height on 40s. I have a trussed 60, without the truss you could pull a few more inches forsure
 
thats with a stock unnotched frame ... if i was to do it again i would flip the tierods at the steering arm for a few more inches of uptravel.

1687364941598.png
 
flat springs suck, get new springs, a 2.0 fox remote reservoir shock in there and life will be better. 4" min uptravel, take the ride height increase it wont be as bad as you think. dropping the tierod under the springs wont fix the uptravel problem.

how many PSI in bumps?
Yes new springs will be part of the package if I move everything, I built the front end around some free fj62 rear leafs I got, they work great offroad and ride decent on road, but are bitch to find. So I'll probably go with a yj leaf or something easier to find, probably not RUF because it's not 2003 and Toyota leafs are pretty scarce around these parts.

Don't remember on the bump PSI, I need to get a nitrogen kit and start playing them and I have some for the rear I need to install as well. I want to raise the truck up a bit anyway, it physically gets beached on shit as is.
What's your total uptravel right now? I usually sit about 1-1.5" off the air bumps right now... so about 4" total up travel. Only way I can get more up travel is to raise ride height. I should have never gone to 14" CO's... 12" would have been a much better solution given the height, frame, oil pan, and packaging for CO mounts.

Still rides pretty well. Probably does need new front springs - It's actually a wee bit soft.
Total uptravel is 2" until I'm in the oil pan.

chaplinfj60 front frames already cut off and tubed out with 2x3. So really the limiting factor after everything else is the motor itself. Hence why I need to move that tie rod and raise the truck.

Root cause of all this is marking IFS axle center my fender before cutting, then fucking up and setting the new axle on that center line instead of moving forward. First ever SAS, so in the grand scheme of things compared to the struggle street I have seen with other people with DW, ripping parts off frames and stuff like that, I'll take my error anyway over all that LOL
 
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Yes new springs will be part of the package if I move everything, I built the front end around some free fj62 rear leafs I got, they work great offroad and ride decent on road, but are bitch to find. So I'll probably go with a yj leaf or something easier to find, probably not RUF because it's not 2003 and Toyota leafs are pretty scarce around these parts.

Don't remember on the bump PSI, I need to get a nitrogen kit and start playing them and I have some for the rear I need to install as well. I want to raise the truck up a bit anyway, it physically gets beached on shit as is.

50psi in your airbumps. that goes for 97.45% of the people that trail wheel and are reading this. as for the springs ... id heavily consider getting custom ones made matching your current dimensions to simplify your life.

if you are going to rework the front end to make other leaf springs work, you might as well link it.
 
any chance you can modify the oil pan? Somewhere I have pics of a 4runner that the builder had to modify the pan to get the HP a bit more room.
otherwise, I think you're going to have to go taller.
 
any chance you can modify the oil pan? Somewhere I have pics of a 4runner that the builder had to modify the pan to get the HP a bit more room.
otherwise, I think you're going to have to go taller.
raise the bumps and let it self clearance. i think booger did on one of his builds

i often wonder what happened to him and oops
 
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