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Sidekick family crawler

Sidekicktodd

Sidekicktodd

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2022
Member Number
5825
Messages
81
Loc
Sonoma county
This is my 94 sidekick build I don’t have much left to do but I figured I should show my build to help others that are thinking about building a sidekick.
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it’s suspension 2.0 fox 14inch 150lb/200lb with 2.0 bump stops. It had 200/225 and it made the rear run like shit I’m glad I didn’t mess with the rear before playing with the colors some. Rear is rubicon express 2inch SOA and 2.0 fox resi.
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4.3 vortec fits good, I only had to modify the firewall with a hammer. Trans it a th350 with a advanced adapter to Toyota dual tcase. 2.28 and 4.7 marlin crawler gears. Side note I’m not a trail gear hater but I had TG 4.7 gears first and I thought it was normal for the gears to be super load but now that I have Marlins there almost silent. I ran the 1.6 16 valve with 35s for a few years and loved it in the rocks but it couldn’t hang on the road, snow and hills. I originally ran the sidekick automatic with a Toyota tcase adapter but it would force upshift around4500rpm so I ended up swapping to a Toyota manual and adapted it to the 1.6 motor. I eventually gave up and went to a v6 for the power and I’m extremely happy with it.
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the axles are TG Tacoma width about 62inches with 5.29 gears. I’m going to run 4.10 gears to try and get my hwy speed rpms down. I’m only able to go about 55-60 without maxing out my rpms for long distance driving. I did the motor swap because I could only go 55 and now that I got rid of my 5speed and have no overdrive I can only go 55😳

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I’m currently building a tire carrier and I also need to build a brush gard for the front. I keep breaking my grills with all the downed trees on the trails here in Nevada County.It’s a constant battle cleaning the trails here we usually have 2 saws going. One day I’ll build a international cage.
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I’m happy with the interior it’s installed and quiet. I was able to even have a parking break. I had 3 tcase shifter but went back to 2 and it’s a lot cleaner and simpler to use. If I want to run 2wd low I just put the front case in. There’s no reason to run 4.7 2wd. All I’m missing is some door handles and it’s finished.
 

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current priority fix the burnt up th350. The hard part is I have to pull the motor to drop the transmission because it’s to tight in the tunnel to loosen the bolts. I want to go snow wheeling New Years so I’m running out of time🥶
 
I know someone who mocked up a 4.3/th350/dual Toyota case in a kick and said it fit very well. Iirc, the dual case shifters even lined up with the stock shifter holes.

Have you looked into a 4l60e swap at all? Might be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone on your highway speed issue.

I have not had good experience running 4.10s with Toyota tcases. Puts more stress on them and can lead to broken parts.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Have you looked into a 4l60e swap at all? Might be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone on your highway speed issue.

I have not had good experience running 4.10s with Toyota tcases. Puts more stress on them and can lead to broken parts.
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I actually have a built 4l60 I could use. I was trying to keep my drive train short and stay away from electronics. I might have to go that way if I break a tcase. My case now is fully built rvc main and MC 23spline in/out and 4.7.
 
Sidekicktodd said:
I actually have a built 4l60 I could use. I was trying to keep my drive train short and stay away from electronics. I might have to go that way if I break a tcase. My case now is fully built rvc main and MC 23spline in/out and 4.7.
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How much difference in length is there? Google has mixed answers.

Outputs were the weak point for me, so the RCV rear is a good start. I still don't like running 4.10s with them, especially since you already have the 5.29s.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
How much difference in length is there? Google has mixed answers.

Outputs were the weak point for me, so the RCV rear is a good start. I still don't like running 4.10s with them, especially since you already have the 5.29s.
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It’s depends on the adapter length but the case is only 1inch or so longer. The 4l60 bell housing is a lot more narrow and would make it easier to work on things in the tunnel and help with air flow.

I have 4.88s laying around also but didn’t think it would make a big enough difference to justify the time to switch over to.
I have a factory elocker with 4.10 that I’m putting in the front so I would only have to change my rear gear ratio
 
Sidekicktodd said:
It’s depends on the adapter length but the case is only 1inch or so longer. The 4l60 bell housing is a lot more narrow and would make it easier to work on things in the tunnel and help with air flow.

I have 4.88s laying around also but didn’t think it would make a big enough difference to justify the time to switch over to.
I have a factory elocker with 4.10 that I’m putting in the front so I would only have to change my rear gear ratio
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If it's only an inch and you have one that's built, I'd absolutely go that way, I think it would be a better over all set up with 4 gears and lower axle ratio.


Are you running a front elocker currently? If not, I would not recommend it at all. I hated the one I put in my 1990 4runner, even before it broke. The side gears are very weak, and strip the axle splines when they go out. but to be fair the factory one in my 96 is fine for mild use.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
If it's only an inch and you have one that's built, I'd absolutely go that way, I think it would be a better over all set up with 4 gears and lower axle ratio.
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The adapter for the 4l60 is two parts and I’d have to put another shaft in it, plus new cross member and new drive lines. I’m to far now to change transmissions. I’m not sure if I mentioned it but I need to fix this before New Years. We have a week camping wheeling trip in Washington

YotaAtieToo said:
Are you running a front elocker currently? If not, I would not recommend it at all. I hated the one I put in my 1990 4runner, even before it broke. The side gears are very weak, and strip the axle splines when they go out. but to be fair the factory one in my 96 is fine for mild use.
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Nope i haven’t decided if I’m putting it in the front or rear. I’m going to have to cut the housing to put it in. I’m currently running a grizzly auto in the rear and a ratchet front. Now that I actually have hp the rear is always looking and unlocking on the street. The plan was to run it on the front to help with steering and keep things quiet when my on fire roads in 2wd with the hubs locked.
 
Sidekicktodd said:
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The adapter for the 4l60 is two parts and I’d have to put another shaft in it, plus new cross member and new drive lines. I’m to far now to change transmissions. I’m not sure if I mentioned it but I need to fix this before New Years. We have a week camping wheeling trip in Washington


Nope i haven’t decided if I’m putting it in the front or rear. I’m going to have to cut the housing to put it in. I’m currently running a grizzly auto in the rear and a ratchet front. Now that I actually have hp the rear is always looking and unlocking on the street. The plan was to run it on the front to help with steering and keep things quiet when my on fire roads in 2wd with the hubs locked.
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New adapter I get, but if it's only 1" is think you wouldn't have to change much else besides the tcase mounts.

Like I said, I'm not a fan of the Toyota elocker. Many people have had a similar experience. If you want selectable go air and be done.

Not sure what you mean about 2wd and noise, I've ran a bunch of lunchbox fronts and they're mostly the same as open when in 2wd with locked hubs.
 
I like simple, I had a electronic transmission already and hated it. If I do a transmission swap again I’m going to a R150f. The people I wheeled with that would drive 75 mph on the hwy moved. Everyone now has 3speeds and are old haha so driving fast isn’t a priority anymore. My wheeling will be more local now or within trailer distance. I won’t be doing long hwy trips threw the desert.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
2.51 vs 3.01

So a small difference, but once in low range, it's a fair bit different.
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I haven’t been in big rocks yet since this swap but 2.5 seams low enough with the auto and 3 low tcase gears. My 1.6 and sidekick 4speed auto didn’t even need the two cases locked in 11:1 to crawl slow. Only time I used 11:1 is when I had the 5speed
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Not sure what you mean about 2wd and noise, I've ran a bunch of lunchbox fronts and they're mostly the same as open when in 2wd with locked hubs.
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I think it’s my cvs on tight paved switch backs that do it, probably because I have my knuckles maxed out to get better steering. Also it’ll help with turning in the rocks because I’m not running hydro steering. When I had the 1.6 and 35s I never had a problem steering with just a TG ifs box only the occasional locker not wanting to unlock. Now that I have a automatic the front locker doesn’t unlock as easy because of no clutch.
 
I get everything you are saying about the trans. Although, I think you can simplify the 4l60e with a manual valve body.

Either way, I still say not to swap to 4.10s and not to do the elocker.

The elocker is weak, it doesn't unlock or lock quickly at all, so using it to help with steering will probably not work that well since if you can't steer, it won't unlock.

I ran the lunchbox in my 4runner with an Fzj80 front, a sidekick with IFS and currently a samurai. The 4runner felt like a totally open front with the hubs locked and tcase in 2wd, the fj80 steers sharper than the Toyota axle also. The samurai will do some wierd stuff, but I think it's just so light that it sometimes doesn't want to unlock. I still sometimes drive on the highway with hubs locked during winter.

I'm not convinced that the selectable will fix the issue you're describing.
 
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Things got a little drastic. I figured it was a better idea to be able to pull a trans without having to pull the motor if some thing happens on the trail or out of town. I didn’t do it originally because I wanted to keep it as factory as possible.
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I went to KOH with a group of full sized broncos built for the desert. It was a bad idea now I want to go faster in the woops and fire roads. I got a set of j66 Tacoma Deaver springs. Hopefully it makes a big difference with the ride.
 
Tacoma leafs are always flat. My buddy made a custom Chevy 63 pack that was flat and it was the best riding leaf truck I’ve ever been in. My last pack was RE SOA with a decent arch and they didn't impress me. I’ve always run arched springs but it always seams like long flat springs work better for what I do. It just puts more strain on the springs. Also a axle wrap bar is mandatory when flat
 
Sure flat leafs ride good on a fire road, but you're not going to get any kind of real up travel from them. The other problem with flat leafs is that they'll sag really fast if you're pushing them into negative arch constantly.

Flat may work for $25 63s, but I can't understand buying somewhat expensive leafs that are flat.
 
I’m shooting for a flater spring over arched ones. I mainly wheel trails, rocks and snow. there is a harsh bump I’m trying to get rid of and I’m hoping these progressive springs will solve it. If they have to get rebuilt one day that’s part of the business. I have a pile of springs at my house. My rig is custom so I can’t just buy leafs for it I have to make an educated guess. The spring is a little flatter than I wanted but only by an inch. The 05 Tacoma spring seamed like a good fit because it’s centered and 56inches long so the shackles won’t hang out to crazy, my rig is 4300lbs so it’s around a Tacoma weight. I called deaver before getting them and they said I could replace leafs to make it stiffer. The U402 probably would have been perfect but then it would still be a guess because they have 3 stages 0-300lb, 4-600lb and 7-1000lb. U402 go for $1200 and have an overload which I don’t need because my rig will always be the same weight. I got j66 for $700.
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It an ongoing experiment I set the hanger so I can run 3 shackles lengths and see how much the degree change the ride qualifie. 4 inch is 35 degrees, 5.5 will be 25 degrees which is what I’m trying first and 6.5 will be 20. I’d like to run 4 inch shackles they look best on the rig.
 
Sidekicktodd said:
It an ongoing experiment I set the hanger so I can run 3 shackles lengths and see how much the degree change the ride qualifie. 4 inch is 35 degrees, 5.5 will be 25 degrees which is what I’m trying first and 6.5 will be 20. I’d like to run 4 inch shackles they look best on the rig.
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Fair enough, you mentioned desert, so I figured you wanted more travel. A supple ride is definitely easier with flat leafs.

I have some 4" all pro/tg/bets leafs that I have under a 4 door kick and they seemed pretty good. Way way more arch though. So much that I plan to do spua.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Fair enough, you mentioned desert, so I figured you wanted more travel. A supple ride is definitely easier with flat leafs.

I have some 4" all pro/tg/bets leafs that I have under a 4 door kick and they seemed pretty good. Way way more arch though. So much that I plan to do spua.
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The desert just made me realize how much I wanted to fix my rear suspension. yeah I almost went with sky’s springs but thought 4 was too much. Spring under isn’t an option because I snow wheel to much and don’t want the drag. I’m running TG housings and love the ground clearance but I didn’t think about till I did the suspension the first time, was that it raised your truck I inch over stock so a 4 inch leaf will be a 5 inch.
 
Sidekicktodd said:
The desert just made me realize how much I wanted to fix my rear suspension. yeah I almost went with sky’s springs but thought 4 was too much. Spring under isn’t an option because I snow wheel to much and don’t want the drag. I’m running TG housings and love the ground clearance but I didn’t think about till I did the suspension the first time, was that it raised your truck I inch over stock so a 4 inch leaf will be a 5 inch.
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I snow wheel a lot also, I guess we'll see if the leafs hanging down a bit is really a big deal, I doubt it.

Sounds like those TG housings would be perfect for spua, 1" more clearance.
 
Cool rig for sure! Like the build progress/stages.

I agree a 4l60 w/ RMVB would have been tits. From what I've seen/read, yota tcase inputs and outputs don't like 4.56 gears or lower (numerically). Puts too much stress on them.

I've ran sprung under on almost all my snow wheelers and never thought it hindered me in the snow. less axle wrap and more up travel, especially w/ the high clearance rock assault axles
 
So I ended up running the 4.10 diff and elocker. The gears make the truck run good on the road now it runs 2400rpm at 65 mps. I’d say it’s happiest at 61mph. It’s fast enough that I don’t feel like I overdrive.
The deaver springs worked good also. My suspension finally feel how I wanted it to at the speeds I drive on the trail. I’m at the point I’m driving too fast for the trails I’m on. The front end was bottoming out on water bars so I adjust my coilover spring stops and it made a big difference. The deaver didn’t seam to have anymore axle wrap then my before setup so time will tell. I did have a shackle hang up in the rocks that I didn’t have before .
 
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