Well guys, I've been 'over' the leafs for abit now, especially with how even the 6" Toyota leafs are reacting to the weighty 4.0; they're flattening out pretty damn good.

Soo, I've been in the planning stages of switches to coils for several months. Today the first pieces for my new front suspension finally arrived (not that it took 'em awhile to come, I just wasn't quite ready to order anything). I'm spilling the beans now in that I'm going with a 3-link (driver's side upper) with panhard.

I've already ordered the link material and a majority of the brackets from Ballistic Fabrication and my order is "In Process" currently, so I'll be looking for that nice present within a few weeks, I'm guessing. The brackets I recieved today are from Poly Performance and are the frame end of the lower links and the axle end of the upper link.

The two lowers and upper will get Ballistic Joints (their version of a JJ) on both ends, with the panhard getting a heim on the axle end and a poly bushing on the frame end.

As for the link material I am using 2" OD .250 wall DOM for the lowers, with 1-1/2" OD .250 wall DOM for the upper and panhard.

Onto the pics..





^ From left to right: Passenger side lower link frame mount, upper link bracket for top of diff, driver's side lower link frame mount. All brackets are 1/4".

 

Dammit. Just when I thought I had everything layed out right..

Could I get this thread moved over to the Project Logs section, when possible? Thanks.

 

Why are you going to coils instead of coilovers?

 

$200 for coils vs. ~ $600-1,000 for coilovers. Unless you wanna help out?

Coilovers will come down the line soon enough. Most of the work will be getting the linked part of the suspension in. Once that's in and done, switching to coilovers won't be all that difficult.

 

Id save up a little money and buy some used coilovers. I got my never ran Fox 2.0's for 500 with coils. Just have to look around a bit and youll find some good deals.

 

I purchased my SAWs new from a retailer ($$$), then I found a set of 17 in bilstein 9100s with all hardware for 500 shipped. needs a new rod on one of em, but you cant beat the deal...

 

Nothin' wrong with coils and shocks seperately. Might not be as bling or whatever as coilovers, but a coil suspension is a coil suspension (IMO).

 

Properly tuned coilovers will out perform a regular Coilsuspension 10 out of 10 times.

 

I guess I just dont get why people build one setup when they know in the near future they will upgrade it. It just doesnt make sense to me to spend 200 on coils only to sell them for a loss later on to buy coilovers, when if you just looked around a little you could prolly find a good deal on some nice C/O's.

 

Good to know for the future.

 

i get the idea of working up, and I like that he actually got it started and will evolve with time. I wish I would have just jumped head first cause i am missing precious wheeling time and it sucks. I am thinking of getting a wheeling beater just for the summer so that I dont have to borrow a buggy to run the hard ****.

But as far as coils, vs coilovers, coilovers are infinitely adjustable and infinately simple to place. if you dont like your ride height one day, you can adjust it fairly easily, If the dampening is too soft or stiff, its a rebuild away, not to mention you can adjust nitrogen pressure.

coils can preform quite adequately and yet so can leafs. a well built leaf suspension can outdo a poorly built coil suspension. but its in the builder/driver to get to the desired result.

Im excited to see this build, hopefully you dont have the troubles with spring rates like you did with the all pro leafs. with coilovers, spring rate is infinately adjustable

 

I completely understand and agree about coilovers, and I'd LOVE to have 'em someday. Right now I'm just as curious as anything to get away from this current leaf setup and try the coil route, not to mention the linked route. I'm lucky I have Zach (and a few others, but him moreso) as a 'guinea pig' if you will for the RE coils under our 4.0. I'm very optimistic and excited to get this thing goin'.


It makes sense in having a (possibly) better suspension than one previously had rather than waiting (a more prolonged time period) for one aspect of the build before changing the entire thing, especially when the ultimate suspesion wanted is quite a ways out; I probably won't dive into coilovers for a year or two.

 

can I just ask, in all honesty and no rudeness implied, do you actually wheel this thing? I dont mean mud everyonce in a while...

 

Yes he does

 

thanks kevin fain.

 

Haha.. yeah Gil, I wheel it when I can. I finished it last Spring, took it out for its shake-down run up in Azusa, CA, with Alon and several others, then left town for the summer for work. That run left me with the entire summer to think about changes (and stuff I needed to finish). When I returned in the Fall, I had some insurance issues I needed to wait on and once that was cleared up, had some cluth/transmission issues. Once all of that was out of the way, it was Nov/Dec.

There also used to be several 'light' wheelin' spots within 15-20 mins. of my house, but in the past 6 months ALL of been fenced off for one reason or another. This leaves me having to deal with a commute of some sort, usually no less than ~2 hrs. That's also where my work schedule and funds for gas more than anything factor in.

My last time out was probaby about two months back at Cleghorn (just NE of Azusa, near the Cajon Pass) with Justin (84socal). That's when I broke my front drive shaft. Havn't really had an opportunity since to get back out.

 

Hahaha.. thanks for the response Alon, its much appreciated.

And Gil.. just as funny.

 

I'm gonna subscribe to this thread... I have a feeling it's gonna deliver lol

 

Can't wait to see it pan out Kevin! As for building it up and not going crazy the first time. Personally I like to work on the truck and make improvements. As I go along I learn new things. So for me taking my time and moving out I get the best result at the end.

 

old news...

 

RE's 5.5 TJ coils came in today..

 

I got some pics of my front leafs so ya'll could see just how bad they are lookin'. The left side is the worse one.

 

i see why you would want coils, that driver side leaf is fubared.

they haven't been on your truck very long, i would call the manufacture and ask questions.

 

Nothin' much that can be done about it. First and foremost, I have damn near, if not the, biggest engine that any Toyota would have runnin' these leafs. Most would have the 22r or 22re (4 cyl's), and that's ALOT less weight than the 4.0 I have.

 

true. why not just go with a diff. leaf pack? i understand the want for coils though