About to do a bodylift. Read the instructions, but questions

xxaarraa

New member
I searched and read the instructions. Mostly, these two threads:

4Crawler lift kit install:
4Runner Body Lift Installation - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum

Roger Brown kit:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/67600-4th-gen-body-lift.html

I think I get what's needed. But my questions are these:

  • I have CBI bolt on sliders. Is that a problem? The DIY in the first link says they removed the sliders for this job. I DO NOT want to do that, it's a huge hassle. So, can I jack up the body with sliders on?
  • I have a front hitch receiver as well as an Avid offroad light bar. Is it safe to assume these won't interfere with a bodylift?
  • I remember readig elsewhere that after a bodylift, there will be some panel gaps? How big of a problem is this? What exactly is the issue?

Thanks a lot as always T4R!

EDIT: 02-12-15.

Hey guys,

Got this done yesterday with the help of a very skillful friend. Went well and want to thank JD and all the others who contributed experiences and thoughts. I want to make a few notes for others who are doing this in the future - these are not covered in the very excellent write-up on Toyota120, so its important to add. The thread on Toyota120 is already closed, so I am not sure how to add this there.

  • Front bumper - The Toyota120 write-up says to just remove the front bumper and he had an aftermarket bumper to start with. For those wanting to do the bodylift with stock bumper, here is what I figured out (JD and others did the same). Undo the bolts at the very bottom of the front bumper - there are 4 or 5 of them, you can see them on the inside of the bumper all the way at the bottom, if you are looking down inside the bumper with the hood open. This will let the front bumper "stretch" as you jack up the body. Once the body lift is in, the bumper stretches to fit, you have to drill new holes since old holes won't line up. Simple job. No gaps show between the front bumper and the body after the bodylift, which is great news.
  • Jacking up the truck with sliders still attached. Yes, this can be done, quite easily. See pictures below. We were able to jack the entire side up - front, cab and rear by using only two jack points. My sliders didn't have to come off.
  • Steering shaft spacer - as everyone already pointed out, this is the hardest part (though the radiator drop bracket installation was hard also, needed a lot of finesses in tight spaces). My steering shaft did not budge when pushed from the engine bay, as instructions suggest. We just couldnt get the spacer in, and the bolts lined up. There wasn't enough room. So we took off the collar at the bottom of the steering column inside the cabin. It is indexed and only goes back on one way. This made it possible for us. We also lost center and had to count turns to find it again, and it worked out. No VSC light and did not have to do zero point calibration.
  • The instructions say to drill out the front frame holes where the extended bolt that comes with the kit passes through. We found that you didn't have to do that. We just had to take the bodymount off, and drill the top and bottom of the bodymount out. That did the trick.
  • The instructions say to tighten to 40 ft-lbs, however someone posted above that was not enough. So we tightened them down to 80 ft-lbs. We were careful to make sure the lift blocks didn't crack.

All in, it is an easy on paper job, but most of the time was spent on radiator bracket and steering spacer. I believe for bodylifts under 1", you can avoid those two. If that was the case, you can do this whole thing in 2-3 hours, even if you haven't done it before. My lift was 1.5" so it took us 7 hours total.

20150211_123943.jpg


20150211_123953.jpg


Final result.

20150212_082240.jpg
 
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I searched and read the instructions. Mostly, these two threads:

4Crawler lift kit install:
4Runner Body Lift Installation - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum

Roger Brown kit:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/67600-4th-gen-body-lift.html

I think I get what's needed. But my questions are these:

  • I have CBI bolt on sliders. Is that a problem? The DIY in the first link says they removed the sliders for this job. I DO NOT want to do that, it's a huge hassle. So, can I jack up the body with sliders on?
  • I have a front hitch receiver as well as an Avid offroad light bar. Is it safe to assume these won't interfere with a bodylift?
  • I remember readig elsewhere that after a bodylift, there will be some panel gaps? How big of a problem is this? What exactly is the issue?

Thanks a lot as always T4R!
The sliders shouldn't need to be removed unless blocking access to a.body mount. Same with hitch.
Gaps are only a problem if you don't like them.
 
The sliders could be in the way of jacking the body up, and possibly getting to a body mount. The only gaps that get bigger are the bumper gaps and depending on the size of the body lift you may not notice. I have a 1" BL and cant tell the gaps are bigger.
 
4gin007, thanks a lot for your thoughts on the bumper gap.

Guys, just to clarify, I am hoping for feedback from folks that have actually been in this situation and dealt with it - i.e., having had sliders and tried to install body lift on a 4th gen. "it could get in the way" isn't telling me anything more than I already know.
 
4gin007, thanks a lot for your thoughts on the bumper gap.

Guys, just to clarify, I am hoping for feedback from folks that have actually been in this situation and dealt with it - i.e., having had sliders and tried to install body lift on a 4th gen. "it could get in the way" isn't telling me anything more than I already know.

go out and look at the 4runner. at the sliders, then envision it being however much taller. is there room? will it work? do you have the necessary clearance?

its not rocket science. it shouldn't take more than to look at it, MAYBE throw a tape on it to see how much room you are dealing with.


besides, I don't think ALL sliders mount on exactly, nor are all shaped exactly the same. every rig will be different...
 
The sliders could be in the way of jacking the body up, and possibly getting to a body mount. The only gaps that get bigger are the bumper gaps and depending on the size of the body lift you may not notice. I have a 1" BL and cant tell the gaps are bigger.

What they said. I had weld on sliders, and in order to jack up the body we had to use some wood blocks on the back to clear the sliders. It's doable.
 
I just had a look at my truck and it is doable with sliders on. But youd have to be creative finding away to jack the body up by getting in between the slider poles. I would have to stack two 4x4 blocks cut to length and go between the slider poles that weld to the frame. So yes id say it can be done but would be more challenging than having no sliders. I think either way its going to be a hassle, pick the lesser of the two, removing your sliders or working around them.
 
I saw someone who had sliders that installed a body lift by using the bottle jack and some wood in the wheel wells. Might try that.
 
I saw someone who had sliders that installed a body lift by using the bottle jack and some wood in the wheel wells. Might try that.

Oh, good tip on the bottle jack. I didn't think of that. I have never used the stock toyota bottle jack, so this might be the opportunity!

Thanks guys.
 
I just did my body lift yesterday and as for the gaps, I was able to stretch my front bumper back on to fit with no gaps. I had to drill a few new holes to fit the bottom mounts but it was no big deal.
I already had a 2.5-3" suspension lift so the added height messed with my yaw sensor and I had to recalibrate the vsc afterwards. It's super easy - just look up a video for "zero point calibration on 4th gen vsc" on youtube for a tutorial.
 
Hey guys,

About to paypal 4Crawler for a kit this morning. Quick question - I am currently a little nose high (3/2 suspension lift, but back end sags a bit due to a lot of armor/weight).

Can a body lift be used to correct the nose high situation? As in, would Ordering a 1" body lift for front and 1.5" body lift for rear be a solution? Can body lifts be mixed and matched like that? I plan on getting the radiator and steering shaft drop brackets anyway.

About to pull the trigger, please advice!
 
Adjust the nose dive with suspension tweaks, not with different sized body lift spacers. Either add poly spacers to your rear coils or buy stiffer coils. Running a bunch of extra weight in the back myself, I went the custom coil route. The standard #200/220 lb rear springs don't seem to take a few extra hundred pounds well at all.

Hey guys,

About to paypal 4Crawler for a kit this morning. Quick question - I am currently a little nose high (3/2 suspension lift, but back end sags a bit due to a lot of armor/weight).

Can a body lift be used to correct the nose high situation? As in, would Ordering a 1" body lift for front and 1.5" body lift for rear be a solution? Can body lifts be mixed and matched like that? I plan on getting the radiator and steering shaft drop brackets anyway.

About to pull the trigger, please advice!
 
Adjust the nose dive with suspension tweaks, not with different sized body lift spacers. Either add poly spacers to your rear coils or buy stiffer coils. Running a bunch of extra weight in the back myself, I went the custom coil route. The standard #200/220 lb rear springs don't seem to take a few extra hundred pounds well at all.

Already running FJ coils. I have a full 5 piece bud built skid kit, the gas tank skid alone weighing over 100 lbs. Another 150 lbs of storage drawer / sleeping platform in rear. Rock sliders also. The back seems to sag more than front, quite understandably.

Can anyone else weigh in on running 1" body lift in front and 1.5" in rear? Not doing the body lift to adjust the rear sag, I am doing the body lift anyway. Figured I'd adjust the sag at the same time if I could.
 
Already running FJ coils. I have a full 5 piece bud built skid kit, the gas tank skid alone weighing over 100 lbs. Another 150 lbs of storage drawer / sleeping platform in rear. Rock sliders also. The back seems to sag more than front, quite understandably.

Can anyone else weigh in on running 1" body lift in front and 1.5" in rear? Not doing the body lift to adjust the rear sag, I am doing the body lift anyway. Figured I'd adjust the sag at the same time if I could.

don't mix kits, do a one size body lift and drop some stronger springs in the rear or add some airbags.
 
don't mix kits, do a one size body lift and drop some stronger springs in the rear or add some airbags.

OK, I was thinking the same to be honest, good to get feedback.

Ordered a 1.5" kit from Roger Brown/4Crawler. Including the radiator drop bracket as well as steering shaft extension. Will post pics when done. Thanks everyone.
 
OK, I was thinking the same to be honest, good to get feedback.

Ordered a 1.5" kit from Roger Brown/4Crawler. Including the radiator drop bracket as well as steering shaft extension. Will post pics when done. Thanks everyone.

I did the 2.5" kit. Only thing hard is that damn steering shaft extension! Aargh! Make sure you don't spin the wheel while it is disconnected or you will have to count turns and find center again. If I did it again I'd put a bungie strap around the wheel so it couldn't spin around, but still able to move to line up holes and such. Good luck, don't be scared of it. As I said, it's really easy!
 
Yeah, that steering shaft extension is a *****. Took much longer for me to get that in than the remainder of the project. You can also ruin the spider coil of steering wheel controls if you don't lock the wheel before taking the shaft apart.

My most important advice is do not use the torque specs that come with the kit, unless the directions have been updated, mine said 40 lbs for grade 8 or 10 hardware. Look up the correct dry torque for the grade and size of hardware and use that torque, and no more. Mine came out to 70 lbs or thereabouts. I actually tried 40 to start and the vehicle was obviously not tightly secured to the frame. Scary in my book.

I did the 2.5" kit. Only thing hard is that damn steering shaft extension! Aargh! Make sure you don't spin the wheel while it is disconnected or you will have to count turns and find center again. If I did it again I'd put a bungie strap around the wheel so it couldn't spin around, but still able to move to line up holes and such. Good luck, don't be scared of it. As I said, it's really easy!
 
Thanks for the tips guys and thanks for the pics soundstudio, will keep you guys posted after install later this month.
 

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