Crazydubman's 97 limited runner build

[mikey's2010SR5]

That coilover kit is nice. That gets my vote for future upgrades.

 

[Illestreker]

The coilover setup you posted looks awesome and 16" of travel sounds like a pretty nice upgrade. But it sure would be nice to hear some feedback from anyone Tacoma or especially 4runner that has used this setup. I wonder how it does on and off road.

I doubt you could outboard the shocks unless you had a wider axle. Maybe but like you said with the axle shifting it might make contact.

And your first option seems like the cheap easy fix and I don't see anything g wrong with it but man would I love to learn more about that rear coilover mounting kit.

 

[crazydubman]

That coilover kit is nice. That gets my vote for future upgrades.

Ya it is. However it hasn't been mounted on a factory link setup yet. Spoke with Bryan today and gonna get some measurements.

 

[crazydubman]

The coilover setup you posted looks awesome and 16" of travel sounds like a pretty nice upgrade. But it sure would be nice to hear some feedback from anyone Tacoma or especially 4runner that has used this setup. I wonder how it does on and off road.

Check out Bryan's website. They have a forum with lots of builds on it.

 

[crazydubman]

I doubt you could outboard the shocks unless you had a wider axle. Maybe but like you said with the axle shifting it might make contact.

And your first option seems like the cheap easy fix and I don't see anything g wrong with it but man would I love to learn more about that rear coilover mounting kit.

Even with the lower wheel offset with the adapters I still think it would contact.

You have to remember that the coilover mounting kit was made for Bryan's 4link kit.

 

[NateMob]

Outboarding on our trucks isn't too big a deal. I run an outboard setup identical to what 4-Ripcord ran and i have tons (3-4") of room through out my suspension cycle. Its an eye mount so it wouldn't work with your current setup. Granted i only run a 255mm wide tire currently, but the room for me is there to step up to a 285 or 295 easily. Another member here named Scoobydann runs an outboard setup that WILL work with your shocks. He has a pretty cool build here also.

My vote is for the fat weld washers and keep running what works and has worked incredibly well for you.


edit; have you pulled the other side to see if it also is wallowed out?

 

[crazydubman]

Outboarding on our trucks isn't too big a deal. I run an outboard setup identical to what 4-Ripcord ran and i have tons (3-4") of room through out my suspension cycle. Its an eye mount so it wouldn't work with your current setup. Granted i only run a 255mm wide tire currently, but the room for me is there to step up to a 285 or 295 easily. Another member here named Scoobydann runs an outboard setup that WILL work with your shocks. He has a pretty cool build here also.

My vote is for the fat weld washers and keep running what works and has worked incredibly well for you.


edit; have you pulled the other side to see if it also is wallowed out?

I have not checked to see if it was wallowed out yet on the drivers side but I have a feeling it is probably in the same boat. I started looking at the wallowed out hole and it appears that it is already about 3/16-1/4" thick. If it happened once with the current configuration, it will undoubtedly happen again.

I will have to check out those mounting options for outboarded shocks. Might have to get in there and notch the outside of the frame for articulated droop clearance though because of how much my axle swings over.

As far as the stud mount top cap, my plan more than anything is to get away from the stud mount. Just for the simple fact of how the suspension is cycling. It is putting too much lateral force on the stud to be adequate for the setup.

Talking with Aaron at ORW yesterday and it would seem that the shock body is the same length as a 10" travel shock, based on compressed length numbers, so I was looking at rebuilding both rears to a 10" travel eyelet top and bottom setup. Seeing as I have to tear into both anyways with changing the top caps over, it seems like a logical time to take care of that.

However, with labor factored in and the rebuild parts needed, (Seals, caps, shafts, bearings, etc) i would be money ahead to just buy new ones in the length I need and just rebuild the one shock and sell the pair to recoupe funds. The other one is perfectly fine as it only has maybe 10k on it. As far as available travel for an outboarded shock, I can cycle and see what will fit when making the hoops and if buying new regardless, i could feasibly do any length that I can make work.

 

[crazydubman]

Also, I spoke with Bryan yesterday and he gave me some measurements of the rear coilover package that he has. Given that the mounts were designed around a dual triangulated 4 link, (ie. no panhard, e brake, etc) I need to do some measurements on my axle and see what clearance there is all around.

I forgot my notes at my brothers house but he is sending a picture of my note pad in a few so I will update this with the info when I get it.

The two items I do remember are that the lower shock mount is 6" off the back of the axle and that the mounts were designed with the coilover at about a 20 degree angle back. Brian stated that the idea was to put the upper mounting hole about 18-20" back from axle center line. Granted that is build around longer links and more travel. My main concern is I don't want any part of the shock to extend past the edge of the tire as that could potentially cause problems with dropping off ledges and making contact.

Ideally the path of the shock should be angled forward with the arch of the links. Then again with how short the links are factory, angled back a bit may not be a bad thing to help use the dampening of the shock to its potential.

 

[Illestreker]

would it be feasible to buy the coilover mount kit and replicate bryan's 4 link setup but build it yourself? Seems like the stock links/panhard bar would really be holding back the way the coilover mounting system is intended to work.

 

[crazydubman]

would it be feasible to buy the coilover mount kit and replicate bryan's 4 link setup but build it yourself? Seems like the stock links/panhard bar would really be holding back the way the coilover mounting system is intended to work.

I wouldn't try to replicate Bryans kit as for now the rear way outdoes the front in terms of articulation. There is no need to change anything with the design of the factory links. I just need to find a way to keep poly bushings alive or switch out to full heim links.

Plus his link mounts are awesome and from what I hear, very user friendly and there is no guess work with a 4 link calculator like if a custom setup was built.

My thoughts for using his coilover mounting kit for the shock relocation is so if I decided to upgrade down the road to a long arm setup or just to coilovers in general and remove the 861's, the mounts would already be in place and built to support the weight.

 

[Illestreker]

Interesting. Well if you find out based on measurements that the coilover mount kit will work well with the stock links it would be a pretty sick upgrade for the rear end and I could see it becoming a popular option for those who don't mind the extra cost of running coilovers in the rear. Almost makes me what to hold off on my plans for a standard setup in the back.

 

[crazydubman]

Interesting. Well if you find out based on measurements that the coilover mount kit will work well with the stock links it would be a pretty sick upgrade for the rear end and I could see it becoming a popular option for those who don't mind the extra cost of running coilovers in the rear. Almost makes me what to hold off on my plans for a standard setup in the back.

Yes it is a pretty slick setup. I'm just looking at what my options realistically are and whether the upfront cost of the coilover mounts will make things easier in the long run. Also, once I get my upper links installed finally, hopefully it will droop out a bit more without the rubber binding and justify the effort to get a longer shock in there. Right now if I were to pull my shocks and let it droop out, It still drops down more than an inch past the shocks that are in there. probably closer to 2. Yes it swings over with the panhard but it droops out a lot with nothing holding it back.

 

[crazydubman]

So I guess its time for a long overdue update. Lots of changes some old that never got posted and some new.

Lighting:
Finally got all my led interior lighting swapped out. Did large panels for the main passenger lamp and cargo area and red map lights to reduce eye shock when driving at night. I have to say it was a huge upgrade over what I had before. I'll get some better pics at some point.

Back towards the beginning of my thread I had mentioned that I was gonna install the "4th gen" raingler cargo net in the back of the 97 and had a couple people wanting pictures of it. [MENTION=58830]JWaldz[/MENTION]

Here it is installed.





A couple shots of the mounting points.




Used a footman loop for the upper mount. Needed to pull my cargo shelving before I could install it.



Next up was I finally got my tail lights swapped out for some led ones.
Install was simple and took no time at all. While I was in there, I swapped the back up lights for 7w cree bulbs and let me tell you something, they are bright!





The wall is back about 30ft and this was shot with my phone.

 

[crazydubman]

Next up was the roof rack lights. I needed something cheap and bright enough to see what was going on around the vehicle. Didn't need anything crazy but needed something to fit in the spot I had planned on.

I ended up with 4 of the 6" toytec leds. I didn't like the chrome much so I picked up some vht night shades to lightly smoke the lenses so they blend into the rack.

Here are some pictures of them mounted up.

Got a little hazy but dulled the chrome which was the main goal.













Here are a couple crappy night shots.


Side shot


And the rear


Not sure if I posted these but finally got the comm antennas mounted. Didn't like how bad the range was with the firestik so I switched back to the Wilson 5000. Also have the ham radio antenna all wired up.

 

[crazydubman]

Another update as well. I finally got the rear shock back from ORW so I can get it back under the rear once I fix the upper mounting hole in the frame. I took advantage of the New years sale that RuffStuff was having as well and picked up some 16" limit straps to hopefully stop any further issues with the upper stud mount on the shocks.

I also picked up another four 7/8 x 3/4 heims to replace the poly bushings on my rear links during the sale. All are left hand thread so I will be able to adjust them if needed on the runner without having to unbolt anything. The reason for wanting to swap out the poly bushings is because I get so much axle side shift with how the rear suspension cycles that I am destroying the frame side poly bushings. I want to get them out of there and start fresh with something solid. I have weld washers in place to help keep the mounting holes beefy so no worries with ovaling out the holes in the near future. All hardware will be 5/8" now which will be great and more peace of mind for strength. Should have some pictures of the rear once I can get back in to Any7 for the upper mounting holes repair.

 

[crazydubman]

Another update is that I finally got all 4 of my 4gal RotoPax cans so I can start building my rear spare tire location carrier for 2 of them. (Two will still go on the roof in the center of the roof rack) It will be swing down for easy access to the cans when needed with a stop so it only swings so far till it stops. Poly bushings on both ends for vibration isolation with quick release trailer hitch pins for the rear bushings. Should be a fun build.

 

[JWaldz]

Back towards the beginning of my thread I had mentioned that I was gonna install the "4th gen" raingler cargo net in the back of the 97 and had a couple people wanting pictures of it. [MENTION=58830]JWaldz[/MENTION]

Here it is installed.

Yea, I remember this. It certainly has been a while since I've looked into it. I think I tossed the idea of doing it when I started sleeping in the 4Runner on camping trips. I like it though, looks good.

 

[crazydubman]

Yea, I remember this. It certainly has been a while since I've looked into it. I think I tossed the idea of doing it when I started sleeping in the 4Runner on camping trips. I like it though, looks good.

Thanks,

Ya It took a while to get installed. I think I finally got it together in November when I did all the lighting.

 

[crazydubman]

I just realized there were a few other things on the interior that I never got a picture of before.

Here is the cargo shelving that I built with my brother.



It houses my two waterproof aluminum military field chests that carry all my tools, spare parts, electrical wire and connections, fluids, rope, duct tape, zip ties, spare CV's, bead breaker, torque wrench, grease etc. Fits everything perfect and still leaves a flat floor for storage. On the left is now my CO2 tank mount and I have a bunch of Dring anchors to mount my other storage bins and coolers.

Ill get a better shot of the current configuration probably this weekend.

Got the ham radio all mounted up along with the external speaker and handset. Couldn't have fit any tighter.



Also got my switches swapped out with Green finally and added a triple switch panel in the lower two hole slot.



They house the following
Upper left, driving lights (100W Hella 500FF's in bumper)
Upper right, fog lamps (100W Micro DE projectors on sides of winch mount)
Lower left, Rack perimeter lighting (Toytec 6 LED Pods)
Lower center, rock lights (Harbor freight utility lights)
Lower right still empty till I find something else to power :tea:

More updates to come i'm sure. ound:

Also, Any7 will be working on the rear suspension either Wednesday or Thursday next week to get it all back on par so I can get out and wheel again finally. :frusty:

 

[cdrewferd]

Any updates on the rear suspension? Your truck looks great.