Need to Remove Lift & Upgrade | Please Help, See Pics...

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wolf1776

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New member here! I just purchased this 1996 from Canada. 150K miles, SUPER clean inside, 1 owner but I need some help or advise from you guys.

I was planning on buying new rims and going with a 285/70R17 and then upgrading the lift to the Bilstein 5100 w/ Old Man EMU springs the whole way around and hopefully acheving about a 3" lift. (I think it has a 4" right now)

I had no idea though until I got home what the current lift consisted of and if I could use it or if it has to be completely removed.

It appears like they welded rear shock extensions and the whole front end looks like its been modified with drop down brackets, diff. drop, etc etc. It looks like a substantial amount of work and cost to remove this current lift?
Wanted to get some opinions on what to do. I'm just looking for a basic 3" lift or so. Nothing fancy but something decent.

What do you guys think??? Pull it all off and start over? Keep it on and just run it? I'm lost....
 

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wolf1776 said:
Hahaha you and me both! Guess I’ll go and talk to the guys at 4Wheel Parts tomorrow and see what they think.
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Judging by the drop brackets, it looks like someone installed a 1st gen tacoma front suspension lift on it. If it were me I would remove the entire lift drop brackets and everything. Your current lift does get you a decent amount of lift, but the ball joint extenders look janky IMO and it will probably ride better with a different lift on it with all the drop brackets off.
 
Welcome.

I would definitely recommend picking up some used steering spindles if you can right out of the gate. They can be had for a pretty fair price considering how heavy they are. I think i got some for mine for 75 bucks a piece including shippin but mine were 2x4 so less desirable but that's my gain.

the 4x4 spindles will probably be marginally more expensive.

For small miscellaneous items and stock brackets of sorts i would def hit up [MENTION=78895]DeathCougar[/MENTION]. He will be your most cost effective solution for getting it back to OEM glory.

I spy some aftermarket LBJ's too.
 
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You can't remove that front lift. The steering rack crossmember has to be cut out to install the drop-bracket lift...

-Charlie
 
Wow...just wow. If you got a good price on it then I would take all that stuff out and get a real lift like the 5100/OME setup you mentioned.

If money is tight and the trucks drives fine then leave it as is for now.

Once again...wow.
 
phattyduck said:
You can't remove that front lift. The steering rack crossmember has to be cut out to install the drop-bracket lift...

-Charlie
Click to expand...

Yup no turning back after installing drop bracket lift. Basically your going to need to find a part out and cut that cross member out and re weld it on to get back to the original suspension.
 
Hey just pasting my reply to your question from the 3rd Gen Pic thread.


I don't think that you'll be able to remove the spacers for the ball joints, and finding struts long enough to remove that spacer might be pretty hard. You could just upgrade struts and things with stock height components, to maintain its current height, and leave the spacers in. Many have done this to improve the ride on DB lifted rigs.

Removing a drop bracket lift is a pretty big undertaking. It is possible to do, but there are a ton of things to be aware of if you do try. The biggest thing is that most of them require you to cut out a chunk of frame to clear the front differential snout. In order to remove the lift you will need to have that piece of frame fixed or replaced. Look above the rear drop bracket on the front suspension, right at the rear of the lower front control arm, right where the driveshaft goes in and you will probably see where the cross-member has been cut out.

I have done this dance before, and I ended up replacing almost all of the suspension components on that truck and the bit of frame, brake lines, struts, springs, shocks, front and rear, and UCAs and knuckles (mine had replacement knuckles instead of ball joint spacers), it was a ton of work. It was also worth it to me, but YMMV.

Edit:
Are the rear spacers welded on the perches under the springs?
 
After looking through your pictures and reading in this thread, I have a couple more thoughts

Your rear spacers appear to be welded to the spring perches on the axle. And the front cross-member is cut for sure. Removing the lift will require some fab work.

Depending on your level of fab skill, and what kind of work you are willing/ wanting to do, it might be a good idea to leave it all on the truck. DB lifts can be improved with good quality parts, and I have personally seen some guys who can wheel their DB trucks pretty effectively ( not my flavor personally, just saying it can be done )
 
It can be done, will be expensive or time consuming, likely both. Count on at least 500$ worth of good used parts, even more if buying new just to get it back to stock. Then you've got hours and hours of cutting, grinding, welding. Then add your lift on top of that. If you're not confident in doing it yourself you'll be looking at a specialty shop to do that kind of job likely at 100$+ an hour. Not cheap.

Interestingly enough I found a local guy I can only imagine was planning on doing the same thing to his Tacoma that decided to abandon ship. That front crossmember is apparently available new still.
780123417c09cbf7220eb7ec90d79c53.jpg


Sent from my JSN-L23 using Tapatalk
 
Red October said:
After looking through your pictures and reading in this thread, I have a couple more thoughts

Your rear spacers appear to be welded to the spring perches on the axle. And the front cross-member is cut for sure. Removing the lift will require some fab work.

Depending on your level of fab skill, and what kind of work you are willing/ wanting to do, it might be a good idea to leave it all on the truck. DB lifts can be improved with good quality parts, and I have personally seen some guys who can wheel their DB trucks pretty effectively ( not my flavor personally, just saying it can be done )
Click to expand...

I think your 100% right. I took it to 4Wheel Parts. They are going to go through the whole thing for me and make sure its good and safe but the sales guy there recommend to leave it liftkit as is and that its a pretty decent kit for what it is and what was available at that time. What would you recommend for rear shocks and front struts? factory?
 
wolf1776 said:
I think your 100% right. I took it to 4Wheel Parts. They are going to go through the whole thing for me and make sure its good and safe but the sales guy there recommend to leave it liftkit as is and that its a pretty decent kit for what it is and what was available at that time. What would you recommend for rear shocks and front struts? factory?
Click to expand...

I think you have a lot of good options out there, it just depends on what your goals are for the truck. Stock replacements would keep you where you are currently. There are some guys who have run adjustable coil-overs with their DB lifts, and run them adjusted at what would be stock height on a stock truck. I think it would be wise to avoid things that lift the truck too much further than it already is, but that's my opinion. You could always get Bilstien 6112's or 5100's or something similar and set them to a stock height configuration for an improved ride.

Rear shocks might be a little tougher since stock height shocks will probably be too short now. There are some really good options out there for around 4" of lift, I personally run Land Cruiser Tokiko shocks with about 3.5" of rear lift and they work really well for me (Toyota Part # 48531-69417). Im not sure if they would be long enough for you, but they might be worth looking into. The thing to do would be to measure one of your current shocks extended and collapsed lengths, so you know what specs to look for when you replace them.
 
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Red October said:
I think you have a lot of good options out there, it just depends on what your goals are for the truck. Stock replacements would keep you where you are currently. There are some guys who have run adjustable coil-overs with their DB lifts, and run them adjusted at what would be stock height on a stock truck. I think it would be wise to avoid things that lift the truck too much further than it already is, but that's my opinion. You could always get Bilstien 6112's or 5100's or something similar and set them to a stock height configuration for an improved ride.

Rear shocks might be a little tougher since stock height shocks will probably be too short now. There are some really good options out there for around 4" of lift, I personally run Land Cruiser Tokiko shocks with about 3.5" of rear lift and they work really well for me (Toyota Part # 48531-69417). Im not sure if they would be long enough for you, but they might be worth looking into. The thing to do would be to measure one of your current shocks extended and collapsed lengths, so you know what specs to look for when you replace them.
Click to expand...
Rear land cruiser shocks made for 80 series with around 2" of lift would probably be ideal. Also might be a good idea to do springs for the front of a land cruiser with 2" of lift if the kit in it now uses a spacer.

Sent from my JSN-L23 using Tapatalk
 
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