Removing Body Lift on 1st Gen

[yinger]

Hi all,

I've got an '88 first gen that came with a 3" body lift put on by a previous owner and I'm thinking about either putting a smaller one on it or removing it completely. For reference, this is how it looks now:

Right now it's in a project stage so I have a set of crappy tires on it (those are 235/75/15's now). I've got a brand new set of 33's sitting in my garage that are going to go on it. I'm not planning on doing any rock climbing (I'm in Florida, what rocks????) and mainly light to moderate off-road use.

Here's my concerns with doing this:

• How involved is removing it? I'd assume brake lines and the fuel tank filler hose would be issues. What am I missing?
• To fit the 33's on it, how much lift would I still need? I plan on replacing much of the suspension as it's shot anyway, so I wouldn't object to a suspension lift.
• What am I missing?

I'm not 100% sold on taking it off. Like I said I don't plan on doing anything real crazy with it. Thanks for any pointers, etc!

 

[roamingz]

Personally, I would take it off, as I think it looks cheesy. Also I've heard stories of cracking and stress fractures on the body due to off road use with a body lift.

Right now I have a 3.5 inch Pro-Comp lift the previous owner installed and have a good amount of space running 33's.

 

[yinger]

Personally, I would take it off, as I think it looks cheesy. Also I've heard stories of cracking and stress fractures on the body due to off road use with a body lift.

Right now I have a 3.5 inch Pro-Comp lift the previous owner installed and have a good amount of space running 33's.

Thanks. I'm heavily leaning towards taking the lift off and maybe even selling the 33's and going with 31's instead and a small suspension lift. Like I said I don't have huge offroading plans but I already have the 33's sooo

Decisions, decisions.

 

[Dropzone]

Remember your body lift isn't just the spacers between thr frame and body
You have brackets that have lowered the radiator, you will need to remove those when you lower the body because if not the shroud will bind up on the fan.
Also the gas filler tube will have been extended

Do you have a 22re or 3.0?
33's and you will wanna consider re-gearing.
31's you can get by on stock gearing

 

[SomeDay]

[*]To fit the 33's on it, how much lift would I still need? I plan on replacing much of the suspension as it's shot anyway, so I wouldn't object to a suspension lift.
[*]What am I missing?
[/LIST]

Some members say you can install 33x10.5 in a stock first gen 4Runner.
If I remember correctly, COB has/had 33x12.5 in his truck, zuk mod and torsion bars a little bit tighter only:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/118960-cobs-87-4runner-turbo.html

The paint job of your 4R's not perfect but look much better now, I like the results.

 

[yinger]

Remember your body lift isn't just the spacers between thr frame and body
You have brackets that have lowered the radiator, you will need to remove those when you lower the body because if not the shroud will bind up on the fan.
Also the gas filler tube will have been extended

Do you have a 22re or 3.0?
33's and you will wanna consider re-gearing.
31's you can get by on stock gearing

22RE (that also needs work but that's another thread). I'll keep the gearing in mind if I keep them.

I went through it last night and here's what I *think* I need to do:

- Remove the radiator
- Remove the fuel filler tube
- The interior is pretty much gutted so the shifter isn't attached to the body
- There's some wires that run on top of the frame on the passenger side. They look like they are supposed to be there so I'm not sure if they need to be moved or not.
- Brake lines attached to the body.
- The previous owner replaced the muffler, which *might* touch the body if lowered back down all the way, so I need to take that into consideration.

There's some other things I want/need to do, like POR-15 the frame rails and I need to replace part of the driver's side floorpan, which might be easier with the lift still on.

This is gonna take a lot of beer....

 

[yinger]

Some members say you can install 33x10.5 in a stock first gen 4Runner.
If I remember correctly, COB has/had 33x12.5 in his truck, zuk mod and torsion bars a little bit tighter only:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/118960-cobs-87-4runner-turbo.html

The paint job of your 4R's not perfect but look much better now, I like the results.

Thanks. I was aiming for making it one solid color and affordable, not a full out restoration. Kept it under $100 and it's less likely to piss off my neighbors.

The only real reason for wanting to keep the 33's is that the PO included them with the 4R and that's one less expense to worry about as they're already paid for. I could sell them but I doubt I'd get what they're worth. I might see what I can get for them (Coopers with less than 100 miles) and worry about the tires later on.

 

[yinger]

Well I removed the body lift. Replaced all of the mount bushings with polyurethane ones since the old ones were shot after 30 years.

I found that it wasn't a "true" 3" lift as whoever installed the lift didn't do it right and put both of the bushings on the bottom of the frame mount and just the lift block on the top. It also made my job a bit easier.

Also the hardware used was trash and found more than one of these bolts bent a bit. If that's not a strike against body lifts, I don't know what is. I replaced everything with grade 8 bolts.

Anyway I think it's much better looking now. Probably going to zuk mod the rear and see how that goes before settling on what to do with the tires. Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[SomeDay]

Much better and safer without that body lift.
Take a look at this:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/189206-why-body-lifts-dangerous.html

If it's not a problem, put the 33" tires and post some photos to see how they look!

 

[yinger]

Much better and safer without that body lift.
Take a look at this:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/189206-why-body-lifts-dangerous.html

If it's not a problem, put the 33" tires and post some photos to see how they look!

Haha unfortunately they're buried in my garage with my pop up camper in the way.

I'm going camping next weekend though so while I have the camper out I'll throw them on real quick and see how they look. Besides, I need to get an idea of what I need to do to get them to work.