Upper/Lower Links: Whats your sage advice?!

[nmhyoti]

I know this has been covered before in detail as far as what they do and I'm quite familiar with that. What I'm wondering is what has been YOUR personal experiences in application and those of you that do (or do not) have them, why (or why not), and are they an eventual add on to your current builds.

This is the part where folks will ask for my intended usage. Well I have been overlanding and made a fool of myself with some light ORV park usage back when she was stock to see what she could do. So far I have the bare basics such as a quality lift, tires, ARB diff breather, upgraded headlights to HIDs, got quality fog lights (42° flat lights amber) etc.. So I'm not quite a green horn in terms of getting the foundational elements down first. I am wondering about upper and lower links when it comes to it being my next mod.

Between that, I'm torn between

- Upper lower links (to replace the 'weaker' stock ones for the unfortunate case of smacking against them wheeling)

- dual battery set up (it'd suck to be stuck somewhere dur to my accessories eating up the juice from the main)

- roof rack (to increase carrying capacity)

Unfortunately I'm not made of money and these priorities take a year or so each to save up for (damn you Dave Ramsey).... So I try to make each successive mod count towards the overall effectiveness of my vehicle. Thank you so much for the help and I appreciate all yalls feedback!



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[Engineer]

So I try to make each successive mod count towards the overall effectiveness of my vehicle. Thank you so much for the help and I appreciate all yalls feedback!

No worries about not being made of money, the guys that drop 20k in aftermarket parts and have a shop do all the work don't have any more fun the the folks with stock 4runners. You didn't make a fool of yourself (most likely) it was just a learning experience. I didn't see you mention it but I don't see tires on your list, a set of solid tires will make way more difference than links.

My 2 cents on links, I would avoid unless you really just want them to say you have them. Most (not all) have bushings that need to be lubricated, are likely to make more noise then the factory. They really are well protected if you are careful with your lines. As most of us find out, the thing that gets hit most often is generally the rear bumper/exhaust

When venturing off the beating path what matters most (rough order)
*Driver
*Driver
*Driver
*Tires (Edit: I am a firm believer in airing down when off-road which requires a compressor or C02 to fill back up)
*Lockers (not at all required but there are def. cases when its handy)
*Recovery Gear

Most other things are just fluff to make life a bit easier or just because they look badass......Lights, roof racks, storage drawers, fridges, switches, extra batteries etc etc

 

[wfo9]

I know this has been covered before in detail as far as what they do and I'm quite familiar with that. What I'm wondering is what has been YOUR personal experiences in application and those of you that do (or do not) have them, why (or why not), and are they an eventual add on to your current builds.

This is the part where folks will ask for my intended usage. Well I have been overlanding and made a fool of myself with some light ORV park usage back when she was stock to see what she could do. So far I have the bare basics such as a quality lift, tires, ARB diff breather, upgraded headlights to HIDs, got quality fog lights (42° flat lights amber) etc.. So I'm not quite a green horn in terms of getting the foundational elements down first. I am wondering about upper and lower links when it comes to it being my next mod.

Between that, I'm torn between

- Upper lower links (to replace the 'weaker' stock ones for the unfortunate case of smacking against them wheeling)

- dual battery set up (it'd suck to be stuck somewhere dur to my accessories eating up the juice from the main)

- roof rack (to increase carrying capacity)

Unfortunately I'm not made of money and these priorities take a year or so each to save up for (damn you Dave Ramsey).... So I try to make each successive mod count towards the overall effectiveness of my vehicle. Thank you so much for the help and I appreciate all yalls feedback!



Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Not sure what links you are referring to. Upper links in the rear? Stock is 100% adequate for just about anything as far as I can tell. 0 gain going aftermarket unless you plan to jump the truck or something and there are are a million higher priority items to cover if that is in you plans. Lower rear LCAs are extremely fragile if you contact rocks (and they will if you do trails with big rocks.... So those are worth replacing with DOM tubing vs the stock ultra thin metal.

I kept mine stock until they bent (which was pretty early on in my wheeling adventures with the truck). Even then it was just bent but I finally replaced it with something stronger vs putting another flimsy one on.

Sound like you are starting from ground 0. So I would be thinking more about sliders, skids, lift, tires... Rear LCAs are really in the category of skids, but definitely put a skid on the frame bracket for them first. That is probably the most common contact point on the truck.

 

[1engineer]

Yeah what links? My advice is just like above... learn to drive for about a year or two. Knowing how to pick a line trumps about every single mod except tires. I can't count the times I have been way back in the woods and see a guy in a 2wd CAR that knows how to drive lol.

 

[nmhyoti]

Team, I can't stress enough how much your information has helped to reprioritize my build. THANK YOU! I haven't posted pics of my rig at all but I think after the protection mods are finally on her, I'll put them up. I'm very appreciative of the sharing of the knowledge base! What an AWESOME community!!!

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[nmhyoti]

No worries about not being made of money, the guys that drop 20k in aftermarket parts and have a shop do all the work don't have any more fun the the folks with stock 4runners. You didn't make a fool of yourself (most likely) it was just a learning experience. I didn't see you mention it but I don't see tires on your list, a set of solid tires will make way more difference than links.

My 2 cents on links, I would avoid unless you really just want them to say you have them. Most (not all) have bushings that need to be lubricated, are likely to make more noise then the factory. They really are well protected if you are careful with your lines. As most of us find out, the thing that gets hit most often is generally the rear bumper/exhaust

When venturing off the beating path what matters most (rough order)
*Driver
*Driver
*Driver
*Tires (Edit: I am a firm believer in airing down when off-road which requires a compressor or C02 to fill back up)
*Lockers (not at all required but there are def. cases when its handy)
*Recovery Gear

Most other things are just fluff to make life a bit easier or just because they look badass......Lights, roof racks, storage drawers, fridges, switches, extra batteries etc etc

This makes me feel more on the normal scale. It's hard to look at the forums and not feel a sense of "what am I doing wrong" when I see rigs being built within weeks of ownership and I'm going at such a slow pace. Thanks for the reminder in humility and confidence haha!

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[rtinniste]

but definitely put a skid on the frame bracket for them first. That is probably the most common contact point on the truck.

100% agree, learned that one first hand :redbrick: