...yet another build thread! (97 2wd)

[mL8on]

I am new to this site, but not new to the off road industry. Iam in the process of building a 2015 Jeep Wrangler JK and it got out of control real quick...so I decided to buy a 'cheap' 4cyl Toyota to use as a daily driver. (I have owned 6 different Toyota vehicles with 4 cylinder engines) And yet again, I am having problems keeping things stock.

It has 180k miles, auto trans, and overall is in really good condition.

I have already fixed some small stuff:
Right Blinker not working when brakes applied (loose ground wire)
Vibration when letting off gas (replaced rear U Joint)
Stereo cutting out (bad wiring job on install)
Exhaust leak (replaced cracked manifold with mini taco header)

 

[mL8on]

First of the major changes is to remove the stock Coil Overs and upper arms and replace them with a setup from Total Chaos...The arms were rather easy to install and added an additional 3" of down travel. I did not take the spring off and cycle the shock for total up travel, but that was because I was in a hurry to get home, and skipped that step. Once the stock arms were removed, the new SAW coil over was a breeze to install. 3 bolts on top, and one lower mounting bolt. The hardest part of the whole install was removing the upper arm from the ball joint, and then removing the ball joint from the stock spindle. TC has a kit that presses in and allows for the use of a Steel Uni-ball instead of the stock ball joints.

I grabbed a few measurements before I started the front end teardown.
At ride height the distance from the middle of the wheel to the bottom of the fender was 19.75", and after the Sway A Way extended travel shocks and Total Chaos Arms were installed that same measurement came out to 24"...so I am looking at a total of 4.25" of lift on my particular application. The shocks originally had 1.5" of Pre-Load(2.5" of Threads showing on the cylinder), but I took 1/2" out for a total pre-load of 1". Down the road I may end up taking out another 1/2"...but for now I will leave it at the current height.

with the stock arms on and the wheel extended all the way, the measurement from the center of the wheel to the fender was 23.5" and after all was at 27"

As of now I only have 3" of droop, but if I get annoyed with the ride, I will lower the front down.

 

[mL8on]

Since the front has been lifted and I am not ready to install the Total Chaos rear links yet (TOTAL CHAOS FABRICATION) I decided to install the 2.5"x8" Sway-A-Way Piggyback shocks that I had specially built for this vehicle. The shocks fit great, but I needed to change out the sway bar links for a set that fits on the front, and add a coil spring spacer to lift the rear, and keep the spring in place. (http://www.pepboys.com/product/details/951906/01455)

Again the lift was a bit higher than I was hoping for, so I might end up going with the 1" spacers instead of these 2" spacers.

Why not just put a spring on it?
the stock spring is 14.xx" long and has a 125lb/in rate, and the 4x4 has a 15.xx long spring with the same rate. So far all the springs that I have found specs for have too high of a rate for me. I am hoping to find something that is 18" long at 125lbs, or 17" at 150lbs. I am sure there is something out there, but time is limited, and I can always double back and put the correct spring in there...for now $32 was cheap and easy to get me on the road. (Again, this is my daily driver)

At ride height it was 20.5" from Wheel Center to Fender, and after the lift it was 23.75"

Stock the droop measurement was 25.5", and with the new shocks it was able to drop out to 28.5".

I cannot wait to get the new link bars and adjustable track bar installed...

 

[mL8on]

So with Shocks, UCA's, and Coil Spacers installed I gained a true 4.25" of lift in the front and 3.25" of lift in the rear. Now I have room to install my new Raceline Avenger wheels (Machined) and Falken Wildpeak tires. I am going with a 17" wheel with 4.5" of Back spacing, and I think I can fit 285/70-17 tires with minimal rubbing.

 

[SoSoJeff]

welcome... Im in costa mesa as well