Toyota IFS opinions wanted! bjs vs bracket lift

[highwaystar]

In the new year ill hopefully be able to do a few mods on my truck, and although im well experienced with the toy hi trac ifs im still not sure what route to take. its 90 toy ex cab. Any input appreciated!

not really considering an sas at this point due to height and cost.

I stick to deactivated fsrs and meandering trails for the most part, not a hardcore or a rock crawler by anymeans, and probably wont progress into one either as ive been wheeling for over half a decade with no desire to go any more hardcore. Dont get me wrong tho it will see fast runs down fsrs and the KVR, and will see abuse. I will run 33 x 10.5" or 33 x 11.5" tires

My old truck had a 2" body lift, and slight turn on the torsion bars for about 3" of lift. from the fenders to top of the 15" rim was 16.5"
it was a nice height and i had 33's on it but still found myself getting high centered on the frame sometimes. ( body lift ) also with 33 x 12.5 15 super swampers my idler arms would die once a year. going to 9.5" tires cured that.

my problem now is bj spacers and possibly a 1" body would give me a similar lift to my old one, but i will murder idler arms, ball joints, and still have trouble in the deeper water bars and breaking over things. I figure i could get a total chaos idler arm, but fear that will just send the trouble down stream to the power steering pump. I also went through one of those with my old suspension and that was pricey! a budbilt crossmember could raise the underbelly a bit also.

but...for less than the price of the above, I could order a 4" bracket lift, slap it on, lower the torsion bars till the aarms and steering sit completely flat and have enough clearance. steering components would live, it would look cooler, but im worried it will be too high. Im not afraid of getting off camber and worried i could roll, especially when taking my new daughter out exploring one day. Also gas mileage would suffer. It would be about 18" fender to rim. id probably get the rough country kit, and do rear lift 1" block, shackles, add a leaf instead of 4" block.

I like the new blazeland long travel kit but dont like the wider stance. although i guess that is an option. http://www.blazeland.us/

so any advice or experience with either set up appreciated. Are bracket lifts tippy off road? do they decimate gas mileage? cop magnet? the ones ive seen around town just seem so high.

Ideally i just want a non steering destroying 2.5" all suspension lift. what to do?

thanks!

.

[highwaystar]

http://app.onlinephotofiler.com/Images/A_9/0/5/5/105509/6545c5497d444024bca6431258efae03.1600x1200.jpg

maybe this long travel stuff is growing on me?

http://app.onlinephotofiler.com/Images/A_9/0/5/5/105509/ef359fcd7bc84ccb9e9b29444412032f.1600x1200.jpg

[gotink]

your up in the cokeanogan check out baja north they build some pretty sick **** and do alot of long travel .Im sure they could answer any and all ? think they are a vendor here also

good luck with the build

[d0ubledown]

imo bracket lifts are useless. they don't do anything except lower your diff. if you're willing to spend the money on a drop bracket lift, you might as well plunk down for a long travel setup. total chaos has a nice setup for minis using longer ctrl arms and T100 shafts. this will wheel heaps and bounds better than any drop bracket lift.

my old 2nd gen runner had cranked tbars and a 1.5" body lift. fit 285/75/16s easy (33-11.5-16). that setup ate idlers though... just nature of the beast.

[highwaystar]

sheesh ive looked in every other country since this suspension is worldwide.

even considering looking into cutting off the suspension and rewelding it 2" lower like arctic trucks in iceland or netherlands or wherever does. i have no idea what they do with the torsion bars tho.

also thinking drivetrain lift with body 1.5" maybe although the v6 complicates things...

maybe could modify bracket lift from 4 to 2.5"?? gonna figure out something here...

seems like the worldwide solution is to get thicker torsion bars and wind em right up?? probably keeps steering alive tho since nothing will flex.

[highwaystar]

still not big on increased track width with long travel. however, the long travel early ifs market is really growing as of late, they generally use the same steering? maybe a solution is right around the corner

[shancerlelby]

I'll chime in. I've had my rust runner on bj spacers for 3 years now? Havent had to replace any balljoints or idler arms and thats locked in the rear on 33 x 12.5 bfg mts. Jumps speed bumps at 50k like no ones business. I am just getting to the point where i might change the cvs. not clicking yet but one of the boots is torn but not saying that can be attributed to the bj spacers.

If i had to lift another ifs toyota i'd do the blazeland kit. I have been watching that setup for about a year now on pirate4x4 and seems to be a good setup on the cheap. Total chaos is rediculous coin for a regular rig to bomb back roads in.

If not the blazeland setup i'd do bj spacers and a 1" body lift with relaxed torsion bars on 34x10.5 tyres or something around there.

[uriedog]

I'll have some 1.5" BJ spacers you can have for $75

[highwaystar]

still undecided but if i go that route ill let you know if you still have em!

[highwaystar]

ok still deciding here. I took some shots of what the tie rod angles would be at the different heights I could lift my truck with ball joint spacers.

as stated above, biggest problem w. the spacers is idler arm death, followed not very closely by tie rod end death. idler arm death caused by angle of tie rod from center link.

4crawler.com says 15.5 rim to fender but as you can see below thats insane.

what do you all think? what looks like a good trade-off between reliability and lift?

here is the stock 14" fender to top of 15" rim as per the fsm. all stock (original!) components tight and happy with 31" tires


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron001.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron002.jpg

now lifting it .5" to 14.5" gives the following angles:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron003.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron004.jpg

from side you can see its a bit higher

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron005.jpg

head on:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron016.jpg

ok now this is the height I would like to be at! 15" rim - fender. but angles starting to get extreme

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron006.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron008.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron009.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron015.jpg

ok. this is what sordi and 4crawler say is the biggest angle to run w/ bj spacers. 15.5"

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron010.jpg


tie rod death!
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron012.jpg

now the one tire thats OFF THE GROUND would be on the ground with the bj spacer. because of added droop. scary huh?

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron014.jpg

would be a nice height tho

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h121/Highwaystarbc/trucktron013.jpg

what ya'll think?

[Siberian]

To be honest if you do Bj spacers you're going to have replace your shocks and spend money, so why not find a used bracket lift. I found a 4" trail master for 250 in great shape, even came with 4.88 front ifs diff. And I'm running 63" Chevy springs swapped in the rear, The whole thing cost me 500 total with the bilstein shocks installed and done, just some careful spending. The chevy springs give a far far better ride on and off road, and give you and a ton of potential flex, the bracket lift isn't anything special, but allows relaxed sway bar, and the pro comp shocks give an awesome ride. Plus I can clean 35's on my truck if I wanted. 33's fit great and it looks good.

Realistically bj spacers are 100 bucks new, plus 100 bucks for new shocks... and are great, unless you want more then 2" of clearance.

[highwaystar]

thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.

does the bracket lift ever feel tippy?

[Siberian]

thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.

does the bracket lift ever feel tippy?

Same as stock suspension, just with slightly more travel

It's nice since you can relax the torsion bars

[bcghosttowns]

IMO cranking the torsion bars will cost you more in the end,it tweaks the angles and you will be replacing parts left right and center not to mention all it does is reset your suspension so it is always running at full droop.You will have all the up travel in the world but no downward travel so your ride will suffer and it will kill your FSR travel for sure.
I am not sure what a BJ spacer lift is but it sounds like your best bet with your small BL.
I am also searching for a 1 inch BL right now but not finding anything but a 3 inch and those look terrible and really have very little advantages other than tire size.

[uriedog]

any size body lift you want rite here

http://zoneoffroad.com/product-acc?ki=91&gr=

[highwaystar]

i agree with bcghostowns. we have a pretty similar suspension actually. not sure if rangers are rack and pinion steering perhaps tho.

either way, I really like how the stock toy ifs performs. and I just wish i could keep it stock but 2" higher.

Lik siberian said, I think a bracket lift with torsions adjusted so the a arms are flat is leaps and bounds above bj spacers despite what all the forum wheelers say. im just worried about rolling in an off camber situation. I have been close once already stock with 31's!

I dont think id do bj spacers now. looking at it there are 3 things that must move up and down in harmony on my ifs. both control arms and the steering linkage. spacing them apart is why noone can keep their steering in good shape.

lucky for toyotas there are 2 places to get 1" body without doing it custom at 4crawler.com or sky manufacturing.so maybe a comprimise between that and another 1" of suspension is the way to go?

I loved my old truck which had 2" body and .5 suspension. I just hated the look of the body lift and also got hung up sometimes.

anyways I guess ill have to keep mulling it over. I scored on some used 33 10.5 bfg ats and they are working right now at stock height

as you can see tho still could use a bit more clearance:

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/182265_1561885139640_1610673412_1312505_1285480_n. jpg

[highwaystar]

well fwiw i think ive got my build plan nailed down

1" body
e locker rear
trailgear winch mount w 6000lb winch of some sort (or something low profile and light) w stock bumper maybe a bar to hi lift off
some armour

should allow me to run skinny 33s with no issues and tackle any trail i come across while staying close to 20mpg. thanks for all opinions! hopefully a build up thread will start soon ! :rttcamp