Topic: SAS Questions ...

[Matt_BC]

Folks,

(this is for a 94 Runner, 3l)

I am getting more and more tired of having 2" of suspension travel  with my IFS ... Am considering an SAS ...

I am wondering if a SA works with the 3l motor or is the motor in the way?

Are there any conversions with coil springs for a SA?

How bad is the street ride with a leafsprung SA really?

Which ISSUES are we going to encounter with SAS?

What comes to mind is stuff like:
 - alignment problems
 - truck pulls due to stuff not welded on straight
 - frame is weakened
 - and such  .. are we opening a can of wroms with it?


If I go SAS I may lift the truck another inch to a total for 4" maybe to clear 33's 
Are there any good option for the coil sprung rear? I hear all the draglinks must be replaced with costly jointed draglinks?

If anybody knows .. is all that SAS stuff street leal? Welding on frames and such .. We are talking Canaca, BC.
And also, since I cant weld and dont have metal fab equipment .. are there any local shops that can do it (and not mess itup?)

Thanks for any input

Matt

[whiteman]

Dude! For you I would suggest you leave it ifs.  You want a solid axle, buy an 85.  It will be a whole lot easy on yourself.  A shop will charge you so much money dont even do it.

[toynorcal]

I can't comment on the coils. I don't know anyone that has them on a 4runner. But, leafs work great provided you spend the money to do it right. My buddy runs Alcans on his 91 runner, it has a great ride and sick flex. He used Marlins SAS Hanger Kit and it has everything to put the solid axle in except sterring, but Marlin does have kits with sterring included or you can order it on its own. I don't know about laws in Canada, but he never gets hassled with mud flaps on in CA. If your welder is a good one and you also have him put in supports in areas like around your sterring box and so on, your frame will be just as solid if not stronger than before. And like whiteman said, a shop will charge you a lot of money to do this considering you are going to spend a minimum of $2,500 in parts. But good luck buddy and deffinatly post up some pics if you do it. We like to  

[wa4x4]

For you I would suggest buying a 1985 toyota truck with EFI and a solid axle, way easier to work on with less skills.

[whiteman]

I just realized how rude i was in my last post. Bad morning, you know ho it goes.  But enough with the mushy stuff.
First off I noticed you haven't been here that long, so welcome to marlin crawler.  Its a great place to learn about Toyota's and such.
 
Its long but I hope it helps.  Good luck

If you have been into off roading for a while you would know that a solid axle is much better for extreme wheeling than IFS.
Though IFS is not for every buddy, it can get you along ways if you know how to drive it and it is built to you type of wheeling.
If you still want to keep the nice ride and handling quality of the IFS but want more travel, Total Chaos has some good packages for about the same price as a solid axle will run you, give or take.  Although their kits are intended morw for desert racing, they can be used for trail cruising just as well.  
A solid axle enables you to take on off camber terrain at slow speeds flexing over obstacles.  

As far as going with coils up front it would be sweet but it will cost you up the   For all the links and heims. coils are cheap but good, strong heims are    if you are sceptical on wether you can do  a SAS with leaf springs, don't even think about coils.  They are a better ride and flex way better, they take a lot more work to make fictionally strong.

With your 3.0l I am not sure,  I know My buddy just put a Chev 350 in his with a 3"  lift and hit drive line hits the oil pan under flex, maybe somebody else can answer that one.

Quality leaf spring (such as Marlins) are going to give you a good ride, the important thing is  the shocks you choose and how they are dampend that will determin your ride quality, also tires.   A mud terrain or radial is like night and day over a swamper, the ride is way smoother and quieter with mud terrains or radials.  But you gotta love the humm! of a swamper

Your frame will be ok, but for security It never hurts to brace the font for steering. Your rear is allready coil sprung from the factory so you can find some sweet kits to give you made flex, but yes they will run you more money do to the complexity of the coils.  

Just take you time and measure stuff out, it always helps to have there or four people their to point out something that you may have missed, And you always have the forum to ask questions. Just don't start the project until you have most everything to complete it.

An 85 would be a good platform to,  You would have the runner as you r daily driver and the 85 as a wheeler and not have to worry as much.
But the runner SAS would be way cool!

Hope this helps  

[toynorcal]

Just to try to encourage you to go the cheaper route if you have not already made up your mind... here's how my friends 91 turned out with leafs and full width axles. 85 EFI    by far the best platform for your first build.

[hugh jeffner]

just did mine this weekend, i've been buying parts here and there for months and this weekend was "D" day.  as for motor clearance issues, don't worry about it, i got about 5 inches of lift out of my springs.  i took two packs of rears and combine them together.  i used all the leaves except the mil wrap on the second set of springs.  haven't had time to flex it yet, but i did drive to work and back without shocks today very easily.  i used a marlin spring hanger, with sky manufacturing shackle hangers.  i used the marlin high steer setup and the only problem i have to report is that the drag link and the tie rod knock together right now.  i think with a flat pitman arm, that issue will be solved.  as for the runner itself, it's sitting on 35 mtrs and clear the body everywhere with no fender trimming.  i did have to remove the front coner bumper thingys, but that was all.

that was the parts, now the work part.  my welder isn't powerful enough to burn frame and suspension parts on, so i found a buddy who has one that will work, the rest was just plain blood, sweat and tears for two full days and a night.

here is a link to the pics.  all i can say is read as many posts as you can about what guys have done, and get to know the process upside down before doing it, otherwise, it can easily turn into a time consuming pain in the butt.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jeffa9521/album?.dir=1630&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jeffa9521/my_photos


Folks,

(this is for a 94 Runner, 3l)

I am getting more and more tired of having 2" of suspension travel with my IFS ... Am considering an SAS ...

I am wondering if a SA works with the 3l motor or is the motor in the way?

Are there any conversions with coil springs for a SA?

How bad is the street ride with a leafsprung SA really?

Which ISSUES are we going to encounter with SAS?

What comes to mind is stuff like:
 - alignment problems
 - truck pulls due to stuff not welded on straight
 - frame is weakened
 - and such .. are we opening a can of wroms with it?


If I go SAS I may lift the truck another inch to a total for 4" maybe to clear 33's
Are there any good option for the coil sprung rear? I hear all the draglinks must be replaced with costly jointed draglinks?

If anybody knows .. is all that SAS stuff street leal? Welding on frames and such .. We are talking Canaca, BC.
And also, since I cant weld and dont have metal fab equipment .. are there any local shops that can do it (and not mess itup?)

Thanks for any input

Matt

[mudaddict]

ok the 3l doesnt get in the way at all the solid axle gives much more room to work tho. i have a 92 runner i jsut sased look in general truck and fins 4runner sas or something and it shows a couple pics i got marlins whole kit with the 5 in springs i had an ifs lift before so i had no problem with the back i got a procomp lift in the back with new coils and drop hangers for the links its ok but the drop hangers are rock anchors i am redoing my links soon so they will be more up in the fram and not get hung up on rocks but the kit works well. like everyone said a shop will charge a crap load to do it but i had a guy come out to my house who has a mobile welding company and he welded it up for me for a lil bit of cash. the frame should still be traight and ready to go i know my shock hoop hangers are not on straight but no effect on it, just make sure the rear shackle match up to the front hangers before you weld everything up but if you have a shop do it they should do all that for you and accompany to everythign that might happen. as for the ride quality it is different i will say that you feel a lil more bumps and everythign but its a sacrifice you have to make, the pull and eveything isnt to bad jsut make sure everythign is tight on the axle and the alignment isnt to hard to do from your own house if you go down to a tire shop they can help you do it or tell you how. so hopefully you chose the right path i love my sas'd runner it does awesome on the trail now that the stupid ifs is gone,

[Matt_BC [OP]]

Thanks Everybody for the advise !   

 Upgrading the IFS is too costly ... If I did the SAS I should go higher in the rear and increase to 33's. Thats an all around suspension and regear  ... way too costly for now

Matt

[whiteman]

  Well Shiat son!  Let us know when ya get the notion again.

[Matt_BC [OP]]

If time and more so money wasnt limited , I would be building away    

[toyrolet]

Matt i found a full-sized blazer for dirtcheap (500) and used all the suspension component from it and it turned out freaking awesome.  i have a posting here at (http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11006.msg164767#msg164767). it shows some of the highlights of the swap.  hope you fide it helpful.  after doing it myself i will always try and talk anybody into doing to theres.