I brought this 1985 toyota bj73 mwb landcruiser about 3 months ago now, its my 1st 4 wheel drive.
I brought it $1 reserve off trademe
it came with (well advertised as)
298'000kms on the clock
3.4 3b diesel and has had a turbo kit (ct26) fitted off a 13bt?
5 speed
pto winch
snorkel
bull bars
(was advertised as body lift turns out the rubber spacers are factory. . )
lock rite auto locker in the rear
lsd in the front
31" desert dueler a/t's on 15x8s
a 30mm sag in the drivers side (which is did not pick up on pre purchase due to it being sqaushed inbetween a dozen other vehicles when I viewed it)
few bits of rust nothing major
I brought it with the intension of modifying it and going off road as often as possible. it rarely gets used during the week as I have a company vehicle.
I'v only really been down to the waimak since i got it, it was extremely fun at 1st, but after going everywhere I could with the standard truck and locky I started to get bored and wanted to get into the more serious rut action as I was getting stuck frequently under the diff on the spring mounts in peewny ruts that standards surfs didnt have a issue with ,
So I sold my modified car and have started to spend the money on my cruiser,
I did alot of inquiring and it seemed as a spring over axle conversion would be ideal, after dozens of phone calls and prices I chose 4wd upgrades in christchurch to do the work as they done it plenty of times before and seemed to know what they were on about where as the cheaper outfits were not as confident.
they quoted me $2500 + gst for the spring over using all original parts
I said I have a 30mm sag in the right side and want this rectified (I said I was prepared to scource 2nd hand springs or spend money fixing my ones)
I forked out an extra $600 + gst for new shocks
coming to $3565 ... wow
I also got a deal on some 37s (cheers tim!
) I dropped these into 4wd upgrades so they could be fitted and work could continue, It was all done in a week and I went in and had alook, the work seemed good , I questioned him about 1 rear shock rubbing on itself (see pics below) and was told this was normal, so I paid up and took it home
now it looks awesome !!
but drives like shit !!
it pulls hard to the right like no other vehicle I have driven before has,
as soon as approx 50kph is reached the front wheels start to wobble and i get some serious wobble feedback through the steering wheel. if speed is increased the wobble worsens to the point it will throw itself off the road..
I had to go back to pick something up and mentioned these things to mike at 4wd upgrades, He said "we done an allignment on it" and it shouldnt pull to the right, I have a few non suspension or steering related issues of my own to sort on the truck but he said do those and bring it back if it still pulls to the right. .
Iv adjusted the tyre pressures and the problem has gotten far better but it still pulls to the right and gets the wobble.
I have a hd raw steering dampener on order and a wheel balance booked in, hopefully this will fix the issues (anyone with experience with large tyres on a road going 4wd like this ?)
I guess im just a little dissapointed I spent so much money and its not ready to drive and the fact I wasnt made awear there would/could be issues after the modifications
The truck also does not sit level which frustrates me as I made mike @ 4wd upgrades awear of this problem and I wanted it fixed but the springs were put back in as is
here are some pics anyway ,
This is the rear shock rubbing, and it you look at how the bottom mount sits on the diff you will see its far from "normal"
Im looking forward to getting back to the river to see how she performs but it is a 100kph motorway to get there and untill i sort the steering and wobbling issues im just going to have to wait
thoughts / opinions welcomed
), and if it drives as bad as you say, and the sag isn't fixed, you should take it back to where you had the work done, and get them to rectify it.
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