I've heard that with a 2" suspension lift the original surf rear panhard rod should be ok. that right? or adjustable? $ what length are factory prado front panhard rods? I was wondering about cutting and welding a LN130 surf rear one down to fit in the front of my 185 surf SAS prado front diff. (if its way too long), or if not too far out make chassis mount to fit panhard rod. 2" lift prado springs/shocks. would cut/weld be certifiable?
I may have the LJ71 front panhard length written down somewhere - will check tonight.
A cut/weld on a panhard bar should be no problem for cert as long as it's done by a certified welder or 'approved person'. I've made 1 out of 2 for the back & shortened 1 for the front on my cruiser - I put a plug under the join & chamfered the ends to get good full penetration.
When you make your chassis end panhard mount make it STRONG. Have a look at how beefy they are on some std solid axle vehicles to get an idea.
x2 on making the front panhard mount strong try and make one that wraps around the chassis rail so its welded to the bottom and side of the chassis rail with some gussets and plates there's a lot of force extended out to the mount and keep an eye on it for a while to check your not getting any chassis cracks around the cross member or steering box you probably already know you need the panhard to be in the same plane as the drag link and as close to the same length as you can get it, the rear panhard is probably ok with 2" lift but if it needs lengthening you want to look at dropping the mount down a bit lower it'll put the panhard back down to a flatter angle where it should be and it wont need lengthening
Hi Mate, std LJ71 front Panhard rod is 765mm centres. If that turns out real close to what you need all good but I wouldn't mess around too much to try & fit that in - way better to make up a Panhard to suit vs making compromises in Panhard vs Drag link positions.
just pulled LN130 rear panhard off diff and tried fitting it to prado diff but the hole in bush is about 21mm, around 4mm bigger than the mount thing on the prado diff. I think its a 71. the chassis end of panhard is too small so can't swap around.
does anyone know what the external measurement of the prado panhard bush is? diff end. hopefully same as 130, so can use a prado bush rather than a 130 one.
otherwise will make up a sleeve to fit onto prado so fits bush.