A couple of fj70 questions

[terrano]

First one and im sure its probably been asked before but i cant find any info on it.
What other seats will bolt into one with out any modifications? i.e will prado seats bolt in or any later model trucks? Mainly just the drivers seat but also the rear aswell.

Whats the best place to go for a lift kit for one, dont want anything huge, just to give it a bit more clearence for the 35s, maybe about a 3" lift. Not keen on doing a body lift at this stage.

[Big]

Don't go too high are you'll just fall over.. 2"lift is ample for one of those.. OME kit is the best for it too.. But you'll pay. Remember that these trucks are short, narrow, and HIGH.. so centre of gravity is high.. the more you go skyward the more you'll most likely fall over.. been there done that,came close but haven't been on my side yet.. 33's are plenty too

[terrano]

Yeah i was thinking about dropping the tyres size down to 33s as it came on the 35s. By ome do you mean such as arb kits ect or factory?

[DMcCready]

I got a set of maxtracks springs?? i think from repco. It was a bit of a disaster. So Follow Bigs advice. Go for a set of Old Man Emu springs. You will get a bit of a fright when you get the quote but it is well worth it in the end.

I have a set of 32" BFG mud terrains on mine no body lift just the 2 ish inches of suspension lift. I works well for what it is...

[terrano]

Cheers for the advice, will ask about the old man emu stuff on Monday.

What would the advantage be to go to 33s as aposed to the 35s that are already on it? The tyres are almost brand and they dont seem to rub. Is it just trying to keep the height down a bit?

[The WEHI]

33's mainly for gearing reasons, i run 35's on mine with an unknown close to factory lift with minimal rubbing and i also run prado transfer gears
that take its from the factory 1.9-1 low ratio to 2.3-1 which helps a bit
because i like to drive slow

also my leaves are very soft and i wouldn't recommend removing the sway bar on hard yakka trips to short to soft to tall and you smash all your panels in.

[SMOKEY]

If you are running 35" tyres it must have had work done on the springs and or spring shackles. The front axle needs to be moved foreward 20----30mm. you will find an OME kit will cost about as much as you payed for the truck. Go to Bellamy and East, Falsgrave St, tell them what you want and they will reset/build a set of front springs with a new top leaf that needs to be longer and the centre bolt moved foreward, the longer top leaf is to keep the shackle position forward and not straight up and down after they have been set up and the centre bolt is to position your axle foreward the 20----30mm to stop the tyres from rubbing on the rear of the inner guards. The rear springs can then be reset to match the front, if funds allow get a new top leaf made longer to keep the shackle alignment, have a talk to them but tell them what you want to achieve and that is a soft spring that will hold your vehicle at the intended height to clear all body work. Drivers front seat out of a 70# style Prado will bolt straight in, if you have the double passenger seat you need to make up one bracket to bolt the passenger seat in. As Big said ----- don't go to high with your lift they do get tired and lay down for a rest -------,

I KNOW ---- TWICE,

FITZY.

[terrano]

Cheers fellas
Definitly no rub from the 35s so must of had some work done than.
Will do a couple of trips first to see how it performs off road than make the choice on what to do next.

Is there a certain model cruiser that has the sprung seats? I have seen them in a couple of mwb cruisers.

[G34R5]

hey guys, been looking for lift advice on a fj70 and glad i found this but still doesnt answer some questions i have haha just picked up and fj70 swb with a ute chop, so would imagine the centre of gravity is relatively low compared to full cabs. Also the 3f has been changed out for the 2h. Now looking at putting 35"s under her to keep up with my mates haha but cant seem to find any just simple 3" or 4" kits around or even the springs. One of my mates has done some research for his and says ya have to use 60 series spring to get a suspension lift big enough, plus then extended shackles should bring things back into place right, realigning the axle to centre? other wise would just a simple 2" lift, extended shackles and maybe a body lift fit the big bootys under?

[terrano]

I run 35s on my fj70 and by the looks of it the suspension is standard. Would be interested to know what the standard suspension looks like to compare with mine. Only rubs at full flex when on hard lock so hardly ever. Only thing i would possibly do now is a body lift for that extra clearance.




If you could post some photos of your front and rear leafs and ill do the same to compare, would be handy

[G34R5]

ahh ok shit, well ive only got some 30" muddies on atm as they came with it but looks like theres sh!t loads of clearance lol, will post some pics of bits and peices later once im actually home haha but nice to know ya can run 35"s pretty easily then, maybe a 2" spring would be all it needs ae



also what kinda flex can ya get outta yours?

[derk]

don't be fooled about centre of gravity as already posted further up the thread they are a tall truck on a narrow wheelbase so they aren't the most stable truck at the best of times until you widen the wheelbase out a bit/lot 35" tyres fit fine but its all a bit subjective depending on the springs that are in the truck and what type of 35 inch tyre some are a lot smaller that others , as already said quite a few times above $old man emu lift springs$ work really well and give reasonable clearance for larger 35 inch tyres like simex 35x11.5x15 that measure up about 35.5 ish, you usually find you have to slip the front axle housing forward a bit (redrill the centre bolt hole in the spring perch and bottom plate) theres plenty of length in the drive shaft spline and plenty of clearance between the tierod and draglink so theres no interference or the cheap mans way is to knock the bottom corner of the guard back a bit with your sledge hammer sitting in the corner of the shed if your trucks still sitting on the 30 year old factory springs you'll probably find 27 inch tyres will rub and the axle is already sitting on the bump stops if you want to stick 60 series springs under it do some research first you'll find there close but they aren't the same length and the centre bolts (the bits that locate your springs onto the axle) will be in different places so you could be doing a lot of messing around shifting spring hangers and mounts and shit try and avoid long shackles especially at the front they just hang down and get you hung up on stuff and the longer they are the more leverage and sideways twist they have they start bending sideways unless you weld a pile of bracing into them and then they still seem to end up twisted over anyway if your going to do anything take out a mortgage and get some old man emu shit to stick under it other than the price you wont regret it

[G34R5]

what about aiming for flex though, its allgood getting them 35"s under there but then i would want them to be able to flex and flex well. will look into ome springs though and ok, understand about the longer shackles then, the clearance between the front and the bottom of the bull bar already looks questionable haha

[terrano]

Heres some pics to show flex, not huge but does the job for now, could probably get some more out of it but it was the biggest rock i could find haha.

[derk]

what about aiming for flex though, its allgood getting them 35"s under there but then i would want them to be able to flex and flex well.

if you want to start getting some big flex under it you'd probably want to start looking at a mwb shortys can get a bit hairy and tippy you want something with a bit more wheelbase to keep it more stable (imo) when you've got wheels flopping up and down all over the place you end up with rapid weight transfer from front to back or side to side which often means "flop" if it happens too fast and when your not expecting it , if you want to stay leaf springs you need the longest springs you can get in there with a relatively flat (ie not vertical) shackle angle to give a big shackle travel arc to let the suspension open right up, cool offroad but outright scary onroad with the amount of body roll and definitely a lot harder keeping it legal and safe if its used on the road as well good performance offroad = worse performance onroad if your going to go do all that work with leaf springs you might as well put the time, energy and money into 3 or 4 linking it or selling it and buying what you want it usually always works out cheeper

[G34R5]

so theres my new one, some small boots on her but like i said, wanting to fit 35"s under there, looks like theres heaps of clearance so could maybe fit 35"s under. Mates just switched his 74 series springs for new 2" ones and hes sitting at the same height as before fully clearing 33"S so yeah haha

think i might start with just 2" lifted springs and then see how things roll

[SMOKEY]

Looks to me to be another person who asks the questions that they already know the answers to. Go ahead and do what you want to do, you asked for advice but your not listening.

FITZY.

[The WEHI]

here's mine before and now was on sagged to factory height lift springs super soft allways on bump stops slight rub while flexing preformed really well,31's 35's now 37's

[G34R5]

Looks to me to be another person who asks the questions that they already know the answers to. Go ahead and do what you want to do, you asked for advice but your not listening.

FITZY.

read you in depth explanation which really helps, but also sounds like alot of money being put into custom springs, so that will have to be a down the track mod, for now 2" with 33"s i reckon will atleast get me keeping up with the lads, then look into the custom springs, also being in akaroa means i cant just shoot down and chat with these guys anytime i feel like it. didnt mean to piss ya off or anything but im just looking for options and when people have said they clear 35"S without moving the axle forward then sweet, maybe get that sorted then custom springs to bring everything in align perfectly.