I'm posting this for my father who needs some info help. He has an fj80 vx Limited from japan which is his baby but he does like to wheel it alittle bit. Hes taken his running boards off for some clearence but hes concerned now about rocker damage. So its rock slider time, we've looked at slee's and a few others but they want almost $1000 by the time there shipped for sliders. I know landcruiser stuff is expensive but that seems steep for what they are. I'm just looking for some companys that make sliders that you've had good expirence with, I know theres lots of little companys out there makin parts.
The other question is have any of you guys takin your sway bars off to get some more wheel travel? And if so does it make the truck undrivable on the road or just some body roll? He has an old man emu 2.5" lift waiting to go in it and is just on the fence if he should take the sway bars off or not.
Solid Rock off Road makes good sliders that are less expensive. THe cheapest route is to get the long trailgear sliders and fab your own mounts.
I'd leave the sway bars on unless you want to fab up a quick disconnect. These rigs are top heavy enough--I wouldn't risk having to do an emergency manuever with them off.
The rears have more than enough travel, but to get some more travel out of the fronts, simply pull one front control arm bolt(preferably the one to the rear) and replace it with a standard hitch pin and clip. Remove the pin for more flex off road, and MAKE SURE to put it back in when you are finished.
Clarification: There are six total front control arm bolts. Three per arm. One attaches to the frame and two attach to the axle--one in front, one in the rear. Remove the bolt that attaches behind the axle. Only remove one bolt total.
I'd also get the castor correction bushings to help with driveability after the lift.
The hitch pin mod will give you more travel than the sway bar disconnect, but you could do both if you really wanted to free up the front end.
I can't get you a link because I can't access it at work, but search over at IH8mud for info on the trailgear sliders. User "Box Rocket" did a nice write up with pics in the 80 series section.
Hes lookin for alittle more wheel travel so I think the hitch pin mod would work well. He doesn't push it really hard.
I'll check out the Mud write up. The trail gear sliders with the gusset kit and maybe some plating on the frame should work pretty well. just gutta figure out a way around the cat on the passenger side cuz I don't think you could mount a straight leg from the slider to the frame in that spot.
Mossyrocks on here has done some amazing armor for a friend of his 80. Front and rear bumbers and sliders. Pm him for some pics. If nothing else his sliders are badass and nicely priced.
To do the hitch pin mod you remove the ds front axle mount bolt. The bolt that is closest to the front of the van on the ds.
As far as sway bars go, the dude I bought mine from has a vx w/o sway bars. He said it is managable and has been road tripping it like that for a while now. His is also lifted roughly 4".
That being said he did pick up a rear sway bar recently.
The ass end flexes pretty good out of the box so if youre going to mess w the sway bars either make quick discos for both front and rear (search mud) or try just removing the front one. See how it feels and then make changes as needed.
The ps cat area is a bitch when making sliders. There are a few threads on mud with pictures of peoples slider designs, the most popular seems to one "georges".
I made my own and just recently got them on. There are a couple pics here in the fab folder and more on mud in my "93 80 Beater" thread. It is possible to run the legs straight out from the frame if you bend back the rocker pinch weld. This gives you another 1" of clearance between your outriggers and the rocker. You just have to figure out what to do around the cats.
My advice would be to find a design you like and take it to a local fabber if you dont have the tools/knowhow to do it yourself.
the hitch pin mod is great for giving a little more flex up front. Frees up the front axle nicely. I'd drop the front swaybar in a second. If you have to do any real wild emergency moves, you're probably gonna tip a lifted 80 anyway. For sliders, I've been looking at the ones 4xinnovations has. They look pretty decent and have some really good cat protection built in (which is also helpful if you live in Houston and people steal Toyota catalytic convertors like it's cool )
Yes, the hitch pin pulled does add some extra flex up front but I still need to shave a little off the top of the control arms to prevent the tie rod from rubbing. I have heard this is fairly common...especially when your caster is corrected with plates like mine. Might also be because i have a Marlin tie rod and its a little thicker.
As far as the sliders go there are several out there. I had Jason Demello help me with mine.
I don't know a ton about other vehicles' sliders/frames, but I think the 80 sliders cost so much because the geometry is more complicated than say a tacoma that's nice n straight.
I just did mine and it cost ~300 for metal and pc, but it took me FO EVA to do (first fab project) so I see where the $$ comes in (jig must be pretty complicated)
Taking off your anti sway bar does not give you more wheel travel, more articulation yes... But not more wheel travel. If you want more wheel travel, you need different springs and shocks...
Going with the hitch pin quick disconnect is a great idea to temporary disconnect the anti sway bar... But make sure you hook them back up while on the street... :2cents:
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