Total Chaos Fab long trave I.F.S suspension for Prado 90

[Shayne]

I made some inquiries about this and here's the response -

Looks the same! Attached are two pics of a Prado 90 that ran the China Grand
Rally last year with our LT kit up front. Unfortunately these were the only
two pics I could find online, the coverage of that event was horrible for
some reason.

Here is a breakdown of what you would need to install the LT up front:

PT#96000K-4
+3.5" Long Travel Arm Kit for 96-02 4runner using Fox or King Shocks
$2985.24

PT#96300
Modified Tundra Front Axles/CV's
$933.81

Fox or King L/t-specific coilovers (2.5" diameter, with remote reservoirs
and coils)
$1500 pair


For the rear we generally either run a quality wheel spacer to help equal
out the track width difference (generally only up to a 1.50" spacer, it
doesn’t match all the way but helps) or run a rear end from a T-100, Tundra
or custom Ford 9" from Currie.

worth discussing maybe .

 

[stumog]

sound like a better idea would be to see how chrisgreen90 with the solid axle proforms at the weekend. I am sure he would charge you alot less the $5000 aswell.

with a big lift it does make the car drive alot worse and as you already have a lead right foot might not be the best idea...
stu

 

[Shayne]

Must admit what i like about this kit is that it adds another 7 inches to the width of your truck what i don't like is i can't work out how to increase the width of the rear axle to match up , wheel spacers and wheels with a massive negative offset would surely just destroy bearings and make hubs very weak . Can an axle be cut and extended by a proper engineering company ?

 

[PETE BELL]

yes Shayne ive modded axles before ,making the casing longer or shorter is not that hard to do but the difficulty is in the shafts -i have a buddy thats into stock car racing and did an axle for him out of a ford cortina ,i think he got two shafts out of a rwd van -sherpa ? and had them machined and heat treated ,they lasted very well considering the outright arse kicking they got each time he drove it

 

[Shayne]

Hi Pete so shafts can't be spliced then no ?

 

[Beau]

7 inches can easily be added through correct wheels Shayne. That's 3.5" on each side which is about 90mm wider. A 30cm Spacer will make that 60cm more which can be found through a -60cm Wheel. I actually saw a set of 15" Steel 14" wide with -60cm offset sell on ebay for around £300 with tyres, was tempted to buy them!

Anyway, I think with a good offset rim you'll be fine increasing the track and the bearings should be fine. Most of the time I'm running -20mm Wheels on my cruiser and have never replaced bearings or anything drivetrain related.

 

[PETE BELL]

Hi Pete so shafts can't be spliced then no ?

by -spliced- do you mean extended by cutting and welding ,if so i would say no because they will break at the welds no matter how good you weld them ,a half shaft/drive shaft must be able to twist under load ,there are exceptions tho ,once i welded a leaf spring off a volvo f12 artic ,just a get home job ,thinking that it just wont last i did my best and prepd it and welded it then polished it with a flap disk then heated it to cherry red and quenched it in water slowly and it lasted 7 month till the guy that drove the truck totalled it -then it twisted but still did not break

 

[Shayne]

Beau hub to hub is 7 inches wider so i could run positive offset front wheels and negative offset rear wheels to match things up but all i would get for my money then is a slightly wider track albeit with greater articulation which for me makes it a massive price for little gain .

Surprises me that Pete i've seen a fair bit of very heavy boat superstructure torn down when things go wrong and it was always something of wonder to me that it was always the steel above or below the weld that tore . I sort of assumed the weld must be stronger than the steel . But by the same merit it stands to reason weld won't twist and i imagine if there's no flex either the splines or the diff will take a hammering .

 

[Shayne]

I have come a full circle after much reading and it seems shortening a shaft doesn't present many problems at all (for those will the necessary skills of course) so i was thinking with the 80 series diff housing being off centre the long side shaft might be longer than i would need and could be shortened . I'm assuming they have matching splines but could be wrong ?

Any thoughts ?

 

[Chris Green90]

My thought would be. If its for off road that you want the articulation the money will be far better spent on a locker. IMHO 9 times out of 10 a locker will trump articulation. If your after a massive track for the Iclandic truck look then just spend to money on some massive deep dish wheels.

If your set on the idea then have someone make you up an axle for the rear complete with half shafts or buy the rear dana axle to go with the kit.

In an ideal world you would have the half shafts made to measure. The problem with cutting and welding (Been done plenty on the race cars we have but they weight less than my left leg and have no locker so don't take half as much hammering) is that they really need to be hardened after the welding process and then machined perfectly round. All stuff I can do (apart from the hardening) but for the reasons above would off we absolutely no guarantee. I know you have not asked anyone to do the work I am just trying to show you the complications involved. Solid rod is able to cope with the torsional stresses in a way that the weld just isn't.

 

[Shayne]

You hit the nail on the head Chris with "Icelandic truck look" but i reckon massive deep dish wheels would just be a shortcut to the scrapyard . I've gathered extending the axle housing itself can be done and i've found a few companies that make custom shafts , i'm just looking at options before getting a price . 3 grand for the IFS seems steep but that's with shocks and springs etc , how much do most pay for upgrade suspension ?

 

[clivehorridge]

For my 80, 4 springs, 4 shocks, 1 steering damper, new bushings all round, 2,000 EUR give or take and that was a while ago

 

[Chris Green90]

Does the 3k include the replacement front cv shafts???

upgrade suspension £700 max. most will run to about 5. The question you have to ask yourself is how many wheel bearings can you get for 3k??? (plus whatever the back will run you I would say not much change from a grand) A well balanced (Add sludge aswell) deep dish rim really should not have that adverse effect anyway. Suzuki used them for years on their "FatBoy" Vitara's.

 

[Shayne]

Yeah modified Tundra shafts the price i asked for was bolt on and go . I should explain why i'm tempted to do this . If i liked the 120 LC i would go out and get one - but i don't so it seems i will be stuck with this truck for as long as it lasts because the more modern cars get the less i like them , so why not upgrade what i've got .

 

[Chris Green90]

Each to their own mate. Totally. Just kinda sounds a little along the lines of the saxo drivers going into Halfords and just buying everything that sticks on. There is really not to much to the TC kit to be honest. I might see if I can fab up something similar. Realisticly its nothing more than extended wishbones to stop the spring binding. TBH if you look at the AT trucks IIRC that most have an offset nearly as deep as the wheel. I have a mate that is running a trooper with standard steelies on just fitted inside out.

I understand what you are saying above mate and all I am trying to say basically is that IMHO If I was to spend my money on upgrades it would be on a front locker and some serious rubber. If you are just after the styling then there are much more cost effective ways of going about it.

Alternatively leave it with us for 10 weeks and for your 5k I'll send you back a totally one off monster of a truck that would make anyone think you had just come off the ice cap.

 

[Shayne]

cheers Chris yeah its a weird one i know i can't deny it's hard to justify the price , i'm struggling with that myself but the picture i have in my head of the finished truck makes me drool .

 

[Shayne]

I seen this years ago and knew instantly it was what i wanted , thankfully i ended up with a far better truck , but it could be better still

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/595110/2003-jeep-liberty/

 

[clivehorridge]

I seen this years ago and knew instantly it was what i wanted , thankfully i ended up with a far better truck , but it could be better still

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/595110/2003-jeep-liberty/

IMO you don't need to go to all that expense and the longer term maintenance issues to get that look, just some tidy offset wheels and a lift will give you that...

Offsets up to 60mm shouldn't give you any wheel bearing or half shaft problems...

 

[Shayne]

Its all to do with the steering pivot if i put 60mm spacers on i would have to butcher the truck to prevent serious rubbing issues and even if i did that i would still be reducing the trucks on and off road capability (how wheel spacers effect steering has been discussed many a time) . If i wanted a full blown mudplugger i would have no qualms with taking a sledgehammer to the arches or cutting things off to make things fit . As i see it the long travel IFS (if i can match up the rear axle) would allow me to retain her on road manners , increase off road capability and get the look of the radio control 4x4's i always wanted as a kid and never got . Only down side i can see is the cost .

Kid in a toy shop Hell Yes

 

[Beau]

Shayne, with the correct Suspension/Body lift you turning radius will be fine and it shouldn't scrub. This also goes down to tyre choice as well but I certainly understand what you mean.

In my opinion having run 30mm spacers for about 10 years now, alongside zero offset wheels resulting in a -30mm offset, I've had no handling problems and the truck drives fine on road. Obviously I don't take my truck off road so have no idea how larger offsets effect the off road behaviour.

Therefore I don't think you'll have a problem running spacers, or very large offsets. Those Artic trucks run 10-12" Width wheels with very deep offsets. My guess would be anywhere from -60 - -100mm. They still use the standard CV's as far as I'm aware.