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

[Chris Green90]

Had a word today with 3 of the guys we use for half shafts on our race cars. Cheepest quote for a pair of custom half shafts was 1800 quid. (if you want 30 pairs I can get it down to 600.) then theres the cost of extending the rear axle. so if your sent on it then Dana axles is the best way to go IMO. I would think that 80 longer halfshafts may still be a tad short but if anyone can provide a measurement I will gladly compare it to the 90 ones. No when it come to shortening half shafts that is possible but as I said before "I" personally would not guarentee they would hold up to off road punishment and again in my opinion anyone that would is just after your cash.

A 4 inch offset TBF isn't huge and as I said earlier (and the cost is going up and up) how many bearing will you get for 5k. You say about having to chop and change the arches and such but to get the look properly your going to have to get the new arches glassed in anyway.#

I reckon that that look can be achieved for around £1500 (bear in mind I am a northerner!!!!!) not including rubber.

 

[Shayne]

Thanks for giving some thought Chris i had more or less decided there was no point in discussing it further on here as nobody thinks its a good idea . I have just found out after lots more reading that the Toyota Tundra is roughly 7 inches wider than my truck and from looking at pics its rear axle diff housing is central so i'm speculating Tundra half shafts might be a suitable length .
The kit comes with modified Tundra front cv shafts so maybe they can modify some rear shafts to fit my hubs . I would still have to get the axle housing extended in the UK but i would have thought the axle between the lower trailing arm bracket and the hub on either side is little more than tubing . Obviously you would know better than me whats in there , do you really think a Dana axle would be necessary ?

 

[Shayne]

Beau if i use the wheels i've got on chaos IFS my truck when finished will be 10 inches wider than standard .

 

[Beau]

Beau if i use the wheels i've got on chaos IFS my truck when finished will be 10 inches wider than standard .

That's 5 inches on either side which is very plausible with good offset rims? I know it seems like we're all going against ya but we want to save you some cash

On the other side, I'd love to see a 90 series with one of those Kits!!!

 

[Chris Green90]

its more about cost re mate. I like the idea of what your after just that I would go about it differemt way with it being more about looks than ability. However if its what you want to go for then I will happily discuss options and offer advice. If yout looking into tundra half shafts then why not just look at the full tundra axle and get one shipped over. from me i reckon it would cos a couple hundred quid max to fab and weld the appropriate spring, shock, control arm brackets on to have it mate up to the 90.

sorry is non of this makes sense but i am typing on my coo; new alll in onr mouse keyboard thingy sat too far away from thr tv to actually read what i have written.

oh ps re extending the rear axle would also mean moving stuff like shock and spring mounts then there is the hand brake to consider. cable wouldnt be long enough. all in all i would say that this wouldnt be far off as big a job (donr properly) as my SAS.

 

[Chris Green90]

woah. hold the phone. didnt realise we wre talking 7 inches overall. i thought it was 7 a side. a 5 inch offset is not that drastic providing the wheels are well balanced. but tbf thats only going to run the tyres a few inches outside the arch. i think i would probably be looking at the TC setup and then also adding a major offset rim

 

[Shayne]

Put a 5 inch spacer behind your wheels Beau and then try and turn the steering full lock , i reckon you would have to trim the arch just a little - and maybe a bit of your door too !

Did you get yourself a smart tv Chris ? i just got one and i'm very impressed no need for laptop or computers anymore ..... if i could just get used to the tv remote being a mouse

I would have thought changing the whole axle might mess up the gearing and i would lose the electric difflock so assumed modifying the existing axle would work out cheaper in the long run ?

Your sas job is ace by the way i was looking forward to seeing a vid of it in action i can't believe nobody has posted one , I would be asking you for a price if it weren't for the fact my truck is - and will remain - my daily driver .

 

[Shayne]

We crossed posts Chris , yes the TC set up brings the hub out 3 `1/2 inches which unlike wheel spacers or negative offset wheels does not increase the steering arch of travel if you get what i mean . I think with my own wheels being -32mm offset they would sit 5 inches outside my wheel arch but nothing would need trimming , might even get wider wheels on her .

From a practical point of view 5 inches either side would make my truck more or less equal in width to an 80 so parking at the road side wouldn't be an issue .

 

[Chris Green90]

no smartv. lap top battery flat but i have both living room and conservatory tvs hooked up to pc`s with a 15tb server in the loft with all my films music and tv stored on.

good point with the locker but iirc the dana axles take the oe lockers. will have to check that one.

when it comes tp steering i see what your saying so i guess the TC kit comes with ectended track tod ends? obviously pushing the whole hub out keeps the pivot point in the oe position where as off set wheels makes the turn radius far greater. hence whu arctic trucks move the whole suspension set up forward (as i sis with the sas) now the 90 axles are no wider than the 90 so an sas wouldnt gibe you the wider track you are looking for.however the fact that the axle can be brought forward enough to compensate the offset would help things.

so maybe after all this huge offset may not work but i am pretty sure that would be the first thing i try just to eliminate it.

f87k it what am I saying. who the hell am I to advise someone not to do something stupid and extreme to their truck. think we can all agree that ship has pretty much saild for me.lol.lol.lol. go for it mate be bold and take that step. now guess i should look out for another ls400 cos im guessing in 6 months time youll want a v8 under the hood. lol.lol.lol.

 

[Shayne]

Pushing the limits just for the hell of it thats the fun of modifying . Don't hold your breathe while you wait for me to ask for a V8 lol i could throw the cost thing back at ya and say drive my truck before you chuck money at a new engine .

 

[Chris Green90]

250 bhp from the v8 as standard so with tuning i reckon 300 shouldnt be to far out of the way. just remember im running 37 now and i reckon the truck is or will be rooling in at over 2t. cost wise i`ll probably finish the job in the black. you can pick up the ls400 for less than 400 quid as a full car. the engine and box out of my truck is worth over a grand. then theres selling the bits off the lexus and weighing in whats left.

like I said us yorkshire folk are tighter than a ducks butt. lol

 

[Shayne]

300 horses

Here's a wide 120 pity they didn't use the far better looking 90 as a base -

 

[Chris Green90]

Again I'll say mate there must be at least a 4 inch offset on them wheels

 

[Shayne]

Yeah i know what you mean Chris that's actually an arctic truck with 35's on , i have no illusions i might achieve what them boys do . Wheel spacers might work a treat on the rear but the front on collies is very limiting . My tyres are about 11 inches wide and the TC set up added to the -32 mm offset would put the tyre half in half out , if i dropped a plumb line from the wheel arch flares . It may not seem much but i think the result will cause quite a visual impact without negatively altering the handling of the truck . Possibly it might allow me to fit bigger rubber or wider wheels but there would be to much guess work involved to even consider that before fitting the TC .

 

[Shayne]

Looks can be deceiving if i get the TC set up and replaced my existing plastic arch with the one below it wouldn't be wide enough to cover the tyre !

These arch flares are 11cm or 4.3 inches wide according to the script in the link -

http://extremelandcruiser.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68&products_id=194

Trying to avoid looking at things through rose tinted goggles the fenders below are about an inch too wide

 

[Chris Green90]

Not 100% certain but I would say that no amount of "bolt on" modding is going to let you fit massive wide or massive tall tyres. unless you can get them as for out that on full lock the outside edge of the rear of the tyres is outside of the arch then anything you do, I think (but without testing I can't be sure) will only minorly affect you tyre size ability. which means as far as I can see your still going to be "faking" the look. Which is fine I suppose just that I wouldn't give 5k for the look when the same can be achieved for much less. I have said before but the fact you have now been putting up pics cements it really. Look back at all the photo's you have posted. Every one of them shows wheels with 4"+ offset.

 

[Shayne]

If i put a 1 inch wheel spacer behind my current front wheels they would no longer fit because it would increase lock to lock steering travel at the outer edge of the tyre by at least an inch and probably more which would put me right back to square one with the tyre rubbing on the seam we all trim . If i moved the hub out 3 and 1/2 inches my current tyres wouldn't go anywhere near the seam . Because my wheels are negative offset anyway i would need flares that wide just to be road legal .

Not sure what's fake about that , and price wise i'm getting 2 modified cv shafts , 4 custom made wishbones , front race spec springs and shocks and whatever links and bushes and bolts etc are needed to make it fit . A 3 grand lump sum seems a lot but your in the trade and as you've said modified half shafts are far from cheap .

 

[clivehorridge]

Just thought I'd throw this one at you Shayne... Lift 'em high enough and anything fits!

 

[Shayne]

That's actually a fair point Clive but its all down to compromise , Chris Eubank used a 7 tonne Peterbuilt truck as a daily driver which is fine if your a bit eccentric and have several million in your piggy bank i suppose . Huge tyres , steel bumpers , winches etc are great when your off road but not exactly ideal for doing 10.000 miles a year . That's why we have a separate overland cruiser section . I have been searching for a way to bridge the gap between overlander and full blown mudplugger and i think the TC set up does just that . Apart from a bit more aerodynamic drag i don't see why it should alter fuel mpg significantly and looking at videos i think its fair to assume the components used are stronger than stock items . To be honest if i was confident i could fit the kit and match up the rear reasonably quickly i would order it , but i'm not and again its my daily driver i would be putting out of action .

 

[clivehorridge]

I think any fuel consumption loss would only be down to the width and diameter of the tyres. The larger diameter because of the change in gearing and the width ... pure friction. there's also some loss just having to wind the things up when accelerating.

Mine suffers more than most because I don't have a turbo to compensate the power loss.