Picking Suspension for the 100 Series Land Cruiser
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มี.ค. 2018
- The next big land cruiser project is a suspension upgrade. In this video we walk through the possibilities for an initial suspension upgrade and make our selection. We chose a slee off-road kit with a diff drop and spc upper control arms. We went with the old man emu (OME) medium load and 2.5" lift.
Check us out at bradyadventures.com
You are sure to see some major work on the hundy over the next few months to get it truly expedition ready. Everything from ARB, slee, national luna, blue ridge overland gear, alu-cab, odyssey batteries, old man emu, warn, safari, and many more overland outfitters. We will also do some DIY projects along the way as we always like to save a few bucks. It should be an impressive year with a very busy schedule. We hope you join us.
We are an adventure focused family that loves travel, camping, exploration, and are occasionally a little crazy. Hit the subscribe button to join our epic adventures. We are here to inspire and support your path to adventure. This is a huge year for Brady Adventures. We are making major investments in our first overland rig, a 100 series land cruiser aka Bernard. We are planning expeditions to Tennessee, Maine, Colorado, and the Urawrrie. We are extensively researching our gear and will share everything we learn with you. We love to DIY and save a little money. We occasionally produce ridiculous stuff that might make you laugh. We would love for you to join us on our crazy adventures. Click subscribe and enjoy! Thanks for joining us!
We are considering equipment from REI, ARB, slee, gamviti, alu-cab, old man emu, blue ridge overland gear, front runner, metaltech 4x4, white knuckle off road, msa 4x4, GSI, outback solutions, ironman, falken, trailtailor, and many others.
Thanks again for stopping by brady adventures. We are here to help and inspire your adventure travel, overland rig / truck / UTE 4x4 build, with diy how-to videos, inspirational travel stories, camping expeditions, and equipment reviews on overland products from companies like ARB, alu-cab, old man emu, and slee. If you check out our blog at bradyadventures.com you will find amazon links to the products we use. We love going off road in our four-wheel drive V8 land cruiser 100 and frequently can be found in the middle of the forest or mountains. We share what we know about survival and living off the land. Thanks again for checking out our videos.
For the next few months we will be posting regularly with the goal of doing one major modification per month including one major video each week. For each mod we will start with a intro of the modification, possible options, hard choices and tradeoffs, and sketch out the plan. After the plan is finalized we will do an unboxing and overview video of the materials for the project. For some items we will also post detailed separate reviews of the individual products. The next major video will document the installation and the final video will be a Walkaround and summary. You will be able to find a playlist for each modification or can watch the overall build from start to finish in the “Preparing for Adventure the Story of Brady Adventures First Overland Build” Thanks for stopping by and checking us out and please subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss the exciting evolution of Bernard the Land Cruiser and our overland adventures.
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Exciting! Look forward to the install :D
Glad you fixed that light bulb. :)
Ha ha, I am not sure I did, that damn thing keeps flickering on me and was driving me nuts :-)
this helped a lot to understand
Awesome! Glad it was helpful, let me know if you have any questions.
I have the same components from Slee (but with the heavy springs). I installed it on a 2003 LX470, and removing the stock hydraulic suspension required some serious cruiser yoga! The hardest part though was to install the diff drop kit. One of the bolts holding the diff in place was stuck, and i ended up having to grind it off. One part not included in the kit that i decided to get was a pair of rear shock guards (part number OME661).
I could have sworn I replied to you. That's crazy you had to grind a bolt, the diff drop was pretty straight forward for me. I have been incredibly lucky with little corrosion. How do you like the heavies, I almost went with them and may upgrade to them in the future? Thanks for the tip, I am going to order some OME661s they look like some pretty cheap insurance!
The heavy springs make the rig feel a bit truck-ish, especially with 40 psi in the tires. But when loaded up for adventure, it isn't so bad.
Thank you for doing an awesome job in explaining why you decided on what you wanted. It definitely helped me with making my decision and mine is getting everything that you got minus the control arms since I'm on a budget. Can you explain a little bit more why caster can be dangerous?
Thanks man I really appreciate it!
First a disclaimer, I am not alignment expert so take this with a grain of salt :-)
If it is really dangerous or not is debatable but I think most people would agree the safest ride is going to be one within factory specs. The higher you lift the further out of spec the caster will be. SPC control arms give you the ability to adjust castor up to 4 degrees and the recommended setting is +1 degrees for a 2.5" lift on the cruiser. That would imply that you will most likely have around -1 degree of caster without them at 2.5" lift. This of course will vary some and I can't remember what mine actually ended up at after my alignment.
The easiest example is a shopping carts front wheels. When you push the cart the wheels quickly return to center after a turn, that is positive caster. If you turned the wheels backwards that would be extreme negative caster and the wheels would not want to return to center unless you are going backward. As your castor goes more and more negative it will result in a slower return to center following a turn and you can imagine how this could change the driving dynamics. There are plenty of people out there that don't get UCAs and are perfectly happy so I wouldn't worry to much but you may notice it is not as quick to return to a straight track and you may have to do a little more work to keep it tracking straight.
This video is a pretty quick example th-cam.com/video/Gh7gWJAvOvs/w-d-xo.html
I hope that makes sense. Thanks again!
Very Well done mate, you answered all my questions and explained it clear and simple, Old man Emu for me, but I must say its pronounced Emyou not Emmoo, Thanks Cheers 👍✌✌
Thanks glad you liked the video and thanks for the pronunciation help 😁
Hi your video is very helpful. Thank you so much. My question is, did you change the the stock front sway bar links with extended heavy duty links? I am in the process of lifting my 2001 cruiser and collecting ideas. So your answer will be appreciated.
yes I did, I changed all my swaybar links with extended links from trail tailor. trail-tailor.com/store/p75/Front_Sway_Bar_Links_-_100_Series.html The consensus is that installing extended links will allow your sway bars to operate at the intended original geometry and will result in a better ride and flex in the suspension. I didn't do a comparison with and without but the reason for putting them in makes sense and I think it is something worth doing while you are lifting your truck. Thanks!
gotta fix that light bulb
I know that thing is driving me crazy! :-)
Once I noticed it about a minute or two into video, I honesty couldn’t even pay attention.. But worth noting I’m very adhd and ocd 🤦♂️ and also a residential general contractor so with those in mind I guess it makes sense.. lol great info tho.. thanks for the video, answered most of my questions..
Great vídeo! I do have a 99 LC100 with the 4.2 turbo diesel engine and wanto to go with a 2.5" lift
Thanks! Good luck on your build!
I am putting the dif drop kit on tomorrow along withe the springs and re indexing my torsion bars. Im not going the full lift with shocks and control arms and new torsion bars due to budget plus Im not doing a ton of off road with mine. Its more a daily driver and since it is Ive heard the factory shocks are good for it with the new springs for the lift. Later I might add some of what you discuss here but I cant wait to check your ride out once its lifted! Get to work haha ill have updates on mine tomorrow hopefully on MUD.
That sounds like a great first step! I am really loving the setup it rides really nice, it took a minute to get used to the new height but now I can't imagine it any other way. Good luck on the job tomorrow!
Brady Adventures assuming your doing a vid soon on how it looks and rides???
Absolutely, I should be getting all the suspension vids out during the next few weeks. If you have any questions before then please let me know.
How about if i replace front shock to coilover in land cruiser 100 series without changing anything else, will it automatically lift the clearance compared to stock? Thanks
I saw one company try to do this. Not sure how successful it was. Since the front tower is not designed to hold that much weight it requires some re-engineering.
Great detailed explanation, but I still have a concern. You may probably help me with it. The thing is that I have a 2001 diesel Land Cruiser with hydraulic suspension system, and now I’m having some troubles with it, cuz is behaving like sports cars and a mechanic told me I have to replace the 4 accumulator which are around 1000 dollars, so I’m considering if I can replace the whole original system for a regular suspension set probably or a great one with shocks with reservoir ( or without). The thing is that I don’t know if it can be done and which one would be a good option for my vehicle. Thank you for your help. Have a great day.
Thanks man! I am only really familiar with U.S. models but I am pretty sure and going to assume your hydraulic suspension is the Adjustable Ride Height Suspension (AHC). If it is indeed the same then you most certainly can replace it with after market suspension kit. It is more involved than the install I did since you have to remove all of the hydraulics and I have heard it is a pretty messy job. It is very common for people to make this change since the AHC system can be a pain and expensive to maintain. I would do to ih8mud.com search for threads in the 100 series forum on AHC removal. Here's a thread to get you started. The guys on this forum are very helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions I can help with and you have a great day too!
forum.ih8mud.com/threads/removing-ahc.1106958/#post-12039609
I picked the OME for my 4runner I just order mine on Wednesday from toytec there was a discount code on the forms...are you changing the bump stops?
youknowit158 nice! I'm really loving how this thing rides I'm sure part of it's because the old suspension was shot. the OME kit is firm but comfortable. I have heard of some people changing out bump stops on the Cruisers I think most were going more than a 2.5 inch lift besides that it's not too common. Considering I got a 4Runner on the list is that something you should do with an upgraded suspension?
Brady Adventures a lot of the kids for the 4Runner include like a spacer for the bump stop I just went ahead and ordered the timbren ones because they look pretty heavy duty versus just adding a inch of aluminum behind the already small 4Runner Bump Stop. At the end of the day it's personal preference
How much did all that cost? If you don't mind me asking.
To be fair all together it was a little over $2000. The kit from slee was about 1800 after shipping, I also got sway bar drop links not mentioned in the vid from Trail Tailor ~$150, and and an alignment for $89.
So a lift kit that drops the diff... decreases ground clearance. Yep!
I agree to a point. While the diff is dropped an inch the vehicle is raised 2.5". The are effected by the diff drop is a relatively small area that has fairly good clearance to begin. Meanwhile the rest of the vehicle gets the full 2.5" lift. So I think overall it's a win. In addition you save your axle boots which are a pain and expensive to fix.
Hello, do you know if Toyota trd parts can go on a 100 series land cruiser? Thnx
Hmm, any specific parts you thinking of? There are TRD wheels that are made for Tundras that can be made to fit but I am not sure of any other specific parts.
@@BradyAdventures shocks was the part of interest. In your vid you mention the aftermarket parts. I was curious if rather than going for aftermarket I could stick with Toyota parts. Thank you very much for your reply!
@@znake15 No problem and thanks for the questions! I think the OEM parts for the land cruiser are very good and there are lots of people that adjust their torsion bars and put in slightly taller rear springs with stock shocks. This works fine for a modest lift 1.5" (doesn't sound like much but it makes a big difference) but won't necessarily preform off-road as well as some aftermarket gear. I don't think any of the TRD parts are specifically made for the 100 series. not sure if you have ever been to ih8mud but it is the best resource for 100 series owners, check out this forum and search around and you will find someone who has done just about everything you can. I am brizzle on the forum, forum.ih8mud.com/forums/100-series-cruisers.26/
@@BradyAdventures thank you so much for your help! I'll check out the link and love your videos. Thnx again
No problem 😁thanks
are they fixed axis? or independent?
front is independent and rear is a solid axle, does that answer your question? Thanks!
@@BradyAdventures THANKS!!!
I'm a bit confused... You say one of the reasons for upgrading the Uca's are to allow for more droop?
Isn't it the shock that determines the droop on the ifs 100?
If you're using longer or larger diameter than standard shocks then yeah Uca's would probably be a necessary upgrade.
As far as I'm aware the OME shocks are the same length as the factory shocks... So isn't it a bit pointless using the modified Uca's?
So if your shocks are the same length as the factory shocks and you go ahead and raising the front spring height, won't you be loosing the droop? Doesn't make sense to me... I'd be looking for longer shocks to retain the factory droop. This would justify using modified Uca's and diff drop.
Another thing... Doing the diff drop seems a bit pointless without increasing the shock length... All you're doing is cancelling out the gain in suspension lift with lowering the diff back down. Surely you'd be better off keeping the factory spring hight and doing away with the diff drop and Uca's... You'd have similar hight under the front diff but with better droop than you have now.
I know they say diff drop helps keep cv's at factory angles but if you raise the spring hight without lengthening the shocks, you're not really achieving much other than gaining a little more room around the wheel arches and making the shocks top out.
You make a great point concerning shock length with my particular setup. I am fairly certain that the OME shocks are the limiting factor for droop at this point in my setup, but would have to check, not 100% sure. The primary reason I went with the UCAs was for the castor adjustment and serviceable ball joint. With stock UCAs castor cannot be corrected and vehicle will handle wonky. Stock UCAs can be a limiting factor in some setups due to the ball joint angles, clearances etc. More droop is an added benefit but perhaps not fully realized with the OME 60000s. If however I ever go with some more aggressive setup then I will be ready.
I don't agree with you concerning the diff drop. The ground clearance you lose at the center diff is no where near what you gain across the rest of the vehicle with the 2.5" lift. You wouldn't want to only lift the rear. Also, the diff drop doesn't lower the diff as much (3/4") as you raise the vehicle (2.5"+) so even with the diff drop you still have more clearance (1.75"+) than before. The diff drop gets you closer to stock but not to stock angles and as much of a pain an axle job is all the insurance I can get is a plus. I also think the room around the tires is much needed if you are running 33s if for no other reason than aesthetics.
In the end there is only so much we can do with the IFS for sure.
Thanks for the awesome comment! I truly appreciate critical feedback!
@@BradyAdventures I think you've missed my point.. You shouldn't lift the vehicle above factory hight without using longer front shocks. The OME shocks you've got are the same length as the factory shocks!
If you've wound the springs up above the factory hight then you've lost more than the 70mm of minimum front droop required for your suspension to work correctly. Your front shocks will be constantly riding in the top end of their travel and topping out on the rough terrain.
Most aftermarket shocks like the ones you've chosen are there to support a lifted hight back to the unloaded standard hight after you've fully loaded it. They market them as a 2.5" lift because of the HD springs ability to hold the vehicle at standard hight with heavy loads.
Fact is, you need longer front shocks if you want to raise the vehicle above the factory hight and retain correct suspension droop.
Using the diff drop is a complete waste of time if you're staying at near standard ride hight, only needed for above 2" lift, And as I've said, you shouldn't raise above factory hight unless you have longer shocks.
And obviously the Uca's are a waste of time unless you have longer shocks and above 2" lift.
Not many people in the industry really understand the ifs Landcruiser, it's taken me a while to fully get my head around it, but eventually you'll realised that most of these so called suspension experts don't really understand the ifs suspension.
Just for reference, with my lift, I currently have 65mm of droop. I am not doing this professionally so have only seen so many examples and have not measured the impacts of each change compared to stock.
I have never seen a company state or heard anyone else with the opinion that "They market them as a 2.5" lift because of the HD springs ability to hold the vehicle at standard hight with heavy loads." This is new to me and I think would surprise most people.
I certainly agree with you on the shock travel being the limiter. What's your recommendation for front shocks or do you recommend keeping stock ride height?
It sounds like you have a great deal of experience with this and I am wondering if there is somewhere you have your thoughts and recommendations more fully written up for myself and others to consider.
I think I understand your points and while I don't completely agree you have definitely given us some things to think about. Thanks for taking the time to share this! We only get better by understanding others perspectives.
65mm of droop is fine. 👍
Infact it's very close to the factory droop settings, so your ride hight must only be marginally higher than the original factory hight from new. Given that your original suspension would've sagged a fair bit over time, you're probably fairly close to being 2.5" lift from where it had sagged to. This is where the suspension companies are bending the truth about their lift kits. 😉 There's not many out there that are actually a true 50mm lift.
The factory length front shocks have an open length of about 440mm and you'll find that most of the aftermarket shocks like OME, tuffdog, ironman ect ect are exactly that or a few mm plus or minus.
For longer shocks you have to look towards the race type shocks like Icon ect. They're about 460ish mm of open length... Thats about 40mm of extra front wheel travel due to where the shock is mounted, roughly 2:1.
Most of the generic aftermarket suspension companies such as OME are reluctant to increase the front shock length on the ifs, this is because the longer shocks will make contact with the factory Uca's. They'd then be forced to supply modified Uca's with all their lift kits.
I'm not an expert or qualified mechanic but I've been learning about the ifs 100 suspension for the past few years, mostly from people that know them inside out.
Check it out yourself and you might end up doing a video on it? So many people don't understand setting up the ifs Landcruiser correctly. Study it yourself and you will realise.
Only reason I found your videos was because I'm currently setting up my own 100 series and I'm always interested to see what others are doing to theirs. 👍
@@SteveBurns80 Thanks so much! That is fantastic info! Front shock travel will be a minor obsession of mine for the next couple weeks! I already warned my wife that new front shocks may be happening at the end of my research :-) and a video of course. I started doing these videos to share what I am learning since it isn't always very easy to find the answers and there is always more to learn. I appreciate the info and please let me know how your build goes and what you end up going with.
Fix your light
Wow you got that done quick
Oh I know, I finally got some better lighting but my stuff is still pretty amateur :-) Thanks!
All these ideas are grandfathering. You can't afford to service the original hydropneumatic suspension on an LC100 then buy a Patrol or Wrangler. You are cutting out the best in the car , except for the engine. Bullshit.
Thanks for the input but my LC did not have hydropneumatic suspension from the factory and most of them don't in the USA. While there are many reasons to maintain the hydroneumatic suspension if you have it, it does have some downsides for some applications.