This post has eight parts. Click below to navigate:
Part One
Part Two <- You are here
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
2. Bumpers
- ARB Front Bumper (Bull Bar)
My first major mod (the gobi ladder was my first true mod, see roof rack section) was the
ARB bullbar front bumper, with Warn winch, and fog and driving lights (
set up like this). The winch is described in the "recovery" section and lights in the "lights" section. Since installing, we've added a CB antenna mount and some extra recovery points to the bumper. While I like the extra clearance of many of the other aftermarket bumpers, and there is a downside to the weight of the ARB bull bar, it turns out that you can drive this bumper straight into a vertical wall of rock - and get away with it. It is truly "A Real Bumper". Sitting as far out as it does, you can bang the bumper at a range of angles without doing body damage - this can be useful if you're truly as unskilled a driver as me. Certainly, the extra width of the bumper has saved my ass (or at least the front fender bodywork) on a number of occasions. The loops provide good protection for the stock lights and the upper part of the front body work.
IMAGE-> Front bumper, winch, shackles, and also bits of the front OME suspension (yellow) and the MAF/4+ front skid tray.
- D-Ring Shackles
In order to improve the recovery options, we added mounts/brakets for D-ring shackles (left and right of the winch). They were welded and through-bolted. I used the
MAF / 4+ parts.
- All-Pro Rear Bumper
The stock rear "bumper" also had to go, since it was hanging in several pieces from the rear of my truck by October '06. Turns out: you
cannot reverse the stock bumper into a vertical wall of rock and still expect it to be OK. Thankfully you can do so with the
AllPro rear bumper (see bottom of page), and it also has great lines and clearance. Again,
mounts for D-ring shackles were added by long-bolting and welding. The reverse sensors work fine with this bumper. The only downside I can see is that it doesn't include a swing-out tire carrier or jerrycan carrier. That might be the only reason I would switch at some point in the future...
IMAGE-> Rear bumper with shackles.
3. Suspension and Related
- Old Man Emu (OME) Heavy Front and Rear (3") Suspension "Lift"
All the weight, especially the front bumper with winch, had the FJC drooping like a... Well, it was now drooping. Being "oh, so
Hollywood" afterall, it was now time for a lift. Actually, lift is a bit of a misnomer. What I did was replace my stock suspension system (struts and springs) with an aftermarket suspension system. There were two effects: 1. My ride stiffness changed, 2. My default ride height changed. The overall range of the articulation in the front was not (cannot be) changed because it is controlled by the pivot location and size of the control arms. While the 6" lifts (like the ProComp) do move the front axle downwards (a "diff drop"), most "suspension lifts" do not. In the back, the axle was pushed down by the longer struts / springs. The suspension was installed at
Man-a-Fre.
I went with OME simply because it was the most commonly installed (at the time) and because they're so widely and reliably used world-wide. A lot of debate swirls over what the "best" suspension / lift is. The OME heavies give about 2-3" of lift over stock, which is nice additional rock clearance. They have a very "truck"-like ride, which I like. It is much more rigid than stock, but I'm now so used to it that when I'm in a stock FJC, I'm like "whoa, something's gone all squishy with your suspension". With my current vehicle weight, the extra stiffness of the OME heavy setup is useful in limiting bottoming on bumpy trails (it doesn't stop it, and I'll still bump my wheels into the top of the wells more often than I'd like). Bottom line is that I like the OME heavies, though I've never had anything other than the truck other than the stock and the OME suspension.
IMAGE-> The weight of the bumper, winch, and skid plates really had my truck feeling down (top panel). Thankfully, the OME heavy lift was all the truck needed to feel back on top of the world - and standing about 2-3" taller than before! (bottom panel).
- What is a Coil-Over?
The OME is a full coilover suspension replacement. Often you'll read on the forum about "coilover vs. stock vs. OME" - but all front suspension systems for the FJC are coilovers (even the stock suspension is a coilover upfront). This simply means the coil (spring) sits over the strut (or shock absorber). In the rear, the spring is not over the strut, but it's still a spring and strut system (rather than a leaf-spring, for example). What people may be mistaking the term "coilover" for is an adjustable system such as the Walker Evans / AllPro or the Donahoe setups. So the question "should I go to a coilover system or go with OME?" doesn't make any sense. And if you don't believe me, then I can run you a great deal on "converting" your stock suspension to coilover at a very reasonable rate. Only half the cost of the OME's
- Flex with the OME Heavies - What's the RTI?
I've read that the OME's are much too stiff to flex, so
I measured the RTI using a forklift. The RTI is the
Ramp Travel Index and it's just a measure of how much your suspension will flex (the index issue is associated with the wheel base of the vehicle and allows you to sort of compare between different vehicle types). For the front, I got about 600 vs. about 515 for stock - so it's certainly an improvement. But it's no rock buggy.
IMAGE-> Lower part of front OME suspension connecting to stock lower control arm - also provides good view of MAF/4+ skid plates.
- Man-A-Fre Extended Brake-lines
With the default position of the axles changed, and with the idea that I'd be putting the vehicle through end-to-end articulation frequently, we decided to put
extended brake lines on the truck. These suckers are also somewhat stronger than stock and less likely to stretch. So with all the extra weight, it seemed like a good idea.
- Total Chaos front Upper Control Arms (UCA)
After a wheeling incident in December, my front right steering components needed to be replaced, and I decided to use this as an excuse to change out my stock front upper control arms (UCA) for the
Total Chaos aftermarket versions. This was part "I need something stronger" response to the incident (and in that sense probably unnecessary), but also reflected a desire to create more clearance for larger tires. The UCA's were put on by
TLC in Van Nuys.
IMAGE-> Front OME shock and heavy spring, Total Chaos upper control arm (UCA), and parts of the anti-sway bar (or "sway bar" or "anti roll bar" - but now removed from my truck anyway...)
IMAGE-> Close-up of the front end with wheel off. The Total Chaos upper control arm (UCA) and OME front coil-over are easier to see in this shot.
- Man-A-Fre/4+ Rear Lower Control Arms
Horror stories from
4wdToyotaOwner magazine re: damage to rear lower control arms on the Rubicon trail in '06 (page 24, Sept/Oct'06 issue) combined with having balanced my truck on rocks at various times, lead me to upgrade these components. I put on the
MAF/4+ lower control arms, which are substantially thicker than stock.
- All-Pro Rear Upper Control Arms
While I was at it (you see how my mind works) "why not do the rear upper control arms, too?" Thus I swapped the stock versions for the
AllPro models (about 1/3 of way down the page). The stock uppers are really skinny. But I'm not sure how much danger there is of breaking them (never seen a report of it). I thought "beefier is better, right?" Well, maybe. The problem with these uppers is the johnny joints that give the links their flexibility are not very strong. After a year on the truck, two of the joint ends actually disintegrated. They have a lifetime warrantee, so AllPro sent me out replacement joints, but these might not be the parts-of-choice if you want durability vs. flex.
IMAGE-> Disintegrated Johnny joints from my rear upper arms: Johnny joints might not be the choice if you want durability.
- Shaking Mounting Bolts Loose
One note about the rear control arm elements: mine have actually shaken loose through usage on several occasions. Twice now, the upper rear control arms have come completely loose of the mount. I guess heavy and frequent shaking can undo nuts - who knew
Most recently, I thought I'd broken my steering, but it turned out my rear axle was slightly flapping in the breeze (! hair raising !). But the bottom line is that the bolts that come with these parts are not adequate, and we've replaced the bolts / nuts on the arms and the suspension with something that should be alot harder to shake loose.
IMAGE-> The nuts and bolts holding the struts and control arms have been replaced after they were twice shaken loose on trails.
IMAGE-> The rear upper arms were particularly prone to shaking loose due to the nuts and bolts holding them in place.
IMAGE-> View of rear OME shocks (yellow) and OME heavy springs. Also shows MAF/4+ rear lower control arms, AllPro rear upper control arms, Inchworm e-locker guard, and Flowmaster diamond plate "offroad" muffler.
- (Anti-)Sway-bar (and removal thereof)
I decided to take off the front sway bar. This adds a fair amount more skittishness on the hard top, but I believe it gives a fair amount more articulation offroad as a trade. Hopefully someone will develop a sway bar disconnect at some point, maybe
Bandi? ;-) In any case, the "before and after" photo at the top of this page, gives some idea of the amount of right-vs.-left extension possible when the sway bar is gone. I have read that removing the rear sway bar can help - but I have also heard that you can pop the rear springs off the vehicle - I haven't investigated this enough myself to feel totally happy taking the rear sway bar off.
- Jounce Shocks (AKA "chubbies")
Hitting a lot of "whoop-di-doos" on the Mojave Road back in late 2007, I noticed that the truck would bottom out alot. I spoke with several people about this, most notably Jeshua and Air2Air, and there was a strong recommendation to go with a secondary shock instead of the hard bump stop. The secondary I went with goes by two names: Jounce shocks when acquired from Light Racing and Chubbies when acquired from Icon Dynamics (the company formerly known as Donahoe Racing). Not being a chubbie-chaser, I decided to go Light Racing
. These suckers require the stock bump stop to be cut out, and a dome "receiver" piece to be bolted to the top of the front lower control arm. In subsequent testing, the do seem to greatly reduce bangs when going over terrain that would otherwise cause the up travel to go through full range. I have bought, but not yet installed the rears.
IMAGE-> Light Racing jounce shocks have replaced my front bump stops to give a more graceful termination to up-travel.
This post has eight parts. Click below to navigate:
Part One
Part Two <- You are here
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
IMAGE-> The Bone Stock FJC.
IMAGE-> Stock FJC on Trail in Utah (I).
IMAGE-> Stock FJC on Trail in Utah (II).
IMAGE-> Front bumper, winch, shackles, and also bits of the front OME suspension (yellow) and the MAF/4+ front skid tray.
IMAGE-> Rear bumper with shackles.
IMAGE-> The weight of the bumper, winch, and skid plates really had my truck feeling down (top panel). Thankfully, the OME heavy lift was all the truck needed to feel back on top of the world - and standing about 2-3" taller than before! (bottom panel).
IMAGE-> Lower part of front OME suspension connecting to stock lower control arm - also provides good view of MAF/4+ skid plates.
IMAGE-> Front OME shock and heavy spring, Total Chaos upper control arm (UCA), and parts of the anti-sway bar (or "sway bar" or "anti roll bar" - but now removed from my truck anyway...)
IMAGE-> Close-up of the front end with wheel off. The Total Chaos upper control arm (UCA) and OME front coil-over are easier to see in this shot.
IMAGE-> Disintegrated Johnny joints from my rear upper arms: Johnny joints might not be the choice if you want durability.
IMAGE-> The nuts and bolts holding the struts and control arms have been replaced after they were twice shaken loose on trails.
IMAGE-> The rear upper arms were particularly prone to shaking loose due to the nuts and bolts holding them in place.
IMAGE-> View of rear OME shocks (yellow) and OME heavy springs. Also shows MAF/4+ rear lower control arms, AllPro rear upper control arms, Inchworm e-locker guard, and Flowmaster diamond plate "offroad" muffler.
IMAGE-> Light Racing jounce shocks have replaced my front bump stops to give a more graceful termination to up-travel.
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