[FJ Stealth]

So as most of you know the debate between 3 in lift and 6 in lift is pretty much one sided for offroad facts but for looks i find a lot of people like the look of the 6 in lift (me included) so since you cant get looks and offroad performance from one or the other, why not combine them and get the best of both worlds? a 4.5 inch lift!!! jeeps and other vehicles have them so why dont the fjs?


basically my question is, why hasnt anybody made a 4.5 in lift for the FJ?

 

[Layonnn]

basically my question is, why hasnt anybody made a 4.5 in lift for the FJ?

Because you can't,

Unless you want to spend a lot of money and replace nearly every thing on the front suspension:
UCA
LCA
Coilovers
longer CVs
maybe a new sway bar, or modified one, as well.

The geometry of the front suspension doesn't allow it. The UCA ball joints can only flex so far, not to mention the kind of angle they would be at if you had a 4.5" lift. I would imagine the suspension wouldn't cycle very well.

Jeeps also have solid axles front and rear, not an IFS.

You have much to learn grasshopper.

(edit: i am not a fan of the 6" lift by the way. You have a lot more options for better suspensions with a 3" lift. You don't really gain ground clearance due to the drop bracket required for a 6" lift. But the kicker, you can easily run 35s with a 3" lift.
So, if you can run the same sized tire as you can with a 6" lift on a 3", i don't see the point. The 6" lift is going to make the vehicle much more tippy offroad and more likely to rollover onroad due to the higher COG.
Plus, the base price for the rough country kit, that retains the crappy front coilovers, is close to the same cost as a FAR superior ICON stage1 3" lift.)

 

[Ragnar Danneskjöld]

You have much to learn grasshopper.

LOL - I am SO glad I didn't ask that question! (although I would have...)

 

[FJ Stealth]

oh ok i see...kinda. :thinkerg:

so its 3 or 6? no in between?
and would it be possible to make your own if say u have about unlimited resources? (machines, parts, etc)?

and sorry i know i have much to learn, only 16 my dad is quite regretting that he didnt raise me around cars like he was, so i'm getting a late start, but my 2nd stupid question is, why would the uca ball joints be able to flex enough for a 6 but not a 4.5?

 

[FJ FunJunkie]

you can make anything you want with unlimited resorces, But as stated, 3" is as high as it will go without replacing all the bottom gear that you would need to do for the 6", so basically there is just not enough demand, People figure if they are gonna do it, might as well go the whole 6.

 

[Layonnn]

oh ok i see...kinda. :thinkerg:

so its 3 or 6? no in between?
and would it be possible to make your own if say u have about unlimited resources? (machines, parts, etc)?

and sorry i know i have much to learn, only 16 my dad is quite regretting that he didnt raise me around cars like he was, so i'm getting a late start, but my 2nd stupid question is, why would the uca ball joints be able to flex enough for a 6 but not a 4.5?

You can add a body lift and get a 4" lift. Though, i don't know why you would unless you were rubbing the fenders with your tires.

A 6" lift does a few things differently than a 3" lift.
It has a drop bracket that lowers the front diff and the lower control arms mounting point. It uses a taller spindle (the part that connect the UCA and LCA and the wheel attaches to). And then on top of the front coilovers is a huge spacer (unless you fork out another 1000+ to get special coilovers made for the 6" lift which just started becoming available)

So, the UCA stays roughly in the same position as a normal 3" lift due to these other parts being added.

If you had unlimited resources it would be possible to make anything.
Though, i would highly recommend not fabbing up a suspension lift. There is a lot of engineering behind these brackets and such that are needed for the 6" lift. I would just buy them even if i had the gear to make it.

I was 15 when i started working on cars. My first CJ-7 broke all the time. I learned a lot just by fixing it. That was around 10 years ago.
Whatever lift you decide on, i highly recommend installing it with your dad. (If ya'll are both able to). There are plenty of install guides on here that walk you through every step. If you have any questions about it, someone on here can answer you almost instantly.

(another edit: if you are gonna go with the Road Armor bumper (which i wouldn't) and a 6" lift, you are going to need to run a different coilover up front than stock. That is a heavy bumper and you will have some major sagging if you keep the stock front suspension, which a 6" lift does. A local guy did the exact same thing and had some major saggin. He just ended up selling his FJ instead of fixing it.)

 

[Layonnn]

Some more reading material to skim through.


http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/4x4-off-road-tech/115899-coilovers.html

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/suspension-steering-tech/112344-3-lift-6-lift.html

 

[FJ Stealth]

You can add a body lift and get a 4" lift. Though, i don't know why you would unless you were rubbing the fenders with your tires.

A 6" lift does a few things differently than a 3" lift.
It has a drop bracket that lowers the front diff and the lower control arms mounting point. It uses a taller spindle (the part that connect the UCA and LCA and the wheel attaches to). And then on top of the front coilovers is a huge spacer (unless you fork out another 1000+ to get special coilovers made for the 6" lift which just started becoming available)

So, the UCA stays roughly in the same position as a normal 3" lift due to these other parts being added.

If you had unlimited resources it would be possible to make anything.
Though, i would highly recommend not fabbing up a suspension lift. There is a lot of engineering behind these brackets and such that are needed for the 6" lift. I would just buy them even if i had the gear to make it.

I was 15 when i started working on cars. My first CJ-7 broke all the time. I learned a lot just by fixing it. That was around 10 years ago.
Whatever lift you decide on, i highly recommend installing it with your dad. (If ya'll are both able to). There are plenty of install guides on here that walk you through every step. If you have any questions about it, someone on here can answer you almost instantly.

(another edit: if you are gonna go with the Road Armor bumper (which i wouldn't) and a 6" lift, you are going to need to run a different coilover up front than stock. That is a heavy bumper and you will have some major sagging if you keep the stock front suspension, which a 6" lift does. A local guy did the exact same thing and had some major saggin. He just ended up selling his FJ instead of fixing it.)

ok i'm getting it all now by reading what your saying and looking at a picture of all the parts for a 6" lift.

the "make my own 4.5 in lift" was an idea because my dad has really good connections with toyota and he is the vice president of a race team that runs toyota cars so i could possibly use toyota and the machines at my dads race shop plus some engineers there who are into this kind of stuff. maybe i can do that when im in college or something.

and yes I'm planning on doing everything to my car myself (so far i have but that is just paint stuff) my dad and i are planning to put the lift on together, whatever that turns out to be, he wants 3, i want 6. but its my car and my money so i kinda get more of a say.

and the road armor bumper is quite a distant mod, probably 2 or 3 years down the road, and by then i plan on getting the icon coil for the 6in lift if i get the 6.

thanks for all the info, learning a lot so far:bigthumb:

 

[BellyDoc]

You can build anything you want out of steel and aluminum. The question is what do you want and how much work are you willing to do to get there?

Engineering independent front suspension is a massive project. More than you think, and when you learn more, to the point where you think you can start to gauge the size of the undertaking, it's still way more than you think.

You have to start with questions far more basic than the ones you're asking now. You should be starting from the point of view of defining what you want your vehicle to do. The methods to get it from where it is to where you want it to be will then follow as a menu of options that you will choose from based on your capability.

Honestly, right now it just looks like you want your car to look cool, in which case I'd say spend the least amount possible. If you get into wheeling and you find specific types of off road conditions that you want your vehicle to tackle, and it can't... then you'll have a performance goal that you can use to direct your thinking.

 

[MT4x4]

If you are looking for a 4" lift then the only real option is the Total Chaos 2" Long Travel Kit for the FJ Cruiser. However it comes with a bigger price tag but it will allow more room for 35" tires while maintaining the suspension performance and keeping you steering and cv shafts happy. The TC kit will give you 11.5" of suspension travel plus the added performance on and offroad.

https://www.metaltech4x4.com/p-14-fj-cruiser-2-long-travel-kit.aspx

 

[Offroad94]

since were talking about lift kits i figured i'd ask my stupid question, i'd like to be able to fit 33 or 35s on after the lift kit, I am also looking into aftermarket bumpers that weigh around 80lbs instead of road armor. So being that id like my vehicle to proform well offroad and new to the offroading business, should i get a 3in lift or will the bumpers cause it to sag and lose the height and flex gained?

 

[FJ Stealth]

If you are looking for a 4" lift then the only real option is the Total Chaos 2" Long Travel Kit for the FJ Cruiser. However it comes with a bigger price tag but it will allow more room for 35" tires while maintaining the suspension performance and keeping you steering and cv shafts happy. The TC kit will give you 11.5" of suspension travel plus the added performance on and offroad.

https://www.metaltech4x4.com/p-14-fj-cruiser-2-long-travel-kit.aspx

thanks for the link, that looks like what i would LOVE to have but way out of my price range

 

[FJ Stealth]

since were talking about lift kits i figured i'd ask my stupid question, i'd like to be able to fit 33 or 35s on after the lift kit, I am also looking into aftermarket bumpers that weigh around 80lbs instead of road armor. So being that id like my vehicle to proform well offroad and new to the offroading business, should i get a 3in lift or will the bumpers cause it to sag and lose the height and flex gained?

you have a lot of options, if u want just a decent, good, normal lift for just some regular offroading, go with an old man emu lift, u can get different coils for the front depending on how much wait is in the front, very reasonably priced to, i think its around $700-$800.

 

[JOHNWOHN]

I had 4 1/2" of lift for under $1000. I had a 1 1/4" Roger Brown Body Lift $250 with an OME Heavy lift. I did all of the install at home. It keeps the center of gravity lower as the drivetrain stays lower with only the body being higher. As was said above, you can fit larger tires because of the clearance.

I fit 295/70R16 with no rubbing because i chopped the driver side body mount only. 35's would have fit as well. I was rubbing the inner fenders with 285/70R17 BFGs before the body lift. I did not have to extend bumpstops because of the body lift or modify/remove the inner fenders liners at all.

 

[fj6high]

I had 4 1/2" of lift for under $1000. I had a 1 1/4" Roger Brown Body Lift $250 with an OME Heavy lift. I did all of the install at home. It keeps the center of gravity lower as the drivetrain stays lower with only the body being higher. As was said above, you can fit larger tires because of the clearance.

I fit 295/70R16 with no rubbing because i chopped the driver side body mount only. 35's would have fit as well. I was rubbing the inner fenders with 285/70R17 BFGs before the body lift. I did not have to extend bumpstops because of the body lift or modify/remove the inner fenders liners at all.

I have gone this route on other vehicles...It's a good sollution and won't break the bank.

 

[FJJeremy]

I don't understand why people do body lifts. They look sooooooo bad!!!!! Why in the world would you want to see a big 'ol gap between your body and frame?

 

[allrsdup]

rcd makes a nice 4.5" db lift for the tacoma i dont see why they dont make it for the fj. i am going to go with the 6" procomp lift myself.

 

[Layonnn]

rcd makes a nice 4.5" db lift for the tacoma i dont see why they dont make it for the fj. i am going to go with the 6" procomp lift myself.

The RCD kit uses a drop bracket, Just like the 6" lifts do.

 

[allrsdup]

The RCD kit uses a drop bracket, Just like the 6" lifts do.

i know they do. thats what the db stood for in my coment. i was just saying how they make a kit for the tacoma not the fj i wonder why.

 

[Atlas]

ok i'm getting it all now by reading what your saying and looking at a picture of all the parts for a 6" lift.

the "make my own 4.5 in lift" was an idea because my dad has really good connections with toyota and he is the vice president of a race team that runs toyota cars so i could possibly use toyota and the machines at my dads race shop plus some engineers there who are into this kind of stuff. maybe i can do that when im in college or something.

and yes I'm planning on doing everything to my car myself (so far i have but that is just paint stuff) my dad and i are planning to put the lift on together, whatever that turns out to be, he wants 3, i want 6. but its my car and my money so i kinda get more of a say.

and the road armor bumper is quite a distant mod, probably 2 or 3 years down the road, and by then i plan on getting the icon coil for the 6in lift if i get the 6.

thanks for all the info, learning a lot so far:bigthumb:

If you are going to go through all that trouble, you might as well just do a solid axle swap.