The Old Wood Hauler: 1983 Toyota 4WD Build/Restoration

[Dwill817]

Man I got my springs on with 5.5" shackles and my shackle angle is terrible.. I'm really hoping that they settle and it's a little better.

 

[Derek24]

Really! I read that with 5.5" shackle road great. How's it ride? Looks good!

 

[Dwill817]

Haven't driven it yet.. I will today and I'll let you know.. I gotta bleed brakes and tie up a few odds and ends like that today..

I didn't expect to have a bad shackle in the front but I'm gonna flex it a bunch and see if the spring will maybe settle a little and make it somewhat better. If not, then I'm gonna take my top two leafs from my old rear pack and replace the top two on the OME.

I also used 89-95 rear springs and had to move the rear hanger.. It was a lot of extra work but those long springs seem like they're gonna be nice

 

[Derek24]

One side down! What a PIA it's been removing the leaf springs bolts. I'm breaking the factory seal from 31 years ago so it takes a little longer to remove. But I got one side down. After the springs and shocks are in I'm diving into the knuckles and inner axle seals to rebuild.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Love it

 

[Stone_Blue]

You might check out banana shackles @ www.BudBuilt.com

 

[Mountainhound]

About lift these been thinking real hard about getting an 83 so been doing alot of reading on lifts and what I found is working best (at least what i've come across so far) is chevy 63" out back then moving back to front also changing rear axle for a 90's???? axle it's wider. Now supposedly guys are getting great ride and great flex. Loving the build.

 

[Derek24]

Yeah there are a lot of different styles of lift configurations you can do. All depends on how much work you want to do and what your plans are for the truck. For me, rock crawling is not my thing, too slow. Also this is a work truck/DD/expo/weekend warrior. Got the lift all on, sits up nice now. Starting on the knuckle rebuild.

 

[Dwill817]

How's your front shackle?

 

[Derek24]

Actually I did not look. Just set it down to take this pic then back up it went on jack stands for the knuckles. What's a bad looking shackle look like?

 

[Dwill817]

Straight up and down it almost straight up and down.. Supposed to be 30* or so..

 

[Derek24]

Got it all back together. Rides really nice and drives great even with swaybar removed up front. Rebuilding the front axle is one messy long job. Hope I don't have to go back in there again. There's one large speed bump by my house I hit all the time at some speed, soaks it up much better but I hear a clunk sound, so I'll have to track that down. Other than that I love the look and ride.

 

[Dwill817]

Looks great man! Bob that bed and put some 33s on there

 

[Derek24]

Thanks. But 30's will be the biggest tire.

 

[82fb]

Makes me want to get another solid axle toy. I have had a bunch of them, and just yesterday picked up a 4x4 88. Not quite the same, but close!