Slee rear sway bar brackets

I was able to put on the Slee rear sway bar brackets tonight. The best part was my girls helped me wrench on them. I took longer with them but I enjoyed every minute of it. They seemed to like it also.

Hitch pin pulled & sway bar disconnected...

I did the hitch pin mod on the LX450 this morning to see if what they say really works & this is what I found out:

I disconnected the sway bar & it did help with more up travel than it did down. I had smaller tires on at the time & it only maybe dropped a half a inch, not worth the effort. 

But today I pulled the bolt out of the front drive control arm ("hitch pin mod"). 

This also was just acting like the sway bar with same results. 

But here is the good part.
With both disconnected created a tremendious results. 

The coil released out & dropped by 3" the shock went to full drop of 29".
This is a 3" improvemnt of drop. 

This created a whole bunch of other rubbing issues with the tie rod hitting the control arms. 

 Heres a video, click it & enjoy the ride.

As for now...I'm putting it all back, pulling the pin created more other rubbing problems than I'm ready to deal with... I will work on this later down the road... It's good to know there are more options for a more extreme results.

 
 
 
I did the other side. Here is the results.
http://projectfj4door.blogspot.com/2015/03/passenger-side-hitch-pin-mod.html

"Whoops" Testing the new shocks on the LX450

Rear shocks

I put some shock extension blocks on the rear stock shocks because it only had 2.5" of down travel. Now the it has 5" with the 2.5" tubing.

The exact specs are:

My static height is 21.5"

My stock shocks are 14.3" to 23.3"

Stock with 2.5" x 1.5" tubing plus washers is 17" to 26.5"

Shock removed the suspension is 16.5 to 26.5"

This is all with no swaybar extention. 

The result of this has made the suspension feel more balanced & doesn't carry tires as much.

My tight little ride got some 315s today

My tight little ride got some 315s today.
The E rating has a firmer sporty feel to them compared to the spungy C rated 35s.

More R&D of the LX450 suspension.

I have been doing alot of testing of the capabilities of my front suspension & here is what I have found so far. With no shocks, the measurements came out to 14" to 26". Crazy, that's it. 14" to 26". This is with swaybar installed.

My current set up is the Old Man Emu  medium duty 851 coil in front with a 1" spacer & in the rear is the OME 860 medium. This gives the Cruiser 2.5" inches of lift. I was running stock shocks with a 2.5"x1.5" square block to make the shock taller. Now that you now the basics we can get down to the tech stuff.

The stock shocks are 14" to 24". With the 2.5" extention it was 16.5" to 26.5".

With the 35" tires it worked very well, the front were stuffed but no major rubbing. It needed 1" less up travel to be save for a big hit.

I just resently purchased a set of 812SS shocks from Doetsch Tech. They have 12" of travel. 17" to 29".

This gives me 3" of available down travel. Next is to get the swaybar disconnected & see just how much drop that gives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day I did disconnected the sway bar & it did help with more up travel than it did down. I had smaller tires on at the time & it only maybe dropped a half a inch, not worth the effort. 

I sold the 35"s

I sold the 35s 15" rims.
I got tired of messing around with the trying to shoehorn them in. I don't want new tires... I would like to buy some used 315s and buy other things with the savings. Like shocks, sliders & rear cargo storage.

I did however buy some Doetsch tech front shocks that will give me 2.5" more drop at the tire I'm hoping 5" more. I will keep you posted.

R&D haven fun flexing out the LX450

I decided to do a video just because it's fun.

Rear Cargo Space...

I'm at the point in the build that I'm thinking about how to get all that cool camping stuff in the back of the tight little ride. Plus the space consuming spare tire.

UUG!

The spare tire...

I'm going with a stand up spare rack that looks like this.

At this point I'm far from being finished, but here it is.

Here is some pics of other rigs.

FJ40X for extra...

As for now I still do dream of the hardcore dream build of a fj something, I just like the J4 body of the landcruiser.
Recently I have thought of something  I will call FJ40X for extra.

Black rims for the LX450 or not...

I blacked out my wheels...

Well I did it in photoshop...

Hacken off the front bumper wings.

I got a really great deal on this front bumper & can't complain but I just could not get use the the wings protecting the head lights. The easiest thing the do was to just cut them off. I can weld something back on later.

Before

After 

Much better. 

I still need to work on the frame mount. Allways a work in progress. 

Finally got the 35s on my tight little ride.

Finally, well here it is...
The 35s are the new normal.
I'm pretty  pumped!

Love them orange bead rings....

My favorite color is orange.

I will get these some day...

Haven fun mabye????

No more stink bug look!

My little ride was looking like a stink bug, so lifted the front with a 1" spring spacer.

This video helped me with the install. Click here.

Before

After

Started rear bumper install...

I got this bumper used & the way it was made required the rear cross member to be cut off. Hacken up the Cruiser...

I still cut 1.5" more after this picture.

Inside spare tire high lift rack.

Here is a update a work in progress...
Not finished, but it's a good start.

Playing in creek bed with the lx450 & my girls.

Playing in creek bed with the lx450 & my girls.