Thoughts on 37s

Spending money twice?? Oh I'm good at that! I'm good at spending money four or 5 times. Lol...

 

I would just put the money going into 37's to do a 4x4 conversion first. I don't see why you would go 37's before 4x4 unless it's a street queen. From what he has been posting it seems like he is building the truck for trails.

 

Personally if I were going to do a 4wd conversion on a Prerunner I would just SAC it rather than stay IFS at which point, it won't matter what the rear gear ratio is because you should be swapping the rear out with a D60 or 14bolt as well and you can pick a new gear ratio at that time, like 5.38's.

 

There's a big difference in price between a set of surplus 37s, 4x4 swap, and SAS.

 

Haha and everyone knows that. But you know how this works. Someone asks a question and instead of answering the question everyone gives their opinions on things irrelevant to the original question. Not that all the answers were completely irrelevant but many of them helped in no way.

 

He should just pm you from now on. Lol

 

Shit, an IFS swap can be done in a day with very minimal fab work and about $2,500 as compared to $12k+ and atleast a week of down time for a SAS. I'll be going 4wd IFS within a year (hopefully).

 

I said it in a different way, but I was basically agreeing with you saying he should get 5.29's. haha

I watched rctoy do a 4runner SAC and SAS, so IFS to SA and linked rear to leaf sprung rear in a weekend. Hell he did his own SAC in a couple weekends of work.

Unless I have something wrong here, for the 4wd conversion he is looking at: trans, Tcase, diff, front axles, new hubs, and new driveshafts front and rear. Plus some wiring for the ADD and Tcase (unless he goes with an FJ case).

For the SAC, you need a front axle housing with the guts, Tcase, trans, driveshafts and then some suspension stuff to mount the front axle, which yes that's the hard part, but if you have someone who knows what they are doing it's not so bad.

 

But very few people have the time, space, and tools to just drop life and spend 3 full days cutting and grinding then fabbing a whole suspension system from nothing. Plus you've got the cost of pretty much 100% of the suspension and drivetrain front and rear minus a few small things. And maybe SAS isn't the plan for everyone? Some people just want a more capable daily. Not a full blown rock crawler. Obviously a truck on 37's isn't the best idea for a Daily or even weekend truck, but it isn't nearly as bad as trying to push 1 ton axles and 38-40+'s.

 

But a rig on 1 tons and 40's is going to have a lot less down time than an IFS Tacoma on 37's... Unless you wheel pretty lightly (or not at all) you are going to be breaking stuff. 37's are pushing IFS to its limits... If your rig is your DD that is pushing unrealistic in my book and you should probably start looking for a different DD.

 

Wheel bearings/hubs are gonna be the most worn. Just stay on top of those, ujoints, and regular maintenance. Maybe some heavy duty tie rod ends and with a Good IFS setup you should be fine on 37's, no? Nothing else seems to pop in my mind that 37's would be rough on. I don't think it's that unrealistic.

 

CV axles and diffs... It'll vary with wheeling style, but 37's can snap CV axles pretty easily. Diffs are harder to kill, but 37's make it easier still.

I wheel a bit harder than most (I have a separate DD), but my 33's have killed 1 rear diff and 1 CV axle. I've seen guys on 35's kill several CV's and Username has killed a handful of rear diffs. I'm not sure what all NWITaco and Spoonman broke, but the list was big enough to push them both to solid axle their rigs.

 

That's also assuming someone did a proper sas. If its poorly set up, aren't break downs pretty common and pricey? I don't know of a single shop in Wyoming I would trust with a swap.

 

Well I wouldn't recommend cutting your IFS off for a Dana30. haha

 

Username's is a straight race truck on military tires, he doesn't count. Obviously its going to be more rotational mass and put more strain on cv's but I don't imagine it's going to be too much more than 35's. and diff's (if serviced regularly and you aren't constantly flooring it from a dead stop) shouldn't be worn much more than normal either. Yea, there are going to be weak points but not that much compared to any other lifted IFS truck whether it be on 33's or 37's. A lot has to do with maintenance and driving style.Plus I can probably count on 1 hand the number of shops that I would trust to build a well put together SAS truck. I wouldn't even trust myself with doing that.

 

Well ya. I just know very few people that understand and are mechanically savvy for a swap. If I did a swap myself then it would cost at least double what it should and be a turd . So in my case, if I had a pre-runner, it would be smarter to just do a 4x4 swap and fix parts when they break. I'd like to be able to have the kind of cash for RST to do an overhaul but that's just not realistic.

My original comment was mostly geared towards 4x4 being a better upgrade than 37's. Its gonna be pretty sad when a truck on 33's walks past a truck on 37's . Plus, most 2wd trucks seem to just make it up obstacles by ramming into them at 20mph and hoping they don't stop. That just sounds like bad news.

I could be wrong. I am far from smart when it comes to trucks.

 

You're correct. My current strategy offroad is "Hit it with speed and hope I make it" Rather than having 4wd and being able to finesse through things at a decent speed.

 

It's the same way once you have 4wd. The obstacles just get harder and you have to hit them with speed locked front and rear and hope you don't stop. haha It's just that the stuff you were doing before is easier.

 

No, don't do that... I just fucked up again today. I had a driveshaft get made and I somehow managed to mess up the measurements and it's 4" too short... (story of my life)

I'd still say a weekend for 4x4 IFS swap... But, yea of course that's nothing compared to what a SAS "could" take.

If you built a Dana 60 (roughly $3500 for good, new, higher strength parts) And had that all ready to go ahead of time with leaf spring set-up... you could be looking at maybe 4 days. Of course I am not talking rear axle here... add a day for that.

Another thing... doing the sas is only worth it if you do it right and that might take a little longer, but the longevity of it will be way better if you want to run 37s...

IMO - If you want to run 37s and you don't have 4x4 and you want to wheel and still DD and be cool and stuffs get 4x4 (obviously) and a LT kit 2" over from TC. (Don't do the all poo for the love of god)

It may cost more, but at least you won't be breaking shafts, It'll just be CVs. But, you get good at changing them, and you can be done in an hour (hell, probably less) But, you can wheel some crazy terrain IMO. Stock or mid IFS is just...meh. NwiTACO ran LT with 35s for 3 years and then ran 37s for a year, never broke a single CV (only broke axle shafts...long story...dont buy all poo)

Yep!

NwiTaco broke at least 6 axle shafts (only wore out 1-2 cvs never broke though) I think spoonman is on at least 2 or 3 axle shafts (once again, dont buy all poo)

There is another guy nomods he ran TC LT on 35s for 2 years and I think only broke 1 or 2 CV (no axle shafts tho) and once he ran 36s... or maybe 37s?? hell idk.. I am not sure on the count as I haven't seen him recently.

 

Long story short, don't run all poo's. Lol