Removing a 6" FABTECH Lift

So I'm in a situation where I will be coming across two trucks next week. One will have a 6" lift (4x4 3.4l auto ext. cab) and the other is pretty stock (4x4 2.7 manual reg. cab). What I want to do is basically swap the two suspensions. As this would better suit my needs.

I'm pretty handy in the garage so I'm hoping to do most of the work myself.

Has anyone removed one of these before?
If so do you have any words of wisdom?
Is there a chance I'll be able to do this without buying additional parts? (since the crossmember was cut, could I swap them too)

Thanks in advance.

 

Gosh as long as you've got that stock truck there too and youre handy enough with doing shit like that i dont see why you cant do it. As long as you dont break anything everything needed will be there. What would get ya is not having the crossmember, but you do have it!! So with a lil time and patience it should be doable...

 

That's pretty much what I was thinking too. I was just making sure there wasn't someone who would throw out a "don't you remember taking out that (insert here) that's not on the 4 bangers" OR "buddy you cut that one part off and would have to replace to whole frame of the truck to make it work again".

I haven't put on of these in before. All I did was read the instructions to draw up the above conclusion.

 

You guys don't suffer from the same conditions we do in the salt belt but if I were looking to swap suspensions between two trucks I personally would buy new stock shackles, u bolts and front leaf bolts and nuts and have them on hand in case you have to cut something off. I have done two suspensions on 1st gen Tacomas local and I had to cut both of them off even though I had soaked them with penetrating oil over a two week period prior to attempted removal. YMMV

 

I will say this, my old 04 taco had a fabtech 6 inch lift on it and was 4x4. In order for the front drop bracket to fit, you will have to cut our your front crossmember at a certain height and be forever stuck with this kit to retain 4x4. With that being said, Im not sure what the other truck will do if this kit is removed assuming he wanted to retain 4wd and cut his cross member. I believe I still have an old cross member from an old TTORA member back when I had my truck as I was almost ballsy enough to get a fabber to cut and re-weld the new crossmember back in. To me, the fabtech kit was nothing more than a 6 inch lift with crap components as I eventually replaced everything except that damn front cross member. If you don't plan to wheel and stuff I would say go for it, but for clearance reasons there are better options out there. Anyway hope it works out. If you go this route, I can def see if I still have that cross member, although not sure what shipping for it might be.

*edit, didn't realize you are in the NC/VA area...we could meet up for the crossmember haha!

Coot

 

Is your goal in swapping out these suspensions to keep the Fabtech and use it on the truck that's better suited to your needs? OR are you looking to go back to stock and get rid of the Fabtech?

 

I assume most of you have thought of this already and deemed it not a problem (or it is incorrect), but wouldn't the spring rates for the shocks (and springs maybe) be different for the 2.7 and the 3.4? Also regular cab vs. xtra cab, meaning a lot more weight for the one currently lifted. AKA if you swap out components, the 3.4 xtra cab will get shocks/springs designed for a much lighter truck and vice versa. Just a thought...

 

Very good point there. Might ride like a tall piece of concrete. I did end up getting sway away coilovers for my fabtech kit so you could always swap to coils if they end up being too heavy which they likely might be.

Coot

 

A good point about the spring rates (front), it's something to be aware of.

I think the fabtech lifts use the oem springs, so you might be able to swap those springs and be okay.

 

Thank you all very much for your input. Unfortunately the truck did fall through though. I got there to trade him my Chevy (NADA listed for 15kish) for his 1995.5 rusty 200k mile truck with the 4x4 broken amongst many other items. Thought he was only going to pony up 2k plus his Taco... Screwed me a bit too b/c he handed me the cash and started filling out the titles before I came across the fact he was 11k short. Now I have to call up the DMV to have a new title sent.

Your absolutely right on those points sir. Funny enough though I have extras of all the above parts from previous suspensions I've done where parts started getting hacked off.

 

Did you do the swap?
I know the fabtech kit has different cross members for the V6 and 4cyl. models. You're going to have to cut the front cross member if you want to swap the lift over. You should be able to read up what parts differ from the 4cyl. and V6 models on the fabtech site if you run into any problems. Also depending on how old those struts are, you might wanna consider getting new ones for the swap.