Brody
February 28th, 2012, 07:59 AM
Jim and Annie have a sweet 1988 Toyota 4Runner that was pretty well built when they got it: Lifted, tires, rear bumper, rock rails, shocks, etc. Jim contacted me to do some repairs to the cracked front cross member and install an All Pro Off Road front spring hanger and some new front springs. The new stuff had come with the truck, a nice little bonus.
The front cross member was cracked, the front spring hangers were from an FJ 40/55/60/62 (same style was used on all of these) and had already gotten tweaked. The shock hoops had never been braced back to the frame rails and were flexing too much.
Here is what I did with a bunch of help from Jim:
We got the truck on jacks and dropped the front axle with a floor jack. We then removed the old springs and mounting hardware. We reinstalled the new springs using the axle relocation plate and U bolts so that the bolts didn't act as rock catchers. We also loosened up the rear shackles so that they actually moved:lmao:. I ground down the from factory cross member, welded the crack, and marked a center line. I did the same for the new All Pro spring hanger. Leaving the new springs attached to the rear shackles and attached to the axle (for a 'square point' reference) we attached the spring hanger to the front of the springs and moved the axle so that the marks lined up. The next step here was to get a measurement from axle to axle to check square before doing any welding.
Once the axle was square, I tacked the new spring mount into place, then finished welding it. I added additional gussets X2 to each spring perch, welded the cross member, then overlayed the junction with 3/16" plate and tied the new and old cross members together. I then added some gussets back to the frame on both sides of the shock hoops.
Jim has some more pictures, so hopefully he will add them when he has a chance:
The front cross member was cracked, the front spring hangers were from an FJ 40/55/60/62 (same style was used on all of these) and had already gotten tweaked. The shock hoops had never been braced back to the frame rails and were flexing too much.
Here is what I did with a bunch of help from Jim:
We got the truck on jacks and dropped the front axle with a floor jack. We then removed the old springs and mounting hardware. We reinstalled the new springs using the axle relocation plate and U bolts so that the bolts didn't act as rock catchers. We also loosened up the rear shackles so that they actually moved:lmao:. I ground down the from factory cross member, welded the crack, and marked a center line. I did the same for the new All Pro spring hanger. Leaving the new springs attached to the rear shackles and attached to the axle (for a 'square point' reference) we attached the spring hanger to the front of the springs and moved the axle so that the marks lined up. The next step here was to get a measurement from axle to axle to check square before doing any welding.
Once the axle was square, I tacked the new spring mount into place, then finished welding it. I added additional gussets X2 to each spring perch, welded the cross member, then overlayed the junction with 3/16" plate and tied the new and old cross members together. I then added some gussets back to the frame on both sides of the shock hoops.
Jim has some more pictures, so hopefully he will add them when he has a chance: