Suspension & Lockers

[01FJClere]

I’m one of the Alaskan newbies here in the OB family. I’ve recently purchased a 97 FZJ non-locked and wanting to get the basics to start with. I have an idea for the bumpers already (Slee front & 4x4 Labs rear), but would like some suggestions for the suspension (OME 2" KIT?) and lockers.
As previously stated, she’s currently running a centre diff only, but I’ve found that I can make her triple locked. Any experiences would be appreciated with the opinions. I’m leaning towards the e-lockers just because of my current research but open to ideas. We have an island (Prince of Wales) nearby with daily ferry service where you could spend days on forest & logging roads and not see anyone. That also means that there aren’t a lot of services available either. Dependability is going to be key.
I come from an adventure Moto background and I’m used to spending days out in the middle of "nowhere". Overlanding is quite different due to the size and volume of gear and reparations. Any help would be appropriated. Thanks

 

[Blake87]

On my wife's 80 series, we installed Arb airlockers. She really likes them. We even wired the stock locker switch to turn them on, still have to turn on air compressor first tho. We went with airlockers because we could not find stock e-locker setup for the same price as airlockers. Both e-lockers and airlockers have pluses and negatives, but I would have no problem running either setup. Also if your going to do a new locker install, I would consider installing gears at same time. Depending on what tire size your going to run.

 

[M Rose]

I strongly advise against ARB Air Lockers in Alaska. They are prone to freezing in extreme cold. The extreme weather hold the lockers useless with out adding an air drier and upgrading the lines.
Your plan on using E-Lockers is very solid. Toyota makes factory e-lockers for the 4Runners, I’m not sure if they were options for the LC or not, but they are very strong and for your setup would be the way I would go. Or go after market with a set of Eaton E-Locks.
Your suspension idea sounds very sound. Keep an eye on @Zombie response he has big plans for the upcoming summer in southern Alaska. Also as I mentioned in your post on “Welcome to Alaska”, I highly suggest participating in tomorrow’s Northwest Conference Call.

Inland Northwest Monthly Conferance Call – What do I REALLY need??

Let's talk about what you really need and some you really don't I'd like to have everyone bring couple must have items that you think you can not live without, and

www.overlandbound.com

 

[Blake87]

I strongly advise against ARB Air Lockers in Alaska. They are prone to freezing in extreme cold. The extreme weather hold the lockers useless with out adding an air drier and upgrading the lines.
Your plan on using E-Lockers is very solid. Toyota makes factory e-lockers for the 4Runners, I’m not sure if they were options for the LC or not, but they are very strong and for your setup would be the way I would go. Or go after market with a set of Eaton E-Locks.
Your suspension idea sounds very sound. Keep an eye on @Zombie response he has big plans for the upcoming summer in southern Alaska. Also as I mentioned in your post on “Welcome to Alaska”, I highly suggest participating in tomorrow’s Northwest Conference Call.

Inland Northwest Monthly Conferance Call – What do I REALLY need??

Let's talk about what you really need and some you really don't I'd like to have everyone bring couple must have items that you think you can not live without, and

www.overlandbound.com

Thank you, never know that about them freezing, will have to look into upgrading for that. And e-lockers were an option front and rear for 80s LC.

 

[M Rose]

Thank you, never know that about them freezing, will have to look into upgrading for that. And e-lockers were an option front and rear for 80s LC.

You won’t run into the problems with freezing down in NC. Your winters don’t get cold enough, read you don’t get sub freezing temps for months on end.
Nice to know E-Lockers were offered On The 80 series. Did the 80 series use the same axles as the FZJ?

 

[Blake87]

You won’t run into the problems with freezing down in NC. Your winters don’t get cold enough, read you don’t get sub freezing temps for months on end.
Nice to know E-Lockers were offered On The 80 series. Did the 80 series use the same axles as the FZJ?

Yes the 80 series use the same axles as the Fzj, only difference is early years 80 series 1990 to 1991 used smaller birfield joint in front axle. People call fj80 and fzj80 80 series. As for not freezing here in NC that is very true, but me and the wife will be traveling much further north in the coming years (she loves snow). So it will be good to be prepared for it.

 

[Justin Forrest]

I’m not a fan of arb, I’ve had to many problems with their stuff. Dobinsons and Ironman make stuff for 80 series. As for lockers I’m a big fan of simple uncomplicated. A drop in auto locker in the rear and more suspension flex will get you very far.

 

[01FJClere]

I really appreciate all of the feedback and I am figuring out that there really isn't a perfect setup just like in my adventure motorcycling. I am hoping to bring up a friend and get a lot of this stuff done in a long weekend this Spring. I have no garage so it's going to be a bit tough but will get 'er done. Did any of you have any particulars on suspension? Old Man Emu, ICON, ?

I have thought about changing the gears out and running 35s but for now, I want to keep on track with the suspension first. I think that the triple lockers added in after the bumpers, the winch, and the drawers/platform. There's really not a lot of rock crawling to be done around here in SEA (Southeast Alaska) at 144 inches of rain a year, but there's plenty of water, streams, and mud. I am also going to start learning about the comms. I have always been interested in the HAM setup and now the GMRS. Gotta get over to that forum too.

 

[M Rose]

I really appreciate all of the feedback and I am figuring out that there really isn't a perfect setup just like in my adventure motorcycling. I am hoping to bring up a friend and get a lot of this stuff done in a long weekend this Spring. I have no garage so it's going to be a bit tough but will get 'er done. Did any of you have any particulars on suspension? Old Man Emu, ICON, ?

I have thought about changing the gears out and running 35s but for now, I want to keep on track with the suspension first. I think that the triple lockers added in after the bumpers, the winch, and the drawers/platform. There's really not a lot of rock crawling to be done around here in SEA (Southeast Alaska) at 144 inches of rain a year, but there's plenty of water, streams, and mud. I am also going to start learning about the comms. I have always been interested in the HAM setup and now the GMRS. Gotta get over to that forum too.

We have a lot of Comms experts on the forums. Beings that you are in Alaska I would strongly recommend getting your General license so you have access to the HF bands. It’s also a great hobby for your long winters.

Both Icon and OME make great suspensions. I am going with OME on our 4Runner build.

As for doing the work in the driveway... we do what need to be done.

 

[01FJClere]

We have a lot of Comms experts on the forums. Beings that you are in Alaska I would strongly recommend getting your General license so you have access to the HF bands. It’s also a great hobby for your long winters.

Both Icon and OME make great suspensions. I am going with OME on our 4Runner build.

As for doing the work in the driveway... we do what need to be done.View attachment 188201View attachment 188202View attachment 188203

I have no room to complain then. LOL. As for the "long winters" and the "frigid cold" we have actually been warmer here almost all winter than most of the central states. Remember, we are in SE AK which is maritime climate or a little cooler than Seattle. It has been referred to as "Seattle on Steroids" (referring to the amount of rain, of course).

 

[M Rose]

I have no room to complain then. LOL. As for the "long winters" and the "frigid cold" we have actually been warmer here almost all winter than most of the central states. Remember, we are in SE AK which is maritime climate or a little cooler than Seattle. It has been referred to as "Seattle on Steroids" (referring to the amount of rain, of course).

Does that mean you guys don’t get very much snow during the winters?

 

[01FJClere]

Does that mean you guys don’t get very much snow during the winters?

We get snow but nothing like up further north. If you head inland even a mile (only uphill from the coast), you will hit snow pretty fast and deep. Here actually on the coast where the town is, not much snow though. Rain? Plenty...raining right now in fact.

 

[M Rose]

We get snow but nothing like up further north. If you head inland even a mile (only uphill from the coast), you will hit snow pretty fast and deep. Here actually on the coast where the town is, not much snow though. Rain? Plenty...raining right now in fact.

That’s really neat. Right now it’s snowing pretty hard in Northeastern Oregon. La Grande is about 250 miles east of Portland. We are located less than 100 miles as the crow flies from Idaho and about 80 miles from Washington. It’s crazy how the weather here is so different than those just a crossed the borders from us.

 

[MidOH]

Guys do well with those and just Truetracs with a center locker. I'd consider e locker rear, Truetrac front so that the truck handles OEM in 2wd. And mildly in 4wd.

I'd do gears at the same time, even if you plan on using small stock tires and suspension for a while. We're only talking an extra 500rpm, nothing that's going to hurt anything. If you plan on going to larger tires, maybe consider not getting the most aggressive gear for that size, one step down from that.

For my truck, aggressive on 35's is 4.88. Mild is 4.56, I might go 4.56 to take advantage of smaller tires on longer gas guzzling trips.

 

[01FJClere]

My FZJ 80 has no 2wd. She's FWD all the time. She drinks it straight all of the time and she loves it too.

 

[Hanzo]

I had OME on my 97, and they were okay. I really like the Ironman Foam Cell Pros or Dobinson IMS and will be putting one of them on my tundra this spring. I think the OEM style bushings on all three systems are the way to go on a daily rig and it’s nice they all offer several spring options.

 

[01FJClere]

I had OME on my 97, and they were okay. I really like the Ironman Foam Cell Pros or Dobinson IMS and will be putting one of them on my tundra this spring. I think the OEM style bushings on all three systems are the way to go on a daily rig and it’s nice they all offer several spring options.

So, not too impressed with the OME for the '97? I have seen the Dobinson but not as familiar with them. I was wanting the 2.5" lift with the OME as well. I did notice that Dobinson offers a 3" lift but wasn't sure if that would end up causing me to mess with brake lines and a lot of other things. I do not want to do that. My plan is for 35s but might just end up sticking with the 33s as it is my daily driver here in AK.

 

[Hanzo]

I had OME on my 97, and they were okay. I really like the Ironman Foam Cell Pros or Dobinson IMS and will be putting one of them on my tundra this spring. I think the OEM style bushings on all three systems are the way to go on a daily rig and it’s nice they all offer several spring options.

So, not too impressed with the OME for the '97? I have seen the Dobinson but not as familiar with them. I was wanting the 2.5" lift with the OME as well. I did notice that Dobinson offers a 3" lift but wasn't sure if that would end up causing me to mess with brake lines and a lot of other things. I do not want to do that. My plan is for 35s but might just end up sticking with the 33s as it is my daily driver here in AK.

I went with the 2.5” lift and 33s, I was really happy with that height for a daily driver. Higher than that and getting in and out of it would have been inconvenient...at least for me. If it was a dedicated rig I might have went higher. The ome seemed to be high quality and there’s lots of experienced people who can attest to it. For me the ride wasn’t great. Maybe I had too high of expectations after hearing people rave about them, but they seemed stiff for the horrible roads around northern Michigan. Can’t say they were bad just not as big of an upgrade to the standard suspension as I had hoped.