Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
WOW TIM! I am impressed, once again. Toyota couldnt (didnt) do it better themselves.
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
What a great mod! I want to do this. I had a 91' 5 speed years ago, but stupidly let it go. Just picked up a 94 AWD day before yesterday. Do you know whether the suspension is the same and parts for modification the same for a 94?
Thanks
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
I have no experience with anything newer than 93, but I suspect all the suspension parts are the same. Good luck & have fun :wnk:
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Quote:
Originally Posted by
timsrv
I have no experience with anything newer than 93, but I suspect all the suspension parts are the same. Good luck & have fun :wnk:
Thanks Tim,
I am looking at parts listed for the two and finding the same part numbers, so looks like a go. Any reason in particular you chose the Husky coils? They are not available at Rockauto, they are elsewhere, but but Moog 8088 are available at Rock. If I can order from one place, so much the better.
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
I wasn't completely sure these would work when I ordered so I got the cheapest ones I could find ($56 for the pair). I got them at www.rockauto.com. They must have sold out. Moogs are probably better. If I were doing it again I'd probably get the Moogs too. Tim
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Hello, I am new to this forum and have learned a lot in my short time here. Thank you Tim. I am researching SADS replacement options. Afterwards I could not stop myself from reading more and more into the wee hours of the night. I am very impressed with the 2" lift and the mods you fabbed to make your drive line straight and tight. Well done!!! Would you consider pre fabbing some lift kits for the prevs?
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Thanks for the kudos :). I actually had thought about building kits and selling them, but unless I sold a lot, the price would be steep...........and then there's the liability issues. BTW, for any of you thinking about doing this, the purpose of this thread is only to show off my rig. I am not suggesting anybody else try it. Anybody using this information for anything other than entertainment does so at their own risk. How's that for a disclaimer? :LOL2: Tim
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Hey Tim,
For rear control arms, what do you think about just cutting the shaft, jigging for 0.4" longer and welding some angle to splint the shaft rather than making them adjustable?
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Yeah, if I had known .4 was the magic number (and the maximum I could go), that's probably what I would have done. I only did it this way due to unkowns and variables. Tim
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Quote:
Originally Posted by
timsrv
Yeah, if I had known .4 was the magic number (and the maximum I could go), that's probably what I would have done. I only did it this way due to unkowns and variables. Tim
Cool. That'll be simpler to jig up and weld.
2 Attachment(s)
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
My van is lifted! My buddy just happened to have one of these, which I borrowed:
Attachment 1085
Made the strut work that much easier and gave me a head start compressing the rear springs before adding these:
Attachment 1086
To install the rear springs.
Still have to take care of a bunch of the other details, especially front end camber looks BAD!!!
But a good days work today!
Front looks a good bit higher than yours Tim, which makes no sense to me. 2" lift in the strut mounts, just like you did them. Used the same srpings on new struts. I'll take a measurement tomorrow.
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
I demand to see pics! The camber looked bad on mine too, but the 1/2" bolt in each of the lower strut mounts was enough to make it fall within specs. Here's the details on how that came about:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
timsrv
Good news! Alignment is done and van is within specs! I took the van into Les Schwab for an alignment today & was lucky enough to get a seasoned tech. He tried several things to get the alignment to fall within specs (camber being the problem). Finally after all else failed, he put 1/2-13 grade 8 bolts into the upper position on the lower strut mount (original bolt was almost double that diameter). Then with both nuts loose, and full weight of van resting on tires (tires being on the sliding pads), he tightened these mount bolts back up. When checking the camber after that, he found the passenger side was dead on, and the driver's side was at .7 off. Out of curiosity I jumped in the driver's seat and had him check it again. With my weight on the driver's side, this brought both sides to .2 off (well within specs)! I needed to run some errands afterward and drove the van about 50 miles. I am very happy with the ride and it goes down the road nice and straight. After going through this, I can say with confidence that 2" lift is the maximum a Previa can be raised in this manner (without other complications). I am definitely glad I did this and I'm enjoying this van much more than before. Here are a couple of pics of the PS side lower strut mount with the smaller bolts in the upper position. Tim
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...r/IMG_0075.jpg http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...r/IMG_0080.jpg
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Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
I had a reply from chm1129 at the yahoo group that it will change when it rolls. That will be a while, I still have the tranny/transfer swap to do and some other stuff.
I hesitate to do what you did with the 1/2 bolt. Very rough dirt roads here and I'd feel much better with the hole filled rather than any possibility of the alignment shifting due to some kind of road shock.
Here are pics though:
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
Wow, My camber never looked that bad.........but yes the height will drop a bit and the camber will also change some (for the better) when it rolls. About the bolt, I was a bit skeptical as well but considering the thickness/strength of the strut in that area, even just one strut bolt would carry more than the strut could handle.........so I'm good with it.
I used my Previa for a back-up business rig for a year and put some miles on it with a 1,500 lb load inside. We also drive on rough surfaces while towing a trailer and occasionally hit hard/bottom out. At some point I knocked the driver's front wheel out of whack & you could visibly see the camber was off (the opposite of your current problem). I took it in and they aligned it again. So far it's stayed good. My struts were old at the time but I reused. Now they are starting to clunk, so I'll likely be replacing them soon. I don't think it's related to the lift, probably just time. Tim
Re: Lifted All Trac Previa
You know, there's a guy over on the Yahoo Previa group doing this same mod. I think he goes by "previahawk" :) :wnk:. Tim
