I do not really want a spring over on my cruser. There is several reasons. Here are a few, cost, little if any really hard core trails with potential damage, curvy highway driving. It is my FJ45 and I like to drive it hard but I do not want to thrash my newly painted body. There will be a new project for that! Here is the question. Can I put 4 inch springs on the front and spring over the rear with some type of shackle arangement? FJ45 springs are big $$ or I would just spring the whole thing. I want to use 33 or 35 tires, I am leaning to the 35s. OK it may be a stupid idea but I thought that it was worth investigating.

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

By the time you pay for 4" of front spring on a GOOD spring set you would be halfway to the spring over or more anyways.

Anyways....there is no reason at all why this would not work.

Just make sure the lift up front matches the height you get in the rear.

I personally would just spring it over front and rear with the stock springs. Lift springs ride like shit compared to a SOA with the stock springs. If you can do much of the work yourself it really isn't THAT expensive.

JMO. ;) :usa:

I have seen this done a few times yet I have never seen anyone real happy with the results.

I would suggest going for a full spring over. You will not regret it, I'm certain.

The ride will be MUCH better as well as the handling if you do a shackle reversal and make sure your caster is corrected.

My alcans ride nice, but a little more firm on the road.

Part of that is I need my winch to add weight, but I agree that the stock spring is hard to beat in terms of ride quality.

I am running a 4" spring lift front and rear.....

Sixgun recently did this.

He has my old 2.5" lift springs up front with a shackel reversal kit and replaced his 5" rear lift springs with stock cruiser springs in a SOA configuration and also removed a couple of leaves from the rear SOA packs to help get the rear to about the same level as the front. Whew...that was along sentence. He could tell you more when he gets back on the board this weekend.

spring over does not cost that much if you do it yourself. Just go spring over and don't wheel it hard. You can still put on sway bars and disconnects if you really want to. And get rs 9000 and crank em up

I really do not have the desire to take the front down again. I am just finishing the paint, inside and out, and new wiring that came after the 76 axel swap with disc X4 + power booster. I am running out of energy for a while. I just want to drive the dam thing! I thought springs(front only) with shocks 1-2 hours and A few hundred bucks. I am the anal retentive type. If I start a spring over who knows where it will end up. Power steering... oh lets see High steer conversion, new shock mounts blah blah.... I know it will probably be spring over in the future and you can say TOLD YS SO! but I just dont have the energy or the cash to pay a shop to do it.

Keep the info coming!

if you can build a truck from the ground up, like you did w/ your fj45, you can do a spring over..it will more than likely end up sprung over (my 40 did) and so will my fj45 probably...when you decide to go that route, you can do it in a weekend....im still debating on what suspension my truck will get, either spring it over w/ stock springs, keep it stock height, or get some custom alcans made..since it'll serve many different purposes that wil vary from carrying tools to towing my fj40, this is a hard decision, i dont want it sagging and riding too low when towing, and dont want it too tall either..

Exactly! Mine will be used for the same things. Hauling, towing and wheeling. The more I think about it a simple spring under is the way to go. At least that is the thought at the moment! Got any leads on low cost rear springs? How much space is between your bump stops and the tubes. Mine are only about 2 inches apart. They seem pretty flat.

"simple"simon is running that setup on his 69. he's got a correction kit up front and lift springs and stock soa in the rear. rides well on the freeway and he runs 35's and 36's. did really well in rubicon also but after a couple of years his frame is getting pretty hammered in the front. front x-member is cracked everywhere and the frame is trying to rip itself apart.
do the soa all the way around. you'll be happy you did!
:D

One of the guys in my club took measurements off his 45 rear packs and then spend some time with a local spring shop. He end up using a main leaf from a Ford pickup I think and then had the shop addin enough leaves to lift it to what he wanted. He's not an extreme wheeler, but it does the trick for him.

Might be worth a visit to a local shop...

If you do this 1/2 way, you will end up undoing work that you did before and cost yourself more money than if you had done the full SOA the first time.

I have done this too many times to count. Do something that really wasn't right to save time and money and it ended up costing me twice as much in the long run having to "undo."

Have fun!

OK so who has a spare front housing for me to cut and turn. You can have mine when I am done:D

Chose one or the other if you drive on the road mostly I would stay under slung I have 2 overslung cruisers and and even though they do ride good on the street in straight aways they are not so great in turning. Plus its sort of a half ass job to only do the rear its like to scared to tackel the front. Just my opinion:

Originally posted by mikec
[BIf I start a spring over who knows where it will end up. Power steering... oh lets see High steer conversion, new shock mounts blah blah.... [/B]

You are planning on going spring over or lifting it 4+ in and running bigger tires i assume. That will be a BITCH without power stearing!!!!

If you do a spring over, with out a shackle reversal, you don't need to cut and turn the housing. Mine is sprung over with custom hysteer and manual steering (That is going away in the next few weeks) My steering cost me $25 and some time in my father in-laws machine shop, the shackles cost me $20, and the shocks were $20 a piece. I did not replace the brake lines, I moved the solid mount from the top of the frame to the bottom and it's about stock proportion right now. All in all, I am into a spring over front and rear (including driveshafts) about $200. I made everything except the shocks and break lines myself.

Mike if you want to come down sometime and check out my cruiser, or if you want when I get my rear end back together I can cruise by and you can check it out. It has worked great for me and rides A LOT better than my buddies cruiser that has 4 inch springs on it. Also clears 35 inch swampers no problem.

I would really like to see it. I will send you a PM with my phone number.

Thanks, Mike