1958 Old Man Emu Trailhunter suspension upgraded

[Mtn40]

From your picture of the UCAs stacked up, I'd say no extra caster in the TH arms.
Is it too late, or do you have a picture, of the same stack from the side? Probably no extra camber either though.

I put loctite on the coilover/LCA bolt, but not anywhere else.

 

[jbtaco2002]

probably too late now, but since you had the UCA separated from the spindle, that's a good time to yank that coilover out. i'm sure you're one your way but just saying!

so when you were removing the UCA bolt on the driver's side, did it hit the hard plastic pipe that the turbo charge pipes connect to? i had to cuss A LOT to get the bolt all of the way out on mine and ended up grinding down the bolt's flange a bit to give me room.

 

[Blue Sky]

I put loctite on the coilover/LCA bolt, but not anywhere else.

I got pulled away for work. Just getting back to it.
Kinda weird to me but the LCA and endlink looks like they have pipe dope on the threads, is that a thing? Or just toyota threadlocker?

I have a ton of different threadlocker but will probably run with the medium blue loctite 248 "chapstick".

From your picture of the UCAs stacked up, I'd say no extra caster in the TH arms.
Is it too late, or do you have a picture, of the same stack from the side? Probably no extra camber either though.

 

[Blue Sky]

probably too late now, but since you had the UCA separated from the spindle, that's a good time to yank that coilover out. i'm sure you're one your way but just saying!

so when you were removing the UCA bolt on the driver's side, did it hit the hard plastic pipe that the turbo charge pipes connect to? i had to cuss A LOT to get the bolt all of the way out on mine and ended up grinding down the bolt's flange a bit to give me room.

UCA took me maybe 30 minutes. I disconnected the hose and gently pushed down and pulled on the UCA bolt, came out super easy.

Good call! on the popping the coilover in once you have the UCA pulled, would have been super easy had I not been in a hurry and re-installed the UCA. Fortunately I didn't tighten anything but having to hold the floppy UCA definitely did not help threading the coilover into the mount with the other hand.

 

[Blue Sky]

The front coilovers are not right/left but they are directional. Make sure to reference this^

Using my pencil measurator, the TH coilover is exactly one pencil width taller.

The lower coilover housing is significantly thicker, disconnecting swaybar endlinks is a must. I tried not to disconnect and failed, hard.

 

[Bad1975]

probably too late now, but since you had the UCA separated from the spindle, that's a good time to yank that coilover out. i'm sure you're one your way but just saying!

so when you were removing the UCA bolt on the driver's side, did it hit the hard plastic pipe that the turbo charge pipes connect to? i had to cuss A LOT to get the bolt all of the way out on mine and ended up grinding down the bolt's flange a bit to give me room.

Really easy to disconnect the charge pipe and move it out of the way and the intercooler is on rubber mounts so there is some movement in it. All I had to do was disconnect the pipe and hold some steady pressure on the side of the intercooler and the bolt cleared just fine. Passenger side was harder due to less room to get hands in there to push the radiator hose out of the way.

 

[b407driver]

View attachment 57372View attachment 57373

These two pictures make it look like the TH UCA may be a slight bit longer ('wider' left-right, in these images), but could just be camera perspective. Do you yet have a feel for whether these are geometrically identical?

 

[munkeeboi]

From a post that @turbo8 did on the GX forum. The TH UCA's offered more clearance with the OME coils installed compared to the stock UCA's so there is some difference.

Full Suspension Lifts for the GX 550

I received an email back from Shocks Surplus in LA and they said Bilstein doesn't have anything for the GX550 yet. Bummer, their technology is interesting.

www.lexusgxforum.com

potential difference shown in this photo

 

[Blue Sky]

From a post that @turbo8 did on the GX forum. The TH UCA's offered more clearance with the OME coils installed compared to the stock UCA's so there is some difference.

Full Suspension Lifts for the GX 550

I received an email back from Shocks Surplus in LA and they said Bilstein doesn't have anything for the GX550 yet. Bummer, their technology is interesting.

www.lexusgxforum.com

potential difference shown in this photo

View attachment 57420

Definitely more space from both the coils and tires. I tried to make the photos as accurate as possible to indicate the additional clearance.

 

[Blue Sky]

Just got back from a trip and finishing up the install today.

Hoping to get things all torqued up.
Will torque following to spec once LC is ground:
UCA to body, shock to body, sway bar links, LCA, rear shock mount to body and rear shock mount to axle.

Using the torques values provided by this thread:

Body and Chassis Bolt Torque

I asked this before last summer or fall, but the specs weren’t out yet. Anyone have the chassis and body bolt locations and torque specs?

www.landcruiserforum.com

Front:
UCA to body: 145 FT.LBF
Front upper suspension arm assembly x Steering knuckle: 92 FT.LBF
Front speed sensor x Steering knuckle: 8.5 FT.LBF
Front speed sensor x Vehicle body: 12.5 FT.LBF
Front shock absorber with coil spring x Vehicle body (Upper side): 33 FT.LBF w/o union nut wrench
Front shock absorber with coil spring lock nut: 48 FT.LBF
Front shock absorber with coil spring x Vehicle body (Lower side/LCA): 195 FT.LBF

Sway bar links:
Front lower No. 1 suspension arm sub-assembly x Front stabilizer link assembly: 110 FT.LBF
Front stabilizer bar x Front stabilizer link assembly: 159 FT.LBF

Rear:
Rear shock absorber assembly x Rear axle housing assembly: 77 FT:LBF
Rear shock absorber assembly LH x Vehicle body: 39 Ft.LBF w/o SST

 

[Stage7]

I'm waiting to see how this looks and performs.

 

[Blue Sky]

Finished up the install last night. Alignment is Thursday morning so I will not have any real ride quality feedback until then. I did, however, take the TH setup on a 7 mile fire road out and back. Initial thoughts are compression/rebound is noticeably more refined and soaks up the dips, washouts and whoops at around 30 mph. I am curious to get this out on some washboard, which I think will be more telling. I noticed the TH rear strut was significantly harder to compress during install.

I anticipate an extremely mild lift (~1-1.25") in the front with nothing notable in the rear as I have not yet swapped out the rear coils. The '58 TH sits almost perfectly level with little to no rake. Front fender to ground came in at 960mm but I will measure after alignment and get some miles on the suspension.

*One note I think all 1958 owners should be aware of is the 70mm offset wheels create very tight clearances for anyone running oversized tires or rear struts with a integrated piggy back. The clearance of the steering knuckle on a 275/70/R18 tire is millimeters, maybe 5mm. Same goes for the rear TH piggyback to the wheel (see photo below).

And without any more yapping:

 

[shwazz714]

Finished up to the install last night. Alignment is Thursday morning so I will not have any real ride quality feedback until then. I did, however, take the TH setup on a 7 mile fire road out and back. Initial thoughts are compression/rebound is noticeably more refined and soaks up the dips, washouts and whoops at around 30 mph. I am curious to get this out on some washboard, which I think will be more telling. I noticed the TH rear strut was significantly harder to compress during install.

I anticipate an extremely mild lift (~1-1.25") in the front with nothing notable in the rear as I have not yet swapped out the rears coils. The '58 TH sits almost perfectly level with little to no rake. Front fender to ground came in at 960mm but I will measure after alignment and get some miles on the suspension.

*One note I think all 1958 owners should be aware of is the 70mm offset wheels create very tight clearances for anyone running oversized tires or rear struts with a integrated piggy back. The clearance of the steering knuckle on a 275/70/R18 tire is millimeters, maybe 5mm. Same goes for the rear TH piggyback to the wheel (see photo below).

And without any more yapping:

View attachment 58417View attachment 58418View attachment 58419View attachment 58420View attachment 58421View attachment 58422View attachment 58423

Looks great - want to hear how it rides and this may be I go with as I want a level look and just a touch more ground clearance up front.

 

[Trail250]

This is pretty cool, now I just got to wait for one to pop up on FB marketplace lol

 

[munkeeboi]

I saw some in the Los Angeles marketplace. $2,900 from a 2026 4 runner

 

[munkeeboi]

Probably try buying from Toyota with the 25% deal right now

 

[Trail250]

I saw some in the Los Angeles marketplace. $2,900 from a 2026 4 runner

Thats a crazy price, might as just get new from ARBUSA.

 

[Blue Sky]

Keeping it on the dirt but the TH runs firm but compliant on the fire roads.

 

[Trail250]

Keeping it on the dirt but the TH runs firm but compliant on the fire roads.
View attachment 58589View attachment 58590View attachment 58591

wow beautiful terrain would be a dream to live near there and hit the trails next to streams.

 

[Calokie]

very nice setup, this ended up bing 1.5" lift in front?
Any word from your alignment shop on caster angles?
I ordered a set of trail hunter UCA to go along with my BP51, trying to avoid aftermarket UCA whoas, keeping my lc close to factory options as possible with 2" front lift and assuming Toyota upgraded the TH UCA to accommodate any possible 2" lift issues, definitely looks like improved clearance, wouldn't be surprised if caster is identical on both UCA options.