Im in the midst of this swap now and after a ****e day of parts guys tellin me they have stuff that they dont and then me driving to get non-existent parts etc.. am about to tear my hair out.. /rant

Id read elsewhere about just flipping the steering arms around to account for the 79-83 being front steer and the 73 being rear steer.. so I did that, swapping just the steering arms but leaving the pass side 83 spindle on the pass side and drivers on drivers..

This moved the tie-rod from an insert-from-bottom to insert-from-top.. and now that Ive finally found some reman calipers today and tried to install them.. I find that the tie-rod end badly interferes with the caliper..

Soooo.. if Im understanding this correctly.. after all this f-in around, its not the steering arm I have to flip (as read on Toyota nation) but infact the entire damn spindles have to flip sides.. (and Ive gotta change steering arms back to their correct sides..) correct?

Sorry to vent, was sure I was finishing this project today after a month of hunting down junkyard parts, buying line bending and flaring tools, bending new lines etc.. and now more hassles, lol..

thanks,

Brett

 

Yes, flip the whole setup side to side. I never heard of flipping just the steering arm. Sounds like through the hassle, you've almost got it finished up. Don't let it get you down, every project always has kinks. My new motor tossed a pan gasket two days after I put it in. That was this week. You'll get it. The difference might not be any more powerful, but it should feel much more reliable.

 

Yeah, after I vented I went out, ripped er all apart and swapped it all over.. so by the end of the day I was where I thought I was at the start of the day

Found that the '82 rubber lines I bought from rockauto are shorter than the '73 lines.. so might have to muck about a bit to make them work.. jobbers just look at me weird when I ask about 70's toyota stuff..

So tomorrow I'll bend up a new set of lines to go from '82 m/c and prop valve down to the flex lines and should be rockin..

good thing tomorrows a holiday up here..

and yknow.. 'cause I havent enough to do I just went and bought an '80 Cressida yesterday.. I have an addiction to old Toyotas.. help me.

Brett

 

Hahaha. I can help by taking one off your hands. Donations are always graciously accepted in my collection

Post up some photos of the yotas you are working with. Seems like hiluxs are coming out of the woodwork A LOT recently.

 

it sounds to me like 75-78 is the way to go.

is it goofy fliping and swaping the 82 stuff? does it screw with the geometry of the front end? are the tapers for the tie rod ends upside down or anything? it would be cool if you would do a sticky quality write up on this swap,disc are the way to go.and are way cooler to look at hiding behind a nice set of home boy rims then them ugly drums.

my crazy truck has disc in the back and drums in the front. somebody allready started on it.i have to finish it.

 

The measurements I have found appear that they are the same part. Just never checked part numbers. But they will work flipped side to side just fine.

 

I really wanna bolt an 84 front end into my 72 so i can rock drop spindles.
Unless they make drop spindles for a 82 or older? The oldest ive seen that they make drop spindles for are the 84's though which is annoying.

 

The reason is balljoints and brakes. You can use a later style spindle with all its brakes (and gain a better rotor) if you turn the lower balljoint upside down. So the two aim at each other. And use them on opposite sides of the truck. But unless you wanna bag it with big wheels, you shouldn't need drop spindles.

 

Yeah i suppose, my plan is to bag it and put wide wheels on it.
I thought it would just be easier with a front end that you can still by parts for, not able to find many parts for this thing in my area. And i thing drop spindles would be the way to go cuz then i have good suspension travel and i am still as low as i want to be.

 

Wheel width is of no concern to a bag system, other than steering and body clearance. Its the overall tire height that is an issue. With about a 24" tire or less, you can flip the balljoints and put a bag in, and lay the front crossmember onto the ground. It will have a good amount of camber, and adapting a later spindle onto the arms would help with that. But trying to swap the whole frame from a later truck (which is much wider) would not be an easy option.

 

the 73-78 hilux is actually a bit wider (at the widest point of the cab) then the 84-88 yotas, and has over an inch more room at the top of the front fenders then the 84-88's.

my front suspension is based off of 84-88 toy suspension dimensions, and the wheels tucked clear with a +28 offset on a 20x8.5 (25.4" tall tire)



the main problem with using a clip from a 84-95 truck is that the distance from the front of the frame to the center of the front wheels is like 4" longer, which would require the clip be shortened. that also makes it hard to fit the 84+ steering box on the frame without touching the radiator support.

i'm looking for a 84-88 clip right now for Toy Boy (joe) 72.5. i'm going to make a kit that will bolt into the stock 73-78 frame holes, but will utilize the 84+ suspension, with triangulated arms and coil over mounts

 

75-78 stuff is fine, dual piston brakes, if you can find the stuff, I got lucky and found a 77 parts truck with a 5spd and a good running 20r for 100 and traded a 150dollar gun for it. I was going to do the earlie 80s stuff to till I found these.

 

...got me all salivating man....big time.