LUVTruck.com

She pulls like a train & is good for 110 MPH.

back to the lift. i also noticed that the springs mount on the bottom of the axle. i am good friends with a kid that has owned four suzuki samurai's, and his dad has one too. they do spring overs, spring over axles, to all of them. you just get your driveline at the right angle, and then weld some pads for the springs to sit on on top of the axle.then you can do an ad-a-leaf to it, and that is the rear. then crank the torsion bars, and that will lift it quiet a bit. body lift helps too. i was also contemplating finding something with a similar style fender well openings, and getting cut out fender flares to fit. just a thought.

While this will work on some other trucks, you'll never get enough height out of the torsion bars on these, or any other Isuzu for that matter, to level it out in the front.

Just my .02...

_________________
Kuranosuke
Grampa's Driving:

1990 Luv 4X4 "Family Cab"
with the big 4 banger on 31" Dueller A/Ts

1989 Dodge Raider with some junk...

"Urban Fighter F.P.C" coming soon to a road near you...
got BOOBIES?

is there anyway to make some kind of drop brackets to drop the whole front end? i know that they dothis on rangers/bronco II's sometimes, but that is TTB,not independent. i havent really got a chance toreally look the love up and down, i just know about what i ahve read. pus,i am in the advanced metal shop at y school, so i have access to arc, mig, tig, oxy/act, air carbon arc, and my dad is reall ggood at fabricating things. just an idea.

The pivot shaft for the upper A-arm sits right above the frame and bolts to something welded to the frame. In order to drop it, and the rest of the suspension, you have to drop it like 5-6 inches to get below the frame and fabricate a lot of mounts, most without much frame of reference to keep things aligned. The layout just does not lend itself to being unbolted and moved lower. That said, it is possible to drop the diff and axles a bit to get better angles on the CV joints after cranking the torsions. You could also do some fabbing to lower the upper ball joint in the A-arm and get better wheel alignment. In later Isuzus the "ball joint flip" is a common tactic, but the LUV ball joints are a little different requiring some creativity. So far, I've not seen or heard of it being done, but it seems minor compared to dropping everything else.

Most people that get to thinking about doing something like relocating the front suspension lower come around to the idea of just pulling the LUV suspension and replacing it with a straight axle. It is easier to do, and much easier to do right. The end result is stronger, and has a lot less stuff hanging down to hook on ruts/stumps/rocks. You also can pick an axle with easy to find aftermarket parts like locking diffs and such. Cheaper, stronger, easier to do, and easier to maintain, solid axle swap wins on almost every count.

once again, i'd have to vouch for the toyota axle. drop the independant, torch off the brackets and weld on spring hangers

i'd have to agree on the toyota axle swap. i have plans for that in the future and plan on putting the toyota rear axle in too. i'm in the process of looking for a stripped down toyota to get the axles and steering components from. might even swap in a trooper 5 speed while i'm at it. since the driveshafts will need to be cut anyway.

I have thought of a straight axle swap, but are the gear ratios the same in a toyota compared to the luv? I know I have 4.10 gears, what do the toyotas have?

_________________
Hammer to fit, paint to match.
If it aint broke, don't fix it.
There's always room for duct tape and bailing wire.

WATCH YOUR PIEHOLE!!!!!!

I've come across Toy's with 4.10s. They're pretty common I think...

_________________
Kuranosuke
Grampa's Driving:

1990 Luv 4X4 "Family Cab"
with the big 4 banger on 31" Dueller A/Ts

1989 Dodge Raider with some junk...

"Urban Fighter F.P.C" coming soon to a road near you...
got BOOBIES?

4.10 toys are dime-a-dozen. if you can score the axle housings(rear axles are dirt cheap, front aren't so much...usually around 200 bucks), you can often find third members loaded with 4.10 gears for 40 bucks or so. a lot of the guys running yotas gear down ot 4.88 or 5.29

if you can cram 33s on a luv, 5.29 sounds like it would be a good gear ratio. however, no stock toyotas came with them(aftermarket gears only). the lowest stock gear was 4.88, it came from i believe '91-95 in some automatic trucks equipped with stock 31" tires. the third member will bolt right in, but cannot be regeared because it's kind of strange. not bad if 4.88 is all you want though, sometimes you can find a good deal on them

ratios that were available stock on a toyota 8": 3.90, 4.10, 4.30, 4.38, 4.56, 4.88

i'd personally use toyota axles front and rear if i were to do this swap. they have a huge aftermarket, you can get air lockers, electric lockers, auto lockers etc for them. i'm not entirely sure, but doesn't the luv rear axle use a diff cover like a dana axle instead of a third member like a toyota? the third member is really nice, if you break the one in back you can pull out the one in the front and swap them to get you home

I counted the rotations of the gears on the 79 4X4 and just for clarification they are 4.10. Just in case anybody is interested.

thats good to know i was just thinking about checking mine. found a 85 trooper in the junkyard with the same axles as my luv, but from what i've heard the troopers came with 4.56. next time i'm at the junkyard i'll check, might be a easy way to get 4.56 gears in my luv.

The TROOPER axles are a bit wider than the luv axle @ they have disc brakes all round too.

Troopers got disc brakes in the rear in mid-87 model year when they switched to the 12 bolt Isuzu rear end. Prior to that, the rear is virtually indistinguishable from a 4x4 LUV with drum brakes. I haven't measured the width on my 86 Trooper, but it looks too close to call different.

The front end changed in early-mid 87 to a 10 bolt Isuzu using the same diff and carrier previously found in the rear. There are a few mid 87s with 10 bolt front and rear just to make it even harder to tell what you have. The 84-86 models should be all pretty much the same as 4x4 LUVs, but there may be some subtle differences that might make a direct swap tougher than it looks. Measure twice before spending a lot of cash on this idea.

That said, my factory 86 Trooper service manual shows 4.555 ratio on both front and rear axles. Even if the axles don't directly bolt up, the third members should at both ends making for another good Trooper donor item.

Hey folks, here are some pictures of the progress of the Luv Liftin Project. Check em out and let me know what you think.

Gordo


http://community.webshots.com/album/109677124fioHqv?458

dude thats crazy nice welds too

_________________
1980 luv sport 4x4 Just a memory now
Frame rusted from the inside. Truck stripped and now looking for a new donor in southern ohio

That looks great. It is exactly what I am doing.

_________________
Hammer to fit, paint to match.
If it aint broke, don't fix it.
There's always room for duct tape and bailing wire.

WATCH YOUR PIEHOLE!!!!!!

Yeah it is a bit extreme, but hey, I've never been one to follow the normal scheme of things. Thanx for the compliment on the welds. I think I was seeing spots for at least 3 days even though I used a helmet.

Grimace,
How far along are you on your project? Any pointers, questions?

Anybody know where to get an accelerator pump for the carb?

can any one help me find body parts for a 74 luv im goin for the pro street/drag setup???

What are you looking for?