Lift

[84terc]

I am getting ready to do a suspension lift. All-Trac front springs,with AW11 Strut Cartridge,and Pathfinder back Springs,with 1980 T=bird Shocks. Has anybody had this lift long term, Are CV Axles a issue,or anything else. Thanks

[Petros]

just keep the angle on the front cv axles low and they should hold up fine. lifts of more than about an inch put more stress on the cv axles, at 3 inches the cv axles and struts only last about 2-3 months, because of the steep angle. So keep the lift low in front. Use taller tires to get more clearance in front.

[84terc]

currently i have 14 inch tires,so if i put the all-trac springs and aw11 inserts i should be good ?

[Petros]

I have not checked that close with that set up (Snyth has that combination), you will have to check the ride height compared to the stock height, and perhaps "eye-ball" the angle on the cv axles, before and after. The closest they are to zero angle, the less wear and tear on them, there is no movement with each revolution in the cv joint when there is zero angle on it, with a large angle on it, all the internal parts move through their full motion with each revolution, causing it to wear out.

This would mean you can make the cv axles last longer by avoiding hard accelerations on it when in a turn.

[84terc]

thanks Petros, i will eye ball it. What set up are you running ?

[Petros]

I just have the stock springs and struts right now, with KYB gas filled incersts. I have the all-trac front struts and springs, but the dampener (shocks) were shot so I was going to get some kyb incerst for it and install the whole strut assembly with the larger dia shocks, all-track springs, and an MR2 upper mount (they are about 12mm lower profile and will fit the Tercel strut tower). will likely wait until my current struts are shot.

[84terc]

the whole Strut Assembly will fit ? I didn't know that Aprox how much lift will that get you ?

[Petros]

As I recall, about 3/4"of lift. The struts can be made to fit by changing the top mount and altering the Tercel steering knuckle where the strut attaches. you have to drill out the bolt holes for the steer knuckle mount end, the shank of the two bolts on the Tercel steering knuckle is 8 mm, and the bolt shank on the all-trac strut is 10 mm. someone makes some hat shaped washers (a washer with a short tube attached to reduce the hole size) that can be used to reduce the 10mm bolt holes to use the stock 8 mm bolts in the Tercel steering knuckle, but I do not know where to get them.

[ccmt]

Hi All,
After lurking on the boards for about a month I thought I'd leap in with my first post. I'm in the process of buying a 1986 SR5 4WD that I plan to have a little work done on (more on that once I actually get my hands on the beauty). It's in need of new shocks and spring so I figured I'd use this opportunity to do what I've dubbed the "PBS Lift" (after Petros, Barto, and SnythDesign). That is, Corolla All-Trac/Celica GTS springs and struts in the front with Thunderbird shocks and Pathfinder springs in the back (with the springs cut down to match the front lift). I've searched for, read, and reread just about every post I can find on the subject but still have a couple questions. Primarily, I want to make sure I'm getting the right parts. Ideally I'd love to hunt around at junkyards to find these, but I don't have time for that so I'm just going to by them new. Based on my reading here are my options and the parts I need:

Front Strut
Looks like the All-Trac/GTS part # is 48510 or 48520. I’m having trouble finding these OEM, do folks have recommendations for an aftermarket part that will suffice? Will the Monroe 71857 work? If I go with this I'll either need to round up a 12-14mm tophat washer or drill out the knuckle.

I guess my other option is to use the stock strut (part #4851016690 yes?) with an insert for the All-Trac/GTS. Does anyone know the OEM part # for the insert? It looks like KYB 365075 would work for aftermarket.

Front Spring
It looks like the part number for the spring is 48131 or 48132. Has anyone found a good aftermarket replacement?

I can just use stock parts for all the other assembly pieces, yes?

Rear Spring
Looks like MOOG CC247 springs will work, any other suggestions? I had planned to install them, then hack them off a coil at a time, as was suggested, until I achieve the height I’m looking for (about 1-1.5” lift). But I came across a thread that cast doubts on the wisdom of cutting these springs down: viewtopic.php?t=10188

Rear Shocks
According to Krunk, KYB KG5561 will work without having to swap out the lower bushing. Has anyone tried this?
Otherwise, my option is an aftermarket Thunderbird shock (like the KYB 343162) with the bottom bushing drilled out and replaced with stock Tercel bushing (looks like the part # is 90385-16001). I could also go with Polyurethane bushings, no?

I know that is a lot of questions, and I know that asking about a lift in my first post is cliched but I really appreciate any advise y'all could provide.
~Calen

P.S. Before joining the Tercel4WD my knowledge of cars barely extended beyond "key make start, gas make go, brake make stop" so please excuse any imprecision in terminology or descriptions.

[Petros]

no one has actually tried that combination before, but it looks like a good set up. I cold not tell you about the part numbers, best to check the dimensions, travel and min. length and compare it to the oem spec you are replacing. this info is available on-line from the manufacturer website and often from the retailers web site as well.

You will want to be careful using the T-bird shock with a cut down spring because reason for switching to the longer shock was because of the higher lift of the full length spring. I was going to try that set up but with a stock length shock, might come up a bit short on the rebound, but will give me more compression travel. The t-bird shock may still work okay, but you also risk bottoming it out. There might be something half way between the two as far as length, but you would have to verify that from the length specs before you buy them.

[ccmt]

Thank,Petros. I hadn't considered the travel distance on the back with the shorter springs, I'll have to keep that in mind when looking for parts.

On a side note, has anyone tried the rear springs from a Volvo 200 series? I was looking at the specs for Moog springs and found that the Volvo replacement spring, cc217, is a little shorter and less stiff than the Pathfinder replacement, cc247, but still longer and stiffer than the t4 replacement, cc211. It follows then that the Volvo 200 series springs might be a good way of achieving a less extreme lift in the back, no?

I'm sure this kind of on paper deductive reasoning doesn't produce the best results, but since I'm not in a position to do hands on experimentation I thought I'd check to see if anyone has some field data to back up my theory.

[teranfirbt]

For what it's worth, I've been running stock length Pathfinder springs on factory Tercel rear dampers for a couple of years with no issues topping out on rebound.

[ccmt]

That's worth quite a bit. Thanks.