The LC springs were a little crusty but nothing a wire brush, acid and spray paint won't clean.

 

The threads i read made the spring swap seem easier than it was. The rears came out easily, the toyota springs are about an 3-4" longer and weren't so easy. I had to take the calipers off and since I didn't have my spring compressors, used a super sketchy combination of ratchet straps and pry bar to pop them in. ----dont try this at home---

 

 

The rear coils are a solid 3" longer with thicker winds. Because the diff is offset to the right side and the axle hitting the cross member, I couldn't drop the axle low enough to fit the springs. No way I was going to use ratchet straps again, so off to parts store for spring compressors. I also disconnected the brake line/ABS wire bracket from the lower spring perch and the sway bar link from one side and lifted the spring turret and shock out of the way.

 

If I was going to do it again, I would remove the cross member.

Make sure you line up the lower spring beat bolt holes before you release the spring! It was still a challenge to start the bolts.

Make sure you have a variaty of extensions

 

The end result from fender flair to axle center was about 2.5 in the rear and 3.5 in the front. Also installed is a set if nearly new 265/70r16 Michelins picked off a P38 Range Rover from a local auto recycler.

A little more than I bargained for in the front

 

My plan is to coat the head liner with truck bed liner but decided not to go with black (already have it) so I didn't apply on this visit. I did manage to clean the old adhesive off. A pressure washer made short work of it.

Before

After pressure wash

 

Normally, if l get a stubborn one...remove the front drive shaft at axle, instead of fighting with the ridiculous bolts on the crossmember (which usually snap off anyway).

 

Forgot to mention, the old girl cleaned up pretty nicely.

My first Dll, which was a white gold color like yours, was in similar condition , when l bought it. But, after throwing a trans in it, previous owner waited a bit to long to service driveshaft and went through trans case. Anyhow, she looked about like yours...and after a bit of work...okay...a lot. She turned into one reliable beast.





Left the headliner out of mine, more headroom and made things easier for mounting gear. Put about 40K on it before changing gears on another Dll build, that build went south quickly. Still miss the old girl, several camping trips and wheeling adventures were had with her.

Anyhow, keep up the good work.