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With a G63 totalled in a rear-ending ( the truck likely saved my wife's life- so mission accomplished...) we DD our 97' 80 series for a while hoping to find a good G55 to build up, as for our sue we wanted to have a winhch bumper and front end protection for deer, hogs etc that we have locally...
We ended up finding a clean 08' in TX and picked it up and ran it home... only to have the tranny go into limp mode for the last 50 miles on and off...
5 weeks later - fully rebuilt and upgraded tranny and the engine baselined and we can let the wallet recover and add a few things.... they'd added JWO's 50mm spring spacers and the Koni Raids when they had it so I jsut had t omount up the new rims and tires I'd ordered ... and hope that the 325's fit...which they do very nicely... !
Winch bumper is on it's way, and hoping to test fit the ARB alloy rack from my 80 on the G to see if it fits.... if so that'll open up some other options as ARB omits any reference to Merc's....but likely Ironman and others will fit that are landcruiser spec...
We've got a trip to OR and back in June/July then to Maine in Aug.... so hoping to have the hardware all sorted in the next 3 weeks. The only thing I didn't do right was to get the G63 front spring in.... so she's down an inch plus...but I can see a full lift in the future
Nice! What size tires are those? 325/??/18? Those are the AlphaEquipt Grenades, right? I have the same wheels on my '14 G63. So, I'm wondering how big of a tire I can shove in there. I have a 3" lift already with 31mm spacers. I'm hoping to fit 35's. Haha.
These are 325/60/18's.... 35's or 325's will fit on a G63, especially with the lift..... I had them on a 13' G63 with just 50mm spacers and 35's cleared fine.... I found however that the Toyot AT2's in 305 actually were wider and rode smoother - E rated and higher speed rating as well....
Are your Grenades 18" ? if so the 325/65/18's are your cup of tea.... I'll likely upgrade to a full lift and run those shortly...
Looking forward to the build! Subscribed for updates. Did you choose the reverse tire mount on purpose in lieu of the normal mount with storage compartment, or are the AlphaEquipt wheels not compatible with the OE spare mount? I'm liking the Grenede wheels more and more, where before I was really set on the Echo's.
Thanks all - the 63 pics was in Telluride heading up to Imogene .....it was pre-lift so we had a bit of rubbing...
I'm selling the storage panel - and ultimately likely will do a AFN rear bumper ( and sell the 911 mount)
Very happy with the grenades so far..... they balanced out well and fit with the overall style language of the G I think.
have the AFN front bumper sitting at the shop - it goes on monday... can't wait and will get pics up once it's back..... HUGE kudo's to Jack in making that possible..
Nice - a JKUR would be perfect for that.... We had a 9 week old puppy with us, and without the lift we opted to play it safe. Hoping to get the 55 out this fall for a full run once it's built up....
the 55 is coming together - been travelling for work a tone but did manage to get the AFN front winch bumper on ( thanks to Jack@jackwagon for securing that !).... coils spacers and Koni raids are on along with G63 front springs and a fox Steering Stab..... it rides and handles so much better...I'm truly impressed with the Koni Raids. I can see a full 4" lift and 325/65's in my future..... so I'll have some lightly used parts to part with ...and 325/60 with low miles...
Warn winch, some driving lights and rear AFN are on the way plus hopefully a ladder and rack.... and we'll call it good for a bit...headed on roadtrip to Maine later in July/ Aug so will get some reall road and backwoods time...
I'm on the JWO page as I type this about to buy 40mm spring spacers and 30mm wheel spacers. Do you think that 285/70 R18's will fit? They are about .5" taller than your tire but 40mm less wide. I'm guessing width isn't an issue but I'm concerned that with 5 people + luggage, a big bump may cause rubbing.
I ran 305's on my G63 with out a lift but jjust spacersand did most of Imogene in CO..... without rubbing. Even with the slightly narrower flare you should be fine. You're only issue would be on the scrub radious once you get the spacers on.... you may want to consider rims - the spacers are 16l lbs for a set plus the extra lugs....My g63 setup of forgestar 20" rims was 42lbs less overall then the OEM's with spacers.... more then enough to offset the larger tire. Not that it's a track car being corner-balanced but it does add up...
I have a set of new 40mm spacers i'd sell for 275 shipped if you need a set - I did 50mm for the time being but ordered both to see if I'd need to do the 40mm in the rear once the bumper was on... which isn't an issue.
I ran 305's on my G63 with out a lift but jjust spacersand did most of Imogene in CO..... without rubbing. Even with the slightly narrower flare you should be fine. You're only issue would be on the scrub radious once you get the spacers on.... you may want to consider rims - the spacers are 16l lbs for a set plus the extra lugs....My g63 setup of forgestar 20" rims was 42lbs less overall then the OEM's with spacers.... more then enough to offset the larger tire. Not that it's a track car being corner-balanced but it does add up...
I have a set of new 40mm spacers i'd sell for 275 shipped if you need a set - I did 50mm for the time being but ordered both to see if I'd need to do the 40mm in the rear once the bumper was on... which isn't an issue.
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My wheels are smaller than the G63 ones (7.5 vs 9.5 I believe) not to mention smaller (18" vs 20") so I might be okay weight wise. Thank you for mentioning that though. I will have to compare wheel weights. I'd like to stay with the stock wheels to keep the build as simple as possible and honestly, I really like the look of the stock wheels.
I appreciate the offer. JWO has been so helpful for such a long time (I reached out to him back in April) that I'd like to give him the business.
Two more questions (sorry of so many!): 1.) do you have a link to the 50mm spring spacers? I can't seem to find them on the JWO website (just the 40mm ones) and 2.) did you have to make any suspension adjustments or perform any work with a 50mm lift (panhard bars, castor correction, longer brake/locker lines, etc)?
JWO had a set of 50 MM ones - shoot Jack a note, I think they're "test" inventory maybe ? Nothing needed on the lines based on my testing... for the G55 the front spring need to be swapped for G63 spring to sit more level ( g55's are about 1 /14" lower in the nose)
The jump to all the extra hardware starts at 50mm and above - a plunge I'll likely take shortly...Camber/Caster and track all need to corrected past 50mm.
One nice surprise as noted was that AFN included their own cleanly integrated Alum skidplate... lot's of room for a winch and lights - but I will need to solve for relo the tranny cooler... need my shop to fab a bracket and longer lines before installing the winch I think..
With a G63 totalled in a rear-ending ( the truck likely saved my wife's life- so mission accomplished...) we DD our 97' 80 series for a while hoping to find a good G55 to build up, as for our sue we wanted to have a winhch bumper and front end protection for deer, hogs etc that we have locally...
We ended up finding a clean 08' in TX and picked it up and ran it home... only to have the tranny go into limp mode for the last 50 miles on and off...
5 weeks later - fully rebuilt and upgraded tranny and the engine baselined and we can let the wallet recover and add a few things.... they'd added JWO's 50mm spring spacers and the Koni Raids when they had it so I jsut had t omount up the new rims and tires I'd ordered ... and hope that the 325's fit...which they do very nicely... !
Winch bumper is on it's way, and hoping to test fit the ARB alloy rack from my 80 on the G to see if it fits.... if so that'll open up some other options as ARB omits any reference to Merc's....but likely Ironman and others will fit that are landcruiser spec...
We've got a trip to OR and back in June/July then to Maine in Aug.... so hoping to have the hardware all sorted in the next 3 weeks. The only thing I didn't do right was to get the G63 front spring in.... so she's down an inch plus...but I can see a full lift in the future
Love the front bumper it gives it an early G Wagon look. Rotiform makes some cool looking wheels that look like the original steelies. Would look cool with some early pain colors like tan or green from the European catalog.
Sorry, It looks great as is just thinking out loud.
What are you doing for HP? Weistec seams have the blower stuff for this engines that work well.
Agree on the Roti's - debated them, but offset and timing didn't fit this stage of the build...
For HP - EC sent the tranny our to be rebuilt by Southern Outlaws so it's prepped for a good bit more Hp with a higher stall and other upgrades... They also went thru the whole motor and reworked the Sc'er......
we'll likely do MBH Ceracoated headers, larger injectors and a E85 tune plus TCU tweaks.... A blower is in the visioncast, but need to get thru the armour and expo mods first... just the initial mods should have it at 500hp at the wheels. I almost bought Weistec's old Test truck when it was for sale in Dallas but it was pretty hard worn.... but damn it was fast... !!
A few pics of the parts I have avail should anyone want/ need them:
I have:
two spare OEM tire mounts - $ 100 shipped
OEM rear tails in great shape - $125 shipped
Front fender light cages in great shape $75 shipped
Brand New ORC front skidplate - $ 500 shipped
G55 fronts springs - $ 100 shipped
recenlty repalced OEM front steering stab - $ 75 shipped
OEM G55 Grille- factory silver great shape - $300
g63 grille - in magno in perfect shape - $ 350
40mm JWO new springs spacers full set - $ 275 shipped
Full set of OEM 20" G63 black 5 spokers w/ recent low miles Yoko's - $ 1600 shipped via fastenal or $ 1400 picked up in Houston (or maybe delivery if local)
05-31-2022, 02:43 PM
