Lower Link Mount Skids/Reinforcement

If you’re wheeling your 4Runner (or FJ, or GX, or 80-Series LandCruiser) you’re eventually going to beef up your rear axle links. Then, due to the extreme angles they find themselves in, those beefy short links are going to start bending your link mounts.

If you follow trail reports on T4R, you’ve already seen the factory lower link mounts (frame-side) fold over during hard use. In addition to being underbuilt for hard wheeling, they were designed with a terrible approach angle! There are aftermarket “skids” available, but they neither reinforce the mount ears (the part that actually folds) nor do they correct the shape/angle of the mount itself.

So I made some weld-on lower link reinforcements for the 3rd gen 4Runner to correct these issues and accommodate beefy joints (the factory mounts do not have adequate clearance for some aftermarket joints to realize their full range of motion.) These are made from folded 3/16″ plate and are self-aligning – just put the bolt through, trim the angled sides to fit your truck or splay them outward as needed), swing it up to meet the frame, and weld it in



Send my 3rd Gen LLS to me in –


 

 

 

5th gen LLS (and 4th gen, and GX, and FJC)

  • and THEN, you 4th/5th gen guys started bending up your lower link mounts; so I made an LLS for the 120 platform as well:


– and shipping is on me if you’re in the continental US, as always.  🙂

Send my 5th Gen LLS to me in –

 

 

 

80-SERIES LANDCRUISER

Yeah, I love my FZJ80 and am pleased that there is quality aftermarket support for it, but one of the gaping holes in the marketplace was frame-side lower link mount protection (literally no reasonable options to speak of.)

So I’ve taken care of that. 🙂

Like my 4Runner LLS options, this skidplate is both a reinforcement and a ramp to get the mount up and over the obstacle. Weld-on, 3/16″ plate.

I think this one turned out particularly nice, although it took some head-scratching plate-origami to get there.

Want one? Order here.

ship my 80-series LandCruiser LLS to me in

To install, I throw a strap around the axle to pull it forward just enough to take the tension off of the bolt for easy removal.

Then the bolt is removed and the LLS can be tapped up into place.
When the inside hole is aligned, put the factory bolt back in and continue to tap the outside upward until it pops over the flanged radius of the factory mount.

At this point the bolt head should be centered in the slot for socket access as shown here:

Now you can scribe a line around the perimeter of the part as a reference for where to grind away the paint for welding, remove the LLS, prep the frame, and reinstall to weld it in. I’d put the link in place and torque it, then tack everything, pull the link & finish weld.

when you get to this part, use a drift to fold over the tab so you can have a continuous bead around the inner corner of the frame where it meets the mount:

Also, this slot (running parallel with the centerline of the factory mount) is intended to be a drain, so don’t weld it shut. 

Easy-peasy.