Baja Yaris

[Maritime]

Originally Posted by justjesus

I have the General tires on my Jeep XJ. So far, I like 'em enough. For my Yaris, I'm running the prior gen of the BFG All Terrains in 195/70-14 (70, I think). They hold up well for daily driver duty.

Sure enough, when looking at my own Off Road Yaris project, I found some Jeep JK front spacers that may work in the rear of the Yaris. Some measurements were taken, and I *think* they could work. I bought them but never put them on to confirm. I'm pretty sure of it, though.






The LSD, plus the xB final drive ratio, is what I was considering for mine. But, unfortunately, I couldn't say "F- the budget" :( The cost of those two items, plus install, was high enough that I took that money and bought a 1996 Jeep Cherokee (XJ).

If you YouTube "off road yaris" mine should be the first hit. You can see where having an LSD would have helped. But in reality, that stuff I was attempting there IS a bit much for a FWD econobox :) I knew this going in! It did much better on regular dirt trails.

I really hope you get this project going!!!! I still go back and forth on mine.

Also, I'm still kind of tinkering with a way to get the rear lifted, without affecting the shocks, or the angle of the rear beam assembly.

Yep, the LSD will be if and when I do an engine swap if the body is still good. I saw your vids on Youtube. Found them after I decided I'd do the Baja and started searching to see if anyone had done it before me. I'm only planning to use it on some old logging roads etc so after seeing what you did, I'm comfortable with the project. I can't find any tires in the 195/75/14 anymore. They are all discontinued, that's why I need to go qith the 27x8.5 14. I hope the 1.5" lift front and back and some fender massage will be enough to fit them without rubbing.

I have just a little bit of fab left on one front lift and I'll be ready to install. If I can swing a couple hours in the evening this week I'll get them installed. The rear lifts came and look promising. If the centers end up to wide, I'll cut those out and the outer cup walls should still keep them in place. Then I will drive it a few times to make sure all is ok noise/vibration wise. If good I'll cover a current wheel tire in foam/cardboard to make it the sized of the new tires and see if it fits in the wells. I'll need to compress the shocks/struts and still turn the wheels to see if they rub. I think I have enough stands and jacks to manage that. I'll post up pics when I do it.

[justjesus]

Originally Posted by myfirstyota

I think you'll have to make rear axle drop brackets if you don't want the angle of the axle affected. I plan on a 3-4" lift and I'm just gonna push that axle down. It will be way too much fab work to make axle mount drop brackets. I took a quick look one day to see if some sort of bolt in drop brackets could be made. Didn't look remotely easy to me.

I had two ideas for that. (1) Where the beam ties into the body, one bolt on each side if I recall. There are actually two bolt holes on either side. Some guys use the upper one once they've lowered the car some. I was thinking using those two bolt holes to make a simple bracket to drop the beam a small amount. (2) was a plate system. One plate per wheel. Sort of like the penguin spacers, but made to "lift" the car by adding ground clearance. I drew it out once, but have moved a couple of times and not sure where that drawing is.

Originally Posted by Type-Y

This is a cool idea. I for one have always loved bugs, in all their various iterations, including the baja bug. I've often thought of the Yaris as the modern day VW bug due to it's simplicity, reliability, dependability and utility. Good luck and post your progress.

Yup. I like those Baja bugs as well. Saw a video or two with a group of them going through some trails near where I live. I watched those videos to see if I thought the Yaris would be able to make it. Haha.. havent tried those yet.

Originally Posted by Maritime

Yep, the LSD will be if and when I do an engine swap if the body is still good. I saw your vids on Youtube. Found them after I decided I'd do the Baja and started searching to see if anyone had done it before me. I'm only planning to use it on some old logging roads etc so after seeing what you did, I'm comfortable with the project. I can't find any tires in the 195/75/14 anymore. They are all discontinued, that's why I need to go qith the 27x8.5 14. I hope the 1.5" lift front and back and some fender massage will be enough to fit them without rubbing.

Thanks for watching! I noticed that size hasn't carried over to the new KO2s. Bummer, for sure. Other tires that I was looking at, and they have more Yaris friendly size options, are dirt rally tires. Not sure how long they'd last on a street driven Yaris, though. I was lucky enough to get the BFGs while they still had them. I believe the Grabbers in 27" size were the next smallest size (not including rally tires).

If you're just looking at some old logging roads, maybe a less aggressive "all terrain" may work.

But then again, the black Overlanding Yaris guy is running 215/75-15 which is about 27.6" tall. Not sure what his "lift" specs are, but it looks like he's having success with them.

Originally Posted by Maritime

I have just a little bit of fab left on one front lift and I'll be ready to install. If I can swing a couple hours in the evening this week I'll get them installed.

Looking forward to your update.

[myfirstyota]

Originally Posted by justjesus

I had two ideas for that. (1) Where the beam ties into the body, one bolt on each side if I recall. There are actually two bolt holes on either side. Some guys use the upper one once they've lowered the car some. I was thinking using those two bolt holes to make a simple bracket to drop the beam a small amount.

I also looked at the upper holes to use to mount some type of drop bracket. Now, I didn't spend an hour poking around down there but I didn't think the upper holes were threaded on the inboard side. And because of the way the "frame" is assembled, theres no access to the other side without cutting holes. Please tell me I'm wrong and that the upper holes are threaded on the inboard side (like the lower holes where the axle mounts from factory). If they are... drop brackets would be very feasable. But then I think, you axe some ground clearance by lowering the whole axle...

[justjesus]

Originally Posted by myfirstyota

Please tell me I'm wrong and that the upper holes are threaded on the inboard side (like the lower holes where the axle mounts from factory). If they are... drop brackets would be very feasable. But then I think, you axe some ground clearance by lowering the whole axle...

You would definitely lose some clearance. Seems, there's one trade off or another, right?

The other idea I had, adds maybe about an inch of clearance without affecting anything else.

Anyway, here's the link to using the upper bolt hole. Surely, it is threaded.

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=25

[Maritime]

Originally Posted by justjesus

You would definitely lose some clearance. Seems, there's one trade off or another, right?

The other idea I had, adds maybe about an inch of clearance without affecting anything else.

Anyway, here's the link to using the upper bolt hole. Surely, it is threaded.

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=25

interesting. so the 2 holes could be used with some plate to do the opposite and lower the axle an inch to correct for taller springs and keep travel the same. Very interesting indeed. mind you would lose a little clearance but keep factory set travel.

Edit: you'd definately want to put some shock extensions of the same length as well.

[myfirstyota]

Originally Posted by justjesus

You would definitely lose some clearance. Seems, there's one trade off or another, right?

The other idea I had, adds maybe about an inch of clearance without affecting anything else.

Anyway, here's the link to using the upper bolt hole. Surely, it is threaded.

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=25

That would appear to be threaded for sure lol
I think the 'penguin spacer bearing relocation plate' would be a good idea to get your lift and maintain axle angle + maintain good ground clearance but the only thing I'd be worried about is lateral force. Maybe some sort of diagonal bracing from the bottom of the bearing mount to somewhere on the axle could be fabricated.

I looked at fabricating my own spacers but came to the realization it's not easy cutting perfect holes in 1/4" and up thick steel plate and abandon the idea.

Side note: I just may be able to get off early enough to pick up my rear spacer bits tonight. I'm having an unforseen issue though and may not be able to fabricate/install the lift for a couple months. Bummer.

[Maritime]

Originally Posted by myfirstyota

That would appear to be threaded for sure lol
I think the 'penguin spacer bearing relocation plate' would be a good idea to get your lift and maintain axle angle + maintain good ground clearance but the only thing I'd be worried about is lateral force. Maybe some sort of diagonal bracing from the bottom of the bearing mount to somewhere on the axle could be fabricated.

I looked at fabricating my own spacers but came to the realization it's not easy cutting perfect holes in 1/4" and up thick steel plate and abandon the idea.

Ha I just typed my reply before I saw this. I know a guy stateside with a CNC water jet that could cut anything we could draw up.