Baja Yaris

[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.