I've been creeping around this site for at least 4 months and finally sold my '93 Toyota pickup w/ 6.5" lift on 32s and will hopefully own a stock 88 tin top by the end of the week. I'm trying to get this thing sitting on 31s asap and even after lurking for the past week i still don't have a solid answer.

95% of driving will be on the highway and around town, top speed 60-65

4% of driving will be on soft Hawaiian sand

1% on minor off road trails

I could care less about articulation, I just want it to ride well on road and handle acceleration without spring wrap

aaaaaand I'd like it to be as low as possible and still clear the 31s, after 3 years of jumping in and out of the Toyota my girlfriend would love me to own something a little more accessible.



I was thinking maybe RRO 3" budget lift w/ 2" over stock shackles in the rear and
1" over stock shackles in the front

or should I go with a SPOA setup???

what do you guys think?

Tough call trying to get the 31" tires.  I would go with SPOA and an extra leaf to stop the springs from bending over backwards.

You could just go with some OME 2.5" lift springs.  That should fit a non-aggressive set of 30 or 31" tires.  Some nice All Terrains and the like.  Heck, for sand and light duty wheeling you probably don't need a set of MTR's.  For some extra power you could go with a set of 4.8:1 gears or a 1.6L engine.

Tough call trying to get the 31" tires.  I would go with SPOA and an extra leaf to stop the springs from bending over backwards.

You could just go with some OME 2.5" lift springs.  That should fit a non-aggressive set of 30 or 31" tires.  Some nice All Terrains and the like.  Heck, for sand and light duty wheeling you probably don't need a set of MTR's.  For some extra power you could go with a set of 4.8:1 gears or a 1.6L engine.

so sprung under OME 2.5" lift springs would fit 31" tires or did you mean the OME springs on a SPOA setup?

the RRO budget kit has 3" lift "Deaver" springs would those clear 31" tires alone?

I'm trying to do this lift as easily and quickly as possible so the SPOA is kinda turning me off, seems like a lot more can go wrong

Spring over is the way to go. Using longer shackles is a bad idea, it changes the caster and therefore changes the handling. A good spring over kit from lowrangeoffroad.com or Petroworks.com is the best way to go to run 31's and they give you everything you need to do the lift. The problem is that Samurai springs are usually pretty sacked out (flat or reversed arched), having them re-arched should make the car ride a little better. I would NOT use after market springs to get a better ride on a spring over unless they are stock height, it lifts the car too high and puts the drive shaft in the wrong angle causing you to have to shim the axles to compensate.

Also, to run 31's you should re-gear the car, I used 4.16:1 transfer case gears in my car and I was very happy with the way the car ran and handled both on and off road.
 

I do the SOA and take one short ply out of the pack and add one heavy ply with some good arch in it. You can get the whole pack arched but that might make it stiff. You'll clear 31's nicely and axle wrap shouldn't be a problem. The extra ply will keep it tight. Since you're not going to wheel alot then it should be ok. Don't forget that you'll need to adress the gears to get to the speed you are looking for. driving in 3 and 4th on the high way really sucks. I've got 462's and run 30's and I'm in 5th gear and I don't have to shift down for most hills.

Well I have an 87 jx and all it has for lift is the SOA, I am clearing 31 10.5s  could clear 32s. Its very stable on the road also. Looks better too and yes, stock Samurai Springs tend to be very flat, I rebuilt my spring packs with a couple Toyota Leaf spring packs... works fine, Add a leaf would also work, little more expensive tho