2-2.5" AHC Lift Using King Coils & Shock Spacers

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Thanks a lot for the reply DD. My AHC seems to be in decent shape, but then again I have not really inspected all the parts and it would all be new to me anyway . . . Any advice on inspecting it? Not sure what "globes" are and I assume the bushings are the shock bushings that in an ordinary set up would not be a big deal to replace but in these it's such a unique system that you can't just replace the shock.

I know from reading that you ended up lowering your AHC lift at a certain point. Is 2" too much to expect to get? That being the case, would you still use the shock spacer mounts or is it not necessary? Thanks a lot!
 
monkey620 said:
Thanks a lot for the reply DD. My AHC seems to be in decent shape, but then again I have not really inspected all the parts and it would all be new to me anyway . . . Any advice on inspecting it? Not sure what "globes" are and I assume the bushings are the shock bushings that in an ordinary set up would not be a big deal to replace but in these it's such a unique system that you can't just replace the shock.

I know from reading that you ended up lowering your AHC lift at a certain point. Is 2" too much to expect to get? That being the case, would you still use the shock spacer mounts or is it not necessary? Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

I think you must test your system by checking the graduations on the AHC fluid reservoir when going from Low to High. Anything less than 7 graduations on the scale points to a "globe" failure.

There is a ton of reading on the subject here via the search function but this thread details it nicely:Definitive list of AHC maintenance items

"Globes" are called accumulators by Toyota and there are separate part numbers for the front and rear. They are located along the frame rail of the vehicle under the running boards. This is what they look like (roundish/flattened softball sized & shaped black metal objects) still attached to the hydraulic control valve housings.
IMAG0505[1].webp
 
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Also, sorry this is a little off topic, but I google searched and couldn't really find anything on this . . . It seems that in low range my LX470 only shifts through 3 gears . . is that normal? I did not have the center diff locked and when I shifted to low, the ATRAC, VSC off, and ABS lights all came on with no indicator or low range on the dash, although it was clearly in low range . . . ?? Anyone experience this? Thanks in advance for any replies
 
No problem. Welcome to MUD.

To answer your other questions on AHC, many posters here have gotten 2" of lift from this system with minimal modifications. However you must check the health of your system and keep your AHC neutral pressure within design specs or else it may cause premature failure of your "globes" or other AHC components. Search on this forum toward this subject is your friend.

I believe the AHC spacers that DD and others sourced from Japan are designed to return some of the hydraulic ram (shock) travel back to a more normal position.

After an AHC lift the rams stay extended due to the increased height sensor setting and will sometimes top out resulting in a sharp jarring as the cylinder tops out.

By installing the spacer and moving the bottom ram mount upwards it returns the position of the piston in the ram to more of a stock setting and should result in more up travel within the ram before topping out. I hope this helps to explain their function.
 
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monkey620 said:
Thanks a lot for the reply DD. My AHC seems to be in decent shape, but then again I have not really inspected all the parts and it would all be new to me anyway . . . Any advice on inspecting it? Not sure what "globes" are and I assume the bushings are the shock bushings that in an ordinary set up would not be a big deal to replace but in these it's such a unique system that you can't just replace the shock.

I know from reading that you ended up lowering your AHC lift at a certain point. Is 2" too much to expect to get? That being the case, would you still use the shock spacer mounts or is it not necessary? Thanks a lot!
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@Flipped Bezel is right in answering all your questions. I lowered my rear a little due to my dead rear globes. By raising the pressure even more it helped control my ride a little more.

I think with the spacers you could get a 3.5" lift, but other parts would obviously limit that. 2" is doable without the spacers.
 
Hey DD, thanks for the reply and all the info. You said you thought 2" was doable without spacers. Do the shocks have enough travel to sit 2" higher and still have good down travel for trails and rocks? Seems like having the LX ride 2" higher on the shocks would make them reach full extension a lot on the trail . . . maybe they have a lot more travel than I'm thinking.

Before you took your AHC off and went conventional weren't you only at about a 1-1.5" lift and still had the shock spacers on there, right?
 
Hello.

A 100 with 2 inch will have hardly any down travel left. Even full stock on mid height the down travel ins't great, on high there isn't much left. I only intend to lift my 100 20 or 30mm up front, i will add the shocks spacer to gain down travel over stock system. I will also add my diff drop to get the CV's flat on road and reduce their angles at full drop.

Longer shocks or shocks drop bracket are a must for a 100 to me.
 
I should load up all the parts I have for this job and make the 3-4 hour drive to OKC so @DirtDawg can make sure I don't screw anything up!
 
Very interested in this, just made a trip from Georgia to Colorado and back in a week with 5 other people and luggage stuffed I'm the very back behind the third seat. It rode in low for most of the way and I want to prevent that from happening again because the ride was not the best and the rear end had definite sag to it. From what I've read it seems like I could just throw some king springs in the front and rear with the shock spacers and I should be ok? I don't want any lift over the stock height because I don't want my mpg to suffer anymore than it does but I do want greater load capacity.
 
sailor95 said:
Very interested in this, just made a trip from Georgia to Colorado and back in a week with 5 other people and luggage stuffed I'm the very back behind the third seat. It rode in low for most of the way and I want to prevent that from happening again because the ride was not the best and the rear end had definite sag to it. From what I've read it seems like I could just throw some king springs in the front and rear with the shock spacers and I should be ok? I don't want any lift over the stock height because I don't want my mpg to suffer anymore than it does but I do want greater load capacity.
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You just need the king springs, no shock spacers if keeping stock height
 
@DirtDawg and it's only for the rear correct? The front is controlled by the tbars and not springs right?
 
sailor95 said:
@DirtDawg and it's only for the rear correct? The front is controlled by the tbars and not springs right?
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Correct. With the king rear springs and adjusted front TBs you should never get overloaded.
 
@DirtDawg one thought i had was what if I decided to take out the ahc completely, are the king springs as strong as the ome medium or heavy duties or would i just need to go with those instead in the event of a swap
 
This has probably been asked... really don't have time to rifle around, but instead of kings and spacer could I use OME mediums in its place or would that screw it all up?
 
no that will not match the ahc at all unless you have way overloaded your cruiser.
 
For future reference: any AHC springs and conventional springs are NOT cross compatible.
 
Has anybody considered the idea of using the king springs along with say like a airlift airbag kit? Seems like it could really give the rear end of our vehicles more weight bearing ability on the fly if you have a pump handy. Could help with heavy tongue weights or just if you have more armor and bumpers and don't want to switch to the ome setup and stay cost effective.
 
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