By way of background, I am less than a year into the world of Toyota 4x4s – but like many, have always admired the iconic look of Land Cruisers and British 4WD vehicles. So, when an opportunity came to pick up this 1994 Cruiser with 225K miles on it, in good shape and at a decent price, I snapped it up just ahead of the other 20 people that called the seller in the first 90 minutes of the ad being posted.
Suspension was one of the first thing on the list and after much research on the forums (thanks iH8mud!) about various options, I read good things about the Dobinson’s stock height kit. I’m not yet ready to go for a big lift, because I am not sure which direction I will take the truck, whether it be the expedition/overlanding, or off-roading or (most likely) keeping it as a ‘mall crawler’ with occasional off-road forays.
After consulting with @crikeymike from Dobinson’s USA, we assembled the following:
- C59-210V – Variable Rate Standard Height Springs (Front)
- C59-221V – Variable Rate Standard Height Springs (Rear)
- GS59-683 – Heavy Duty Twin Tube Gas Shocks (Front)
- GS59-682 – Heavy Duty Twin Tube Gas Shocks (Rear)
- SD59-824 – Heavy Duty (Big Bore) Steering Damper, complete with Fittings
I was encouraged by a few folks to go ahead and get lifted springs anyway, but to be honest I truly HATE the way that lifted trucks look with stock wheel and tire setups. That may be putting aesthetics ahead of bad-ass off road functionality, but I am also a realist about how much time I’ll be on-road versus off and how much gear I’ll load into this thing. Stock tires on a lifted truck look spindly to my eye, and my Cruiser came with a nearly-new set of Yokohama Geolandars in stock size anyway, so switching them out is not in the cards until they’re used up. Plus, Land Cruisers are badass anyway – and I can still buy modest lift springs (2-2.5”) and run these shocks, if/when I add more weight and gear and decide to go taller.
Big considerations for staying stock height also included being able to fit my Cruiser into urban parking garages and into my own garage for servicing – and it is really close to get through the porte-cochère to get to the parking in my courtyard apartment. On a recent trip to SF, I was actually able to reach through my open sunroof and touch the roof joists of the Moscone Center parking garage, so if I had more of a lift, it would have been crunch time. Taller tires might be in my future plan, so adding those and/or a roof rack would make it inaccessible to a lot of the places I need to park. And having also read about harsh ride and “stinkbug” appearance with lift springs in unloaded Cruisers, I felt pretty confident in making these product choices.
Dobinson’s drop-shipped the hardware to my installer, and they said the parts went in easily – though somehow my Dobinson’s beer can koozies got lost in the shuffle, darn!
Initial impressions were that the heaving, lurch-y feeling and excessive body lean, were gone. Ride was/is firm, without the seasickness associated with 225K stock suspension pieces. The truck rides even nicer with a bit of weight (passengers) in it, and the cornering is pretty flat for this big of a vehicle. On smooth pavement, all is placid and on corrugated stuff, it is much more controlled – and it tracks better everywhere (the installer aligned it, too). Limited off-roading so far.
Visually, I have picked up some ride height from when I bought my Cruiser, mostly due to the fact that the stock pieces were fully shot. I also like the teal green color of the springs against the yellow shocks, which scream early- to mid-90s JDM to me.
I’ve done a few thousand street and highway miles on this setup, and would certainly pronounce myself very satisfied so far. Work schedule permitting, I will get in a bunch of fire roads this winter and maybe some sort of group drives (hello, TLCA!), and report back, ideally with more pictures than just that purty steering stabilizer and that teasing bit of coil spring!
Suspension was one of the first thing on the list and after much research on the forums (thanks iH8mud!) about various options, I read good things about the Dobinson’s stock height kit. I’m not yet ready to go for a big lift, because I am not sure which direction I will take the truck, whether it be the expedition/overlanding, or off-roading or (most likely) keeping it as a ‘mall crawler’ with occasional off-road forays.
After consulting with @crikeymike from Dobinson’s USA, we assembled the following:
- C59-210V – Variable Rate Standard Height Springs (Front)
- C59-221V – Variable Rate Standard Height Springs (Rear)
- GS59-683 – Heavy Duty Twin Tube Gas Shocks (Front)
- GS59-682 – Heavy Duty Twin Tube Gas Shocks (Rear)
- SD59-824 – Heavy Duty (Big Bore) Steering Damper, complete with Fittings
I was encouraged by a few folks to go ahead and get lifted springs anyway, but to be honest I truly HATE the way that lifted trucks look with stock wheel and tire setups. That may be putting aesthetics ahead of bad-ass off road functionality, but I am also a realist about how much time I’ll be on-road versus off and how much gear I’ll load into this thing. Stock tires on a lifted truck look spindly to my eye, and my Cruiser came with a nearly-new set of Yokohama Geolandars in stock size anyway, so switching them out is not in the cards until they’re used up. Plus, Land Cruisers are badass anyway – and I can still buy modest lift springs (2-2.5”) and run these shocks, if/when I add more weight and gear and decide to go taller.
Big considerations for staying stock height also included being able to fit my Cruiser into urban parking garages and into my own garage for servicing – and it is really close to get through the porte-cochère to get to the parking in my courtyard apartment. On a recent trip to SF, I was actually able to reach through my open sunroof and touch the roof joists of the Moscone Center parking garage, so if I had more of a lift, it would have been crunch time. Taller tires might be in my future plan, so adding those and/or a roof rack would make it inaccessible to a lot of the places I need to park. And having also read about harsh ride and “stinkbug” appearance with lift springs in unloaded Cruisers, I felt pretty confident in making these product choices.
Dobinson’s drop-shipped the hardware to my installer, and they said the parts went in easily – though somehow my Dobinson’s beer can koozies got lost in the shuffle, darn!
Initial impressions were that the heaving, lurch-y feeling and excessive body lean, were gone. Ride was/is firm, without the seasickness associated with 225K stock suspension pieces. The truck rides even nicer with a bit of weight (passengers) in it, and the cornering is pretty flat for this big of a vehicle. On smooth pavement, all is placid and on corrugated stuff, it is much more controlled – and it tracks better everywhere (the installer aligned it, too). Limited off-roading so far.
Visually, I have picked up some ride height from when I bought my Cruiser, mostly due to the fact that the stock pieces were fully shot. I also like the teal green color of the springs against the yellow shocks, which scream early- to mid-90s JDM to me.
I’ve done a few thousand street and highway miles on this setup, and would certainly pronounce myself very satisfied so far. Work schedule permitting, I will get in a bunch of fire roads this winter and maybe some sort of group drives (hello, TLCA!), and report back, ideally with more pictures than just that purty steering stabilizer and that teasing bit of coil spring!