Replacing rear coils

[Foreigner]

I do a lot of hauling/towing which, as you can imagine, only enhances the standard 4Runner booty sag. I'm getting tired of riding the bump-stops and looking sloppy.

My thought at this point is spend $200 for OEM springs and Air Lift bags. Are there any other solutions I should know about?


We moved back to Montana in January from Missouri. 1300 miles like this:



I wanted to build a roof basket before we left, but ran out of time. I didn't think my little ATV trailer was going to make it.

 

[KLF]

I don't have any experience with airbags, but I have installed several sets of OME coils in the back of those trucks and they worked very nicely. Highly recommended.

 

[PurpleFJ62]

I put in a set of downey 1/5 inch lift coils. It rides a little taller than before, almost seems to level the vehicle out. The panhard bar is not horizontal anymore, so the rear axle is shifted towards the right side of the vehicle a tad.

I dident get new toyota coils because I figured they would sag too, I would like a set of OEM coils that wont sag and have a slightly higher spring rate.

 

[Tools R Us]

It's close to twins with my old (now sold) '90 Runner! IIRC in this pic it had Downy HD rear springs and torsion crank in the front. Later it had ball joint spacers in the front, IMHO a better setup. If I were building the same now, would go with OME coils.

 

[HJ-45CrewCab]

There are two different Old Man Emu coils for your 4runner. OME 900 give 1.5" lift and are for eliminating the sag and carrying little load. OME 901 also give 1.5 lift, but are heavy duty and designed for more load carrying capacity. I first put the air bags in my 4runner in 1997, then changed to OME 900s in 1999. I am now changing to OME 901s now that I have a real bumper on the truck. Skip the bags and go coils.

 

[Foreigner]

OME 901 also give 1.5 lift, but are heavy duty and designed for more load carrying capacity.

Do you happen to know what the difference in load capacity is? I'm sending OME an email. . .I wish their site wasn't so bare-bones on some of this stuff.

Purple, thanks for the note on the panhard. Any other issues related to jacking the back up 1.5"? Do I have to add spacers to the front like Tools did, or do these springs just level it out?

 

[KLF]

You can get a drop-bracket for the panhard rod to fix the off-center axle issue, I know ProComp makes one but I think there are others too. If you don't install this bracket and do any wheeling, the driveshaft can rub on the gas tank skidplate under extreme articulation, makes a horrible scary sound.

You should also consider extending the rear brake line, and adding a bracket to the LSPV rod so it can accomodate the lift.

 

[Foreigner]

It's close to twins with my old (now sold) '90 Runner!

Nice scenery. . .and the background is pretty too. I sometimes wish mine looked more like that. I have paint issues and one of the POs hit a guardrail and messed up the front bumper and DS fenders a bit. I'd like to patch and paint, but probably won't ever get to it.

 

[Foreigner]

You can get a drop-bracket for the panhard rod to fix the off-center axle issue, I know ProComp makes one but I think there are others too. If you don't install this bracket and do any wheeling, the driveshaft can rub on the gas tank skidplate under extreme articulation, makes a horrible scary sound.

You should also consider extending the rear brake line, and adding a bracket to the LSPV rod so it can accomodate the lift.

Thanks, Ken. Good to know.

 

[Tools R Us]

The LSPV should be adjusted to the new ride height. The panhard and brake line depend on shocks, if you run stock length the travel is unchanged, when longer shocks are added, then these need to be addressed.

 

[knixen]

all-pro makes a pan-hard bracket for the axle end. This takes care of the lspv too...

 

[mmml4]

IIRC you can use the front coils from an 80 series Land Cruiser in the rear of your 4runner and gain about 2" of lift. I think it is the 93 to 97 Land Cruisers.

 

[PurpleFJ62]

When I put my coils in it was on a sunday before I went back to school. I really just wanted to give them a try and see how they worked. Then life got urber busy and I never got around to doing the LSPV mod and panhard bar thing. Braking was noticably worse, you can tell the front calipers are doing all the work, front end nose dives.

I bought mine used with abou 140k on it, I believe the front torsion bars are adjusted to their stock torsion. Which reminds me, how does someone tell this? Say you go out and buy a IFS toyota, how do you put the torsion bars in spec. I really dont want to mod my suspension, I like stock height. I have no need as its 90% DD.

I have to say the small lift in the back leveled mine out quite nicely.

Still have to tie up some loose ends on that.
cheers

 

[Foreigner]

IIRC you can use the front coils from an 80 series Land Cruiser in the rear of your 4runner and gain about 2" of lift. I think it is the 93 to 97 Land Cruisers.

That's true, according to what I've read on here from past threads. It sounds like a lot more lift than I am interested in. I just want to be level and be able to haul stuff.

I really dont want to mod my suspension, I like stock height. I have no need as its 90% DD.
I have to say the small lift in the back leveled mine out quite nicely.

Exactly what I'm looking for. I'm not a wheeler, just a mountain feller that likes to go places that normal people avoid.

 

[Tools R Us]

IIRC you can use the front coils from an 80 series Land Cruiser in the rear of your 4runner and gain about 2" of lift. I think it is the 93 to 97 Land Cruisers.

The front cruiser coils fit the rear of 3rd gen runners, rear cruiser coils fit 2nd gen runners. I have never seen them give only 2" of lift. In my experience the LX, and later non 3rd row seat coils result in ~3.5"+ and the earlier and/or 3rd row coils result in more than 4" of lift.

 

[knixen]

The front cruiser coils fit the rear of 3rd gen runners, rear cruiser coils fit 2nd gen runners. I have never seen them give only 2" of lift. In my experience the LX, and later non 3rd row seat coils result in ~3.5"+ and the earlier and/or 3rd row coils result in more than 4" of lift.

No, I`ve tried the ome 863 which gives a land cruiser 2" lift, these were 0,5" taller than the 4" lift coils from trailmaster. I swapped to slee offroad 5" lift coils which lifted about 8"... But were to stiff.

 

[PurpleFJ62]

I need to take about 3/4 of an inch out of my rear coils, got any suggestions. Put them in a press and squeeze to the point of coil bind and hope it dosent pop out and kill me?? Heat with a torch. I cannot cut out a winding because the ends are specially shaped to fit eaither on the axle housing or on the chassis bracket.
IMHO I think toyota should have come out with a service campaign for these just as they did for the HG's and the Steering Rod thing. But its been so long that not a whole lot of these vehicles are probally in service still. Atlest not around the Detroit area. I think other parts of the country like yota a little more.

 

[KLF]

Do what the ricers do, just snip a piece of the coil off. The coil buckets can be rotated.

Do you seriously expect Toyota to replace a sagged coil spring on an 18 year old vehicle?

 

[knixen]

I need to take about 3/4 of an inch out of my rear coils, got any suggestions. Put them in a press and squeeze to the point of coil bind and hope it dosent pop out and kill me?? Heat with a torch. I cannot cut out a winding because the ends are specially shaped to fit eaither on the axle housing or on the chassis bracket.
IMHO I think toyota should have come out with a service campaign for these just as they did for the HG's and the Steering Rod thing. But its been so long that not a whole lot of these vehicles are probally in service still. Atlest not around the Detroit area. I think other parts of the country like yota a little more.

heat it!

 

[Foreigner]

all-pro makes a pan-hard bracket for the axle end. This takes care of the lspv too...

I was just digging around on their site and couldn't find it. Got a link?

edit: I found one in the Taco SAS section. Is that what you're talking about?