Shock replacement (1 Viewer)

[ElixerGxer]

I am thinking of putting some shocks on my wife's 09 gx 110k. I haven't worked on a Toyota with the adjustable ride quality thing that the gx's have? can someone give me the run down on how that works and should I replace them with 5100s or will that rid the gx of that feature?

 

[NomzMatter]

If you replace them with anything other than a shock designed for the feature it will eliminate it. 5100s aren't compatible with the adjustabile ride dampening.

The rear is fairly straight forward, bolt on bottom, nut on top. Unplug shock from wire harness as you take it off the vehicle.

Front is a little more in depth - there's an adjuster on the top of the shock that's held down by 2 allen head bolts, remove them, pull the sensor off and unplug it. Then remove the 17mm nut on top of the mounting bracket and remove it. Then remove the 3 x 14mm nuts on top of the shock that mount it to the frame. Remove the lower shock bolt/nut combo. From here you have options - you can remove the front sway bar to make room to get the shock out while manipulating the spindle, or if you plan to get an alignment after you can mark the alignment cams on the lower control arm and detatch it to the point it'll swing down then the shock/spring combo will come right out the bottom.

 

[GBinAZ]

Top nut on the rear shock can be a bear to get off.

Penetrating oil is you friend.

 

[ElixerGxer]

Oh im sure, I helped my brother changed the shocks out on his v8 4runner that came from chicago. Im pretty sure we used enough pb blaster to loosen the frame welds. The rear shock lower mount was STUCK!

 

[uzj100]

Can you add just rear shocks and remove the rear air bags? I am new to the GX and a friend is asking. Or is better to just replace the air bags?

If you do the air bags, is it recommended to do shocks as well?

It rides like there are shocks in the back.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

You can replace the shocks separately from the rear air bags who are also referred as air springs.

You can replace the rear air bags with new air bags.

Or you can replace the rear air bags with coils but you will need a coil conversion kit and the metal coils.

I rode with the rear air bags for 3 years before doing the coil conversion. There are advantages to having rear air bags in terms of lowering or raising the height of the rear on the gx470.

If you plan to go off-road on rocks and rutted roads, then you might consider doing the coil conversion especially if you want the extended length shocks and metal coils.

 

[jiggletits]

I am thinking of putting some shocks on my wife's 09 gx 110k. I haven't worked on a Toyota with the adjustable ride quality thing that the gx's have? can someone give me the run down on how that works and should I replace them with 5100s or will that rid the gx of that feature?

Anything other than OEM replacements will require suspension control delete. The OEM shocks are $$$. Not worth it IMO.

The rear air suspension? Mine worked fine and I pulled it off anyway. Firestone makes two different "coil-rite" airbag kits. One for stock height, one for a lift. Those are better IMO, if one goes out you still have a coil spring there to keep some height.

My 5100s ride like s*** compared to my Dobinsons. I have two GX470s. 5100s are super stiff. They are also a lift strut, you will get minimum 1-1.5" of lift up front, adjustable up to 3" I think. Rear shocks go on easy if you can get top nut off. The 5100 rears are made for a small lift too, but the rear lift would require a coil spring.

Personally, if I wanted to keep the ride height the same, I would get the 4600s for a same-year 4Runner, along with a set of same year 4Runner rear coils and the spring isolators top/bottom.

 

[Rednexus]

I have a pair of OEM Toyota adjustable shocks with around 10,000 miles on them I'd be willing to sell. The PO replaced the rear shocks but not the airbags just before I bought my GX. The original airbags later blew out after some wheeling and I installed a lift kit and did the coil spring conversion.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I had a good experience riding with Bilstein 6112s up front which came with the standard 600 lbs/in coils and it rode very smooth in the front. These can be height adjusted (need to take off springs to adjust) from stock to about a 2.5” lift.

The rear had the original oem shocks and the oem rear airbags.

It actually rode pretty good overall, but the rear did like to have some cargo weight on it.

So, it’s possible to change things out little by little and try them out. Or you can go all out from the onset and replace all the suspension components at once

 

[HomersCanyonero]

This guy kept his air bags, but went all out on the suspension

 

[Montana Cruiser]

This guy kept his air bags, but went all out on the suspension

I'd love to know where he was able to find air bag spacers, or how he made them. Its been asked but he's never responded.