Azca

Just got back from wheeling the 4runner after putting on some new 31 10.5 15 yokahama MTs and OME 901s on the back.

To say I am disapointed in the rigs performance is an understatement. It does have open diffs front and rear but it could not get up a rock, well small boulder strewn hill that my 02 expedition got up. The expy did have a LS in the rear and 285 75 16 Pro Comp Xtr MTs on it but accounting for the extra weight and without the same ground clearance I would have bet money that the runner would have done at least as well.

The rig does not seem to flex nearly as well as I would have liked so I am left with a bit of a dilema. How much more to put into it. I am going to but BJ spacers in the front and new shocks all around (one was very weak at the back and the back really slams down hard when the wheels drop) and did not want to but really am thinking of putting a Powertrax locking diff in the rear. Perhaps even some sway bar disconnects at the front.

Any thoughts from you folks, especially on the locker? I do not want to keep throwing money at the rig as money is hard to find but I know I want this thing to go at least as far as the expidition did so we can save that one for hauling groceries, the boat and trailer and not beat it up in the dirt.

whokrz

I had OME on my 1997 4runner. Sounds like yours is a 2nd gen, but both are a IFS 4runners and when modified preform about the same.

Front:
Old Man Emu Spring #881
Old Man Emu Shock N91S
1” Differential Spacer
Revtek Top out spacer
Extended studs
Sway bar (removed)

Rear:
Old Man Emu Springs #892
Old Man Emu Shocks N86
Extended Brake Line


In the pictures you can see that the wheel travel is not bad but not great.
If you want good wheel travel you need to SAS and throw more money at it.

If you want more flex with what you currently have you need to find what is limiting the wheel travel, probably the front sway bar(just throw it away) and the front/rear shocks(not long enough).

For traction keeping all four wheels on the ground will help, but a rear locker will make a huge difference. The auto lockers don't have the best road manners in the world but they work great off road. ARB for the locker is the best of both worlds but the are expensive.

RMA

Do it , Go for the locker in the rear. I am sure you will see a big change.

Justinlhc

A few questions first. What shocks are you running? What tire pressure were the tires at? You said you got new tires so I'm assuming a tire shop put them on. Last time I took my truck to get new tires put on I noticed imy kidneys were in severe pain on the ride home. Checked the pressure and they were all set at 50psi. Not very goog for off-roading.

A locker in the rear will help TONS. I was amazed(still am actually)at what a difference my locker made. Night and day.

My guess is a locker in the rear, air pressure set at about 20psi and some longer, decent shocks and you will be happy.

Azca

Not sure which shocks, they are not great by any means and one had little resistance on the compression stroke. Not sure on the front but believe they are gone as well. I just bought this used and already have put 1.5K into it so I am not really too happy right now but, live and learn.

I just bought some skyjacker shocks and steering stabilzer. I hope that will take care of some of the ride issues.

Tire pressure was off the chart when I got them back home. I did air down to 30 before heading out and could have, should have, dropped to 15. But for comparison sake I had the expy at 40 and got up the hill, with a bit of wheel spin, but got up none the less. Oh ripped up the tires a bit in the process.

The runner didn't even get to the nastiest part of the hill. I will admit the hill is fairly difficult, about a 20 degree angle with rocks varying from sand and rocks up to 18". Very loose on top of it. There was no place to get a good hold of the surface so as I would pick a line one tire at oposites sides and end would dig a hole.

I just spoke to the wife, boy she is good, she said go ahead and buy a locker. So now to get one at a good price is key. I would LOVE to have an elocker or ARB but NO WAY can I aford it now. So I am looking at the Powertrax so I can install it myself. I am just leary of on road manners as I intend to give this to my daughter in a couple of years.

What do you folks think?

Justinlhc

I bought my Lockright from http://www.ronsmachiningservice.net/servlet/StoreFront for $260 shipped. http://www.ronsmachiningservice.net/...WERTRAX/Detail which was the cheapest I could find. They also have an Ebay store under the same name with the same price. I did a write-up recently on the Lockright V6 install recently. It's a cake job and doesn't require any special tools or skills as long as you can read and follow directions.

RMA

I bought my lockright from the same place , cheapest I could find also.
Still have to install it though.

Matt16

1. Buy a rear locker. Aussie Locker's are good and cheap. 2wd locked is as capable as 4wd open/open.
2. Install BJ spacers then RELAX the torsion bars so that you gain NO lift. This allows the front suspension to flex much better. They're easy to make, cheaper and faster to use than anything you can buy https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f129...onnects-75746/
3. Make quick disconnects for the front sway bar. You'll want it on road if you give a crap how the truck handles (this applies to 2nd gen 4Runners). Take the rear off with OME 901s and you the truck will be VERY tippy. I flopped mine with the rear off, so just don't do it. The rear swaybar doesn't inhibit flex at all, because the rear is all ready very flex to start with relative to the fron. Remove the rear and the fron IFS won't flex at all.
4. deflate you're tires to 20psi- they grip much better offroad.

NOTE: You pretty much need to buy the OME rear shocks now. The spring rate is much different than stock and so putting on other shocks will make for a very harsh ride. Procomps ES3000 and OME 901's made driving over manhole covers feel like dropping off a 6" drop with the OME Nitrocharger shocks.

Justinlhc

On #1 I guess I was assuming he had a V6, but if he does he can't use an Aussie in the rear. I disagree with the comment about locked rear is as capable as open 4WD. I can do some amazing stuff in just 2WD with the rear locked, but it's not even close to what it was capable of in 4WD with open diffs.

#2 I totally disagree. I have no sway bars and my front flexes as good as a stock IFS is going to flex. I also don't feel like I'm going to roll without it. You say you flopped it, but do you really think the sway bar would have prevented you from flopping?

algranger

You are definitely not putting your money in the right place. Get lockers go anywhere then get a lift for the extra clearance and stability of flex

Dont put any more money into the suspension (except shocks to match your lift) get it locked front and rear

Azca

The reason for the new springs was the back end drooped so much that there was no wheel travel and had a very uncomfortable ride as it would bottom out on just little dips or even going slow over speed bumps. The springs are supposed to raise it 1.5 inches but I got a little over 3.5 after installing them. The back really sagged! Now it feels like an old chevelle with huge slicks in back. As I drive down the road it looks like it is pointing its butt in the air!

As for tires, I didn't have a choice. They were gone and one was separating. Tire were realatively cheap. I got all 4 installed and out the door for $560.

As far as the rest of it I have replaced the valve cover gaskets, front driver side drive shaft, radiator, all radiator hoses, new belts, pitman arm, power steering pump, springs of course, changed all fluids, replaced and painted a lot of interior parts, new seat covers, front bumper, bumper brackets, valance, grill, horns, battery, directionals, marker lights, reapired the broken headlamps, replaced the chrome passanger side bumper end, replaced the front window switches on both sides, new A/C switch and speaker boxes. Repaired a lot of other electrical problems and still have more to take care of. So all that said I made a poor buy on the truck but would not sell my problems to someone else so I fix it and fix it and fix it. Someday my daughter will have a good vehicle!

It still needs new interior and carpet, power antenna, whell arch trim for the passenger front, I believe it will need new steering components but am waiting to complete a little more front end work and some more interior trim parts that are missing, broken or in poor shape.

So now I move onto wants.
Locking diff rear
Winch and bumper (F&R)
33" tires with proper rims
new gears
Sliders
Front locker
new engine. Possibly a 3.4 swap or even another appropriate swap.
A new paint job when I turn it over to her when she is 16 (she is 14 now).

BTW. Good kid, not spoiled, she LOVES to fish, likes hunting and camping and all of the outdoors and is especially in love with horses and dressage. She wanted a 4x even before I suggested giving this to her. Also, I will have her pay for the orignial price of the rig and I will throw in the rest provided she maintains her A average. Mainly so she will respect what she has by earining it and paying for it. I have seen too many kids who blew it after mom or dad gave them a vehicle, they need to work for it...

Any

Jay351

Put a locker, and the right length shocks and your 4runner will demolish your exp offroad.

My truck in 2wd can do easily what I used to only be able to do in 4wd open/open.

Justinlhc

That's crazy. For me it wasn't even close. What kind of wheeling do you do? I get stuck all the time in 2WD(locked rear) where I used to never have a problem in 4WD open in those areas. I don't see how 2WD locked could ever be better than 4WD open, especially in a situation where you have to turn in soft sand/dirt.

89silverpu

That's debatable. Depends on what kind of wheeling you're doing.

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you had traction issues and springs have no effect on that. The tires have little effect on that as well. Yes tires have aspects of traction but with open diffs, the tire with the least traction is the one that will spin and the tire with the most traction is stopped, basically negating any traction advantages the nice new tires might have brought to the table. Moral of the story, don't be too hard on your new gear. You're expecting it to do something that it is not really designed to do. You needed tires and springs anyways, so it's not like lost money.

By all means, get the lockright. I have one and love it. It made a world of difference in my trucks abilities. I had plenty of folks poo poo it and tell me I wouldn't like it and the road manners would suck and blah blah blah. Best $250 I spent on the truck. IMO forget the BJ spacers and disconnects. That's kind of heresy to say here, so I won't elaborate in public as it will just crap up your thread. Listen to what folks have to say about them and if you're interested PM me and I'll be happy to give you my take on it. Good luck.

xzyragon

your troubles reminded me of this...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqBph0o8Asc[/youtube]

air down ur tires

Matt16

1. You're missing the point. the point I'm making is that if you're having traction issues, the single best thing you can do for your rig is buy a locker or two. I'd take a double-locked Ford Explorer over an open/open Land Cruiser in a traction contest over any terrain any day.

Whether 2wd locked is the same as 4wd depends entirely on the terrain you're on. On ice? Not a chance, a locker does nothing when the tires have the same amount of traction. Crossing hitched roads- I'd probably take the locker as I'm guaranteed to have two diagonally-opposite tires in the air at some point.

2. The sway bars are on there for a reason: they increase the speed at which you can lane change in an emergency without tipping over. I really don't get why people take them off when quick disconnects are about $40 to make and will reduce the likelihood of a rollover.

As for the rear swaybar- the rear coil suspension flexes very easily and is a LOT less progressive than the front torsion bar (reason: torsion bars are a shorter and stiffer spring- keep in mind the coil spring is a narrow coiled up torsion bar). The rear already flexes easier than the front. Next time you drive one of the front tires up on a rock, notice it is the rear diagonally-opposite tire that gets stuffed into the wheel well way more so than the front gets stuffed. That's with a swaybar on. Without the rear swaybar, the rear simply does all the flexing UNTIL you're just about flexed out in the rear and then (and ONLY then) does the front flex. This leads to more pitching back and forth as the IFS remains rigid while the rear flexes.


************

For the money, lockers are by far the best thing you can do for your truck. I like a rear auto locker and (would) like a front selectable. Who cares about flex when you have lockers, flex might lessen the "pucker factor", but locker are what will get you over/ through/ around an obstacle.

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

love it.

Matt16

That illustrates wheelbase and tire size and compound well.

Justinlhc

I'm just saying, I have no sway bars and I don't experience any of these negative effects. For an IFS setup it works about as good as it gets with stock components. I can back over and up rocks and the front uses the small amount of travel it has regardless of how many sway bars I have or don't have.

I agree that a locker helps in a huge way, but in no way shape or form does MY 2wd locked rear out-perform my old 4wd open setup. Not even remotely close and I don't wheel in any ice.