ZUK

iTrader: (1)

I have links on the lower left corner of my webpage going back to 2006.

If you were to get the shorter 12"x125 pounders then you would get a modest 3" of lift....perhaps a tad less in the case of the pick-up version(frames between Runners and pick-ups curve up differently). The coils are only 12" long so it's always a good idea to check if they will ever come loose by jacking up the rear of your truck til the wheels are almost off the ground and safely take a measurement of the spot were the coil will be. If it's much over 12 then that will tell you if you want to cut the upper steel stopper down to 1"....or leave some more for those times you fully flex it out offroad. If you leave too much stopper then you have to spread the sides a little for the coils to slip in as they taper in a little. Make sure the factory shocks are not limiting the droop of the axle during the measurement. Also, if the shocks are bad you might not notice it with leafpacks that are sagged on the overloads due to their self dampening nature....but once you lift the pack off the overloads with coils.....and that now means the INTERLEAF RESISTANCE is far less, then now you will notice if you have bad shocks because it will bounce all over the place.

I would think about the longer 14"x125.....about 4" lift. Probably make the truck look like a race car and some people might be ok with that. Ball joint spacers could add 1.5" up front to negate the rake. The coil could be easily cut with a 4" cutting wheel on a hand grinder and you could choose to end up with 12" coils again. 14 inchers give you options.....nobody would see the cut if it was on top and to the inside.

The higher it is lifted the softer the ride in general. This is because the qualities of the coils become more and the leafpack effects become less. If you only get 1" of lift then the leafpacks are still supporting a large part of the weight as are the coils so the result is a firm ride due to coils and leafs ADDING together in terms of spring rate.

As you go higher (3 or 4") the load the leafs are carrying is closer to zero and the coil becomes the main vertical support of the load so it almost rides like pure coil(soft). The leafpack at about 5" of lift is only locating the axle...it supports very little weight but still does the job of axle location front to back and side/side. A coil riding truck can be ruined by a stiff shock.....Procomp ES3000 comes to mind Procomps are a very heavy duty well-built shock but they can "firm up" the ride quite a bit too. I used to run them on my 99TJ so I know. I wish I had known about Bilsteins back then....a great shock but pricey at 71 each and that's shopping the internet for the best possible price. I can't speak to much about Rancho and the rest....they would fall somewheres in the middle I guess. I was gonna give you the 2 sentence answer....guess that went to hell.

jeetS

Haha thanks!

I have exactly 3" of sag. If I remember correctly the front is 13.75" fender to the wheel and the rear is 10.75".

I just replaced the leakey shocks with what I'm told are low mileage oem replacements...they are black and have no brand on them. Just say Made in USA...the ride improved a lot(it was super bouncy before)

I'm thinking about going with the 12"x125# coils...as three inched would level it out perfectly....

Thanks for all the input guys!

Junkers88

Just an FYI here. The front and rear fender openings are different. The front is cut higher than the rear so measuring from the wheel to the fender lip won't really tell you how much the rear has sagged.

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

Jeets-- If you could, remove the lower shock bolts and let them hang....jack up the rear bumper to the max and measure the max gap where the coils will be.

Probably a good idea to also jack the rear up til the wheelwell gap front and rear is the same(~3" lift) and see how the stance looks. Pics are nice

thanks ZUK

jeetS

k so I had a couple minutes...I did not get the shock disconnected tho.

I Jacked the truck up untill there was the same gap front and rear...the truck was stupidly raked...

I jacked it all the way up without disconnecting the shock and I got 13" from top of the spring U bolts to the frame where the coil would sit... This is Without the shock disconnected!

What gives?

lol it looks like id only need about 2" of lift before it would start looking too jacked up in the rear...I suppose I could crank the torsion bar...I wouldnt want to sacrifice comfort though...

ToyoTech559

zuk mod does fix the issue, i dont think it mask anything. imo, the zuk mod pretty much makes your rear suspension similar to the 2nd gen runners that run coil springs. the leaf springs are just there to hold the axle in place lol

fyi: reason for the 4runners sag is when they made the truck into a runner, they used the same springs it was originally on the truck but since the runner has the top and interior, which added more weight than the springs can handle over time. toyota didnt want to redo the springs for the runner so they just made the next gen coil springs with a fresh new set up and body.

jeetS

Before:





ten minutes after installing the new springs from a local spring shop. Made in Calgary i believe.

Super happy with it

Tugboat

Beautiful truck! So what did you end up going with? The 12"'s? It looks great. How is the ride?

jeetS

Thanks!

New leafs

87 4x4

how much were the leafs?

jeetS

around 300

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

300 is pretty reasonable for all new leafpacks.....looks like they nailed it right at about 2.5" lift?

jeetS

Ya I think its even more than that... In between the wheels at the frame there is a 1" slope up toward the back...I'm thinking that 1.5" bj spacers will level it right out and allow for 33's