tj884Rdlx

hi all,

i've got an 88 4runner, its a daily driver. i just put on 33s and will be boosting it with 4crawler's 1" body lift for clearance. i am also putting in SDORI's 1.5" ball joint spacers up front, so i can back off the torsion bars a little bit and regain some ride comfort.

currently in rear i have absolutely FLAT stock springs with prev. owner's homemade 8" shackles and it is level. But the shackles look scary, and the spring bushing is shot. the ride is a little stiff.

If you have a similar setup in front to what i described, please tell me what you are running in the back that will level it up AND maintain a cushy ride. this truck is driven 90% on road, highway commute.

a local 4x4 shop suggested AAL and blocks, but i've been searching on this for days, and read here that it makes it too stiff. i prefer the advice here.

thanx in advance!
tj

tj884Rdlx

more on this: i found zuk's page with his description of adding coils between the leafs. i like this idea. i have to believe it would make up for the leaf sag without adding stiffness if i find the correct capacity spring. he went with 200 lbs. i'm wondering if i keep these shackles but drop them down to their lowest setting which i think is 5", replace the bushings, and do this coil add, i should be ok.

any input on this idea?

881stGenRunner

i have downey 3" leafs and they ride great. I have had no problems iwht mine yet.



check out more pics in my sig.

Junkers88

I'm going with 3" Downey's in the rear and BJ spacers up front along with a new set of 4crawlers stock length shackles.

I did do the ZUK coil mod on an 86 pickup so I can offer some advice on that. The mod is easy as pie, took only a couple of hours, lifted the truck from flat springs up 2.75" past stock height and made the ride crazy smooth. It also added a lot of load capacity and has a cool factor of about 9.

Plenty of options out there.

tj884Rdlx

hey you're right down the road from me. i'd like to take a look at your truck some time and see how you're set up.

874runnersr5

x3 on the downey leafs.

tj884Rdlx

the downey leafs are a good option, i just read up on those, and within my budget. thanx for that suggestion.

with the 1.5 spacers, did you still crank t-bars up to match the 3" leaf, or were you able to leave them relaxed?

@ Junkers: any particular reason for not doing the coil mod this time around?

874runnersr5

I dont have bj spacers, but if i was to run them i would lower them down a bit

Junkers88

nmtoy (Robb) here on the forums runs the 3" Downey's and BJ spacers and his rig looks and performs very well.

Man I don't know if the coils are something I want to do again. I mean it was easy, cost less than 200$ and made that 86 pickup ride better than our 2000 4runner. *shrug* I don't really know. I'm guessing that coils under the runner and some BJ spacers up front would be pretty much all I need as far as lift goes. I guess I've got some decisions to make.

tj884Rdlx

the last few hours of reading online and the suggestions i've got so far, i'm thinking the downey 3"s and possibly a custom shackle from 4crawler to replace these home made jobs i have. that way i have all bolt up work to do, no welding. i don't want to move spring perches, and i don't want to worry about fabricating a mount for coils. this way i can do all the work myself. i'll have to find a grinder to put in the 1.5" bj spacers as it is.

***
ok, i just did a search for nmtoy and found a thread discussing this same topic. thanx for mentioning his name. you guys have really helped me today with this.

now i'm wondering if i'll need longer stretch shocks. (actually i wonder what's in place right now!)

thanx for the input here y'all!

4banginRunner

How about 63" Chevys?

Cheap, ride awesome, and flex great with the right shock set up

874runnersr5

He said no welding so thats out of the question

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

Another vote for Downey. Here is my thread with before and after pics. Stock front end at that point. I also now see, 4 years later, that I managed to post it in the wrong section.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/n...stalled-48400/

Here is a pic 4 years later just before I tore down for lift and SAS. BJ spacers are in place in this pic.


In regards to the Downeys they held up well and wheeled well for 4 years of hard use. I then sold them to another member lofreqjef and he added the ZUK mod coils as well. You might want to contact him to ask why and how it's working out. Mine did settle about an inch in the first 3 months or so but that was it. They stayed right at +2 inches for the rest of the time on the truck. Also, if you go the Downey route, make sure to add in your current overload leaves. Downey mentions it on their site but I don't recall it specifically in the install instructions. If you find any negative opinions about Downey in your searches you will also likely find those users didn't put the overload in place.

In regards to the BJ spacers they were fine but I don't know that I would do them again. I chose to relax the T bars all the way down to where I could just get the adjusting and lock nuts safely on. I think I actually lowered my ride height an inch from before the spacers. In the end I ended up with this.

In hindsight, all I think I accomplished was to decrease clearance under the axle/crossmember and essentially make the truck have straight axle clearance with IFS articulation. (the worst of both worlds) Don't get me wrong, the truck wheeled very well. I was able to do stuff like this.

But it left the bottom of my truck looking like this.



I'd recommend if you go with the BJ spacers to take the lift and keep the T bars at stock setting or take some of the lift i.e. 1 or 1/2 an inch with some slight relaxing of the t bar setting. Just don't get greedy like I did.

I know. Probably more info than you were looking for. I get carried away sometimes.

toyNG

This is a great thread! Tons of awesome information so far.

I'm in a similar situation as the OP. I've been thinking of getting a set of Downey rears or doing the ZUK mod. My rear is a little bit saggy, but the main reason I'd do either mod would be do make the ride comfort better.

The thing I don't like about the ZUK mod is that it seems like it would reduce off road flexibility. Seems like adding those coils would prevent compression of the suspension. I know that tons of people love the mod, so maybe I'm missing something...

Junkers88

I can answer that a little. Before I did the mod I only had about 3" of room between the top of the rubber bumper and the bottom of the upper bump stop. With camping gear/tools/etc and a camper top on there that distance was reduced to 2" or a little less. It was really easy to get a little crossed up on rocks as small as basket balls and have the body push over since the springs are as compressed as they can go and the bump stops are touching. After doing the coil mod I was able to go over much larger stuff without body roll. In effect since you cut out the upper mount and remove the lower mount and end up using that space for coil the you've got more room for compression and extension.

The more I write about this mod the more I'm swinging towards doing it on my 4runner instead of new leaf springs.

toyNG

I'll buy that. It's somewhat counter intuitive to think that sticking something in between your axle and frame will actually give you more flex. Your explanation that the coil actually "creates" the space for your suspension to move in makes sense now.

Get the Downeys, then do an objective write-up comparing the two

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Pics or it didn't happen!

Junkers88

Glad I could help. The crazy thing is that I just decided to do ZUK's on the 4runner. I ran out and did some measuring and I've got 8.75" between the frame and spring pack and 1.75" between the bump stops. Man that thing is LOW. I pinged ZUK about which coils to use considering the loads I plan to carry and the weight of the hard top. Once he gets back to me I'm going to order some springs.



HEY! I did a whole write up on that and I would have take wheeling pictures but up until yesterday I didn't have a camera. I'll tell you what, I'll do the write up when I install this stuff on the 4runner and then I'll go out and wheel the hell out of it and have someone snap pictures.

I'll bet you drool.

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Oh yeah...I must have missed that one.....
I sure hope that you wheel the thing, I'm tired of reading about it!!!

Junkers88

When I get the 4runner done I am driving up to Washington so I can show you how to wheel. You had better have some sort of meat available or I'm going to kill and eat something.