vmax84

Once I get the interior straightend around, need to tackle this job. Winter will be over pretty soon (the 4runner never sees the salt!!........I get a lot of grief over this from the wife.....oh well), and need to get the truck ready to go for the spring, summer, and fall driving.

vmax84

vmax84

Looking at the pic from this angle, the shocks look kinda wimpy!!

vmax84

F0RSAKEN

I was going to say that putting new springs on a 4Runner is pretty easy, Im a novice with this vehicle, and it only took me 2-3 hours to do it, and that was with a run to an autoparts store to get a spring compresser that I never used. But then I noticed you have leaves, not coils (like mine) so Im not sure of the difficulty. Either way, I got AllProOffRoad rear coils w/ 1.5 inch lift, and I love 'em so far. Brought my rear end up 3.5 inches over the sag.

Elvota

I would say the job of replacing the spring pack isn't very hard at all. Might run into some rust problems with the pivot bolts through the leaves, but there are plenty of tips on how to handle that on this site or others. Personally, I find PB Blaster works great on rust, so spray that on advance of the work.

You can probably just by a new spring pack, and get any lift you want. Or maybe junkyard to add some leaves or experiment with a add-a-leaf, but your problem is really the springs have gone flat, and you need to get the curve back, so leaves with a better arc is really what you want.

chubbydude

This topic has excellent coverage on 4x4wire.

http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showfl...4&fpart=1&vc=1

Lunnzz

That looks like my truck my passerger's side rear is over a inch lower than driver's side..

Erich_870

It's probably because the gas tank is on that side.

Erich

vmax84

You guys are gonna ban me from this site, but I'm just looking to get the original look back (and maybe add just a little over stock) with enough carrying capacity to haul the kids in the back seat............please don't ban me for wanting to keep my runner' stock looking!!!!

vmax84

Erich_870

My 87's springs were completely flat - sitting directly on the overload leaf and I ordered an add-a-leaf from Summit for 35 bucks. It was cheap and worked great. It's true that it was stiffer than stock, but the thing is, I never new what stock felt like so it was 100x's better for me!

No more hitting the bump stops on city driving

No shame in staying stock.

There are tons of choices...
You could purchase a new add-a-leaf,

buy springs from a u-pull it and miss and match leaves,

buy new stock springs, or

buy custom springs designed for a particular load and flex rate.

If you want cheap AND easy, go for the add-a-leaf.

If you want easy, go for a new set since you'll only need to take off the old and put on the new, no new u bolts or taking apart your old rusted spring pack or digging around a u-pull it yard.

If you want the best ride for your rig, go for the custom, you can design it for a typical load situation for your needs.

Erich

Asha'man

Who sells new spring packs? The ass end of my '86 is pretty saggy too, and I just want to level it. Maybe a couple inches of lift will come later, but right now I just want a level truck that I can get 31's or something under.

Brian

trythis

You can get them resprung too at a ocal spring shop.

peterng

Eh,

NOWR has stock and 750lb over HD rear springs, I got them a lot cheaper than my local shop (Donovan Springs) would do them for, and that was including $100 to ship them from Oregon to New Hampshire.

I got the 750lb over (1/2" over stock height they claim, looks higher to me), cause I freight the truck, it works and the rear springs are awesome but pretty stiff on these frost heaved New England roads. Buddy of mine got the stock springs, bit cheaper and they are still working well for him. 3 years ago installed, got mine for $470 delivered then I think. That was with urethane bushings and an extra leaf.

I'm all stock (cept the springs )and love it. We're trying to save some cash here so un necessary extras don't fit into the budget. I'm watering over that friggin Detroit True Trac LSD though
Pete

Haston

My 87 already had a set of add-a-leafs, but when I added a heavy duty bumper w/ tire carrier, it sagged appreciably. So i went with a set of air shocks to level out the height and ride. My understanding from previous threads on this board is that the shock mounts are stout enough to handle the use of air shocks-- so I went with that choice rather than re-arching or re-springing. The set-up works well and I am pleased so far (1 month).

H.
Bethesda, MD
87 4R
95 4R

The first photo is of my truck with the tire carrier and 0 psi in the air shocks. Each 20 lbs seem to raise the truck by a 1/2 inch. I keep it at about 40 psi for normal driving.

Second photo commemorates my Boxing Day change-over from Can-Back to hard-top, which also contributed to the slight sag.

If you're interested in the air shock route, let me know and I'll dig out the part #'. I bought them for @ $70 shipped from Parts America.

Haston

Oops. I meant to say that the first photo is my truck with 40 psi, not 0 psi. H.

Flamedx4

Okay, first off, contrary to common opinion, if you want the "back-to-original" look - the rear needs to be about an inch lower than the front. This is the way they were built, and that's how they came new. They looked funny that way, but that's the way they were. The distance from the bump stop to the rubber snubber was NEVER more than 1 1/2" when new, and the rear springs were flat as a board. They bottomed out easily. Adding some lift springs even if they were way stiffer improved the ride because they didn't bottom out. (And the first lift I put on a 4Runner was stiff- it was LONG before they discovered that lifted leaf springs didn't have to be stiff. Leaf spring technology hasn't really changed - shock absorber technology is what really changed.)

Anyway, rear springs are easy to install. If however you go with an add-a-leaf, it's still easy, but be very careful with the center bolt removal. I once used 2 pairs of those wide jaw vice grips and it went fine, but if it gets away from you while under tension you can get hurt.

vmax - those appear to be stock shocks? Is so, regardless of what else you do you might replace them - they were worn out years ago...