Grumpy_98

Last May I had to go up to Alaska and the Yukon to do some testing for my company. I was going to be taking about 400 pounds of test equipment, camping gear,and spare parts, along with a partner I'd pick up when I got to Alaska. Since about two-thirds of the gear would be on a hitch mount carrier and the rest aft in the roof rack I figured that the butt-sag could turn into a real problem. Consequently, I decided that it was time to put some new coils in the rear to handle the load.

I went to a local 4x4 shop that does a lot of work for folks running the Rubicon. I explained that I needed to carry a heavy load for more than a month on unpredictable roads. What he came up with out of the book was a pair of OME Heavy Constant (330lbs to GVW) coils that would give the truck about 40 mm (about 1.5 inches) of lift. We agreed and the coils were ordered and installed about a week before the trip.

To my surprise, the actual lift was more like 3.5 inches (about 90 mm). I was curious but not very concerned even though my truck is raked somewhat less than the '63 Chevy I drove in high school. Once all the stuff was loaded the truck stood nearly perfectly level and rode as smooth as silk. With my partner and his gear aboard it was still fine. We had no problems over about 6,000 miles of paved and unpaved roads. I LOVE MY TRUCK!

Recently, I started researching the OME coils for the front to level the puppy out because the rake is starting to bug me when I'm not loaded. The OME listings for the '98 4Runner are 880/881 on the front and 906/890/891 on the rear. I figured that because of the amount of lift I got that the shop must have put in the 891's. I checked the box and packing slip and found that 901's appear to have been ordered and installed. The 901's are supposed to be for the rear of a '90-'95 model.

I called OME today and the guy was surprised that the 901's went in and asked me to check the paint markings on the coils to make sure that the box wasn't mislabled. It's white like he said it would be for a 901. I felt around as well as I could in the parking lot to try to determine if they were seated okay and that seems to be the case. When I call back tomorrow I guess we'll try to figure out what the proper coils for the front will need to be. He was surprised about the 3.5 inches of lift out of coils that are only supposed to give 1.5 inches as the 901's are (in a second gen).

Now to the point--can anyone think of a reason why I shouldn't leave the 901's in there and work with OME to get the truck close to level? Is it likely that some parts are being unduly stressed or knocked out of kilter and will eventually give out? The truck doesn't get used for any kind of heavy off-roading. Things seem fine to me but what do I know?

Thanks for the guidance.

MTL_4runner

Boy, I'm surprised they fit too. I'm not familair enough with the spring differences (2nd gen springs vs those made for a 3rd gen) to say that it's ok to run them as is so I'll leave it to others to chime in on that. Although at 3.5" in the rear, that would be about what you'd expect to see out of a set of 891s with a stock height front end.