Patagonia Runner

Dear Members

I am writing from Dusty Patagonia, on the Chilean side, on a small town 5 hours south of Coyhaique the closest town.
I work in a Flyfishing lodge, and have a 98 4x4 Runner limited as my personal and family transport. Many times during the season months (October to May) I have to drive to Coyhaique, witch is 300 KM (186 miles) north of where I am. The Road is terrible, 100% dirt, with parts of ash, because of volcano eruptions, few pars with small rocks.
Filled with upps and downs, Wasssssssssboooooaaaarrddddddddd 30% of the road, holes and everything you can imagine. It is like a PHD final Exam for an outback car.
Its the ultimate Rally Challenge, and a lot of fun to drive the first 10 times, but when it becomes an obligation, just to get to the nearest town, it becomes a pain in the ...
This past season I drove over 13.000 miles just on this part of the road, 30 times back and forth. And my Runner suffered the consequences.
I purchased my Runner in optimum shape about a year ago, it had 56.000 miles on it, and the owner was also the owner of the Toyota dealership to Southern Chile, so it was Original all the way and in great condition maintenance wise.
After the first 4 drives Lodge-Coyhaique I messed the rear Shocks, so I replaced them with Original Black Tokikos, a few weeks after I replaced the rear springs with what the dealer ship called the stiffest springs available for 3gen Runners, after the research I have done on this site and others I presume they are 99 springs, but I dont know for certain, called the dealership and they dont know ether.
The Ride became a lot less saggy in the rear, but I still hit the bump stops way to offer, and if I stand on the rear pumper and jump, it sags and hits the stops.
Similar thing happens in the front.
So I believe my rear Shocks are messed again, so are my front Shocks. Regarding the springs, I believe the front ones are terribly saggy. And the rear, dont know feels stiffer than the front but I still hit the stops a lot, maybe because of the bad rear Shocks.

Here comes the issue, and please believe that have reed every post on this forum related to the problem, and there where many, using all the Key words in the Search engine.
But I still dont figure out the combination I need, because of two reasons, First most post in the forum are related to Offroad use with lifted trucks, climbing rocks, mud and sand.
And on the other end the ones that searches for upgraded standard suspension drives mostly paved roads during the week, and occasional dirt on week ends.
The other reason Is that I dont have a comparison point. All I have driven in Runners is my mine.

The suspension system I need is to the road conditions described above, no fun climbing or mudding. Just pure dirt road driving in the worst conditions.
I dont plan doing any significant lift, (altho I know some system provides some lift as some of the OME combinations). And I would agree on lifting if the ideal setup requires so.

In Chile the only options I have are the classical Ranchos, Gabriel and Munroe. And then the more sofisticated Koni, with some shocks in Stock and OME, that are imported from the dealer op un request.
I have no problems with importing the entire system.

What would your suggestions be, Any special combination of OME or the combinations offered by Steve in Sonoran Steel. Ore something else....Please Help

Load Conditions
I drive around with my wife and my 1 year old son in his chair in the rear seat, with some occasional companion, and few boxes with max 140 pounds with groceries in the back.
Thats my average load.
I dont plan replacing the bumpers or adding any winch. Maybe a Roof-rack in the future.

Tires:

I have BFG All Terrain 255/70/16

Thank you very Much

crolison

I would go sonoran steal rear lift, great springs great shocks. they will support your load and help with the roads.

for the front i would go with a larger diameter coilover, such as Camburg, 2.5 SAWS, or Icon Racing (Donahoe) and maybe some upper control arms. They should give you a mid level travel set up for your dirt roads.

If its all out speed on the sand/dirt you want you could go long travel but thats a lot more $$.

My set up would be:

Front: UC's and 2.5" coilovers

Rear: Ome 891 or FJ coils and some bilstein 5125's

Fo-runna

I've got an OME set up all around and while doing some off-roading at moderate speeds, have found it to be quite resistant to bottoming out. I have the 891's out back and 881's up front. I would imagine that you need a stiff shock to go along with what ever set up you end up getting. While this set up is going to give you some lift, it isn't gonna look like a retarded mall crawler.
Keep us posted on what you do.

Patagonia Runner

Thank you very much, Crolison and Fo-runna.

I have a couple of questions...
If I decide for large diameter coil-overs such as Camburgs, IVD or Sway a Way, would I need to replace any other parts to make it fit? Will the original parts suffer more severely after some ride because of the mod.
Is it necessary to install a new Upper Control arms?

Tanks...

BT17R

PR, sorry I don't have anything to add to the good advice already given. But, would you mind posting pics of the area and road? Oh, and your rig? Maybe your fav fly fishing spot? Patagonia sounds exotic and scenic, would be fun to see.

BigBallsMcFalls

u want ... big lift to fit really huge tires and run at low psi

BigBallsMcFalls

trust him the road is way rougher than anything u can find here

cackalak han

I'd say similar to what big nuts said. For those washboard roads, I have yet to ride in a truck that made it feel smooth from the different suspension set ups. What you need are bigger tires at lower PSI. Which, then, you will want to set up an air compressor system in your rig. I don't see any other way around this. You will probably want a 3" lift, which that Sonoran kit offers.

crolison

They are bolt in affairs, but you can get them extended length and those require you to run the new UCA's. So its either stock travel (straight bolt in), or extended travel with UCA's.

The only thing i can really think of that could wear out faster would be ball joints and tie rod ends, but thats the nature of the road your traveling on. Unless you running more than like 2" of lift, then your CV's will suffer, but you don't want a lot of lift so you don't have to worry about that.

So basically, non neccesary to install UCA's, and you shouldn't really suffer because of the mod.