Thanks everyone for the great comments! I just drive the truck about 80 miles today - mostly highway - and the ride was SMOOTH. There are several spots on the freeway that are potholed and usually give the truck a good shake/rattle that I feel in my spine - today I just cruised over those spots at speed and felt just a light bump as my suspension did what it was supposed to. It's night and day. There were some moments of "settling" where I could hear the new coils "pop" as they flexed a bit and wedged more into place.

Also noticable to me today was the braking. I'd been noticing that it felt like my truck was being stopped by mostly its rear brakes and not so much the fronts (I installed new F/R brakes last year). Turns out that because the LSPV is attached to the axle, and the axle was so close to the frame (my 4" blocks provided the only lift I had), my truck was assigning a very disproportionate amount of power to the rear brakes instead of the fronts. Today, I had full braking, especially up front, and it was fantastic. I'm surprised, because I really only gained maybe and inch of distance that the valve would have traveled - is this all it takes to make such a hug difference in braking distribution?

As promised here are some photos from today's daylight, showing the before and after (it's not SO much, but consider that I took out 4" blocks, so I'm getting about 5" of lift out of my new coils).

Before:



After:


For fun, I backed onto a curb today (in my previous setup, the entire truck would have flexed with the rear axle; today it remains level while the springs do the work and flex!):


For fun, here's what my suspension USED to look like:




And how it sits now (you can actually SEE the overload leafs now!):

 

Holy Crap!! No wonder you felt every bump in the road. Glad to hear the ride was way better. When I first picked up my 4Runner, the wife hated riding in it since the ride was so rough, it hurt her already messed up back. After Ball joint spacers and a zuk mod, she likes it, now the only problem is she has a little harder time climbing into it. It took her a year for her to LIKE the 4Runner. When I pulled into the garage with it the first time I got, "this is what you want to drive, huh?" She still doesn't understand it, but eh, I never expected her too.

Good work again, Phil.


edit* When you gonna pick up them 3" shackles that Zuk recommends to raise up the rear ? Bet that levels it out real nice and makes you happy as can be!

 

philbert- You must have more than 4" of front lift...that's a solid axle conversion I see I think?
Did you catch my comment about trying longer shackles to level it more?

 

I see your sig says IFS....that front lift looks way up there.. Did you see the last 10 pics of this link? http://gearinstalls.com/dc.htm

 

You could still use some more lift in the back, it still looks way to low in the back to me.

 

TJs must not weigh much if you can throw in a TJ coil and it doesn't make it ride like a brick.

 

Thanks ZUK for posting up the thread on your site - looks great!

Honestly, it's a 4" bracket lift in the front with IFS. When I got the lift installed in 2004 I noticed the front was jarring a lot on speed bumps in parking lots (I was more a noob back then with cars....) and took it to Big O (where I got the install)...turns out that the front was RIDING ON THE FRAME (!) since the lift install!! They cranked the T bars and gave me an alignment....it's been that way since.

So, I will likely either crank the T bars down to match the back and/or get some shackles for the rear. TrailGear has 6" shackles (for 1.25" lift, since stock are 3.5") for $65, so I may get those. Only issue I see is that my LCE pro flow exhuast exits RIGHT behind my stock shackle....I'm worried it may bump up against it....

BTW, I have 3 cars and am a member of various sites for BMW, Datsun and Toyota, and I have to say that the folks here have been the very best. Most BMW forums have young rich kids who know nothing about cars and it's an internet pissing match. The Datsun forums are great, but have a lot of very technical guys who don't take mercy on the noobs in training (like me). This forum has the right mix of young/old/noobs/veterans, who are ALL willing to help people. no matter how dumb thier questions may be...This is by far my favorite forum and favorite website of late - thank you everyone - I've learned so much in so few months here.

 

 

does it make any noise?

 

The only noise I heard today was at low speeds. Sounded like "pops" as the coils settled into place around town, and with braking.

Freeway=no noise.

 

Ya, I would de-crank t-bars and get the 6" shackles 4 sure.

 

When time and money allow

 

I know what you mean!

 

Looks great phil! I guess I should get off my behind and actually do mine. I have a garage now, and the coils are sitting at my parents house...

 

wow, I thought i was the only night crawler on here. i need to do this to my brothers 4runner..

 

Looking great Phil!

I'm confused though, about the exhaust. I had to cut off my nice bling tip when I lifted and SA'd and all that crap on mine so I can't remember exactly where it was. However, in this pick of yours, it doesn't look like there should be any interference with the shackle.

 

Thanks Mike!

That photo doesn't really show the story on the pipe....it exits right behind the shackle, so if the shackle were to be longer and then flex backward more, it may rub (I'm not an expert, so maybe shackles don't even go that way when flexed???).

For the exhaust install, I got the specs to cut the pipe from Jason (kiyo) here; it lined up great.

Phil

 

I installed the coils on my truck a little over six months ago and have love the ride since then. I now opt to take my truck on erronds (sp) insted of my car because the ride is so nice. I do notice a little squeeking on the springs everyonce in a while. It is because the springs rub aginst the inside of the bumpstops. It is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I also did the non welding approach.

 

I imagine it would squeek like a well used coil sprung mattress on the trail. I personally do not like out of the ordinary sounds coming from my vehicle.

 

Let me just say this, there is never a perfect fix to anything and one must weight the pros to the cons and figure out what is best for them. Now he could have put in a new leaf pack, but that costs at least $400-600 for a good one and they would still settle out eventually. For the cost of $70 he put in coils in and it accomplishes the same thing with maybe a little sqweeking here and there. If it bothers him so bad put a little oil in there and the problem is gone. From a cost/benefit perspective it is a win win situtation.