Bpearson

Newbie here. I'm the new owner of a 1987 Toyota Xtra Cab SR5 pickup. I'm debating installing a small lift. The truck's ride height is fine now. I'm more concerned with ride quality. I know that no lifted truck really rides that great but would like to make it as smooth as possible. I'm not planning on rock crawling or anything extreme. This will mostly be driven during winter months and hunting/fishing trips. Any restoration advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Also, anyone know much about Old Man Emu products?

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you simply want to freshen things up. I would go through and replace all the wearable components - ball joints, control arm bushings, steering rod ends, idler arm, steering stabilizer, shocks, swaybar bushings and repack the wheel bearings. Do all that and basically you'll have new front suspension and steering with pretty much the best ride quality you can achieve.

Some people go to Toyota for these parts, others go to Autozone. Personally I like to stay with OEM manufacturers at least. For most of the steering/suspension parts, Sankei "555" is the brand to look for, it's stamped on the casting. It's commonly re-boxed in other parts store brands like Beck Arnley, sometimes Moog.


I have most of an OME lift on my 93 pickup. I love it. There aren't many options for an IFS lift between stock and 4" bracket, but the OME kit ends up being a nice 2" or so lift. I have everything except for the t-bars.

Bpearson

Thanks! Yea, I'm almost 40 and I worked in a truck accessory shop for years in my 20s. I've jacked them up and done a lot of insane stuff to a truck. The older I've gotten the more I love just a simple nice well built truck. Nothing crazy just a smooth ride and dependability. I have a 12 year old son who will most likely talk me into passing this truck down to him when he gets of age to drive. I like the OEM parts but I've found some better suited parts before but this is my first older Toyota build. I'll probably just strip it to the frame and completely rebuild the suspension with OEM parts but better shocks.

I saw a dealer presentation with Old Man Emu when I was an installer. The company really impressed me. So did ARB. I've always said I'd try to use their parts if I ever did another build. I'll look into them. I'm probably looking for something around a 2.5" lift at the most. Like I said, the stock ride height is pretty nice. The previous owner is an old friend of mine from college. He ran a 31" tire on the stock height. Only time it rubbed was if we were doing some serious mud riding. I couldn't believe it!

cbh148

I was hoping to find a way to make my '94 XtraCab 4x4 ride smoother since it's my daily driver and is plenty capable off-road in stock form, for my purposes at least. I replaced the old original shocks with a set of Bilstein dampers, but that didn't make a difference.

What I'd love to have is a setup where I could pretty much hit a neighborhood speed bump without slowing down (not that I speed in neighborhoods), and without getting my cage rattled. I remember riding my dirt bike through the neighborhood a couple of years ago, and when I got to one of the speed bumps, I goosed it because I was anticipating getting a nice little pop up off the ground, maybe about 6" or so. But what actually ended up happening was the bike (a YZ125 motocross bike) just absorbed the speed bump, completely smoothing it out to where it didn't give me any sort of pop whatsoever.

I want my Toyota pickup to do that Lol. But from what I can see, I think these things rode pretty rough on the road even when they were brand new. A friend of mine tells me it's the same way with Jeeps.

This guy sums it up pretty well at 6:19 -- "With the style and panache adopted inside, I cannot understand why Toyota selected a rock-hard suspension system. They could've softened it up enough to be comfortable yet retaining the firmness required for a pickup."

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like, as mentioned above, freshening up factory suspension is right choice for you. For the money and labor to lift and retain a good ride just won't benefit you for your stated use. Mines been fun to build but took lots of research, time, and money, it performs great Offroad and rides well on pavement but I'd Offroad it everyday if I could And love the suspension flex!!!

Sounds like you scored a great rig!!

RAD4Runner

Like Highonpottery and muddpigg say above, just need to freshen things up.

I would start by addressing the rear-end sag typical of that generation. Have you checked it? Also a fresh set of shocks. There's this one bad dip at an intersection that I use to go to work. Before I did above, I had to slow down when I passed it. After I did both of the above, I have no problem driving through that dip at max legal speed

A lift will not improve your ride, only smoothen your image
Then O.M.E. (2-inch lift) would be just right. However, some people complain that it's too stiff AND you would need to lift the front suspension and that requires a more difficult decision than how to lift the rear.

Bpearson

Did not know that about the 2 inch lift. Thank you!! I've noticed that rear sag on some trucks. I just want the truck leveled. I haven't gone to pick the truck up yet. I'm short staffed at work and it's been crazy. Hoping to pick it up before Thanksgiving (I now live 10 hours away from where the truck is located in our hometown).

The Youtube video was awesome! Thank you for posting. Sounds like you all have the suspension issues figured out. I'll be posting pics of the build once I get it all started. I'm sure I'll be picking everyone's brain as well.

Thank ya'll for your help!

ewong

The problem with "soft" is that the Toyota Truck has a high Center of Gravity.
Thus - soft enough to "smooth out" the speed bump - means soft enough for massive body roll in the corners - leading to roll over accidents.

Yeah - massive sway bars can compensate - but thats extra parts and moving stuff and maintenance and manufacturer COST meaning higher PRICE to the consuimer.

For example - position (not speed) sensitive suspension can address the soft/hard quality - but that gets EXPENSIVE.

Engineering is all about comprimise
-- Resources (aka cost)
-- Quality
-- Time (how fast can the product be delivered)
Pick any TWO and engineering will DICTATE the third one

OME is good stuff - and others have pointed out some of the "down sides" to that choice

IMHO - a freshen up - is a good starting point
From there - its all a comprimise

I set my 4Runner up for road / pre running.
Some (many) claim my truck rides like a brick.
I think its FINE for what **I** want to do.