many of you have been checking in on my restoration 87 runner. im at the point where i driving it daily and the ride quality is getting obnoxious. i know its a 31 year old truck, no need to point that out, but my current setup was a "enough to get by" fix when i first bought it. its factory torsions adjusted just a hair and an add a leaf in the rear on what i believe to be oem sagged out leaf packs. i have kyb gas shocks all the way around that are brand new. the rear it was really kills me, the add a leaf is far to harsh, i think it was rancho? at any rate my question is simple, whos completely happy was an after market suspension that isnt running a rock crawler / trail rig? im not opposed to having a 1-1.5 inch lift, seeing as how im running 31's at the moment. im looking into the ome light duty suspension but im afraid it will be more lift than i want. heres a picture of current ride height/stance that id like to keep. do thicker torsion bars make much of a difference with ride quality or are they more for load bearing?

 

I haven't heard great things about KYBs on our trucks. You might wanna try a low pressure shock as opposed to a high pressure one.

ZUK mod is a popular cheap rear suspension fix. But if your restoring rig that may not be the appeasing to you.

Anytime you increase arch on a spring for lift it results on a rougher ride. I learned this through trial and error. Adding the add-a-leaf changed spring rate. Could look at finding a worn spring pack and put an extra stock leaf in your spring pack. Might wanna try having old springs re-arched. I've heard good things about OME. Think LROR has stock spring replacement springs.

I'd try shocks 1st.

 

I think add-a-leafs stiffen the ride.

I'm happy with my Zuk mod and rancho shocks in the rear. I think the Zuk mod using 12-inch 125 lb/inch black magic springs restored stock height. My bench mark - dip on Mira Mesa Boulevard at Camino Ruiz. With my Zuk's I can comfortably run that at max legal speed limit; never with the saggy rear-end.

I haven't looked around, yet, but I wonder if RE-archED stock leafs for stock height would work well for a long time or if they would sag again in now time. If that's favorable I'll consider arching them for 1-inch lift because I still think stock height makes truck look like it's driving toward the moon.

OME is good BUT the springs would give 2 inches of lift, and that would require messing with the geometry of the front end which I don't want to do for reliability and cost reasons. adding OME's torsion bar would level the front but it would also make it stiffer. (from Low-Range: "1979-1988 Toyota Pickup 1984-1989 Rear Leaf Spring - Medium Load 2" Lift by Old Man Emu - CS009R")

LROR has "Toyota Front and Rear Super Flex Springs" but description mentions "3", "4", and "5" that suggest lifts more than OME claims,which I don't want.

keycw, please keep us posted.

 

your correct on the lror lift heights. i had already done my checking with the big hitters of the industry like allpro and trailgear, who besides not offering lower than a 3 inch lift require rehanging the springs further back. just seems like theres not much option for small lift spring packs. i only have a few hundred miles on my add a leafs and i havnt really put any weight on it.. im going to try putting a higher end set of shocks on it soon and see how it feels, maybe call some fat friends to sit on the tailgate for a ride around the block.

 

I've got the same issue with my back end sounding like it's slamming into speed bumps or pot holes and was considering adding a leaf as well until someone told me about the air bags they installed in the rear of his Tundra. He did it himself and the ride is substantially smoother and only 1-1/2" to 2" taller than stock height. He carries a lot of weight around in his truck bed (unlike mine) so he installed an extra leaf first when he bought the truck, then recently the air bags which solved his ride quality issues.

He didn't install the whole compressor system that keeps both bags at equilibrium (because there's more weight on one side than the other and manually levels it out), instead he checks the pressure as frequently as he does his tires and fills them to his desired ride comfort. He paid about $180 for the parts. Might be worth looking into on your ride as well.

Cheers

 

Now if you're welling to get away from the "restore/stock crowd." Then I would recommend a set of chevy 63s. Set up I'm running. So before panties get bunched let me explain.

For the sake of this I'm only talking about the rear suspension.
I did Downey 2" springs, pretty sure they are out of business now. Improved sag but ride got rougher, in a rather short amount of time sag drooped back in. I'd saved my old stock springs so I played with adding springs. Mixed results and I like to offroad so not quite what I was looking for as I got better behind the wheel and trails got a bit challenging

Next I did Allpro 4" springs. I relocated both front and rear spring mounts. The Allpro spring mounts were self-aligning so a bit easier to set up. At this time I had an idea of direction I wanted to build my truck towards and knew SAS was in the future. Flex was a vast improvement and ride quality was good. But they time did take its toll and as you probably know even that when you SAS add 1" to 1.5" lift to front for hangar. Plus 4rnr has a lower rear fender well than the front so even at level the rear appears to sag. All and all I was pleased with the Allpro springs flex was limited by shock configuration not springs.

Now fast forward several years and I;m wanting to do some work on the rear suspension. Really wanted more flex and to clean up axle put some armor on rear axle plus swap in disc brake kit I'd gotten a few years prior for Christmas. Being my current location is upstate NY with tons of salt. A good time to clean up rear of frame. So why not put in a set of 63s I'd heard so much about. I made my own hangers and schackles. I'd recommend buying a kit as I sent loads of time using a cutt-off wheel and drill press,for the time I spent they would have paid for themselves. But I wanted to do it myself. A bit more of a pain to mount front mount as they were not self-aligning. Cut them out a couple times to make adjustments. I used all the springs from a 3/4 ton 4wd chevy plus a 1" lift block, I made it too and it is welded to perches so it wont come out offroading. Now my rigs stance looks level even with difference in fender/wheelwell height and ride is really nice. I changed shock mounting but we're talking springs so....

Now one might say I don't want all the lift you have. No doubt but.... You can remove springs to you desired height and don't run a block. Next with new mounts you can relocate axle so that it is centered in rear wheel well. Which it is not from factory. The next statement might be I don't know how to weld nor do I have a welder. This swap is very common and well documented. So you can pay a pro to weld in hangers then drive home and do swap yourself in your garage. Replacement springs a cheap and plentiful. You can get a set used for $100-125. Sky Offroad has a kit I liked best if I would've bought a set. You can keep shocks in stock location. LSPV will still work. This set up is capable if you want change directions of build. Probably best ride and capable rear suspension that can be had for the money. Retaining load carrying capability.

Just my opinion from experience with trial and error.

 

these things have all crossed my mind. this is not my 1st build, i have run allpro spring, trail gear spring, and chevy 63's. if it were any normal trail rig build id be on your side, chopping off spring hangers and throwing on longer more articulate springs, but for the sake of this truck, being so unmolested i will not be cutting off the factory hangers.

 

i stayed up last night doing some substantial reading about the firmness/performance of almost every shock available to first gens. i am not willing to fork the money for an adjustable flow shock so i ended up deciding the billy 5125 was a good setup. everyone seems to enjoy them that writes any kind of review. they are also a good fitnment for 0-2 inches of lift (good for my add a leaf). i do not know how to decide on which length to oder, lror only sells by length so ill need to figure that out. also going to order new front end components like ball joints and tre's. the beck/arnley products from rockauto are oem, like literally the exact one from the dealer right down to the 555 stamp and the cost 30 bucks as opposed to the 75 which was the cheapest my dealer friend could get me.

next question, i have my torsion bars adjusted to meet the ride height of my add a leaf, ive never considered using a bjs on a rig before but then again ive never kept the ifs haha. whats the ride quality difference between midly cranked torsions vs a bjs ?

 

Pretty large difference. The torsion bars get pretty stiff after an additional quarter inch of lift. I have rear add-a-leafs and my torsion bars cranked a quarter inch higher in the front than stock. Feels pretty stock but once you go to half an inch or more you start to feel it. For your reference, stock front ride height is 13.5" from the top of a 15" wheel to the fender lip, regardless of tire size. This is equal to the FSM's 11.2" at the front camber bolt with 225/75 15s.

Personally, I would stay away from the OME torsion bars. They claim two inches of lift....but you can do that with factory bars....does not fix any angle issues. A ball joint spacer with a diff drop is the best bet. It is critical your front shocks do not limit the travel or you will eat up lower ball joints fast.

IMO, I would simply leave them mildly cranked on an IFS and move on to better stuff. If you must lift, ball joint spacers + correct shock length + diff drop will be your most capable and reliable option. Aftermarket torsion bars is a sham...you aren't gaining any articulation. If you turn your Tbars down to stock height and install the ball joint spacers you will have 1.5" of lift and the ride will be softer than stock.

Rememeber cranked tbars on a stock suspension is worse than factory height. You need that articulation, you want to keep all the tires on the ground. The less articulation the truck has the faster a tire lifts. If you have open diffs it is over.

 

 

Please see screen caps form Toyota Part Deal. Quick shipping, and I think local to San Diego.

I do not trust Beck-Arnley for critical parts. Poor quality control. Ask me how I know.

 

BTW, 99% sure KYB is the OEM for Toyota shocks, and they are cheap, just don't get the performance grade, they are a bit harsh.
I run OME rear springs you will be lucky to get 2" of lift out of those springs once they settle. I am running the OME HD shock out back with the springs and its honestly a bit harder than i like, but when loaded for the weekend they are perfect. get a jack and jack the trucks rear up 2" and see where your stance is, I bet you barely have any rake.
If you are complaining about a harsh ride change everything back to stock, replace ALL the bushings with rubber(not poly). You said this truck won't see the trail, than I wouldn't waste money on Billy's.

Just my 2¢

 

 

 

Upfront is a 4Wheel Underground 3-Link with coil-overs(its in my build thread), probably not what you are looking to do.

 

From my experience it is hard to research shocks as most manufacturers don't advertise valving. So it is more trial and error; or going off of other's experience. A low pressure skock/twin tube is usually a bit better for a plush ride vrs high pressure/ monotube which is more toward performance. I ran procomp E3000 when IFS but had torsion lift and various rear springs as mentioned above. Not bad and cheap.

Otherwise my experience with stock plush ride is non-existent.

 

i think you hit the nail on the head. when i had my last 1st gen i had 63' chevys and trail gear spring up front with billy 5150's and it was a nice ride honestly, i never really kept the torsions on long enough to get a feel for them. i am going to live with the firm ride up front but im ditching the stiff kyb rear shocks.

 

Good luck. Post back what you learn for curiosity.

 

I'm running the E3000s and an add a leaf in the rear, fronts are cranked just slightly. For being a relatively inexpensive shock I'm pretty happy with the ride quality. All but the harshest bumps they seem to handle relatively well. I'm sure if I didn't have the AAL in the back it would be better.