First I would like to say hello, and this is a great forum.

My brother has bought a very clean, and low mile 1992 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4 with a V-6, and 5 speed. The rear suspension has coil springs and no leaf springs. How could he lift the rear without having to spend an arm and leg? Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

RattlerZ71

 

Hey, welcome to the forum. This seems to be the place to be for 2nd gen owners. It seems that about 6 out of 10 of us upgrade our rear springs to Downey OffRoad 1.5in longer springs. This gives 1.5-2 inches of lift. They coils are simple to install and come with everything needed to accomidate for the 2in lift. If his runner sags really bad it will look leveled out. Some of they guys report that the rear will sit higher than the front too. The kit comes around 150-160 bucks depending. Check out some of the YotaTech feature where you can find information and reviews on this spring. Also if you search "Downey Coils" you should find a ton of threads with information.

 

Thank you for the info! I will check this out!!

 

Rattler welcome to the forum. Most guys on here go with Downey Coils. This topic is so common it's driving me crazy. If you look on this page alone I think it's on here 3 times. Do a search for "rear sag" like I just did and you will get over 40 threads of info. Sorry if this is harsh I am just really sick of answering this question. I am a bit stressed at the moment after watching yesterdays news and getting "the call" from work. Your next question is probably where do I get them cheapest and the answer to that is probably Central 4wd unless you can get them from Downey direct which is a pain. Look in the Vendors section for a link to Central 4WD.

 

RattlerZ71,

Welcome to the forum. In addition to the Downey coils, you may also want to consider OME coils (Old Man Emu) or Performance products coils. No offense 96_First_Responder, I just thought it'd be fair to let Rattler know that there are other choices I have the OME coils and, other than height, can't notice a difference from the stock ride.

Installing any of these coils will probably require cranking the front torsion bars to level the vechicle (which may affect the firmness of the ride). This is easliy done and there are a couple articles on how to do it (noted below). I'd recommend searching yotatech as well as the internet to get other opinions and ideas. Be careful though, you might get hooked into spending big $$$$ on modifications!

Matt

Adjusting Torsion Bars
Upgrading Torsion Bars

 

If you just want to get rid of the sag, don't waste money on the coils, they are not necessary. You can get 1" lift from a coil spring doughnet that's available at almost any auto supply store and every off road store. They're about $20 for the set.

DO NOT waste time or money on the 1" spring lift, unless you have other needs such as heavy trailering etc.

 

If you are going to carry any amount of weight in the back though, using a dougnut to raise the stock coils is only a bandaid fix at the most.

Do it right the first time and get some good coils.
There are a few out there such as the PP ones, the OMEs, and the Downey Heavy Duty ones which I have.

They netted me about 2" plus as my stock coils were sagging pretty bad.
http://www.pnw4runners.net/runs/11_9_02/42.jpg
The stock coils are not made to carry a lot of weight.

Even with all this weight (300lb plus) the rear sits about the same as if it was unloaded.

Plus it handles way better in the wind now than with the stock thin coils.
The coils are still one of my favorite mods, and it does handle a lot better after getting them.

 

Corey, I don't agree with changing the coils, unless they plan on carrying more weight that the truck is designed for or heavy constant loads.

The doughnuts are perfect for getting rid of the saggy butt. Not acceptable for adding lift, but perfect for maintaining a stock ride and factory height.

 

That is your opinion, but I ran the stock coils for awhile after I bought my rig, and it sucked on the highway.

Commuting from Auburn to the Renton Boeing plant everyday on the freeway I'd get tossed around in a good wind.

Changing to the Downey coils eliminated that, and also made it handle better in turns or changing lanes.

Good enough decision for me to make the change, plus every once in awhile someone is bound to have to carry something heavy back there that they may have bought.

I just picked up a new 27" TV the other day and it sat on top of my cargo box and did not even phase the coils to sag a bit.

But if they worked out for you at one time, that's all that matters.

 

Corey, that's all I have, is an opinion

There is no one right or wrong way to do anything. In fact, trying to build a daily driver that's trail capable is more of a challenge than a dedicated trail rig as there are so many options to consider.

You want to talk about being thrown all over, you should drive my rig!!!! However, once I got used to it, I very much like the drive, I just have to drive differently.

In respect to suspension, it's a toss up when you contrast stiffness. Stiffer, longer springs will give you a harder ride, handle the weight beter, but not be a friendly on the trails. The softer spring is a nicer rid, better on the trails, but suffers under load. Someone made a 4" progress rate sping - I think it was Downey. That seemed to be the best of all worlds for those who are going for more of a lift.

Hey Coery, come out and join us tonight. We're having an emergency Faith Wheelers run at our church. We lost most of our pre-built course (for now) but they just dumped and graded about 10,000 yards of fresh dirt Lot's of Air Nissan type photo op, winch/strapping practice and some 12" deep mud if you wanna try it.

We're goin to meet at 5:00 tonight at our church in Milton and play for about 1/2.

 

That sounds like a lot of fun tonight.

But this evening I am going to be at my youngest sons school for an event that will last a few hours.