Holy cow this project was so much more of a pain the butt then I would have ever imagined. I started off buying all the parts I wanted to replace while my rig was in the air. I bough new calipers, pads, rotors, shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, and hardware for the brakes. I had bilstein 5125's and 5100's for the front and rear. Old Man Emu coils for rear and OME coils for the front as well.

I started the process of taking apart the rear suspension. Pretty easy getting the shocks off as I have replaced them once before. I rented coil spring compressors (csc) from Autozone for $53. I had to disconect the traction bar in the rear to get off the left coil off. Doing this allowed the rear axle to drop alot more to give me room to remove that coil. BIG MISTAKE!!! Getting the right one off was cake. Re-installing the new coils were a breeze. The rear shocks were a pain in the butt as well. I had to hold a socket on the bolt while a buddy ratchetted the shock back and forth as if it were the ratchet and socket. The bolt has a plastic ring in it which makes it near impossible to tighten in that small space. Mounting the right side on the post was easy. The left side had rust deposit on it and I had to grind it clean before it would slide all the way on. Did the brake drums on each side, replaced the wheel cylinders and bled the lines. Rear was done!!!

Getting the shock and strut assembly off the front was easy. I used the bottle jack that came with vehicle to push the upper control arms down to allow the assembly to come right out. I then binded up TWO sets of coil spring compressors trying to compress the springs. I spent 2 days trying to do this. I finally just went and bought two new mounting plates and took my new coils and struts to Performance Off Road in Alexandria, KY and had them assemble the struts for me. They charged me $75.00 Got them put on within 45 minutes the next day after picking them up.

I then spent the next night putting on the front brakes and then realized once i had the calipers on that they were bad and needed to be replaced. Had to get them the next day. Once I had them on I could not get the brakes to work at all. I finally got fed up and took it to Sears and they found the hose had a crimp in it and had to replace the brake line. I just had them redo both fronts. They also found that the right lower ball joints castle nut was missing. They just put a new one on at no charge.

I got my rig back tonight and it is AWESOME. I love th ride height. Only complaints are that the handling is compromised and my front tires sit with the bottoms canted inwards. Total cost for this project is listed below.

Bilstein Shocks $390
OME Coils $385
All Brake Hardware $460
Performance Off Road $75
Sears $180
Mounting Plates $35
TOTAL $1525.00

 

 

You do know you need to get an alignment after a lift right?

 

alignment alignment alignment hahaha that cracked me up lol

 

any suggestions for the rear brakes... they dont seem like they are braking at all??? pics are coming today

 

Just testing to see if I am doing this right. But this is my Midland CB Radio. I just wanted it for the PA system.

 

This is my 4Runner when I first bought it.



This is when I first started the project.





Got the rear Brakes done and the rear shocks put on!!!


These are the Bilstein 5125's Fronts and the 5100 rears.


The rear driver side assembled. Notice the trac bar disconnected.



The rear right...



Bottleneck jack trick...




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Got the front coil and strut assembly off.


IT was too late to take anymore pics of everything being put back together. However I got the rear wheels on and the lowered the rear end. I lowered the front end until I though it was about the right height and rolled a tire in front of it to see what it would look like.



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Finally... Its done!!!

 

what size tires are you running in that last pic? lift is looking real good. how does it ride with ome and bilstien?

 

MMmmmmm, sexy height...

 

im rolling with BFGoodrich 265/75R16's... it rides extremely stiff. but i think it will break in a bit after about 500 miles or more. I took measurments all around before the lift from the top of the tire to the bottom lip of the wheel wells. over all i have over a 4 inch difference on eace wheel.

 

i am wanting to put on 285's and some 4:88 gears along with a locker this spring.