ok, so after too many times bottoming out, scraping, and having a mushy ride, i decided to lift the 4runner. its a 97 sr5 w/ locker. has 1% tint on back windows, legal on front, 275/70/16 revos, electric fan w/ dccontroler, optima yellowtop, isr, deckplate and some other things...anyway, i opted for an ome lift using the same shocks as before (replaced last year). rear coils are 891's courtesy of patrickgraven, and i ordered 881's w/ topout spacers and a diff drop from toytec. the install was pretty straightforward and i did it in a friends garage with the assistance of an impact and snap-on spring compressor. all bolts got some liquid wrench the night before, so things ran pretty smoothly.

rear - dropped axle, put new springs in, retorqued everything - 25 min
front - took everything out, put new springs, spacers in, retorqued - 2hrs.
*note - wouldve been quicker, but on the first side, we didnt mark the aligntment of the top bolts, so things didnt quite match up when we tried to remount the strut. had to compress coil again, and guess and check to re-align everything. other side went smoothely.

so, a total time of under 2.5hrs with just some basic know-how of tools. wouldve been just a hair above 2hrs i believe, if we hadnt messed up the first strut.

anyway, on to the pics. i like the ride. its much firmer and feels A LOT better to me. not too stiff at all.













..and some other random pics of fishing

 

nice runner man, looks really good. very clean.

 

What are you catchin? -Looks good; I like my OME.

 

That look sure looks like the Big Island!

Looks good too!!

 

That's awesome man, I see you live in Hawaii. I went to Maui in 2006, there were so many lifted vehicles it was unreal.. lol

 

Nice Runner..Nice pics too..I like that last one of the sunset and surf..

 

yeah im on the big island. its great to go home after being up in washington for school. on that trip we were targeting ulua (jacks)/trevally from shore. they are scrappy fish that grow to over 130lbs, and along with our rocky shores, prove to be the ultimate challege of man and gear. were using stiff 13' poles and casting 4/0 and 6/0 size reels w/ 8-10oz of lead and often sliding 1-2lbs of bait down at a time. no luck that trip, but yes, the scenery is breathtaking.
yeah, hawaii in general has tons of lifted trucks around, majority of which are toyotas too! 99% of em are street queens/road princesses tho. oh well

 

If you don't mind me asking, how much lift did you end up getting with this kit? I have a spacer lift, and the rear is sagging. It needs about 1/2 inch in the back to sit level. It's a 2.5" spacer and i was wondering if OME springs will level it off. Does anyone know if the OME 3" rear springs settle to 3", or if they start at 3" and settle from there?

 

Yep, maybe some can follow your lead and start doing it right. Looks great.

 

dont know exactly how much ilft i got, but its def over 3" from what i had with my sagged stock springs. i believe that the coils will give you a better liftthan spacers on your stocks.

 

sweet photos hilo thanks for sharing and the truck is looking outstanding

I am hoping to go old man emu myself in awhile but I really like the way mine is riding right now as is...

So if I come over there to HI are there some places to legally off road-like fire roads or power line access lanes?

 

the 4runner looks great! i love the color too, it's similar to that of my first '85 celica, always loved that color. great scenery too, i don't know how anyone that lives in paradise goes to work every day with all that beauty around them. good luck fishing!

 

Ron - i dont know about 'legally' offroading, but there is lots of public access to shorelines island wide, and those offroading trails are open to the public. lots of time, trails cross private land, but nobody really bothers with that stuff. trails can rate from basic fireroad stuff, to pretty heavy stuff with double locked trucks with tires in excess of 35" getting stuck. theres a healthy variety of sand, mud and rock trails to satisfy pretty much anyone. if youre here with a rental, the only options are pretty much fords or jeeps. one company used to offer 3rd gen 4runners specifically, but im pretty sure they dont anymore. be careful though, as lots of the trails go through lava fields, and the lava can wreak havoc on even the toughest of tires if youre not careful. pattycakes, thanks for the compliments. around here, i dont see too many lavender steel colored ones, but i like the color. ...and yes, with the beautiful surroundings, its sometimes hard to drag to school and work. haha

 

I like the sub...BTL Fi very strong sub..what are you powering it with? by the way NICE RUNNER..

 

Hmmm.. trying to figure out how i could move to hawaii..... Runner looks good holms..

 

Ho hawaiian, Meeean your ulua poles!

 

I was hoping that was Hawaii. A couple of those pics looked like you were wheeling on Mars. Anyway, nice lookin' 4Runner.

 

sup braddah. nice truck. i got the same color.

 

Looks good! Would be nice to be back on vacation in hawaii

 

haha, the ulua poles is all show, no go. no action this past christmas break. the sub is actually a bl w/ pole chamfer option. i dont have the electrical to power a btl properly. im just using a hifonics bx1606. its not bad i guess...did a 140.x in my daily/sq box. ill be going back to ascendant audio hopefully tho. probably a havoc 12