New to much of this, need some experienced help. ..

Running an 89 4Runner with 31 x 11.5s. I am looking to add a 4in. suspension lift and bigger tires this spring. ANY suggestions?

Personal opinion -Will 32s look too dinky?
Technical -Would I have to change out the gearing with 32s or only if I chose to add 33's?
-Whats the best lift for the money without cleaning out the bank? Better to go with 3in. to save money or no big difference?

Any and all suggestions on what routes to take here are much appreciated! -Justin K.

 

What do you plan to do with your rig? This is a huge question. I made the mistake of slowly building my rig, thinking I just want to go a little bigger, or just want to go play once in a while. Meanwhile I spent thousands of dollars stepping up in gearing, tires, suspension system etc.

So, what do you really plan to do, long term?

 

SO the plan is have a final product of a beatiful '89 4runner with a 4 inch lift, bigger tires (no bigger than 33's), reruited air intake, custom bumpers, and some extra lights. I do alot of offroading in the summer however I still need this vehicle to travel on road without KiLLING MY WALLET DUE TO GAS. This is why I am warry about going all the way to 33's if nice 32's will do the trick AND save me some gas on the highway. However, if I have 32's, is a 4inch lift too much? Any input on this plan would help. Thanks alot! -Justin

 

A beautiful rig and offroading don't usually go well in the same sentence, at least not for long

32 or 33 tires will both look fine.

Here's my question still. What do you mean by lots of offroading. What type of offroading will you be doing. Mud, rocks, fire roads, jeep trails????? The type of wheeling will make a difference in the type of lifts.

 

Oh ok. Well I'm in Central Mass where it's woods and small sandpits. So all we have here is mostly jeeping trails and the occasional mud pit/trail. No rock climbing at all. Does this help? - Justin

 

If you plan on wheeling this anything more that light offroading, you'll find that the SAS if far superior, but plan on about $2000 for a complete, well-done job and fabrication/welding skills are required. I've found that IFS kits of 3 - 4" are prone to breakage. There are superior on road but inferior offroad. This is siimply inherent in how an IFS works. You can still pay a lot of money for an IFS kit if you want a good one. If you go with mass market products like trailmaster, superlift etc, don't expect to pound them too hard. I had to make my own lower A-arm cross braces as the stock ones that were re-used were not strong enough I also had to relocate the diff because the tulip joint kept pulling apart and the resulting force bent all the diff mounting bracket beyond recognition. It took me about 2 year to get my 4" superlift kit to stop breaking and I didn't wheel really hard just sometimes stupid :confused:


Here are a couple articles on some different lifts.
http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/suspension.html

I believe that Eric was going to remove his kit but his engine blew first :o)

 

32's with a 4" lift would look small on your truck. I know several people on here that are running 32's with no lift just cranking the T-bars a bit. After hearing UP N D Air's story you may be better off with a 3" Body lift and running 32's. 4" lifts sure look SWEET though.

 

So I've decided that 32's are what I want because I don't want to deal with the gear changing. Also, with a little adjustment of the T bars and a 2 inch suspension lift I could definitely have fun on some of the harder MASS trails. SSOoooo, any suggestions on a 2 inch sus lift that would fit on an 89 4runner and still make my wallet smile? Also, is it best to add leaves or add springs? So thats it. Also , any suggestions for decent 32x12.5s that are good on jeep trails and some mud but also will not shake my rig too much on the highway(65mph max). Thanks for the input! -Justin

 

Slap some 33's on there.



Martin