Yep, you heard it here first.
Todd no longer has a saggy ass

Todd sent me some pics he had taken a little earlier this evening.
He got some AAL's (add a leave) from Paul on the board here and they turned out nice.

http://www.pnw4runners.net/~todd/aal/

From the gound to the fender before it was 32".
Now he's sitting at 34.75" on the passenger side, and 35" on the drivers side.

Much better. I posted this as Todd had some other things to do, but I'm sure he'll be around later to answer any ?'s one might have.

Now it's time for some 31 or 32" tires Todd

Compare picture #6 in the above directory to a few old ones listed below, and you can see the difference the new springs made.
http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/tando/todd_wax/2.jpg

http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/tando/todd_wax/3.jpg

http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/tando/todd_wax/4.jpg

Yeah, that's Mr. Porter Cable with PC in hand doin' Todd's rig April 4th.

 

Good one, Toddski...looks much better now that your has been 'lifted'......
Jim

 

I'm pretty intrested in exactly what went in there. I count 4 leaves on my saggy rear springs and 4 in these pictures. Was it a swap a leaf or an add a leaf job? Either way it seems to have cured the problem.

I think this is worthy of a tech section write up, its a common problem. What do you say Todd?

Was anything done to the hangers and shackles. When I do mine I will probably use polyurethane bushings at the least and maybe the orbit eye, greasable shackles and bushings. My 15 year old rubber bushings are totally cracked, hard as rocks caked with rust, and stuck in place, limiting wheel travel. (especially the droop)

 

Looks great, good job Todd. I wish I could at least helped you too.

Glad everything went ok.

 

Thanks for the kind words

Philly, my 4runner is an '88. I purchased it last year after i sold my '97 4runner.
After i sold my '97 Corey wouldn't leave me alone
So after a couple of months of looking i finally found this '88.
Finally Corey was able to relax

Matt, in picture #2 http://www.pnw4runners.net/~todd/aal/Addaleaf2.jpg you can see i have 3 leaf's plus the bottom helper spring.
I put the add-a-leaf between the helper spring and the bottom leaf.
So i now have 4 leaf's and a helper spring.http://www.pnw4runners.net/~todd/aal/Addaleaf2.jpg
I didn't do anything to the hangers or shackles. I think if you want an additional lift you could install new shackles.
The leaf's gave me around 3" of lift so i will see how it looks right now.

It took about 2 hours to do. When i picked up the leaf's from Paul he told me i needed a longer center bolt so i purchased one from him

Like Corey said, i had a measurement of 32" from the ground to the fender lip on both sides.
When i finished i had 34.75" on the passenger side and 35" on the drivers side.
I'll check the measurement later in the week to see if having an empty gas tank makes a difference on the passenger side.

Now i need to adjust my side mirrors and my headlights

Thanks again Paul and let me know when i can buy you a Wally's burger and shake

 

Looking good Todd! I am hoping to get out of the Saggy ASS club here real soon!

 

Todd,
Great job! I want to do that too. I've been talking to shops, and they all insist that I need longer U-bolts at of course, more money. Did you need longer U-bolts? Thanks, Mark

 

Mark,
As a precautionary you should get new u-bolts.
When i started my stock u-bolts had 4 threads showing above the nut.
When i installed the add-a-leaf i went to install the nuts but couldn't get a grip.
I thought i was out of luck. Well the stock set up had a real thick washer under the nut. These were just plain spacer washers.
So i omitted them and installed the nut and came out with about 2 threads showing.
I will get some longer u-bolts here soon just to be on the safe side

You will be real surprised on how your rig will look. When i get a chance i'll take a side shot and post it so you can see the difference.

Later

 

Sorry about the u-bolts Todd. When I had the add-a-leafs in my truck I didn't need new ubolts. Maybe the are shorter in your year 4Runner. I have some in stock at the store if you want to call me at work.

 

QUick question for Todd. During the install of the add-a-leafs did you use air tools, or just regular tools?

 

granfeltcher...
I used all hand tools. I soaked the u-bolts for a bit before i took them off and this helped.

Are you thinking of installing some add-a-leafs?
If so you'll be surprised. Mark did his leafs a bit ago and is real happy also.

 

Todd-
Looks grand!! Where did you get your leafs? Cost? Have you added coil springs? Just curious about how you did it. I need to tighten my butt end up and trying to decide on add-a-leafs, springs, or both.
Looks good man.

 

Hi there Brad.
If you want to lift your rear you need to go with some springs.
2nd generation 4runners like yours takes springs.

1st generation 4runners like my '88 take leafs.

Take a look at Corey's site and see what he did to his rear. His springs lifted his rear real nice.