I hate seeing my truck's rear sag with some decent load in the trunk. I'm thinking to upgrade my rear coil springs(leave front spring as is). Do you guys think a 99 spring will solve the problem? I use my 4R mainly onroad and my DD. Thanks in advance!

 

PM Fuzion. He had the same problem a while ago.

 

check your pm's

 

i think you should buy my extra OME 891s for sale.

 

I would agree and if I knew JGM was selling his, I would have bought them. Anyway, I just ordered a set from Strapp22 so my rear sits a little higher than the front.

 

I got air shocks and they have been the best mod on my runner by far.

 

any stock springs are going to sag with a load in the back or when towing - they just were not meant to hold up under that kind of load. If you want to retain the same ride while unloaded, but still have some help in the back when hauling, look into airbags. The install inside the rear springs, and you can inflate/deflate them as you wish. Leave them soft for daily driving and keep your stock ride, inflate them as much as necessary to help the stock springs and keep your truck level.


A heavier duty spring will also work well, but if you only install them in the back, your truck will likely sit higher in the back than in the front. Also, so springs require aftermarket shocks as well. I run OME shocks and springs (heavy duty) and they are great when the truck is loaded up.

 

I've read and been considering the Firestone "coil rite airbags". This is the cheapest route I can go. But i wonder how reliable these airbags are? Can somebody who have airbags in their susp. setup chime in...aside from airbags I might consider an 1" of lift (i.e PP springs). They're a little bit pricey though and I just can't imagine how the wife would react into this...but should i get PP springs, are they fine with my stock shocks or a new set of tokico trekmaster will do...need more inputs, brodass!

 

Ebelen,

will you be able to post a pic. of your rig(side view)? Did you leave your front bone stock? If the rear sits a little higher than the front, are there any issue on this esp. the handling, body roll or whatsoever? Thanks!

 

I got your pm, george.

So 99 springs are not the best idea, that's what you mean? Man, my stock coils don't really sag w/o load. But throw a bunch of *#$#* i.e. groceries in there and notice a little bit of sag which i don't really love to look at! I wish we have those "load sensing" type of springs for our 4Rs!

 

I know someone on here is running airbags in the back (or was at one time) - I want to say it was bamachem, but I could be wrong. I'm sure a few minutes with the seach tool would turn it up. If you don't get any input in this thread, start a new one specifically about air bags. Or PM bama - if it wasn't him, he probably knows who it was.

 

The springs will sag for sure, especially the stock 4runner ones. That is what started many down the path of mods in the first place (myself included). A set of brand new 99 coils may fix the issue (and give you somewhat of a rake at first) so it may settle to the correct height later, but the issue with those will always be that the rear has a very low spring rate so it will begin to sag when loaded to any extent or during towing. When you go with an OME lift (or the Tundra fronts/OME rears) you will then be lifting the truck about 1.5-2.0" in the front and 2.25"+ in the rear. You can also run airbags, but I have heard of issues with those as well (I didn't run them so I'll let those running/have run them speak to their experiences with them). The PP springs might be another choice as well but I believe most are getting more than just 1" of lift out of them and the rears do settle after time (again especially when loaded in the rear on a regular basis).

 

Yeah, I'll get you pics but I misquoted myself. I'm going to put in the 891's today so when I post the pic, it may not have settled yet. As everyone has said, the stock coils just suck. You can go airbags but I think there's a little maintenance involved in that you have to fill them when you're loading up the rear and such. If you just went w/ springs, you would not have anything to do but put them in. My two cents...

As far as the front goes, I put in some used SAW's that are cranked to 1.75" IIRC.

 

Groceries
Consensus OME

 

yup, that's me.

i used to have a set of the TRD air bags for the rear coil springs in another runner. they were nice. just leave them empty when in normal use, then when you load it down, just air them up to 10-15 psi and it makes a world of difference. the TRD bags were made by firestone, BTW.

now i have a Air Lift Outback 1000 that has the compressor, etc. it's nice, still uses firestone bags, and i can air up/down with the push of a button. the only reason that i got the compressor with them is cause i got the set used for the same price of just the new bags with the manual fill valve.

i would suggest getting the bags with the manual valve and linking the two bags together on one fill valve so they can self-equalize in pressure.

that's the best bet for having a smooth and controllable highway ride with any load.

 

How much do those bags run?

 

about $80 new IIRC. the setup I got was about $220 new and i STOLE it for $85 shipped.

mine is a AIR LIFT OUTBACK 1000

air lift 1000 (two bags w/ manual fill) model #60743 (1999 4Runner) is about $74-$79 depending on where you buy from (NEW)


Clicky #1

Clicky #2

 

If you are still running the stock springs on your '97 and really want to keep it stock, then your first stop should be the dealership. On 4WD 97s the bump stops and coils were replaced/recalled due to excessive sagging when carrying loads or something along those lines. When I owned my 97 4Runner I had the recall completed and there was a distinct difference in ride quality when the change was made.

I don't have the TSB number in front of me but you should be able to call them with your VIN to see if you can get it worked.

 

oh yeah, i forgot about the recall...

you'll also want to get the recall done BEFORE you do the air bags. then you'll have the conical bumpstop in place. all you do is trim three of the "pucks" off the bottom and put the bag under it and run the tubing up thru the hole in the center of the conical bumpstop.

 

I didn't have the same experience with mine when I did the recall.....the truck still sagged after and would still bottom out over bumps....the only difference I saw was that I now had the conical bump stops. I am sure the airbags would help to rectify the sagging and perhaps the 99 coils would have enough added lift that even after they did sag, they still rode level.