The question has often been asked, and all too often we must rely on people's word. This past weekend, I took it a step further and video taped my 4Runner on my highway commute. Some folks thought because I have a rig that does incredibly well off-road, it couldn't handle that well on the highway. Well, see for yourself as to just how well the rig does on the highway. By the way, the driving you see in this video is all with one hand.

SteveO's 4Runner on the highway

 

That video is extremely large. You should try uploading it to youtube, that way we can stream the video.

 

Youtube has a 10minute and 100MB limit. This video is about 18 minutes. The 71MB size is considerable, but when you click on it, it should start streaming right away. If your connection is slow, it will not stream that well. I would suggest you right click and save the video to your system if your internet connection is slow.

 

Nice, but you have coil overs. Most guys are using leaf springs. That was still a very impressive ride for the major amount of redesigning and transformation your front end went though.

 

I did a SAS on my DD 884runner with leafs... It was my only vehicle at the time. drove it to everyday down the highway just fine. Ive never been to concerned with ride quality though.

 

good to know you're not wasting any fossil fuels on those silly turn signal contraptions








sorry....that's one of my biggest pet peeves....

 

Yeah, coil-overs are pretty nice, and the bonus part is, the ride is adjustable.

Yeah, turn signals are over-rated. Just kidding. I did use them once......in heavier traffic when I was pulling from the left lane to the center lane....

edit: The reason for this video:

There is another guy who is having a shop perform a SAS on his rig. This guy has used my 4Runner as the benchmark for quality, ride, steering, etc. Unfortunately, the shop can't seem to get it right, and has been struggling in getting the 4Runner to steer correctly, without wandering all over the road. The shop owner didn't believe that my 4Runner actually drives straight down the road and handles any better than what he has done on this guys rig. The owner of the 4Runner can't get the vehicle over 40MPH before it gets real scary. So, I produced this video to show what my 3-link Coil-over SAS handles like on the highway. As well, there have been plenty of nay-sayers out there who either out of jealously or disdain can't seem to acknowledge that I have a rig that crawls great, and can ride the highway in a comfortable manner. Sad when such pretentious attitudes are displayed.

 

Did you try to tell the guy, the shop screwed up his caster angle?

If a SAS is done right, it should drive down the highway just fine.

 

They don't! True trucks are trailered to the trail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My rig does fine at 75 mph. But it is still a little wily. I guess I am just used to it. And my girl had been beat to heck too! (And with the new rear leafs instead of coil overs - she still rides nice!)

 

I have personally riden in SteveOs rig both on the trail and on the hi-way directly after jumping off the trail and can vouch for him in that his truck is truly a dual purpose vehicle. It drives fine on the hiway and is a beast on the trail. This rig is (or was) actually his wife's DD. Its one solid build... one day I hope to be as lucky... one day... (DAMN I need to flippin graduate!)

Hope all is well Steve! (Its lemonade... DUH!)

 

yeah, Beer does me no good.


Thanks for the kind words Austin. I've certainly worked very hard to get this 4Runner to where it is, and I'm very pleased with the capability on-road and off-road. With new suspension and new capabilities comes a new learning curve. I'm learning that this Runner can take a steeper side angle than when it was IFS. The components are much stronger, and this has given me a more comfortable trail ride. Simply put, its more fun now.

The rig seems to go from daily driver to sitting back to daily driver. I just picked up a commuter car that gets twice my 19MPG of the 4Runner. So, the beast may get a bit of downtime.....for now.

 

Stevo. Great to see someone else has done it right. I'm sitting on 40's and drive down the freeway at 70-75 with out wandering all over the place. If people would take their time and do it right the first time it should track just fine on the freeway. I spent alot of time to figure out how caster and camber would affect my ride quality. Found out that to wheel and drive well I really needed a three link and coilovers. They are adjustable, provide a good ride while still providing the flex and articulation that I need to crawl over those Volkswagon sized boulders we have out here.

Cheers to you for doing a great job

 

Looks great Steve.
I've been using my truck as DD for a while now. With the swaybar I just put back on, it's better than ever.

 

my 4runner flops around all over the place

whoever did my runner's SAS did it pretty weird (wrong is a better word). It crabwalks because they seriously messed up the front end somehow and nobody could align it ever since. With bald bias baja claws and 9" sillysprings, it's one hell of a ride.

 

Hey Steve,

It's been a long time since I've been on here, but you did this yourself, right? Do you have any experience with Off-Road Solutions Kit? I'm buying back my old 4runner, and a SAS is first on the list of mods I want to do.

Chris

 

Ditto to time on here.....

Yes, I did this myself. Figured it you want it done right, you either have to supervise someone or do it yourself. On way too many occassions (including ORS) I didn't supervise and found some descrepancies that I didnt' agree with.

I checked the ORS coil-over and for rockcrawling, it looks like it would do fine. But, if you want to drive it on the highway, I would stay away from it. The panhard mount and the drag link just don't jive, and would definitly promote some crazy bump steer. But, if you are going to trailer your rig, it appears to work (from what their pictures show).........

If I were in your shoes, I'd check out the other shops as well. Demello, Bentup, and lots of research.....

 

I've been out of it for so long I don't even know who all is doing the kits anymore. Beside Demello and Bent up, is there anyone else out there that do them both for daily driving and off-roading?

Chris

 

I can attest if it is done right, it will ride great.

I rode in Rob's (WATRD) SAS'd Tacoma a few years back up in the mountains, and it hugged the road very well.
Way better than my 4Runner could/wished to have done.

It also rode very smooth.

 

Man, I dunno. You're really gonna have to scour to find somebody who can do that, especially if you want to do coil-overs. Doing springs is a no-brainer, just about any socket-jockey can pull that off. Coil-overs is tough to do right. There is a guy here in ABQ that is taking all the measurements off my rig to do on his own. He took my measurements and put them into the 4-link calculator that is on Pirate. He stated that my measurements are very close to perfect or what should be perfect. I dunno, I just know I really like my setup and it rides great.

Anyhow, I would recommend you go over to the TTORA board and start there. For the most part, the 4Runners (3rd Gen) and the Tacos share the same front end. I did a lot of research and question asking of those guys before I dove in. I think I have a couple of links to some guys who were nice and helped me with my questions.

http://www.hunt4steve.com/99RunLtdSAS.html

In the opening comments there is some info there.

If you are looking for somebody to do this for ya; You can bet your are going to pay some money for this type of setup. Not to mention the electronics side of the house. Just a couple weeks ago I sourced a speed sensor for the tail-houseing of my transfer case. I'm going to use this as my speed sensor, since i pulled ALL of my ABS sensors (existing speed sensors). Of course, getting this to hook into the existing electronics (and not screw anything up) is not an easy task. So, if you take it to a shop, just be aware that figuring out the speed stuff is not easy.

You know, speaking of shops, I would be wary of anybody who has not done this before. I know of a guy in the south who wanted to have a SAS like mine. He took it to a "4x4 shop" and the owner stated, NO Problem. Of course, nearly a year later, it's not quite right. The brakes were a problem, the steering was down right scary and the shop was getting tired of the customer stating that it didn't ride like Steve Hunt's did. Well needless to say, the shop owner didn't believe my statemenst, hence the video. So, be carefull what shop you do go to. I would be sure they absolutely know what they are doing, and have proof that they have done this type of setup before. Too often I've seen the shop owner say they can do something, and then when it comes to the actual work, the lowest paid socket-jockey does the work and it comes out half-baked. This is what happened to me in Colorado. When I asked the shop owner about this, he stated he wouldn't do that, and I'm sure he wouldn't but he didn't do the work, one of his workers did. Hence, be careful who works on your rig. When I go to the Stealership for service, I only let one mechanic touch my rig. He is the Master mechanic there and has an appreciation for quality work and does his work right.

Anyway....now I'm just going on......