I've done searches and searches and somethings are still unclear. I'm planning to put OME 890's in the rear. with Tokico's 3536's. Has anyone ran 890's without a panhard bar drop/extension??? Do you think it's possible to get away with this mod? I know people strongly recommend it and I know I should do things right the first time, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has had a similiar lift without the bar drop and the alignment and angles were okay.

my planned setup is OME 890's and Tokico's in the back. toytec 3 inch spacers in the front.

Is there anything else i should think about? Im gonna do the ebrake relocation. my weak sauce 2wd won't need a front diff drop. haha. but the input and advice is appreciated and respected.

 

now why would you do that??!!

 

If you don't get it, the rear axle will be slightly tweaked to the passenger side IIRC. There are many people who lift their truck that haven't done this and have not seemed to have issues.

I can't find the thread but there are a few of them out there debating this topic. Try searching...

 

if you are doing 3" in the front, I would do the oem land cruiser springs on back for 3.5" of lift. that way you will have a solid 1/2" of rake. and with that much lift, you will need extended bump stops and a longer panhard bar.

 

I have 890s on my 2000 4runner. I made my own ebrake reloc bracket, simple peice of metal and a bolt. I did nothing with my panhard bar. I have measured and re-measured and my rear axle is centered, plus or minus 1/16". Alighned great and rieds/handles great.

 

the sole reason I got mine is to avoid the look of the stupid trucks that are crab walking because one side of their wheels stick in and the other sticks out. I'm glad I got mine and that my 4Runner doesn't look retarded moving.

 

If you want a true 3" of lift up front, then you should be running LC coils to give you a nice 1/2" of rake. If you do end up going that route, you defintately will need the extended panhard bar.....it's not an option with that much lift.

You can run the 890's without an extended panhard bar (as I did for a while) but long term you really should do it to preserve the stock geometry and handling as best you can. The 890's only gave me about 37.5" max from fender to ground so keep this in mind when you're piecing your suspension together.

 

I've got LC coils in the rear without extended bump stops or the panhard bar. The key is: use stock length shocks if you don't want to do all those mods. Stock length shocks will keep your suspension articulation to stock limits, making longer brake lines, e brake mods and bump stops unnecessary. With that said, you won't get the full benefits of the lift and the articulation it can provide. My rear axle isn't off centered enough to warrant a panhard drop bar at this point.

I wheel mine 4-5 times a year on only moderate trails, so my setup works fine. Completely different story if you wheel more or want the true benefits of the suspension. Mine is mostly for looks.

 

with LC coils, did you get about 3.5" in the back?? isn't that much for stock shocks??? did you have limiting straps or anything like that?? It would be pretty cool if I could run that setup.

thanks guys i appreciate all your help

 

Initially, I got 4" of lift from the LC's! They have since sagged back to ~3.5" or so. They are long and I do have a raked look to my rig, which I think looks good. The Rancho shocks I put on are longer than stock, but not as long as OME or stock LC shocks would be. I've been wheeling several times without any issues or problems with over extension of the shocks or brake lines.

With that said, if you do plan to wheel more often or harder than I do, you'd want to do the complete rear upgrade, including brake lines, e-brake bracket, longer shocks, bump stops, panhard bar, etc. You'd also want the extra travel and articulation that a more hardcore setup would allow.

Since mine is a DD and only off road about 10% of the time, so my setup works fine for my needs. I did mine primarily for looks and I think it does look much better than the factory height. Basically, it just boils down to how you're planning to use your rig. The way mine is set up works perfectly for my needs.

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/my-cruiser-coil-bj-spacer-lift-thread-105110/

 

Nice write up and post Ben, except it's for a 2nd gen. Still some good info there tho.