Hey all, I just wanted to say this site has helped me out a BUNCH. Thanks. Now on to the tech. I have a 98 4runner that I just put LC springs in the rear and bought some used "3 inch" front coils... Well the rear sits about 3"s taller than the front. It looks GAY. I think the front is just a spacer and it looks like it is only 1.5" tall. Does this mean the front is only lifted 1.5 and the rear 3.5?

Also the steering seems alot different. It seems tighter and when I turn it, it turns quicker. I take it that this is normal? I have just never heard of anyone talking about it before though.

I am thinking of leaving the rear and getting the 882's up front and a 1" diff drop. Would this make it sit more level?

Thanks for everyones help

Tyler

 

yes spacers only lift it about 1.5 so it is not matching the 3 you have in back and the steering is different because now the pitman arm is farther from your draglink

 

I've got the LC coils in the rear with a 2.5" Daystar front spacer lift. They fronts have sagged to about 1.5" of lift now and the rears have settled to 3.5", so I've got the same look you have. FWIW, I have a set of OME 882's and N91SC shocks ready to install sometime next week.

Post up what year and model of Runner you have and maybe a pic of your front setup. That will help us see what you have so we can recommend what you need. Welcome to YT!

 

After lifting the front you'll have to do a front end alignment also.

 

The 3rd Generations have rack and pinion steering - there is no pitman arm or drag link.

Jeepeater, you should get your front end re-aligned after doing any suspension lift.

 

ya. I need to get the front re-aligned next week.
But that is comen for the steering to do that?

I have a Jeep YJ on 40's sprung over and other stuff.... But Im not sure about his whole IFS stuff... Since this is my DD I just want to make sure everything is correct...

 

My steering does that. Seems like i can dig more into the turns, but I also have more understear.

Your gonna have some positive camber (top of the wheels pushing outwards)

 

Well, since you've lifted the rear, and not the front, the caster angle of the front wheels are changed. They have rotated in a negative (forward) direction, which is not a good thing. Rather than having gravity help you with tracking on a straight line at higher speeds, the caster angle has been probably pushed closer to 0*....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_angle

 

SC4Runner, I see what your saying and that makes alot of sense.

Now for lifting the front, I won't be off roading much in this beast so will a spacer that goes on top of the strut ass. work just as good as some OME springs? Also if I get new springs can I just use the factory shock?

 

Springs will equate to better performance in general, since you are not pre-loading them with the spacer. If you're cut for cash, and just want to level it out, go ahead and use a spacer... Thousands use them w/o issues.

I lifted my dads Tundra with some 1" spacers in the front just to stiffen up the ride, and its great.

 

Spacers =

I put them on my '99 Runner a few years back and it was terrible.
CV angles were so bad I was slinging grease everywhere and the ride quality was worse than awful.

Granted, I had 3" spacers up front.
The CV angles may not end up being an issue for you - depending on how big you go.

The ride quality will inevitably suffer.

Fink

 

The rake on the truck will affect alignment. You may notice the steering doesn't centre as fast as before. This is because the caster is out (look it up). You cannot adjust the caster as far as I know.