I need to lower my 4runner. IT was SAS'd before I got it. As of now I run 37s and it is too tall. The rear is easier to lower. There are lift shackles in the rear and the PO put 2 inch blocks under the lift springs. So I can lower the rear rather easy.

The dilema is the front. I get my bolts tomorrow to install the shackles i made. Currently it is running stock shackles that had the spring resting agaisnt the bottom of the frame rail. I mocked up the shackle with a shackle with 5 inch between bolt to bolt, it is too tall, i am redoing them to be 4 inches and it should sit correct. The plan is to also remove a leaf from the front springs. My goal is to drop it 2-3 inches. I have searched and found alot of people have done the leaf removal but the grey area is the loss of height, that is really discussed as much.

The main question is am i asking for too much by trying to lower the front 2-3 inches just by removing the leaf alone? The truck looks to have a 5 inch lift but I have no idea of manufacture. And the springs seem to not have been broken in. I know the easiest way is to just buy the 3 or 4 inch leafes, but I want to see what i can accomplish with what i have on hand.

Thanks.

 

Without know what type of leafs are under it now it will be hard to tell how far it is going to drop.
I say do it and see what happens.

Is this your DD/only rig?

Fink

 

Does it have high crossover steering? Pictures would help.

 

It is my trail rig, and weekender rig. It does have crossover steering already.

Here is a side shot of it. That is the PO next to it.


I dont have much to lose if i just pull leafs, it isnt that hard, just some labor

 

here is another shot of it next to my 89 that is stock with 32s under it.



My eyes keep messing with me to how jacked up it is in the rear compared to the front.

I read in a post on here that supposidly the sweet spot for a lift is 25-27 inches to the bottom of the door to the ground, i measure 35 inches from door to ground.

 

Why? Because you read this:

How does the truck perform offroad? What is your balance of flex front/rear? What's the setup for compression travel vs droop?

Long story short, IMHO, the current trend for subterranean COG at the expense of all compression travel is misguided. As in all things, balance is key.

To me, your truck doesn't look THAT tall for 37's. Unless you have problems with almost rolling it, I would wait for the springs to settle before doing much of anything.

 

At ride height, the rear leaf eye is in contact with the frame?

 

Oh No. the front springs. The eye is resting on the frame rail. The rear is no where near it

I want to lower the rig based on personal expereinces with an older rig i had with a high center of gravity. This one hasnt been on the trail yet by me, but I am going through it and want to drop it first. The rear also needs to have shocks mounted and before i spend money on shocks I need to figure out my ride height first.

 

Well i had the super lift springs on the front. It was a 5.5 lift i think and I ended up removing one leafe to drop it.... only used in the trail once.... and it broke.... there wasn't enough support for the first 2 leaves...

I ended up getting the 3" TG leaves... haven't trailed with them yet but it definately sits perfect with my current set up.

If you dont wheel hard then I guess it would be fine. But if the trails you go to require maximum flex both up and down travel, then expect to break them.

Good luck.

 

If the front shackles are 'laying back' and contacting the frame, the slugs were installed too far foward. You need to buy or make some new slugs and install them further back so you achieve a 15* or 20* angle towards the back end. Also, if it just a trail truck you could do a run or two with no shocks installed and really flex it out to break in the springs

 

here is what the front shackles looks like with stock shackles.


Unless that is the way they are supposed to lay, but to me it jsut doesnt seem right to be on the frame.

 

Yea, that looks way too far back. It should be pointing towards the rear end at a 15- 20 degree angle. That looks like its 40-45 degrees. All you need is 2 slugs. You could grab some from allpro, trail gear or marlin and they come with templates to help you correctly position them.

 

Looks like you need to move the front spring hanger forward.

And is your axle housing bent? Or are your bearings up front shot? Tires do not look like they are sitting right.

 

I havne looked into it. The pic looks odd, in person it is straight.

Sucks with the hanger, i would rather move the front mount than reweld and drill throguh the frame Can I get a measurement from front hanger bolt hole to shackle tope hole to make sure?

 

HHHHMMM looking at ttrail gears instructions it looks like it is in the correct location. Kind of hard to see, some of the pics look to be slightly off straight ahead but the slug looks correct. If anything it might be 1/2 inch to far forward.

http://www.trail-gear.com/pdf/ifs-elim-inst.pdf

Page 5 picture is what I am judging by

 

If you don't mind cutting off the front hanger and replacing and welding the new one on (unless you get it off really nice) then that will fix your problem. And since your running 37"s it will help keep your tires from rubbing at full lock/stuff

 

If your rig was sas'd, the shackels weren't origionally there. I have a sas'd 86 xtra cab and my slugs are centered on that body mount. Yours DOES look a little foward. If you do cut your hanger off, you should build a reciever into it. I've seen some sweet ones around here lately. I wish I did one on mine. I don't have a motor in my truck as I'm swapping in a 7mge so my pics won't do you any good

 

Don't worry about their instructions, you need to move the front spring hanger forward. Put the longer 5" shackles back in, and move the front hanger forward until your shackle angle is correct. Then weld it back in where it sits. You may also have to move the steering box forward, but its better to move everything forward for clearance issues anyways

 

I would drop the rear only and see how you like it. It looks ridiculous like this.

 

Interesting find this morning. I was changing out a brake line on the 4runner and some fluid dripped on the front leaf springs, so i took a rag and wiped it up, and it cleaned off the spring real good, and there was stenciled on the front "FRONT3"
Would it be correct to believe they are 3 inch fronts?