Toyota 4Runner Topsites


SUSPENSION


OVERVIEW:


Ever since I have had my truck, February of 2002, the ride quality was horrible. The reason behind the harsh ride was actually due to a design flaw by Toyota. The rear bump stops are far too hard. When the suspension undergoes full compression the axle abruptly stops at the hard bumpstop. Because of this problem Toyota issued a recall which calls for changing springs and installing the cone style bump stop. Beyond that problem I also had the fact that I have a 2wd 4runner adding to my harsh ride. The 2wd 4runner sits approximately 1" lower than 4wd 4runners because of shorter springs. Because of that, my truck had 1" less of travel (see photo) making me bottom out more often than 4wd 4runners. If that wasn't enough I still had the factory shocks that had over 100k miles. Because of all these compounding problems and the fact that I wanted to lift my truck I knew that a change of suspension would be in order.



FRONT SUSPENSION:


For the front suspension I chose to go with Cornfed Suspension spacers, Bilstein shocks, and springs from a 4wd 4cyl 4Runner. Mainly due to the affordability I went with Cornfed Suspension spacers. These are made of machined steel that give 2.5" of lift. Since my truck is 2wd, going with 4wd springs gave me an extra 1" of lift. With the soft factory springs it was necessary to go with a firm shock and it doesn't get much better than a proven company like Bilstein. As for the install I thought about taking it to a shop and have them do it. When I called around to get quotes, most shops would not do it because of "customer supplied parts." The ones that would do it were charging around $300. Rather than pay that I bought some good tools (Craftsman wrench set, hydraulic jack, jack stands) and did the install myself. Not only did I get tools out of it, I also go the satisfaction of knowing that I did it myself. The front install was pretty simple. I followed instructions that Cornfed sends out with the spacers and help from Steve's site. Rather than compressing the potentially dangerous springs I took both coilpacks to Pepboys and had them do it for me. $40 and 2 hours later they were done and I had them installed on my truck in less than an hour.



REAR SUSPENSION:

Now onto the rear suspension. This was the only thing I didn't like about my truck when I first got it. It seemed to bottom out on the smallest of bumps making it uncomfortable for passengers. When I was carrying any kind of cargo it magnified the problem. The ride was bad because of the problems stated above and the load made the springs compress and the distance between the bump stops got shorter and shorter so it would bottom out much more easily than before. The rear suspension has the same setup as the front: Cornfed Suspension spacers, Bilstein shocks, and springs from a 4wd 4cyl 4Runner. I did the complete rear install with a buddy of mine. The rear proved to be harder than the front. I am sure for someone who is used to working on cars it would be easy but this was my first major endeavor. I made sure to check things and make sure I wasn't going to mess anything up. I follwed again the instructions from Cornfed and used Steve's site. 4 hours after we started we were finnally done.




RESULTS:

WOW what a difference! The first thing noticeable was the height change. I gained a full 3.5" in the front and 3" in the back from before. Immediately I when I took it out I was treated to a smooth ride. I took it over some speed bumps and dips in my neighborhood that I would have normally bottomed out on but the new suspension performed flawlessly absorbing everthing I went over. The old suspension was so bad even after having my truck lifted for a month I still got ready for a jolt going across dips but I have not been able to hit the bumpstops yet. If I did have one complaint it is that the rear feels a little soft. I am going to keep my current setup for a few months and test it out. If I still want a firmer ride in the rear I am going to go with Downey 3.5" coils which will give me an added .5" of lift and a firmer ride. Overall I could not be happier with any of the products I currently have. I would highlighly recomend all of them for anyone looking to lift their 4runner.


BEFORE

AFTER


TIRES


When I lifted my truck 3.5" it looked pretty funny with my 225/75/15 (28") tires. If I had an endless supply of money ideally I would choose 16x8 after-market rims with 285/75/16 (33x11.5x16) tires. I personally like the look of the bigger wheel and less sidewall. However, since I am a college student I decided to get a tires size that would fit on my factory 15x7 rims. I chose BF Goodrich 33x10.5x15 AT's. I think this is a perfect size. I can not get these tires to rub. I can turn full lock to both sides and they do not rub. Some people might complain that they are a little skinny but they look great to me. With the tires size change alone I got a 2.5" lift. Discount Tire installed them and they did a good job, I have no vibrations at all. This is good because some people have had balancing issues using factory Toyota wheels and I have also heard that BFG's are somewhat difficult to balance.




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