4RUNNER LIMITED BUYER BEWARE X-REAS SUSPENSION FAILS

Be careful with the company, suspension lifts. They were extremely hard to deal with after an order screw up. Turns out they don’t talk or understand english. All communication was through texts and emails and tedious to say the least. I ordered 4, 5100 shocks and received a 3” spacer lift kit instead. It was literally over a month to straighten out and it still cost me $44 in shipping to return parts I never ordered.. Anyone but , suspension lifts.

 

That's not what I keep hearing...its $4,000 and up to rip out x-reas and replace it.its a big job and expensive.plus i don't wana leave my 4runner overnight at somebody's place I love it too much.lol.buying the replacements is not the problem is the labor cost that stresses me.i don't know anyone who's reliable enough to do it for me and I don't have mechanic knowledge to do it myself like some of you do.now about the those shocks I know of the bilstein brand...you mentioned lift.im all for it but what's the negative side to doing lifts ? Thanks for all your advice I really appreciate the help.

 

If you don't know how to do this, yes, it's going to cost you money. It's not that big of a job. FFS. I did it by myself in on a Saturday. Find another mechanic. And you don't have to put a lift on it. You can maintain stock ride height with aftermarket shocks, springs and struts.

 

I would like to get it to TRD Pro height. From what I understand is a 1" lift all around.

 

Find a mechanic outside the city, don’t have to lift. And I bet it will cost more than 4K to step up to another runner.

 

The Pro is only 1" higher in the front.

 

I did research on this. you can disconnect the shocks from the Schroeder valve without removing the whole system and dripping oil. You can remove the shocks and leave the whole system on the car as is..
Remove the strut with shock, replace with another shock and put it back in for front.
the rear, just remove the shock the same way and replace it.
why 4k?

 

I agree with @catbrown357. Ripped out x-reas and replaced it with aftermarket parts in an afternoon on my last 4R. Not too hard to do. Grab a friend for help. Maintained stock ride height. Save a bunch of money and move on.

 

I replaced my X-REAS with new parts. Replaced at 170k, now at 200k. $24 a month.

 

$24 a month for…?

 

The X-REAS lasted 156 months and it cost around $3600.

 

@catbrown357 @Jack Morrow @leftyfire Can you please tell us what you replaced it? Still deciding but having a harder time finding a mechanic who will do the work. All I get is crickets. Still trying to decide which suspension but not until I can find a mechanic. Above my pay grade. Thanks!

Norm

 

I replaced with OME Nitrocharger struts and shocks with OME 884X springs on the front, and OME 889X springs on the rear. Due to the increased lift, I also had to replace the UCAs. Take your pick on these, but I went with Rocky Road Outfitters upper control arms. This suspension is stiff, but handles really good. No dive whatsoever. If I had to do it all over again I would probably go with Bilstein 5100 struts and shocks.

 

" This suspension is stiff, but handles really good." - 100% accurate. Great setup to abuse off pavement including some jumps.
I only had it for short time and change it to ELKA 2.5 dual adjusters.


"I had to do it all over again I would probably go with Bilstein 5100 struts and shocks." - Had it for short time and changed to Ironman FCP with 1.5in rear springs. Front set at 2.25ish. Much better comfort than 5100s.

 

My Ironman setup has been great for me so far, I do some off-road trails/gravel/logging roads. I have about 15k on the suspension, and just about a year.