Trying to Decide on Suspension. What would Jesus do!?

This is what I'm doing and I'm good friends with Jesus. Hehe
Just have to find time to do it.

 

Don't know about longevity of rebuildable vs non, but something to consider when buying rebuildable shocks is that unless you're doing it yourself, you're uninstalling, mailing, waiting and reinstalling. If this thing is your daily that's not really a feasible option.

 

This.

And I've read a ton of the long travel threads where everyone had coilovers. Most of those guys would rebuild around 30,000 miles. Perhaps they use them more and are harder on them, but that seemed to be the rebuild mileage.

From my experience, I get about 75,000 miles out of the non-rebuildable shocks. I actually push them closer to 100,000 miles, but really should have changed them out at 75,000. Unbolt the old ones, install the new ones and it's drivable again in an hour or less.

 

I spent 26 months doing researching and I ended up going with Elka.

 

Does anyone know what the spring rate is on the stock front coil springs? I’m thinking about swapping the coils out with my stock coils from my 3rd gen Tacoma.

 

550. 600 stock tacoma

 

Thank you. I have been looking for this info everywhere.

 

Had the 17 Tacoma and went king and was told 600lb had to do 700lb.
Now I have a 19 4runner staying stock and was told 550 wonder why they didn't stay 600lb but hey I'm no engineer!

 

I’m going to swap these in this week. I’m trying to avoid going crazy with this one.

 

Arent the Tacoma coils a different length than the 4runner coils?

Thought I read that.

Can't remember which one was shorter/longer.

 

King OEM

I believe Total Auto Performance Las Vegas is a good vendor (not used them, just reputation; https://totalautomotiveperformance.com) for this sort of thing, but I don't know if they'll install or just wholesale.

 

If you plan on ever running bumpers, winch, etc the added weight should be taken into consideration. I'm forced to change out springs on my coilovers and rears to heavier load ratings now after adding a bunch of goodies. Plan ahead, do it right once. Good luck buddy.

 

This is true, but if you get heavy springs before you add the goodies, you’ll have an unnecessarily stiff ride.

 

Yes I agree with @Toffees, my ride was STIFF until I got the bumper and winch put on. From everything I've seen, heard or read: so far good things about ADS, Fox has great stuff but customer service has had issues in the past, and ICON has an occasional failure once in awhile but most people are happy with them. I voted for Kings on both my Runners. Love em and have over 45k miles on the first set. I will probably rebuild soon but they are holding up just fine. As far as performance, this is my 4th gens new set up and I'll just leave this here
https://www.youtube.com/embed/n0Nh3PJnJeg

 

I have 600# on my 5th gen with a bumper, winch, heavy cable, lights, and an ARB compressor. 550# should be fine.

 

it's a slippery slope once you start modding any car. i am upgrading the fox coilovers to 700 lb eibach springs in the front and icon 3" overland springs in the rear soon.

 

ADS is awesome. Loved the ADS I had on the Tacoma. Far better than the Kings I had on my 13.

 

You're correct, the 6112 are not rebuildable... I imagine that's a big part of why they're far less than any other coil-over type of suspension ($650)

 

I ended up ordering a stage 7 icon kit. See, slippery slope!

 

I know there are a lot of Icon fans in the Toyota world, but as someone who has been in Toyotas since 1992 and in the mod game since 2001 I too had Icon suspension on a few of my Tacomas. Reliability is hit or miss with Icon and their customer service is absolute garbage. I have had blown shocks in less than 3k miles and had a coilover break while off reading very mildly. In my opinion, Icon is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to aftermarket suspension. I highly recommend to those looking to spend the money go with ADS or Radflo. Both companies sell actual race quality components that go on their sponsored rigs to the general public unlike King, Fox, Icon, OME, and the others. I personally recommend ADS (Arizona Desert shocks) as I had them on my last tacoma for 48k miles with no corrosion, leakage, breakage, or obvious reduction in ride quality. The ADS rode like a Cadillac on the trails and their customer service is by far the best I’ve experienced in the aftermarket suspension world. I will be putting ADS on my Runner when the wife lets me buy more shit.

As they say, buy once cry once.

 

This is solid info.

 

As me my wife was a no no with wheeling this one. But if I do it in moderation she wont know!!

 

Agreed, I have King's right now (about 18k on them) and have had no issues. They ride great on and off road and there are shops locally that can service them if needed. That being said if I could do it all over again I'd get Radflo or ADS. A friend of mine just got some Radflo's for his 2019 and they are super nice... not to mention they came in about $300-400 (I think) less then the King's direct from Radflo and only had a 3 week lead time.

 

I'm going to go the Radflo route. I like that they are local to me, 15 min drive, and the owner, Glenn, seemed super knowledgeable and willing to help in anyway he could. He even gave me a tour of the shop!

 

Glenn is awesome. I’ve spoken to him a few times on the phone when I was building my Tacomas.

 

Question on your post from May - I am looking at Dobinsons and want a 2.5/1.5 lift to hopefully fit 285 BFG AT K02s (I currently run the 265s and like the tires). You said no rubbing with your 1.6 lift but I saw the other post from hodie saying his 285s rubbed. I know that all 285s are not the same so can you tell me what tires you are running? Your wheels look like stock 17s

 

A couple questions on this post from May if you don't mind. I am waiting on a quote from Mike at Dobinsons for a 2.5/1.5 lift on my 2016 Trail. My goal is to fit 285 BFG AT K02s next year when my 265 BFGs wear out. You mentioned some rubbing so curious what tires you are running since all 285s are not the same. Also don't mean to sound ignorant but what is BMC ? I have seen that acronym several times.

Cheers

 

Our 4runner is my wife's vehicle. I went ADS all for corners with low speed compression clickers set to 2 from full soft and MCM Fab UCA'S and icon coils for the rear 2inch. The ride is amazing super plush but ramps up nicely and speed is increased. No sway bar up front, rear sway bar on still. Brake dive eliminated. Wife loves it, I love it performs great offroading. Rode great with stock tires. But just as great with the nitto trail grapplers we have now. Ride is subjective to everyone so what is plush and awesome to me may not be to the next person. King and ADS are the 2 best setups you can run in my opinion. The materials ADS uses in their products is better than king and fox in my opinion. Research it for yourself. But I recommend ADS you wont be disappointed. I have had ADS on 3 vehicles now. The Tacoma is gone but currently on the Tundra and 4runner.

 

I am basing this off of you wanting to go with 6112's. If you go with something else it will be a totally different story

The bilstein 6112 (or if you even wanted to go with 5100's) both max out at 2.5 inches. Rear shock choice is fine. I would stay away from the OME rear heavy coil springs they are stiff as hell and you will hate them as they do not compliment the fronts 6112's as far as balance goes. Most who get these springs are carrying a ton of weight out back. Unloaded you will have a super bouncy rear end and it can be dangerous on the freeway.

As far as the 6112....if you will be installing these yourself I suggest getting them through wheelers completely assembled. You do not need a diff drop or upper control arms. I went 2.5 inches up front and believe me it would be a total waste of money as it rides fine the way it is. I have 2 degrees of castor on each wheel up front. I come from driving sports cars and I can tell you that I can’t see a benefit myself. If you like the way an upper control arm looks then go ahead and get it. My experience with upper control arms on a 350z is that too many ways to adjust just complicates things and you will be chasing castor numbers and probably not be happy. Now if you will be going 3 inches or more then I would say you will need them because that is the point where driving quality starts to go south.

As far as the rear and trying to keep the suspension balance front to rear (and yes it does matter when driving on the road or the freeway and going around corners) is down to a few choices strictly because of the front 6112 choice.

1. Keep the stock rear springs and add a 1.5 inch daystar spacer (this is if you go max setting on the 6112's). Think of the 4runner pros that came stock with bilstien 6112's up front....Toyota opted to keep the rear stock springs.

2. You can get rear springs from bilstien in either 1.5 or 2" springs that keep the stock spring rate (there must be a reason why bilstein opted for the stock rear spring rate with the 6112's).

3. Lastly if you need a tad bit stiffer spring you can get wheelers t12 or t13 rear springs that will get you 1.5 - 2" and they are made by eibach

So to un-complicate things let’s just say you are going with the 6112's and opt to go with the max setting of 2.5" I suggest you start with the daystar 1.5 inch spacers to start. After install drive around the block a few times and then park it in the garage overnight and get an alignment the next day.

Monitor how it feels out back. If you like the way it drives great. If you like the way it drives but don't like the idea of a rear spacer swap it out for the bilstein rear springs. If you think it needs to be a tad stiffer then you can try getting a spring with a stiffer spring rate. You will not need another alignment if you keep it the same height.

Personally I went with 5100's originally at .85 setting and did nothing to the rear except for matching 5100's. Later I decided on the 2.5" setting and rear daystar spacers and the ride quality was unchanged.

I am happy with the way it performs.