ELKA

They're HERE!


And a shot with their friends...


Planning to get all this bolted on over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend...

 

Only a few things are sweeter than the anticipation of new parts!

 

Oldtoyotaguy, did you do the mods yourself? If so, how long did it take you? Also how difficult was it to replace the control arms? I am looking to make a very similar mod to my first 4R with KDSS. Not looking to rock climb or do heavy mudding, but want to improve off-road manners when my wife and I are out exploring. I will be putting on a a short bumper and winch. The guys at Southern Style Offroad, recommended I replace the springs with 650lb springs. I was thinking of improving the springs in the back as well, since I want to add a tire carrier. Had you considered increasing the spring load?

 

Hi Cowboy59 - I have done suspension lifts before, the last one on 2015 Tacoma that we owned prior to the current 4 Runner. Because of the KDSS system I decided on this one to have a non dealer Toyota specialist at a small custom 4x4 shop in Toronto do it. It wasn’t expensive, and I had peace of mind that was done properly. It turned out great.
About springs - the 2.5 IFP that I chose uses a 700 spring on the coilover which some think is too much. It isn’t, in the case of Elka, because they have it designed into a high tech shock and the total package is extremely strong and smooth. I have an aluminum Victory 4x4 bumper and winch on the front for a total of 102 lbs, which totally doesn’t affect anything. In truth, I used this combination on the stock suspension for a year and it handled it too. The weight is very minimal. For a test, have one of your kids stand on the front bumper on a stock suspension and see how much it moves - probably not at all. I travel light, and don’t carry heavy loads, so I stayed with the stock suspension in the rear. It’s adequate on a Pro, and quite comfortable, so I had no real reason to change it. I was concerned about getting the rear too high with heavy springs, and have an ungainly, unsprung look to the vehicle. The rear spring options are not incremental either. I couldn’t find anything that would add, say, 50 lbs of spring rate and 1”. So, I added a 1/2” spacer called it a day. Voila! Perfection! Perfectly level, strong and comfortable. You can’t get it better for a daily driver, backwoods trail goer. My wife and I like to hike, but we like to get as close as we can and then hike the rest. The winch is added security because we like to hike by ourselves. Freedom is having no one else’s opinion to take into consideration, lol! Also, I’m not doing any heavy rock crawling, or extreme desert racing. I don’t look for obstacles to beat on. I like avoiding mud! It clogs up the frame and is extremely hard to pressure wash out of there. In the rusty world we inhabit, all that captive sediment induces rust. I’ve been in shops and looked at Jeep bog rigs and their frames were shot. That’s not me.
I guess you could call my mods “high end overland”. My 4 Runner is still highway capable on big highways, and handles like a dream off road. I never get stuck.

 

Thank you for that input. My wife and I travel just like you do, and always take a great hike when we can. I really appreciate the insights, as I am only wanting ot make mods to make our travels better.

 

Can you let us know how the install goes? Inquiring minds would like to know!

 

Meant to ask earlier, how big of lift springs do you go with in the rear?

@Oldtoyotaguy what size tires are you running again? I know I’ve seen you post this but couldn’t find it.

 

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I’m running K02s, stock size. It’s a gearing issue for me. I know big tires look cool but they kill the gearing and make your truck perform like a dead dog. Go ahead and try it, and then try and convince yourself there’s no difference. There is. Big time.

 

1" Bilstein lift springs for the rear.

The Elka's I bought are factory set to 2.5" for the front.

Should end up just about level.

 

It should be perfect.

 

Nice. That's where I'm at 2.5 / 1

 

Oh, believe you me sir, I need no convincing of this! I’m coming from the diesel truck world and I’ve seen it time and time again. “Hey I jus put 47’s on muh trok and now it don toe, wut givs?!”

I plan on staying with the stock size for a while at a minimum!

Awesome! I’m juuuust about to pull the trigger on Elkas and planning on doing 1.5in up front (maybe up to 2 which apparently is the sets max?) and 1in springs in the rear.

 

Hi ham4run, you can get 0-2” and 2.5-3”. I ordered mine at the factory default of 1.5”, because I run stock tire size, K02s, and didn’t need my vehicle any higher. At 1.5” Elka says it’s level, so it has kind of a Pro stance, just 1/2” higher. Just to make sure it wasn’t nose high, I added the 1/2” spacer, which turned out to be perfect. So, if you want level, and wanted to change the rear springs, the lowest I’ve seen is 1” in the rear. You’d need to use the 2.5” lift to get to level with a 1” rear spring, i.e. 1 1/2” + 1”. Good luck!
Yeah, on the tire size issue, I’ve run 33s and 35s on vehicles in the past, mostly Fords, which have a lot more HP to compensate, but still it always felt like a serious trade off for the worse in terms of daily driving. If I needed bigger tires on the 4 Runner, I’m not afraid of modifying it, believe me, lol! If I needed them, though, I’d regear and not cheap out just for looks. My .02 worth, anyway, but to each his own. I’m the first to admit a 4 Runner looks good with 33s.

 

I like the way yours sits but I also wouldn’t mind if it had a little more rake. That’s why I decided on the 1.5” in front and 1” in the rear. I guess we’ll see how it ends up! Either way I don’t think I’ll end up with the bro lean, and that’s the main thing I’m trying to avoid.

 

That’s me too, ham4run. I really dislike that 4x4 slight bro lean - like you’re driving uphill. If you wanted an ever so slight more positive rake, for carrying loads, you could go 3/4” spacer in the back. That’s why spacers have their role. They can very incrementally fine tune a suspension. The stock rear spring doesn’t need to be heavier and by implication, rougher. It does fine for occasional heavy loads and pulling trailers. It just needs to be the right height.

 

Agreed. From what I can tell, the Bilstein spring I was looking at was a 1in lift, but not a medium or heavy duty spring.

 

Did the install this past weekend. Took me about 8 hours total. Had one minor hang-up that I wasted a lot of time on. Despite planning well ahead and spraying many shots of penetrating oil...I gave up and cut off the bolt on the driver's side upper mount for the front swaybar link. Ordered a new pair of links (gonna go ahead and replace the passenger side one too) they'll be here on Tuesday.

Very happy with how the lift turned out...




Didn't take any photos of the rear shocks or springs.

that bastard bolt I had to cut...lol...

 

That's pretty nice lookin', one question.... how does future fine tuning of the preload look? Is it going to be a pain in the butt or will a spanner wrench fit decent?

 

Haven't checked, but I'm figuring the spanner wrench Elka included will fit fine.

 

The lift is perfect @thirdyota and the performance will be too.

 

Looks good! Congrats!

Give us a ride report after you've had some time romping around with it.

 

I did not know they included the wrench..... that's a good thing.

 

Damn! Looks great, nice work! Dragging me feet on these for sure. There's just too many things I want to get for this vehicle! hahah

 

Wanted to follow-up on this since I have made some adjustments to my Elka's. Here is a pic of what Elka provides...


The allen wrench for the lock screw on the adjustment collar and the spanner tool for turning the collar.

When adjusting the preload while installed on the vehicle, I recommend having a punch that fits in the recesses on the collar.

The spanner Elka supplies works ok... (especially since you can use the square cutout and attach a ratchet for leverage)...BUT you will find at certain points of rotating the collar that the Elka spanner tool is too bulky to fit between the shock tower and the adjustment collar. The Elka tool is of no use at grabbing the recesses that are facing straight out towards you as you rotate...the arc of it is too big for that...the tool hits the shock tower.

That's when having the proper size punch comes in handy.

 

I have a couple of other spanner wrenches that might work also, yep, I have the trusty punches standing by as well, thanx for the heads-up...... now I have to save up a few dollars more and get the Elkas! BTW- which ones did you get?

 

I bought the 2.0 IFP 2-3" adjustable range with 14" 650lb coils. Went with the matching Elka rear shocks and Bilstein 1" rear lift springs.

Purchased the package from Headstrong Off-road.

 

FYI: I just spoke with Elka and they are developing their own rear springs. Maybe available in the next few months.

 

Great news, thanks for sharing. Elka has excellent engineering and really strong production quality, so anything they come up with will be A+

 

Elka suspension parts look superb.
I'm generally too busy loading and removing heavy stuff from my trucks to notice rake. Always changes.

 

My only experience with Elka is on the motorcycle side and it has been top notch.