KDSS existing or new owners BEWARE!

I have the Toyota "rock sliders" and KDSS. If you remove the bolts, you can slide the KDSS cover forward and down and completely remove it. I have never removed the sliders or loosened them when cleaning the KDSS valve block.

Just remember the orientation and how you did it.

 

Besides cleaning and rustproofing the accumulator regularly apply anti seize to the bolts holding the skid cover. The steel bolts holding the cover go into the accumulators aluminum body. They will break off in the accumulator. A dissimilar metal disaster waiting to happen. It's hard to apply a good coverage of rustproofing with the skid cover on.

 

95,000 on a '19 is about 24,000 miles a year. You've definitely been putting it through its paces.

 

The funny thing is; I don't even drive it to work. I use it on weekends and for traveling.

 

That’s funny. I also work from home and have 51k in 19 months.

Edit: I wonder if working from home is the reason I’m suddenly so happy to be out in the 4Runner, and not in the “office”.

 

Nice!

I bet it's just the 4Runner that makes you happy to be out and about. I work all over S/E Wisconsin, and still love skipping town whenever possible. It's weird, because I actually really like where I live.

 

The more I meet people, the more I realize that we’re kind of odd. Not many of us just like to wander around like we do. I’ve got 43k on my 21. I worry sometimes I’m using it up too fast. But at this stage in life, I cant think of a good reason to want to “save” the 4runner for anything else. It’s the perfect wandering vehicle.

And in the spirit of being on topic…I slammed the brakes and needed to swerve slightly yesterday. Yikes! Almost swallowed the seat cushion….This thing is an absolute lumbering truck without KDSS, and nobody forget it!

No need for anyone to feel bad about the needed cleaning/upkeep on KDSS…when you need stability, it sure would be nice to have.

 

This is something that I'll need to read through..

 

I'm Ok with being odd. My ex and I used to take weekend trips with no real plan pretty regularly. And, the years I had the Taco, and the first summer with the 4Runner were filled with aimless weekend road trips. I haven't been doing enough of those lately!

 

Welcome to the forum!

If you have KDSS, it's definitely worth the extra effort to maintain it.

 

I wouldn’t worry too much about using it up. You should be able to get 500k on it. Just saying…

 

Welcome to the forum, stranger!

 

Thanks! No 4 Runner yet, but a guy can dream!

 

I’ll keep working on it!

 

Joined forum today. Had the same issue that started this initial thread. Have a 2019 Off road with KDSS. 2 weeks ago the same issue occurred. Had a leaking KDSS piston. The total repair bill was $4600. I only have 41K mileage and had just paid the vehicle off late last year. Called the company to complain and they said unfortunately it was out of warranty so they could not (would not?) help with the payment.

Going forward, I saw the note about flushing the housing periodically. How often?

Too bad this happened as I really like my 4Runner. I would caution anyone from getting a 4runner with KDSS though.

 

I don’t understand the problem. Returned last weekend with a nasty bunch of red clay from a muddy Moab trail. Simply remove the two 12mm bolts and shield, rinse clean with water hose and reinstall. 10 minutes tops. No big deal. Am I missing something?

 

Wow, a 2019? That really sucks! Was it a leaking piston at one of the sway bars? That would be a separate problem than the corrosion hyd accumulator cover that most people get surprised by.

That said, it may be a general corrosion issue caused by where you live, or how you use your 4runner.

If you off road through gravel, mud, or sand, I would make time to flush out the frame with a garden hose, and even take the accumulator cover off to clean the KDSS. It’s just not a good place for dirt to hang out for any length of time.

If you are only dealing with salt on roads, then I would remove the cover when the winter thaw occurs, because that’s when wet, salty, and dirty happen at the same time, and corrosion ramps up. I’d give it another rinse out once winter is about to set in. A garden hose is what I would use with light brushing if needed.

After this beauty routine, your 4runner may appreciate the luxuriant lanolin moisturizer known as wool wax

 

Those pistons can fail too. Not only control valve leaks under the drivers door. Its just like a shock, a hydraulic system. This is pic from 2018 4R from local CO group, I think it had 50 or 55K miles. Probably ignored/ didn't see early warning of minor leaks.
These piston leaks can also be seen on GX forums other than 4runners as well. One member in GX forum was smart to have extended warranty and that company paid for all the repairs.

 

Mainly use it as a ski car. No hard core offroading. A few rough roads to a trailhead. We don't use salt on the roads out here. I think just bad luck on my part.

 

Shit, that sucks!

Have you gotten any estimates to repair?

Edit: nevermind, I just saw your previous post.

 

I have a 2018 with 45K, and I also have a leaking rear hydraulic ram. I've seen discussions of people who want to remove the system by putting on the non-KDSS sway bars. I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on keeping the KDSS sway bars and replacing the rams with a spring or a fixed link, e.g. fabricated from a lengthened KDSS fixed link. I'd think you'd retain the highway stiffness, and if you wanted the offroad extended travel then you could make a quick disconnect on the top bolt.

 

That’s a really good idea! That could be a solid way to avoid an expensive repair.

Although for off-road, unbolting/removing any hard link might make that swaybar flop around unsafely? It might need something dampen it’s movement when it’s in “disconnected” mode. But I bet it’s solvable with a little creativity.

 

I'm thinking of doing this, but I'm still looking into it. The fixed front link and rear link are not the same unfortunately, since the front sway bar is thicker. I do not think they're very expensive to order from the dealer. I was thinking to have them cut in half and maybe both of them threaded and then have a long nut fabricated as the lengthening method. I suppose one could simply weld a pipe between the two ends to lengthen it. I haven't thought much about what would happen if you actually disconnected one of the fixed links. I think you can clearly tie the link aside, but what might happen to the bar I am not sure.

 

You might wind up with a rough ride. Part of what the accumulator does is to open up the valves when you hit a patch of rough pavement at higher speeds. Without that ability, your overall ride quality might suffer.

As far as swapping in the standard sway bars, we found that the mounting points for the standard sway bars would need to get welded on to the frame. This came up a few years ago.

 

I heard that possibility, but I'm not sure why people with the non-KDSS sway bars (or anyone with sway bars) wouldn't suffer that same problem. But that's why I also thought about sticking a spring in place of the ram. I read about the issue with the non-KDSS "standard" sway bars. I inferred that the problem was with the rear sway bar needing some custom mount points welded. My (possible) solution would keep the KDSS sway bars and mount points and just the link would need to be concocted. Anyway, like I said, I'm still thinking about it and waiting for more opinions. It is appalling that there are no aftermarket rams, or that they can't be rebuilt, especially given the price the dealer wants.

 

The standard sway bars are not as rigid.

If mine fails, I might just eliminate the front sway bar and do what you are saying with the rear. Or, I'll just eliminate them both altogether and drive even slower than I already do, lol.

 

Now that I’m thinking about that more…maybe that wouldnt really be as difficult as I initially thought. There’s probably enough access slide some stick nuts into the frame that would let you mount a sway bar. Then you would need to get a a new spindle (i think), because that’s what the stock swaybar is connected to. Not sure if you could retain the lower control arm with kdss mounting point, but maybe you wouldnt need to change it. It might not be as bad as first impression, unless I’m forgetting something.

 

On my KDSS Runner, the rear sway bar is bolted to the axle and the fixed link and ram are bolted from the bar onto the frame rail. That frame rail is not parallel with the ground which allows the ram to be longer than the fixed link. If the standard sway bar ends bolt to the axle then I'd assume those mount points would be wider apart than the KDSS mounts. And who knows if there's any obstruction on the axle where the standard bar needs to mount. Then there's where the links get mounted to the frame rail and whether there are any obstructions, angle problems and whether you'd need custom length links. If it were me I'd want to get ahold of a standard bar and see what it looks like underneath mine and understand exactly how it is supposed to connect, but then that means you might have to pay money to acquire one only to find out that there are bigger problems than you want. I have seen comments about people being able to do this, but I have never seen pictures of an actual, finished job. If you go down that road I hope you will post the result.

 

Here is a KDSS removal video in case anyone is interested on doing the job.

https://youtu.be/unmjWEdSl88

 

Trying to find an ORP without KDSS is damn near impossible now a days. I was searching for the exact new 4Runner for my family and I just couldn't find it. In the end I had to buy used.

I didn't want a Sunroof. I didn't want KDSS. I didn't want TSS. I wanted heated seats and a lockin diff. So I had to go with a 2015 Pro. It checked all the right boxes!