Best budget off-road suspension?

Current set up: Eibach pro stage 1 lift, Freedom off-road UCAs, corn fed 1/2 inch rear spacer. Lo pro bumper, which, light bar. Spring perches adjusted for front end weight.

Been on the Eibachs for a year now. I installed my suspension and bumper setup in the same weekend, so I only have experienced it with the additional weight.

So far, its been “ok”. It’s gotten the job done. Handling and brake dive were initially improved, however the front end has begun to sag and the body roll and brake dive are back. New tire rub occurring as well.

Off road, the kit hasn’t been impressive. Going down rough forest roads, the ride is worse than stock, noticeably jarring and doesn’t soak up bumps well. Both my stock 265s and current 33s are E rated for what it’s worth. I often lift tires in the rocks more than the other 120/150 platform Toyota’s I wheel with (thank goodness for ATRAC).
I’m usually hitting the trails at least once a month, the hardest stuff I do is a level 5 (difficult), per TrailsOffroad rating here in Colorado. Think mild to moderate rock crawling.


Soon I’ll be adding sliders, a full set of skid plates, and additional high clearance bumper add ons (not a viper cut but full metal) effectively creating a full width bumper. I think the extra weight of the mods coming in might further exacerbate my problems. Realistically I probably need a higher front spring rate, but I digress.

SO..... with all that said, what y’all recommend ? Any lift under $2,000 that has an off-road focus?

 

I would look at Dobinson's. Check with CrikeyMike at Exit off road, Dobinson's has so many different part numbers for coils, I'm sure he can help get you dialed.

Incidentally I have the Eibach Pro 2.0 with rear reservoirs sitting in my spare room waiting for me to get around to installing it, posts like this make me question whether I went the right direction with that kit.

 

Bilstein 6112 in the front with 700lb springs.

 

Best budget setup would be stock. Put some good tires on it and call it a day.

 

I did the suspension on a Saturday, and right after I did I took the truck down a rutted out gravel road at speed, for all of about 500 feet, and it performed MUCH better than stock. Slapped the bumper on the next day, and admittedly lost all of the suspension improvements. I think if you kept the front end weight to a minimum and don’t regularly abuse your 4Runner off road, the eibachs will serve you well. I’m just asking too much of them.

 

Some days I do wish I kept it stock. My off-road group heavily discourages stock vehicles from going on certain trail runs though, as to avoid breaking stuff. Can’t turn back now haha.

 

As the saying goes, you gotta pay to play.

 

Sucks that it hasn’t worked out for you, but this is helpful intel for the rest of us.

 

Ive got a “budget” suspension setup on my 2021 TRD OR that I’m quite happy with as follows…

Bilstein 5100’s at all 4 corners
Dobinson’s 302 springs in front
Dobinson’s 599 springs in back
JBA Upper Control Arms
Dr KDSS track bar correction bracket

This setup gave me a 2” lift all around and carry’s the weight of my hybrid bumper, winch and RCI aluminum skids while still minimizing nose dive and firming up the handling.

I have about $1700 in the setup (I installed). Most of my off pavement is forest service roads with some occasional rutted double track. This setup took me 600 miles on the Wyoming Back Country Route last July and easily handled the worst of the roads I encountered.

I'm happy with it and it fit into my budget for outfitting my vehicle.

Cheers,
Bob

 

agreed, love my set up but mine had the 600lb springs up front

 

Sounds to me like your stock coils are the main culprit considering all the additional weight.

I'm sensing if you swapped out your coils for some that account for your additional weight, the ride would improve back to where you were. This would definitely be the most budget friendly option.

However, if you're taking everything apart already you might not want to take that risk if you really think the shocks are the culprit. If that's the case, I would just go new Dobinson coils and shocks all around......or if you don't mind spending extra, Bilstein 6112/5160's with heavier load coils as mentioned above.

 

Oh okay, thanks for the info. That makes sense about the added weight from the bumpers. I was actually talking to somebody recently that ran this kit on a Tacoma, and then was unhappy with it after going with a full bumper and winch setup.

I don't plan on doing a bumper on mine, just a hidden winch setup, which shouldn't be too much extra weight.

 

This and learn what you can about IFS and how to work with in its constraints.

You’ll make better choices with some knowledge.

 

I’m using 5100’s and 302’s
I did however, try Ironman 1.5” “light load” for the rear. Great set up. Used 5100’s and Dobi’s on my Tacoma