rear suspension seems to bottom out?

the 01 sr5 4x4 we acquired recently was gonna need a little bit of love. but it seems i must not have noticed how bad the rear end is during test drive. anything in the road and it just slams the folks in the back, high speed, low speed, big pothole, small bump in the asphalt, etc. kind of like its bottoming out. ouch.

took a quick look and the shocks definitely need replacing. seems to have yellow/greenish dried crap all over which i assume is leaking fluid? the rear springs seem like they are not nearly as bad condition, still nice and relatively shiny black, no rust. although that doesnt mean they arent too soft/old/worn out. so if i'm gonna do the rear shocks and likely springs, i'll just do the fronts too and know its all new gear.

there'll be no offroading of this guy since its mainly the wife's commuter/kid hauler. so i'd like to smooth the ride out as much as possible.

for reference- her last ride was an 03 Limited v8 and had a pretty nice smooth ride. obviously its a different gen of 4runner, but that's what she wants to get back to, so that's what i'm trying to do.

generally the car is either just her driving, or the whole fam with some crap in the back. say 100 to 150# over the rear between kids and groceries/gear/crap/etc.

what's the advice on shocks for smooth ride? and for springs, should i stick to stock specs, or go with taller units for more travel? say an extra inch to maybe 1.5".

really appreciate the advice

 

Personally, I think the soft suspension on Toyota’s is their Achilles heel. Some guys change them brand new as soon as they get home from buying them. It doesn’t surprise me that a 19 year old Toyota would need new springs and shocks. New suspension makes quite a difference. It did on mine and it’s a 2018. Lol

 

never been lucky enough to drive one off the lot, so i'll just have to take your word for it. but at this point i'm figuring its just gonna be a full replacement all the way around, so might as well get the gear that's gonna make her happy. the existing shocks arent OEM, they're something like "georgie" or something like that, bit hard to see under the crust. so its definitely been swapped at one point. but that was either long ago, or they both failed and we're riding hard. its pretty bad.

 

Bilstien 4600 takes away nose dive,sway, and pretty darn friendly on the road.

 

good option.

whats the recommendation on springs? i wouldnt mind picking up an inch or 1.5 in the rear in hopes of having it leveled out fully. a different user solved his rear slamming issues by adding a 1.5 poly spacer to his stock-replacement style spring. im wondering if that might add a bit more "cushion" than swapping for 1.5 lift spring....?