Body roll and bouncy ride

Hi everyone.
I recently bought a 2002 limited with a 3 inch bilstein lift and 31 all terrains on it. It has a lot of body roll when cornering and going through bumps and rutts. It also has an extremely bumpy ride. I dont mean rough pounding bumpiness. Its more like your grandfathers 72 impalla that rides more like a boat than car. Its soft but it feels like you are on a trampoline.
This is my first 4runner so I have some questions for you guys who know far more than me about these vehicles.
1. Would it be more tires or suspension giving me the bouncy ride?
2. I know sway bars will help with the body roll but are there other suspension parts that deal with body roll?
3. What would you guys do to get a soft but less bouncy ride with less body roll (ie. Parts, mods, tricks)?

You guys have taught me alot already by reading through your posts and I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge.

 

I should also mention Im not looking to rock crawl. Im more looking for an overland vehicle that can deal with mud, dirt, rutts and bumps.
Thanks again.

 

Sounds to me like your shocks are gone, and your pretty much just riding on the springs.

 

I agree.

I think the first thing you should do is replace the shocks. Then report back.

 

Thanks SlvrSlug. That would make sense because I had to change the rear, upper shock bushings when I first bought it. I didnt think about shocks because in my mind if it was riding on springs the ride would be really hard with no softness at all and the shocks are there to soften the ride.

Am I totally backwards on this?

Ive never owned anything with coils all the way around and am basing my thinking on rear leaf springs.

What test should I do to confirm the shocks are bad?

With leafs I would push the vehicle up and down and side to side to see if theres extra movement once I stop pushing on it. Is this the same test for coils?

Thank you

 

The springs are there to support the weight of the vehicle.

Shocks are there to control the spring movement.

Your coils can still feel soft if your shocks aren't working properly.

Press down on each corner of your vehicle a couple of times. If your car continues to bounce, your shocks are bad. If you push down a few times and it bounces back into place quickly, your shocks are working.

 

Thanks Nimby. I just did what you said and the shocks are for sure bad. i know people seem to like bilstein shocks around where I live but most of them see dirt once or twice a year. I live and work up some really rough and when it rains muddy roads\trails. What shocks do you like?

 

Bilsteins are great. I've run those before.

Now i have Eibach shocks on my truck and like them even better.

 

Its been a while but I thought I would update this thread and give the solution and what I found.
The guy I bought my 4runner from had lifted the read with some blocks and some cut springs. I changed them over to Old Man Emu springs and bilstien 5100's and now the rear of the truck rides excellent.
Thanks for the input.

 

I had a fair amount of body roll/sway that didn't go away until I replaced the rear lower control arm bushings. Like when you would hit a bump on the highway and she would float around a good bit.

Those stock rear lower control arm bushings are not solid like the panhard bar or the rear upper control arms or the sway bar so they crack over time and let the rear axle wobble and bounce. If you have 200k miles and the stocker bushings, REPLACE THEM. It was seriously a massive improvement.

It is very easy to do with a 20 Ton press. Or if you don't have that, you can remove the lower rear control arm, hollow them out, CAREFULLY cut the metal bushing from the inside to remove it and use solid aftermarket bushings that you don't have to press in. I bought a harbor freight 20 ton press for $200 and pressed in new stockers. When you put the control arm back in, jack up the OPPOSITE rear of the car, and magically the geometry will change so that you can just bolt it back in. Then do the other side. No need to put the car up on jack stands or anything.