5th Generation 4Runner Suspension Options Thread

The Eibach installation instructions state to use their hardware and bushings.

Wheeler's has used the bushings and washers that come with their top-hat kit, instead of the Eibach supplied ones.

Annoying.

Perhaps it doesn't matter - I'm still waiting for Eibach to return my call so I can find out for sure. But even if so.. still annoying. Who knows.. but perhaps the quality of the Eibach bushings is higher than that of the "Made in Taiwan" bushings that Wheeler's sources for their top-hat kits.

You pay someone to do something (right)........

 

You should have done the “no spring compressor” installation method. It’s extremely easy and you could have used all the Eibach components.

 

I may be doing it anyway. Grr.

Main reasons for purchasing assembled were install ease as well as retaining complete OE assemblies for backup. I assumed that Wheeler's used the proven KYB replacement top-hats since that's what they sell on their site, but now I'm not even sure of what brand these are, so I may end up swapping these aftermarket parts to my OE front bits, and using the OE top hats and Eibach bushings for the lift.

It probably doesn't really matter, though.

 

Alllriiightttt.....

First of all, Eibach is awesome. They actually return calls, and within a reasonable time-frame? Crazy.

However, unfortunately, Eibach confirmed via the phone (and printed install instructions) that their bushings must be used, or some slop/play can result in the shaft to top mount mating, which of course is no good and will result in pre-mature wear, etc.

Well crap.

I've sent an email to Wheeler's regarding the issue, so we'll see how they respond.

It isn't the biggest problem.. maybe the guy was just busy and was working too quickly. Wheeler's did tell me that their install guy was "backed up." Plus, I imagine he does assemblies for all sorts of Makes and Models, so he can't know all the quirks. This is where going somewhere like Toytec surely pays off.

Anyway, Wheeler's gave me a great price even with assembly, so it isn't the end of the world even if they don't offer recourse.. but I hope they do so that I may continue recommending them - albeit based more on customer service than expertise.

You live and you learn...

So, now to decide if I want to do all this myself, or try to find a competent local mechanic to help me swap everything over...

 

I finally heard back from Wheeler's.. decided to give them a call today because I was tired of waiting for a reply to my e-mail, and because I hope to get these puppies installed this weekend! When I called I immediately spoke to one of the higher-ups.. he said he was actually in the process of replying to my email. Anyway, he's waiting to hear from his "engineering and tech" team regarding the situation. He said I should hear from him this afternoon. I suppose we will see what they say in the end.

It's one of those annoying situations, if you're particular like me. I imagine that Wheeler's will probably claim it doesn't matter. They said that they install many shocks using their upper bushings and "don't have issues." The bushings do compress and deform slightly when installed, so how much of a difference could 1mm of bushing inner diameter matter, IF there is even a difference at all? Well, I guess it could matter a lot, because by design, you'd want as much pressure on that shock shaft as possible so that it stays dead center. And at the end of the day, Eibach built the shocks, and holds the warranty, so who are we to argue with them?

I suppose I could take a micrometer and measure the diameter of the OE shaft versus the Eibach shaft. If they are the same (which I suppose would contradict what Eibach said), then I cannot think of a reason this would cause an issue, other than potential bushing rubber quality differences.

Grr.. it would have been so easy for them to just open the little package of bushings from Eibach and use those!!

 

Wheeler's called me this morning. Ryan, their agent, seemed sincere. He said that their "engineering" department, or something along those lines, has looked into this, and that I shouldn't have any problem. That's pretty much what I expected. Oh well. I didn't push for anything else because I'm tired of being "that guy" and beating everyone up lol.. and they at least appeared to care about the situation so it's all good. The "resolution" was at least fairly timely. I believe that they believe it's fine, and honesty is about the best I can expect these days, so that's worth something to me. Since I'm extra, I will eat the cost of "fixing" the situation one way or another. Just something to think about for those considering 3rd party labor.

I tried to get the details out of him subtly but didn't push. He basically admitted to me that the bushings are different, but that it shouldn't matter because it's a very small difference. Eh....
And he also claimed that Eibach only says to use their bushings in order to dissuade installation with old, worn OE bushings. FWIW, Eibach told me explicitly that even new OE spec bushings should not be used in lieu of theirs. 'Tis what it is.

Corporate taxes are killin me right now but I hope to have this installed soon!

 

Looking forward to hearing your impressions on the kit!!!

 

Small update.. expect a full review soon-ish.

This suspension swap turned into quite the headache, but in the end I think all will be fine. Other than component issues, the install was very easy except for one part - removing the rear shocks at the top mount location. Getting the driver's rear spring in was also a bit tough since I didn't have a bottle jack to use there to "cheat." Also, at this point I feel that there is no magic way to install aftermarket front springs correctly, without either luck or trial and error. I had to remove my passenger front assembly and "re-build" it with the spring clocked slightly differently in order to avoid UCA-to-spring contact.. even though I followed the Toyota manual. Makes sense though when considering that the aftermarket spring is not the Toyota spring.

I am disappointed with the attention to detail from both Eibach and Wheeler's, but it is what it is. Their decisions/oversight at least resulted in the installation taking about 3 times longer than it would have had everything on their end been done to a higher standard. Eibach doesn't use a perfect bushing size at the top of the front shock, and they also use the incorrect (earlier gen. spec) bushing in the lower eye of the front shock. In the end, hopefully neither of these errors will impact performance or reliability, at least in practice. However, next time I swap front shocks, I'll likely have a pain to deal with since my lower shock mounts are now bent "in" to accommodate the narrower Eibach bushings.

The suspension is installed though, and first impressions regarding ride are positive! I am holding judgement until my alignment is done and I can put her through the paces a bit more. I always take it easy for the first few days to make sure nothing is somehow loose, etc.

Tonight I plan to take stance measurements so I can report the exact achieved lift of the ARB OME 2883's and the Bilstein 1" rear lift springs. After that, if I'm happy with the measurements, I will get an alignment. I decided to not fit any "lean correcting" spacers, and so far I am happy with that decision. I was also worried that the front springs wouldn't lift enough, but at this point I feel that they absolutely lifted enough, if not too much! From looking at the vehicle briefly without studying it, the 883's seemed to lift a good amount, definitely enough for my tastes. That said, the truck now has some reverse rake lol, go figure.. so I have to decide what I want to do. It does appear as if the rear is higher than it was with the stock springs, but perhaps not by an entire inch. I really thought that I would not have reverse rake with this setup, so I'm a little surprised.. but then again I had only found two other 5G 4Runner's running 883's so it was a bit of a gamble. My results definitely strengthen my personal decision to go with a low front end lift. I don't want to say this yet, until I fully measure my 4Runner, but I'm starting to feel like most lifted/leveled 4Runners are absolutely bro-leaned.

Like I said, I will provide a more detailed review, with more information regarding ride quality, soon. So far though, the ride seems very similar to stock, which is kind of what I wanted. The softer the better in my eyes.. I want my suspension travel to eat up the bumps and keep my body happy. From my limited driving thus far, the suspension does seem quick to extend the wheel from the truck so it does eat up some of the bigger stuff nicely. Small bumps seem to feel about the same. My first impressions were super-great, but I had been driving around a 2015 Mazda3 with 75,000 miles on it while installing the suspension.. so I would expect that lol, and took initial impressions with a grain of salt. I will further analyze the suspension's performance and compare it to stock once everything is finalized.

It definitely "feels" like I'm sitting higher up when driving, and I can tell that slightly more leg stretch is required to get in the vehicle ha.

Cheers.

 

2019 TRD Off Road

I just finished up a few days ago installing Eibach's Pro Truck Series struts, shocks, coil overs and rear springs. It was a little dicey compressing the first coil over spring but after that I felt like an old pro and all went pretty smoothly. I can feel a somewhat significant (positive) change on handling. Contrary to what some have stated about not changing the UCAs, the follow-up alignment brought everything into specs. Not sure if the money invested was worth the results but I'm trying hard to convince myself that it was...

 

New to the forum via your thread, so I thought I would add a before n after pic of my setup. Old status was stock with 275/17/70 DuraTracs . . .

-- ProComp Nitro 3" Leveling Lift Kit; 4 Bilsteins 5100; 285/70/17 BFG KO2s; front fender trim/mod

 

Reviving an old thread here, but I'm looking to do something pretty similar. I was set to buy the Eibach pro truck stage 1 lift, but realized that I wanted to keep some rake in case I tow, have heavy loads in the back, in case being level might cause any issues with Toyota safety sense, etc. Unfortunately Eibach does not offer any springs shorter than 2.5" of lift.

What I'm thinking about doing is purchasing all of the components of the Eibach pro truck lift, except for the front coils, and replacing those with Toytec coils that estimate a lift amount of 1.6" . I thought about keeping the stock front coils and just putting the Eibach shocks on the 1.75" clip, but for $170 it just seems worth it to replace the front coils as well.

Let me know if anyone thinks I'll run into any issues running this. I assume that it should work alright. I even think that the Toytec coils might be manufactured by Eibach?

Also, what are thoughts on needing new UCAs? Based on what I've read, it seems like with only 1.6" of lift, I should be able to get into spec with the stock UCAs.

Appreciate it

 

Yeah, that's a great route to go and yes.......the 1.6" Toytec springs are made by Eibach.

No UCA's necessary at 1.6" of lift up front. I have the same amount of lift and am still able to get +3.6 degrees of caster up front......which is good.

 

Perfect, thanks bud!

 

I'm thinking of going with the Wheelers T1/T13 combo to put on my 5100's. No extra weight up front, Cali Raised sliders are all the extra weight I have.

Can I expect a true 2.5"/1.5" lift with the Wheelers spring combo?

**edit, I found a thread on the other site with 12 pages of Wheelers info.

 

They are some pretty tough tires, and i like them a lot.

 

Hello, new to the forum and I have question.
I plan on keeping the front suspension stock besides a new coil and shock, I simply want to level the front end.
I plan on using toytec 1.6” coils paired with Eibach pro truck sport shocks. Now my question is this, if I have the Eibach seat set at the lowest position paired with the toytec coil, will I have a leveled stance with a slight forward rake?

 

Yes. I have Eibachs set to this up front with no rear lift and my measurements from hub to fender show that I'm still 1/4" taller in back.

 

with the toytec coils?

 

No, I'm using stock coils set to the 1.6" mark.

Using the Eibach 1.6" lift coils and setting the adjustable shocks to the lowest (0") setting should yield you a very similar result.

 

Thanks for the info! How does the ride feel? Change at all, stiffer?

 

The valving on these shocks is really nice. The 4Runner should have come like this from the factory, IMO. Slightly firmer without being stiff or jarring. Less nose dive on hard braking, less body roll, less bouncing. I've had them on for about 65,000 miles now and still going strong

 

I may just end up doing that, I was hoping to avoid compressing the stock spring in case of a harsher ride but it sounds like it will be just fine from your experience.

It’s the wife’s 4Runner so I want her to have a pleasant daily drive. But I want a little more height for when we take it off-roading up in Sedona and around Phoenix.

 

I'm very happy with this set-up.

Don't worry about compressing the stock springs with this lift. The lower spring perch is simply moved up a little causing your coil to sit a little higher than it normally would and that's what allows you to lift your truck. There's no more weight on the coil than there would normally be so there is no possibility of additional spring compression.

 

Went this direction. Just the natural life the coilover provides> Just enough to level it out to the rear.

 

Stepping it up! Just order 5100 for less the $400 and also ordered jba uca. Nothing crazy u know, I just want a "basic" 2"/.75" lift, just need to clear the 285s better, and it should be a great improvement over stock, plus my truck doesn't leave the pavement 95% of the time.

 

Well I changed up my final suspension build, at first I ordered 5100 but with supply issues. And me not wanting to wait for anything.

I ended up with eibach pro truck struts and shocks, dobinson c59-300 front coils, 4th gen eibach 1" rear springs, jba uca, superbumps, and .25" and .5" leveling spacers.

I set the eibach struts on the lowest setting with the dobinson coils, then put the .5" spacer on the drivers side front and .25" on the passenger.

I absolutely love this setup. Rides great, handles great, doesn't rub anywhere with the 285s. My front end is perfectly level, the drivers side rear is lower, but not by much. Still have about 3/4" of rake. I just need to move cargo around in the back. I'll also be building a hitch swingout and a roof rack, which will weight down the rear just a bit.

Here's some before and afters.

 

Looks great! Sounds like an awesome set up!

 

Thanks, I spent alot of time researching spring rates and shock specs, and just a ton of reviews. I really love how this setup came together and performs well

 

Hey folks, my head is spinning as I have been researching a level/lift.
I am not looking to create the ultimate off road beast since this baby will be on pavement primarily with occasional forays off road. So no big lifts and not looking to mount 285's now.
I currently have a set of four Bilstein 5100's in the box ready to go, and although I though I was set on a plan, now I am not so sure.
Mostly what I am seeing is folks going with a 2 in plus lift or setting these shocks to the .85 setting.
There are plenty who seem to have set the fronts to the 1.75 setting with Cornfed spacers in the rear.

My dilemma is that I mostly want the truck level, I simply do not like the rake at all.
What I also do not want is a reverse rake with a moderate load in the rear.

With that in mind it seems options are:

1-Struts at .85 setting and no spacers.
This should simply nearly level things and possibly see a reverse rake with a load.
Stock 265's will fit just fine and the drive ability is well documented.


2-Struts to 1.75 setting and 1 inch Cornfed spacers in the rear.
Raises, but less leveling effect.
265's or 275's should fit just fine.
My understanding is with a moderate load, a reverse rake is less.
1inch Cornfed Spacers providing a small rake, mitigates load droop?

I have been unable to find stock height rear springs which are simply stiffer to provide a better load support. All are 1 to 1.5 inch lift.
Are the aftermarket rear springs stiffer and maybe will prevent the reverse rake with load as well as lift and so use them instead of CF spacers with struts at 1.75 setting?
Or....to meet the goal of better level and no load droop, trust in the 1.75 setting and 1 inch CF spacers.?

Thanks in advance.