Shock’ing Discovery

Thank you, I’ll check it out.

I have 265’s on order. I’m going to remove the spacer lift and 285’s and run it stock for now.

Being honest with myself, the cons far outweighed the pro’s with the lift and 285’s. Frankly the only pro was the additional ground clearance. But like I’ve said before, I off roaded my stock 97’ Tacoma 4x4 for over 20 years and never had a problem. No lockers or traction aids.

I am going to stick with the Nitto Ridge Grappler E load, like my 285’s. Love the tire and trust it more with the sharp rock trails in my area.

Probably will remove the N-Fab steps as they will sit much lower.

Hopefully I can sell the 285’s. Just 25k miles on them and they are barely worn.

Down the road, I may upgrade the shocks if and when I can make a choice that fits my needs.

I will post pictures next week after lift removal and new tires.

 

Wow! That 8112 looks really good!

Just over a $1000 for one 8112, pricey but certainly better than the 5100 or 6112. I wonder what is recommended for the rear?

 

https://trail4runner.com/2022/01/17/bilstein-b8-8112-8100-lift-kit-review-5th-gen-4runner/

 

Thats a solid decision. The stock 4runner on all terrain 265s is still a very capable rig. I would add struts and shocks since you'll be in there. Maybe just stock tacoma trd off road bilsteins, or something budget friendly( there should be a write up on here or the other forum about the tacoma struts and shocks). Only thing that absolutely sucks about the stock 4runner... nose dive while braking, and the body roll

 

Honestly that doesn't bother me at all, even with 140k on my OEM suspension. These are heavy, BOF SUV's, I don't get why so many people expect sports sedan handling out of them. I think the 4R handles great for what it is. *Shrug*

 

I disagree with ya there. my 4r handles great now(eibachs, dobinson). Before it wasnt enjoyable at all.

 

Valid points, the nose dive hasn’t really bothered me but less body roll would be nice.

I suspect that once the spacers and 285’s are removed, the ride will stiffen up a bit. Plus I will still be running E load tires with the new 265’s.

I’m still interested in the Bilstein 6112/5160 setup, but I think I should give the stock shocks a chance and see how they do without the spacers.

I’m also interested with the Ironman Pro foam cell system. Unfortunately most of the online info on aftermarket products is fairly biased.

 

Your right it is extremely biased. The only thing with ironman the coils seem to a much higher spring rate then say dobinson...

I will say I spent a while researching and taking in reviews before I bought my suspension. But after a few months, im not sold, ill probably change out eibach strut/shock for dobs

 

Another observation I’ve had regarding aftermarket suspensions is that it seems like they cater and focus their attention on customers that want a 3” lift and plan on adding 1000 lbs to their rig.

What about us guys/gals that don’t want to increase our spring rates beyond OEM and only pack a Subway sandwich and a drink?

Just a thought……

 

Me personally love the stock suspension with Ready-lift spacer over the coil-over. I feel like lifts that use stiffer springs to gain lift or increase the preload on the springs to gain lift decrease the ride comfort.

 

Good point.

I was ok with it until I jacked up the vehicle a couple of weeks ago and discovered the excessive droop in the front and lack of shock down travel in the back.

Just FYI, the 5100 & 5160 extension length is the same as the OEM rear shocks, 23.5” according to their website. So I would not have fixed the shock top out in the back with the current rear 2” lift.

I’m anxious to jack the car up again with the spacers removed to see what the measurements are.

 

Haha, there's a few out there, i was told dobinson springs are a 10% increase over stock, but their springs are rated 580 in the front and 220 in the rear.

Eibachs pro truck springs are 620 front and 205 rear

Ironman springs 700+ front and 280 rear.

 

Yikes, maybe I should scratch Ironman off my “list”.

Funny, most threads are about adding weight and I’m trying to reduce weight.

From my research it appears that the more preload you add to the front coils to gain lift, the harsher the ride.

That’s why if I decide to try different shocks, my goal would be to add just about 1” in the front and leave the rear alone.

Having the Pro rims, 265’s and removing the steps will shed some weight. As a bonus, now my stock spare will work.

 

I agree. I don't plan on adding much weight either.

I also think shocks like bilstein 5100 and eibach pro truck are also stiffer, for those that add a ton of weight.

 

Let me know how the Ironman system works out.

 

So basically what you are saying is the rear spacers extended the rear shocks 1", so when they extend now, they reach the end of their full extension sooner...?

 

He has no down travel in the rear because of 2" spacers and oem shocks... I believe thats the issue

 

Ride comfort - Good so far on local roads
I have only put few miles on it and I like the comfort. Don't want to rush and tell my impressions yet. Need to test more local roads, highway & trails. I like to give my honest opinion without been a fan boy of things I have.

Setup - Acceptable / Needs improvement
I will say the lift height advertise eg 2.5in front seems to be more than 2.5 and I don't like that. I'm in a doubt to get a diff drop or not. Unlike my ELKA kit the adjustment tool is sold separately and no mention of the size of the set screw. So I'm scratching my head how to lower it.
I need to finalize if I should try to adjust the height (someway) or get a diffdrop kit and then go for alignment. I haven't done alignment yet so its sitting in garage.

Customer support -Bad
When I order the kit I contacted the customer support and they were not willing to set it at 2in mark. Their customer support is not good for example I ask if they have 1.5in spring for rear and they said no. Later I found they have 1.5in spring sold in their springs section. So may be some college kid is at the customer support on chat where customers can't get any support. Their return policy is also not good. So anyone thinking of buying Ironman be careful about customer service, don't expect technical knowledge from them.

 

I just chatted with their customer support asking if I could run their pro foam shocks with no lift. His response was NO, tech support said I would have to run their springs with at least 2” lift or the shocks would bottom out and be damaged. So now I know and will scratch them off my “maybe” list.

 

Yes, currently I have 2” lift in the back, 3” in front, so I’m left with only 1.125” rear shock down travel. Spacer lift will be removed next week. I’m done with it.

 

See, that is the problem with them. When I chat with them that "I see you have 1.5in springs listed on your site can I swap them instead of 2in spring?" they never mentioned about this. So now I have to keep this in mind. If you haven't share this I would never know. Who knows what else I should know about them? That is a big problem imo. Hope you go with a company that has better knowledge on what they are selling.

 

I hope it works out for you. It looks like a good product, but they seem to be very specific on the setup.

I’m just tired of trying to figure out all the things that need to be addressed for a successful setup. Just more trouble than it’s worth for me, to gain 2-3” of ground clearance.

I’d rather keep it stock with good tires and choose good lines off road.

 

I will also say dobinson direct answered all my questions and seemed happy to help. Id give them an A for customer service

 

Keep in mind that Bilstein 5100 or 5160 shocks have the same full extension length as stock, 23.5”.

 

This was a statement in post #2 -

"After considerable time spent online, I finally found an old thread that confirmed my suspicions. Because of the rear spacer lift, approximately 1” the stock rear shock is bottoming out, meaning fully extending."

So I was just trying to confirm the spacer height in the rear. I don't see anywhere where 2" spacers are mentioned for the rear; just 1.5" spacers up front for 3" of lift.

 

Post three

 

Oops, let me correct myself. It’s a 3/2 Readylift SST lift kit. 2” in the rear and 3” in the front. Honestly I don’t know the exact spacer thickness in the back. When we pull it next week, I will share.


https://www.readylift.com/bv-feed/3...MI_4e7x7eI-QIVAcLCBB36HgRpEAQYASABEgLeiPD_BwE

 

In stock form they do very well off-road.

 

For the rear, the spacer ratio should be 1 to 1. So to get 2 in of lift, you need a 2 in tall spacer.

And I'm not arguing with you on this point, I just find it wild that If your calculations are right, the factory shocks only have three and a half inches of down travel on a stock suspension setup.

Years ago I ran 2 inch spacers on the back of my Grand Cherokee which had a similar suspension design to the 4Runner, and I still had plenty of travel in the rear with stock shocks.

 

Once the spacers are removed, I will jack up the vehicle as before and see what the measurements are.