Suspension for a daily driver and some overlanding?

Besides no way to expect a T4R to handle highway driving smoothly like an Highlander/Camry. Its day and night.
We have the three models.
Love the T4R for holding value unlike my previous money pit SUVs.

 

@Pops69er
So as you see, it’s not easy to say what the best suspension is. I bet you instinctively knew that as you were posting the question.

Funny thing is, all of the above statements are true because so much of this depends on the trim level you start with and what your end goal is.

Take your time and enjoy the journey. After all, it isn’t the destination that’s important, it is the journey.

Oh and check out Kai of Tinkerers Adventures. He has examined and dissected Toyota IFS as well as anyone.

Cheers
Mike

 

I don't think it would be weird if the article started out with the question "should you lift your 4Runner, and what are the pros and cons" instead of starting out with an assertion that there is a lift for everybody. Or at least say up front that I'm biased toward lifts because I like the way they look.

 

Stock suspension is "junk"? Amazing that Toyota has been able to sell so many 5th gen vehicles with a junk suspension. I'm guessing you don't do much serious off roading given that you've got nerf bars which look nice and help you get in and out of the vehicle, but are worthless when it comes to protecting your rocker panels.

 

i get it, but I learned a lot from owning a 2007 SR5, 2011 SR5 (still have) and wish i changed the shocks immediately instead of driving a nose-diving, wallowing, soft and unresponsive ride for 50-75k miles before swapping. When I got my 2022 TE last year, the suspension and Dudlops went bye-bye right away. Livin the dream….

 

yes junk if you have anything less than a TRD Pro. I pulled a rear shock off at 200 miles and could compress it by hand with little effort and the rebound was just as soft and slow. Hit the breaks hard when stopping and you feel like the front end hits the ground. Maybe its just me but i hate the factory ride. Mine is a TE and there was nothing “trail” about it.

correct i dont do a lot of offroading and I actually wish mine didnt come factor with the Predator bar. As soon as my son gets bigger to climb in without using them, their gone as well.

 

Forgot to add that I live near the Philadelphia area where the roads around that city and in the suburbs are absolutely horrible with potholes and construction. They’ll give any off-road trail a run for their money, lol

 

"junk" followed by "maybe it's just me" - yes, I think it's just you or maybe a few of you. I've recently gone from a Lexus RX 350 to a 4Runner Limited and the 4Runner rides about as well as the Lexus did with the stock suspension. The 4Runner doesn't corner as well because it's a more top heavy vehicle, not because the suspension is junk. As for the nose dive issue, I haven't experienced it in about 6 weeks of driving, but I tend to be a pretty defensive driver, don't live in a city with a lot of traffic, and rarely have to make hard stops.

 

like I said previously, this isnt my 1st 4RNR and I hated the ride quality on the OEM suspension on all 3 right off the showroom floor.

there are probably more than a few who dont like it the OEM suspension. Hell even my wife even agreed that dumping the factory suspension was a night and day difference. And yes, shes said that about the other 2 4RNRs when I swapped it out.

Again, to each his/her own. Go ride in a 4runner with upgraded suspension and go from there.

cheers all!

 

You will really notice the "nose dive" of the factory shocks when off road. When you are coming down a steep trail and the front end drops off a ledge the dampening is so soft the front end will slam down fast and hard, and it's already really low from the factory.

Go look under your stock height 4Runner's front end. The axles are already at a negative angle at static height. A 1" front lift will get the axles pretty much perfectly horizontal. That 1" of lift and the stronger dampening of something like a Bilstein 5100 makes a huge difference off road.

The Tinkerer's Adventure videos are incredibly educational and show that most of the commonly held beliefs on forums are incorrect. I can't recommend them enough.

He dissects, with actual breakdown of the components, things like travel, UCA angles, etc.

A few examples of good info nuggets:

Lifts do NOT allow bigger tires.
Lifts alone do NOT increase articulation.
Aftermarket UCAs generally increase tire rubbing on the body mount area.
The front sway bar eliminates pretty much all advantages to increased aftermarket articulation.

At the end of the day the Toyota IFS has a fixed range of travel of about 8". If you remove the front sway bar you can get close to articulating the full 4" uptravel and 4" downtravel. A lift simply sets the static height higher in that range of motion, so a 2" lift would give you 6" uptravel and 2" downtravel.

An extended travel shock like Bilstein 5100 (nearly 1" additional downtravel) will give you close to 9" full travel (w/ no sway bar) and the factory UCAs will handle the additional downtravel just fine.

A 33" tire will fit a stock front end just fine with proper adjustment of the LCA.

You can distill down all his info and see that a 1-2" lift utilizing extended travel shocks on the factory UCA with no front swaybar is about the best setup until you step up to a true long-travel setup replacing both upper and lower control arms.

 

great article btw. Thx for sharing.

 

mine is smooth as can be on the highway and local roads, even the crappy owns.

 

Really, everyone should watch these videos. They're short, to the point, and will show you visually how all this stuff interplays.

4 Common Myths About IFS Lifts | Everything About Toyota IFS Part 2 - YouTube

Articulation vs Sway Bar | Not What You'd Think! - YouTube

 

The gentleman in the videos might run without a front sway bar, but you won't find too many 4R owners willing to do that, at least in the attempt to get a bit of a better suspension setup or a mild lift.

 

I have a 2020 off-road premium. Be sure to check out this post before considering an improved suspension and possibly a lift.

https://www.4runners.com/threads/why-you-may-want-to-consider-skid-plates.29228/

With regard to your suspension question:

I am not a hard core off-roader. On a trip last fall with my daughter & son-in-law, we went up a narrow road full of rocks as described in the link above.

After that trip I decided to improve my suspension. The two things I wanted to solve were - 1. more ground clearance and 2. more stiffness in the suspension. Also, at the time of that trip I did not have mods that put additional weight on the front end, but did have a Rigd hitch mounted rear tire carrier and 4 gallon rotopax on the back end, along with lock-n-roll hitch pulling our 5x8 off-road camper.

On the stock suspension, the springs are good, but somewhat soft once you start adding weight. The softness of the springs had as much to do with the scrapes I took while navigating the rocky road, as did the limited clearance. Truth be told, I would have taken far fewer scrapes with beefier springs and shocks that would have controlled the drop and rebound better.

I decided on an Old Man Emu BP-51 lift kit from Mudify. But as others have mentioned, there are many good suspension upgrades out there. I recommend talking to the suspension dealers, and inform them of your needs / goals and see what they recommend.

What I can say is that after installing my suspension upgrade, the softness was gone. Had I had the new suspension on that trip, I would not have suffered any scrapes and I would not have been working the brakes the whole time to keep from scraping the rocks more than I did, as I rolled off of them.

The OME BP-51 kit allows you to adjust compression and rebound settings. So I have them set to my liking.

If you plan to do any off-roading where the roads will be pot-holed, rocky, washboarded, or just plain rough, I think you would find a suspension upgrade worthwhile. If on the other had you will only go off-road occasionally and mainly be on forest roads or not too difficult roads, then a suspension upgrade may not be worth the investment.

For what I do - money well spent.

 

The article is titled: TOP 10 5TH GEN 4RUNNER LIFT KITS

 

Where do you live and what do you consider overlanding? This term seems subjective judging by the responses. My interpretation is that there will be heavy gear included and the added payload may surpass the engineering behind any of the factory trim packages. I don't "overland" so I tried to find a definition and found an article by motor trend that gives some insight such as:

"Overlanding usually involves long-distance travel to remote locations where little prior exploration has occurred. Other characteristics that define overlanding include, but are not limited to, self-reliance, adventure, survival, and discovery. Overlanding can involve a variety of elements such as crawling over massive boulders, wading in deep waters, slogging through mud, and sprinting across a dry lakebed.

Don't fool yourself: A weekend trip spent roasting marshmallows over a soothing campfire, tackling obstacles, and conquering trails, as adventurous as it sounds, does not qualify as overlanding. The real-deal requires taking yourself off-grid and venturing into the truly unknown, and doing so for days, weeks, months, and even years at a time—depending on the journey. Overlanding isn't a vacation or a guided adventure at Zion National Park, but rather a meaningful quest in search of something greater than yourself."

Here's the article link
https://www.motortrend.com/news/what-is-overlanding/

Is this how most people interpret overlanding?

 

ok, shred the suspension (or not) and go have an adventure!

I’ll see you out there!

 

My 4Runner is my only vehicle and will be on pavement for more than 90% of the miles I put on it. I recognize I could make it more capable off road by putting more money into modifications beyond the safety mods I've done to this point (body armor, upgraded front lighting and a front bumper camera), but that money would be be for very occasional benefits. I bought the 4Runner for overlanding and every day driving, not to get together with others and test the limits of the vehicle and my driving ability on highly technical off road trails. My interest i off road driving is to strictly to get to scenic locations and/or hiking trailheads. There are going to be some off road trails I can't do in my 4Runner as configured and I can live with that. I will stick to easy and intermediate off road trails.

 

Yeah, I'm aware of that. But the OP didn't ask what lift should I get, he asked about suspension options. The article starts with the assertion that everybody with a 4Runner should get a lift. It's basically PR in my opinion, a puff piece.

 

"to remote locations where little prior exploration has occurred"? I don't think that's how most people interpret overlanding, but the term is flexible enough that you can basically make up your own definition as the author of this piece did.