Spent the Thanksgiving week up-fitting the wife's 4Runner. After hearing her ask me when I am going to get her truck up to par with mine and much indecisiveness, I finally settled on a wheel & tire combo (that met her approval) as well as the lift.
For the W&T combo, I finally settled on the Fuel Rebel (20X9 +1) wheel finished in Anthracite. This fit the bill in at least having a proper center bore size (no hub centric ring adaptors) for the Toyota, specific bolt pattern (no dual BP's as some are), and a good offset. Having much good luck with them in the past, I went with the Goodyear Duratrac sized at 275/60R20. This netted a tire size that on paper specs out to be a true 33" size. With a tape measure, I was coming up with something more like 33.5" (~+2" over stock). This is also the same size you typically see on the RAM Pickup trucks with the 20" wheels. So no shortage in options should I need a replacement. This size also allowed me to deliberately run a P-Metric size as she doesn't need heavier/stiffer LT spec tires. A trip to Moab isn't in our immediate plans. I also made the trip up to Delaware to pick up from Tire Rack's warehouse which saved me from MD taxes as well as a decent discount for pick up.
The lift had me going around for quite a while. I wanted something that was going to be robust, but not too over the top. While all very good brands, I didn't want to go the route of ICON's, King's, etc. as I didn't want to deal with the setups lacking rubber bits and components. The routine maintenance and associated noise/characteristics that come with them wasn't what I wanted. I had my search narrowed down to Dobinson's Suspension and the new to me Ironman 4x4. Both seemed to be highly reputable companies out of Australia so I was good with that.
The Ironman 4x4 won me over as I liked on paper and the vendor YouTube videos I could find what the Foam Cell Pro's offered. Even this setup may have been a bit overkill, but I liked the size of them and the engineering explained logic behind it. Being a CO may have been a bit too much, but I can still use it to my advantage and adjust as the truck gets modified. Also, it was the only adjustable CO that fit my criteria to use OEM rubber bushings and top mount. This would minimize NVH for this daily driver vs what the metal top hats and lower mount spherical bearings would provide.
Install was fairly straightforward, however there are some details to be noted. A good place to start is to watch this YouTube video a couple of times,
YouTube . As pointed out in the video, some important things to note: 1) The rear shock lower mount is orientation specific as it is welded offset on the shock body. This isn't necessarily made clear in the kit as there are no install directions that come with this. There is a sticker on the shock that notes this but could possibly be overlooked. 2) The part on the washer and bushing buildup is good insight. I initially thought it to be a universal kit with extra parts and started installing it mirroring the setup the factory shock was. After re-watching the video it is clear all parts are used.
Disconnecting the XREAS lines was a cinch as long as the right nut is turned. No fluid was lost during this procedure. Anybody need good take-offs? Hardest part was actually getting the nut for the bracket off to fish the line out from behind the body to disconnect. Sway bar links disconnected and removed for extended replacement ones. Sway bar disconnected and shocks removed, the removal of the stock springs were easy. Install of the passenger side spring was fairly easy. Driver side gave me some issues and I got out the spring compressor. This made quick work of getting it in. Pump up the jack under the rear end to add pre-load to the suspension and torqued everything down.
On to the front I removed the UCAs as they were getting replaced with the Ironman forged arms (so light and sexy!). The front struts were also removed by properly disconnecting the XREAS lines with no fluid loss. Re-install of the new CO's and UCAs were straightforward just like any other Toyota lift. After everything is in place I like to take the floor jack under the LCA and lift up the assembly as if it were loaded and the ground with a tire and torque all the bolts.
All of this has been running too smoothly at this point. I did the sway bar relocate brackets and ran into a snag. The LHS bracing that goes from the front sub-frame to the front lower radiator frame now has clearance issues with the sway bar. I'm not sure if anybody else has ever had this issue. I ended up taking the sway bar relocate brackets off and have not had any issues running this way. It's a little close to the CO shock body, but so far it works. Otherwise I wasn't going to be able to bolt my skid plate up on the LHS.
Initial impressions? Holy $#!% this thing is tall! I would figure compared to my 4th gen that this would be comparable, but it is much bigger. I took before & after measurements from the ground through the center of the hub to the bottom of the fender opening. The rear seemed even out quite nicely, the front still has about ¾" of lean to the drivers side. I'll be adjusting to split the difference soon.
Before After Difference
FL: 33.9 38.2 4.3
FR: 34.4 39.0 4.6
RL: 36.7 40.1 3.3
RR: 36.1 40.0 3.8
Ride quality is also very good and has passed the wife's approval. Only thing that really has mattered in this project was to make her happy and the truck her own. Bought this a year ago for her as her first new vehicle that she got to pick/spec'd out and now a year later it has the looks to go with her personality. Definitely does not look like any other Limited on the road around here.
