JZiggy's "Grown Up" 4Runner Build

I've been chasing some bumps and squeaks in the rear end. Squeaks occur when the suspension cycles up and down, bump noises transfer through the body with small movements when driving, especially leaning side to side.

Started by taking out, one by one, the upper and lower rear control arms and panhard bar to clean & regrease the Whiteline bushings (poly inner bushing in the case of the Rokmen LCAs).

Heres one of the UCAs. Many of the inner sleeves were dry so I regreased with some leftover packets of Whiteline bushing grease.



Then I realized that the 32" spare tire is not super secure. Since it's a little oversized it extends too far beyond the provided soft supports on either side of the spare tire bar (where the winch sits). The two supports close to the hitch are fine, but more than half of the tire sits beyond the spare tire bar so it can wiggle up and down near the panhard. You can see the shiny spot where it rubs the frame support near the panhard.



I figured I could put some extra soft supports on the body reinforcement bracket ~12" rear of the panhard. There are a couple of large holes to work with. I got a couple of my old body mount bushings (52204-35110 if you're curious) and spaced them with some chunks of polyurethane sheet.



I use some spare end-feed t-slot frame nuts I had for my roof rack stuff, fed them into the holes, and connected the bushings with long 1/4-20 stainless bolts



These are positioned right on the meat of the spare tire and have enough give to smoosh up nicely when the tire comes up. All better!

Will the centering protrusion of the OEM centering washer fit into the hole of the bracket?

Thanks!

JZiggy said:

Outboard shock relocation!!

More about the results and the tech in the next post!

Click to expand...

HiluxSurf SSR-G said:

Will the centering protrusion of the OEM centering washer fit into the hole of the bracket?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I didn't try. The Dobinsons bushings have a rubber protrusion to center and they fit perfectly. I suspect it's the same diameter.

Quick tip for dealing with poly bushings. Ditch the stock lube and use anti-seize instead. It doesn't dry out at all. I've had poly bushing in my miata for over 7 years with zero squeaking. Yeah it's a mess, but not having any squeaking is worth it.

JZiggy said:

I've had DuroBumps on my truck for 5+ years and they have been fine. But I was very intrigued by the new bumpstop products that Perry Parts offers and wanted to try them out.

I got a set of bumps for just a bit over $200 delivered.

Click to expand...

Thanks for being the lab rat for us & testing these new bumps. I saw the thread for these a while ago but didn't have much interest since I've been happy with my durobumps, until I read your review. Appreciate you explaining the details on the materials used, its effects on the design & function. While I can understand the costs associated with developing a new product (time, material/parts/tool $, R&D, etc) it's nice to know that there is another quality option that's almost half the price of the durobumps.

If cost wasn't a factor, would you go with perry or durobumps?

fourfive said:

If cost wasn't a factor, would you go with perry or durobumps?

Click to expand...

uh, hydros. :biggrin1:

but for real, I'm also glad to see some options out there!
I'm eager to find a more progressive option than my Daystars

2TH4IST said:

Quick tip for dealing with poly bushings. Ditch the stock lube and use anti-seize instead. It doesn't dry out at all. I've had poly bushing in my miata for over 7 years with zero squeaking. Yeah it's a mess, but not having any squeaking is worth it.

Click to expand...

I've read about this but never looked into it. Do you know if there are any negatives associated with putting antiseize on poly bushings?

fourfive said:

I've read about this but never looked into it. Do you know if there are any negatives associated with putting antiseize on poly bushings?

Click to expand...

I don't honestly know if it effects the lifespan on poly bushings. But I have had no degradation on my energy suspension poly bushings in my miata. 7 or so years ago and no squeak. I did the same when I put in the poly bushing on the lower control arms on the 4runner, steering rack and sway bars.

fourfive said:

Thanks for being the lab rat for us & testing these new bumps. I saw the thread for these a while ago but didn't have much interest since I've been happy with my durobumps, until I read your review. Appreciate you explaining the details on the materials used, its effects on the design & function. While I can understand the costs associated with developing a new product (time, material/parts/tool $, R&D, etc) it's nice to know that there is another quality option that's almost half the price of the durobumps.

If cost wasn't a factor, would you go with perry or durobumps?

Click to expand...

I think Perry is still a higher performing product, so that's what I would choose.

Hey T4R team,

We all know the forum has been getting wonky lately. Who knows if it will disappear one day and then we all will be forced to find sicmods on BookFace... I sure hope not.

I have downloaded the pages of my build thread to have as a backup, using the GoFullPage Chrome extension to just capture them as pictures. There's probably a more elegant way but I'm not tech savvy enough to figure it out LOL. I realized this thread is most valuable for me as a diary and a reference for details.

In the meantime, I'll keep on posting (and backing up) and remain hopeful that the issues will get straightened out.

It was finally time to retire the old Sumitomo Encounter ATs and get something new. Those tires really did great and we less than $700 out the door. Put probably 50k on them without a single issue, but they were down to 4/32" tread and getting a bit of dry rot cracks and I was ready for something more capable. Splurged and got a set of Wildpeak AT4s! These have 15/32" tread new, nice and chonky





Shoutout to the great folks at Gran Turismo East who sold me the tires and did the alignment. I've never experienced such a professional alignment job. After installing the tires they put the truck up on the alignment rack with me in the driver's seat! Reason being that the driver's (not inconsiderable) weight needs to be accounted for when aligning. They also had me put the wheel to exactly where I felt was centered and locked it in there. The tech shared that the rear axle is a tiny bit out of alignment, but not enough to need to be addressed -- adjustable links would be necessary of course. He also noticed that I had marked my adjustment points (LCA bolts and outer tie rods) and placed fresh marks with a pen that even matched the purple color I typically use. Outstanding service!





I also decided to finally do something about my funny rear end links. After installing the Sonoran Steel bracket lift (after doing the suspension lift) it kicks the front eye of the bar forward 1/2" causing the links to sit at an angle. Not a big problem but not ideal.



These cheapo links (basically Moog knockoffs) already have some wear in the socket so I figured I could experiment with them. Fortunately this link design has a really beefy center rod so I was able to heat & bend them without worrying about them breaking or bending more during use (I hope). Made a little template to figure out what bend I needed, hit the center with a torch for a minute, and bent to shape on my arbor press



Now the top of the link is happily vertical and mates properly with the upper mount.



In the future I may get a fresh pair, bend them again, and paint them for longevity.

Very interesting idea, it's cool to see what you come up with.

JZiggy said:

Now the top of the link is happily vertical and mates properly with the upper mount.

Click to expand...

I do like this better than my idea of cutting/relocating the frame mounts...
Just want make sure I still clear the locker and don't make the sway bar move in some weird arc.

If the “banana links” work out I can make more if people need them. Let me know!

JZiggy said:

If the “banana links” work out I can make more if people need them. Let me know!

Click to expand...

What do you think about making a set of tapered blocks that would fix the angle and provide a nice flat surface for the bushings to bear against?

It would probably be worth seeing what the link angles look like at full droop and full flex. You might be exacerbating the link angle issues when the suspension is extended - though shock length and bump stop size play a role there too.

-Charlie

Good idea. I just used some 5/8” bolts and put it in simple 3 point bend. I could just put a stop underneath to set the total amount of bend.

Would 4-1/4" clearance between the tire and the ladder frame be enough to install the outboard shock relocation kit using the same shocks that you're using?

JZiggy said:

Outboard shock relocation!!

Here's the clearance with the 1/4" spacers front and back

Definitely glad for the spacers at this point. Without them the shocks would still not touch with they would with more than a little bit of uptravel.

More about the results and the tech in the next post!

Click to expand...

Made a fresh set of rear endlinks complete with paint, woo! Here's my arbor press bendy jig too







If anyone's rocking the SS swaybar bracket and has this problem I'm happy to send you my old ones to see if they help.

I got in on the Good Mayhem Racing underlight group buy. This is a cool new 3D printed product that replaces the filler panels under the headlights with an ABS housing with an LED strip. There are options for amber, white, or sequential LEDs. I opted for amber with the intent of tying them in with the running lights.

Product received



Hit with some paint-matched spray and followed up with Rustoleum clear





The harness came preinstalled with connectors that adapt to the 99+ turn signals, so I clipped them and crimped on some cheapo connectors that fit the running lights / side markers. In the future GMR will offer these with OEM connectors for the side markers if desired.



Comparison with the rock-chipped OEM filler panels



Pop the grille, pull the headlights, and remove the body bolt that holds the filler panel on. Peel off the panel and the little holder clip



Install the GMR underlight unit with the body bolt. I also added a bit of protection for the wiring harness. The two plugs go on the factory connectors to put the new LED strip in parallel with the side marker





Nice looking light



I had to hog out the inner mounting holes a bit and add some spacers to get the new panels to be positioned just right with respect to the bumper and the headlights, along with a slightly longer screw





On the driver's side the panel was moved 3/8" forward and it prevented the corner grille clip from going all the way in, so I shaved the grille corner down a bit with a dremel to fit



The final look is pretty OEM+, in my opinion!