I went for it last night and installed my new shocks and springs. Sprayed the Springs with Rust-Oleum undercoating to prevent rusting. I was torn between setting the Bilsteins at .85 or 1.75. Ended up going with .85 out of necessity.

I used the no compressor method on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkVLBOnAifc

For some reason I was not able to set the shock in the 2.5" or 1.75" position and get the lower control arm to meet back up with the wheel assembly. Fortunately it turned out for the best. The combo of the 5100's set up at .85 and the Moog V8 spring gave me the lift I was looking for as long as it doesn't settle to much.

When I took the truck off of the jack stands and the measurement showed a gain of 4"! (old measurement 33" new measurement 37" from ground to top of wheel well). The truck looked way lowrider. I took it out for a drive and did a little 4 wheeling in the school parking lot down the street and when I came back things had settled in at a gain of 2.75" (new measurement 35.75" from ground to top of wheel well). Perfect!

Before


After


I'm going to do the rears next week with 5100's and Moog springs as well. Hope it doesn't lift the back to much. I like the almost flat look.

I did the rear suspensions today! Bilstein 5100's and Moog 81045 OEM replacements. They are the same length as stock but 191 lb/in (a 6% increase) spring rate.

Everything went very well. This set seems to have given me about 0.5" lift for the moment. We'll see what happens when things settle in. It is perfect. The front is at 35.75" and the back is at 36.50". It looks great!

Which rear springs are you going with?

I have a feeling you are going to want to put the fronts to 1.75 and then add a spacer in the rear once you get the Moog FJ and 5100s on the rear.

IMO the factory Toyota spring rates front and rear are far too soft for anything other than a soccer mom rig. Depending on your "spirited" driving style on or off road, and lucky for us, there are plenty of springs to choose from. My only advice is to go up on front and rear spring rates. I went to the heavier rated springs and for my needs, this package is spot on. The on road handling makes driving these things nimble, stable and the handling is reasonably flat. After my updates, my rig felt 100% more comfortable. On long road trips I dont feel as tired at the end as I did pre shocks and springs. No more swaying and wallowing around like a boat in water going down the freeway!
Off road the handling again is great! Fast, tight twisty, small rollers and dips, my rig eats them all up in a comfortable, controlled, stable manner. In 4low, as long as you air down, as we all should, be patient, let the tires and motor do their jobs, I can go anywhere I went in the past.
Yes, the truck overall is a bit firm. The firmness comes in the form of much improved handling. With the back of my rig full of gear, food, beverage,camping, or day trip stuff, tools passengers dogs ect, the spring rate choices really pay off perfectly.
In closing, I feel with the current package, my rig is SAFER on and off road. And, for 100% off the shelf bolt on parts, Im impressed with the quality of the parts and handling of the rig. Thanks for reading.

I'm going with the Moog 81045 OEM replacements for the V6. They are the same length as stock but 191 lb/in (a 6% increase) which is equal the stock FJ Springs but a 1/2" shorter.

I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. Won't be able to install until next week when I get a break from work.



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I did the rear suspensions today! Bilstein 5100's and Moog 81045 OEM replacements. They are the same length as stock but 191 lb/in (a 6% increase) spring rate.

Everything went very well. This set seems to have given me about 1/2" lift for the moment. We'll see what happens when things settle in. It is perfect. The front is at 35 3/4" and the back is at 36 1/2". It looks great!

Just half an inch? Damn I just got them fj moogs today. Currently my front look a tad taller than my rears but I am on Tacoma coils and 5100 set at .85. Pic?

Mine are not Moog FJ Springs. I got the OEM replacement for the 4Runner. They are the same length as OEM.

my bad....LoL

How much lift did you get from the FJ Moogs? Do they feel to stiff?

Because they didn't sit flush I managed to get close to 1 1/2 inch. Definitely not stiff all. Feels like the stock coils.


Definitely thinking about raising the front to 1.75. Currently @.85 with Tacoma coils which should net me 1.85 or bit closer to 2.

After 5 weeks I seemed to have settled in at a gain of 2.75" on both fronts and about 0.25" (R) and 0.5" (L) in the back backs. The back is about 0.5" higher than the front at the top of the wheel well.

I have also since upgraded tires from new 265/65-17's to used 255/75-17 with about 50% tread. Not sure how much height I gained from that change.

When you change to the taller tire, how much does that throw off your speedometer?

There are several tire calculators online that will show you. Most times with tacomas and 4runners, the speedo actually becomes more accurate by installing larger tires. This means it's fast from the factory.