I ordered Moog FJ replacement rear springs for my 2003 4runner V6 4x4 and my mechanic called me saying its not fitting onto my axle properly??

Has anyone heard of this kind of issue? I thought it was such a common swap that it would be straightforward...

tell him to turn them up side, down.



Pictures help...

It should be a direct swap, either you got the wrong springs (i.e. not for an FJ) or your mechanic is incorrect.

Most of the guys report that the MOOGs won't seat flush on the rear axle.

Thats the issue, and he wont leave it on that way.

Is that safe? And will the top sit properly?

Sometimes the new coils are wound a little tight when you're putting them on old corroded/dirty perches. I think it's a matter of manufacturer tolerances and expansion/contraction of materials.

He should be able to twist/muscle that on there or maybe put some weight on it to push it over the top. Also looks like it needs to be rotated a few degrees so that the end of the coil hits that vertical stop on the perch.

I had that happen once, and we were able to twist/force it down on there. Once it got over the initial hump I was able to twist the coil to the proper direction pretty easily. If you twist it clockwise (viewed from above) it will help open up the wrap.

Gaterose: thanks, I will remember that...I told them to just reuse the original springs for the time being so maybe at a later date ill redo the rears or heck, even different springs..

I thought only the FJ moogs does that. Interesting. My FJ moogs look just like that and it ride and handle fine. Maybe some local members can spot you their rear springs.

The Moog rear FJ springs I tried to pout on this past week would not fit. The bottom coil is wound too tight. They sit just as shown in the picture above. I cleaned the bottom pad of all crud and even ground some away. I applied grease to the pad and ground off all the paint and as much metal as I felt I should from the spring id before the first install attempt. It would not go on flush. I tried hammering it in place and even put a block in between the lower two coils jacked the truck up and hammered again. No dice. I didn't feel safe leaving a spring on my truck not seated so I removed them. To get these springs to fit, I would have had to grind about 30% of the coil diameter off for a distance of 3". The other option would be to heat the coil and open it up again not something I wanted to do. The fronts worked great for me. I just wouldn't buy the rears

If 4runner moogs don't fit. Maybe we all should contact moogs. What's deal here?

I'm replacing my Moog FJ rears because one side doesn't seat. I think the quality is pretty poor and I'm sure they will get extremely rusty real quick due to the poor paint and coverage on them. I didn't expect much for the $40 I paid for them, but after trying them I would never recommend them.

Mine is not flush either but they seemed ok so far. No fuss from it. But yea they're just $40 and I already have FJ rears that I'm planning to put on in the near future.

I had the same problem today when trying to install 81081 moog fj rears on my 05. Tried beating them, twisting them, grinding the edge of perch and even driving over speed bumps but they would not seat.

I pulled them out for the 3rd time and compared them with the old ones. Ended up cutting the last 1/2 inch off of each coil and they slid right in.

Another quality product from Moog!