I've thought about leaf Springs a few times. Then I keep going back to long 3 link setup with ori struts. I think it would make more sense for what i do, but damn it's fun to go fast!

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

I was all set on doing a 3 link with coilovers off the axle, but since my truck is the only car I own, that would create a lot of down time where I couldnt drive it. With leaf springs, the setup is so much easier, that Im leaning towards that now. Plus leaf springs are cheap, especially considering I dont need to get heim joints, all the tubing for the links and coilovers, just need the leafs and the shocks.

lowered my coilovers to 1.5" of lift over stock and put the 2" lift spacer on top. Then went to a uniball UCA to get the most clearance between it and the spring.
for CVs im just running rebooted 120 series OEM axles. i did have to remove a bur in the driverside inner cup to keep it from binding at full droop. but other than that nothing much. i do have my 1" diff drop in that probably afforded me the vital couple extra degrees of CV movement.

fully drooped, measured from center of hub to bottom of fender 26.75 inches


fully compressed, measured the same way 16.56 inches

Oh OK. I've never measured mine, I should some day. I know spc balljoints allow 80* of movement, but they don't hit the coils either, or not that I know of at least. Lol
How did you compress the front? I have a hard time getting them all the way up by driving on inclines and such that I've found.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

I thought the same thing until I started pricing things out... I couldn't find a good enough price difference to justify it, unless you can find a good used set of Deavers.
Artec industries, and others, have kits. Everything you need for $1100.http://www.artecindustries.com/Easy-...ink_p_544.html

Rear 3-link is easy since you will be welding lower mounts to bottom of frame like they are stock, and the upper goes inside the frame rail behind the transfer case. Deavers will run you $800+ and then you need mounts and shackles still. Unless you make your own you're still looking at $1k. You'd only save money on the shocks vs coilovers/shock & coils.
Coils, shocks, coilovers would be the money part depending on what you want to run. Personally I plan on coilovers in the back too for simplicity, more specifically for myself I want to use ORI-STX-STRUTS. They are more expensive, but no worrying about buying different coils trying to get spring rates right, it's all nitrogen charged and oil filled to specific CC levels to achieve desired spring rates.
The biggest issue with long travel in the rear is shock length though. To long and you'll be mounting them inside, not long enough and you aren't really long travel, or custom sideways mount talking big money. (forget what it's called) I was thinking cutting a hole in the fenderwell, making a mount that goes inside, then making a sheet metal box to put over it. Spray thick bedliner inside to reduce noise, cover outside of box in sound deadening material and cover with carpet or whatever to achieve desired look. For plastic inside, either cut a hole that the metal box fits through, or go all out and make a sheet metal panel to replace plastic ones, repeat bedliner and sound deadening to keep noise levels down while mobbing through the dirt!
Didn't mean to clog this thread up.... You need to make a bold thread! Or even a long travel talk thread! Then we can bounce idea's and let others chime in with (hopeful) advice. And ya, I know you've probably already thought of all this too! Lol I'm just thinking out loud.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

Well the local ones I found are only $300, so that is way cheaper haha. But yes, new leafs wouldnt make sense.

Ive been looking at the ORI's too for awhile, but they dont do to well for fast speed stuff, as they overheat. And since I do a combination of fast and crawling, I dont really wanna sacrifice too much in either department, but rather have an all around setup that can handle both. But yeah the length is an issue. Im tempted to cut a hole in the fender well, to angle the shocks/coilovers slightly backwards to clear the rear seats. I think youre thinking of cantilever, and yeah thats beyond my price range and is way too much down time to get it figured out.

And yeah got a little off topic, but whatever. To be honest the best way to fit 35's is long travel. There, back on track haha

Get the resi's for the ORI's. They're full out racing with them now. $$$ though.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

Cantilever 😎

Tire Size: 315/70R17 34.4/12.54

Tire Make/Model:BFG KO2

Wheels: 9" wide wheels with +18mm offset, 1.25" spacer in the front

Bodylift: Yes 1"

Approx. Suspension lift setting over stock: 3/2 ToyTecs Ultimate 3" lift -- Will soon be swapping rear coils to Icons 3" dual rate, due to future drawer system project and RTT

Aftermarket UCA's: Nope

Caster correction: Not sure what it's set at. I just remember it's in the "green" zone from my last alignment after putting the lift on with factory size tires.

Bumpers: Stock

Trimming: FRONT: Front bumper, rear fenders, hammered in pinch seams and body mount chop. REAR: Trimmed back bumper

Bumpstop drop? No drop -- Front and rear sways removed

Notes:
Rub frame at absolute full lock when tire gets slightly stuffed upwards. I'm sure I could counter this with a bigger wheel spacer, but then I'd probably have to trim more off of fender and bumper. Rub free on the street. Was limited to seeing how it would rub with tires flexed due to maxing out the jack. Trimmed a little extra to be safe, but I'm sure I'll be re adressing some of it when I get an oppurtunity to fully flex it (need to spot a parking lot with an obstacle to drive up or an RTI ramp)

Argued with 4 Wheel Parts about getting them mounted, upon test fit, it looked terrible on my end rubbed awful with the slightest turn of the wheel. I said it's just plastic, put the other 3 on!

Personal Thoughts:
Over all I'm really pleased. They look bad ass! My second day having them mounted I ventured to Grand Junction from Denver via I70, (got a killer deal on a Tepui) I notice it doesn't have as much get up, (coming off of 33's) but there's still plenty of power. (I have the V8) I personally wouldn't consider regearing to keep the strain on CV axles as low as possible. I am uneasy about the extra strain on the tie rods, will be carrying an extra set for insurance. Headed out to Moab, Death Valley, and a few other spots in the upcoming weeks. I am excited to do Top of the World trail again, last time I ran it with 265/70 and had to do some rock stacking. I'm thinking the extra 1.5" will really make a difference

Will have to give an update after the trip, hopefully all good news. Would really like to do a build thread to answer a lot of question I had and I'm sure a lot of others have. Also gonna try to get fancy and make a trip report to post over on Expedition Portal. Stay tuned!

Some random photos during my trimming process, and of how they look. Did have to take a little more off of the rear than what the photo shows. I cut notches in the body seam to make it easier to 'fold' it in. The last photo with the body mount is deceiving, there is plenty of space between the tire and mount.

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you'd benefit a ton by going to a longer rear shock with a bumpstop extension. itll help get the tire out of the body and give you more usable down travel. also an aftermarket UCA would help you get the most down travel out of your front and get even more caster out of it. and last point, regearing will take more strain off your entire drivetrain and actually help you preserve your CVs, plus you might get some MPG back

I'm running the Bilstein shocks in the rear that came with the kit, unless your talking about going to a completely other shock? UCA's are in the list of things to do, my MPG's havn't taken that big of a hit. 15-16 with a RTT, that with tracking miles with my GPS unit and gallons pumped when filling up. Like all modifications it comes down to $. If i'm gonna do the regear gotta get lockers, which means gotta get a bad ass air system to run air tools.... you know how it goes.

What UCA's are you using?

yeah i mean a completely different rear shock. the bilsteins that come with most lifts are way to short to actually be of use, theyre only like an 8 inch travel shock with the same collapsed length as stock. i run a 12" travel icon shock that is ~3" longer body than a stock shock with a 3 inch bumpstop extension. i use the Ebay uniball ucas, they are a rebranded allpro or total chaos arm as best as we can all tell. as for lockers doing a factory E-locker retrofit is pretty cheap, i did mine for less than 750 all in. you can look at my build thread and see everything im talking about.

MUST..........GET..........35"s!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went and got the final trimming done. Will need to get UCA to be 100%. Even with the pinch seams hammer in, still makes contact when full stuffed and the wheel turned. The rear fits perfectly

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@kmahl

You'll want your Caster to be north of 4* Positive Caster with those 35's to help eliminate scrubbing on turns under compression.

Having gone through 2 UCAs to get the same 5.5~6* Caster I am running on my vehicle, I highly recommend you invest in an UCA that has a lot of Caster built into it and/or allows adjustment of the UCA mounting points (this will limit them to heim joints). The reason I mention that is because I was running SPC Racing units before and despite their design allowing an additional 3~4* Caster correction over the factory units, I struggled to get my vehicle in the 5.5* range (all my cams were very maxed out and my Camber was a bit more positive than I'd like). After my accident last year, I invested in some Camburg Kinetik Unibal UCAs and it's night an day difference. Before (and on most lifted Toyotas) I've noticed that SAI (Steering Angle Inclination) was way out, not that it mattered a lot or was adjustable; but with the Camburgs I was not only able to easily get 6.1* Caster and a -0.5 Camber, but SAI was much more inline with factor specs. The scrubbing I used to get under some compression when turning went away (though with my wheel offset, width, and tires I've noticed I need to adjust my steering stops as on full lock I rub on the UCA).