Hey everyone,

I bought an '06 4Runner Limited about a month ago, and despite my attempts to solve a tire rubbing issue with new JBA UCA's and an alignment, I have only managed to make the rub (slightly) worse. I have gotten some good feedback from a few members here, but I have enough posts to make my own thread now, so I thought I'd give it a shot and see what you all have to say!

She drives fine if I'm going straight or through mild turns, but add some downhills + sharper turns + braking and my 285/70/17 tires hit the body mounts pretty solidly.

Here's the current setup (how I bought her minus the JBA UCA's):

2006 4Runner V8 Limited 4WD
Coastal Steel front bumper (~120lbs I think)
Front: Bilstein 5100's (2.5" lift) + OEM coils + JBA High Caster UCA's
Rear: Bilstein 5100's rear + Bilstein B12 heavy coils
Wheels + Tires: 285/70/17 Nitto RG + FJ 17" Wheels with 1.25" Spidertrax spacers (-16.75mm offset)
Current Alignment Specs: Caster @ 3.3°L/2.77°R (toe & camber near 0)

Attached images of the truck as she sits currently, and a close-up of the body mount area.

I've received mixed feedback so far: some say adding a little extra height in the front via new coils will help, some say it won't. Some say a BMC is necessary for 285s, some say it isn't. My question about the BMC option is that while the tires rubbing the steel of the body mount is obviously the most serious concern, how does that solve the issue of the tire rubbing all the trim of the quarter panel / wheel well in the same area (area in red, attached)? I have basically unlimited room up front due to the Coastal offroad bumper and if I could just slide the wheels forward an inch or two it seems things would be in the clear – and I wouldn't have to chop my truck up!

Anyway, any and all feedback is appreciated—especially from anyone running 285s that may or may not have had similar issues! My goal is to build a truck that can handle at least some mild offroading while still being pleasant to drive around the city. I'm open to a new tire size as well, however the ones on there are basically brand new and it seems like a waste to get rid of them—if only they'd fit!

My current thoughts / possible solutions are:
— New coils in the front (maybe Dobinsons C59-314??) with 5100s on .85 (plan to eventually add a winch) (should be around 2.85" lift, my current estimate is that 15 year old coils in the front + 2.5" 5100s is only netting me about 2" lift in the front when you add in the steel bumper)
— Do the BMC if no other solution exists (but how does this solve quarter panel / wheel well area rub as mentioned above?)
— LCA's??
— 255/80/17s instead??
— what else??

Thanks!

Attached Images

   

My first thought would be some UCAs that allow you to move the wheel forward in the well (SPCs, maybe others?).

I am currently going through the same issue with my newly mounted 285/70/17 BFG KO2s. I did the body mount chop and cut the seam weld in slices and hammered it flat with the wheel well. It still rubs on hard downhill turns into parking lots etc. Soooo I am going to see where it's rubbing when I get home and see if I need to hammer some more.

The other option is reducing your suspension uptravel by increasing the bump stop making it hit sooner. This keeps the tire away from the wheel well. I too am interested in what others have done to make 33's fit.

You might need more caster. I'm at 4.9 with my JBAs. Its fine to have a little negative camber as well. As long as its in spec.
I have 295s and did the BMC, flattened pinch welds and trimmed some fender. Raising it a little might help, because I am rubbing more on the drivers side which has the lean. Passenger side not so much.

I guess I should have went with them instead of the JBAs! I've heard that from a couple people, wish I would have realized this before I installed the JBAs. Hopefully I can make it work with them or maybe I can resell them and try the SPC's eventually... sucks cause I just spent a day installing the JBAs a couple weeks ago!

what seam weld does this refer to? interesting idea with the bump stop...

I need to find a mechanic who is willing to adjust mine this high! Planning to take her to one of the offroad shops in my area soon that has capability to do alignments, after taking her to a generic tire shop I was left feeling they didn't really get what I was talking about and weren't willing to adjust it higher to attempt to help rub!

Definitely replace your 15 year old springs. You will be amazed by the difference. With the extra weight of your steel bumper, v8 and 4wd, you should get pretty stiff springs. I had rubbing with just a 2.5” spacer lift up front on my old, oem shocks/springs. I now have Toytec/Eibach springs and 5100’s (lowest setting) and a 1/2” spacer in front, giving me a full 3”. Absolutely no rub. I thought I needed a BMC, but not anymore. The 2” you have in front is not enough.

A 1” body lift will also help with the fender/trim clearance, but not the body mount.

Replacing my worn out oem rear springs also gave me 1+” more lift in the rear.

Yeah most normal mechanics wont do anything thats not in spec. I used to go to the local tuner shop to get mine aligned until a new 4x4 shop opened up near by.

Yeah, my local Firestone Complete Auto Care(tm) won’t do alignments on lifted trucks.

your JBAs are great and much better than spc. You should take it to a shop and the the BMC done. They should also trim the fender and flatted the pinch weld for you. I just got 285/70/17 on mine and have the JBA UCAs also. The tires rubbed fender bad especially since I went with 17x9 -25* wheels. After the BMC and fender trim/pinch weld flattened I have zero rub even when turning full lock.

The pinch weld is hidden behind the front wheel mud flaps. If you removed or gently pull back the mud flap you will see a metal seam that commonly hits the wheel when running 285's.

I was thinking along these lines as well, what spring rate would be ideal? From some of my research Old Man Emu 886 springs sounded good at 650# spring rate but I wasn't sure how well they jive with 5100's.

I'm not sure I can do a body lift without getting some kind of fabrication done with the bumper to compensate for a body lift though.

Do you have any good recommendations for springs with the 5100s? I'm thinking I'd want something with at least 2.5" lift unless I can get something shorter and set the 5100s at the 1st or 2nd clip...

And I have at least 2" lift in the rear with the Bilstein springs and 5100s I think.
Ah, someone who likes the JBAs finally! Lol. I actually have all the tools to do the BMC myself and I'm going to look more into this pinch weld! Although tbf I'm a novice welder, so perhaps I'll talk with a shop as well and get a quote... I do have the metaltech plates ready to go though.

thanks! I don't even have front mud flaps, they were removed by the previous owner. I wonder if this mod has already been done? Any way to tell from my pictures?

sounds like a visit to a 4x4 shop is in order one way or another for me

The OME 886 springs sound about right. If I had gone OME, I would have bought the 885, but I don’t have the extra weight of a steel front bumper.

It’s too bad the body lift would be a pain for you.

I don’t know which springs work well with the Bilstein shocks. I have Toytec/Eibach springs, and they seem like a good match to me.

It sounds like your rear suspension is fine.

You don't need a welder to do the pinch weld. I did horizontal cuts ever 1.5-2 inches then banged the pieces flat. Once that was done I gooped the area with silicone / RTV. Once dried I painted the area. All you need is a hammer and an angle grinder with a cutoff disk.

Others just slam the weld in with a hammer, no cutting.

If you need some pointers I just did this. pm me and I can facetime to show the end result.