Rear of 2011 SR5 not level - anyone else?

Lakelander

Lakelander

Member
My SR5 with 600 miles on it looked tilted in my garage from behind so I measured from the floor to the fender lip at the center of the rear wheel. Sure enough the drivers side is 1 1/2 inches lower (36 1/4") than the passenger side (37 3/4"). Measured the front & they are OK both measure the same. Backed it out into the driveway & same measurements. Tire pressure is consistent at 35psi both left & right.

Spoke to the Service Manager & he wants to take a look at it, hasn't seen this.

Anyone else seen this before?
 
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I have never heard of one that far off.I take it you had a full tank of gas. My oem rear springs had different color stripes indicating different spring rates when I took them out. My rears were only off by 1/4" when I had a full tank when new but have heard of others being a little more. Maybe your rear springs are mixed up and just need swapped side to side in the rear.

Here are the factory rear suspension specs from the 2010 Toyota Repair manual. It should be the same for 11's. You need to have them fix it under warranty.

Last Modified: 10-26-2009 6.2 F From: 200908
Model Year: 2010 Model: 4Runner Doc ID: RM000003E3K003X
Title: SPECIFICATIONS: SUSPENSION CONTROL: SERVICE DATA (2010 4Runner)
SERVICE DATA

Height difference of left and right sides/20 mm (0.787 in.) or less
 
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harper7 said:
My oem rear springs had different color stripes indicating different spring rates when I took them out. My rears were only off by 1/4" when I had a full tank when new but have heard of others being a little more. Maybe your rear springs are mixed up and just need swapped side to side in the rear.[/B]
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My pass & driver side springs are both same color stripes (pink/orange) - I think yours is a Limited & not sure if they're different than the SR5. Something for me to look into. Not a full tank, only 1/2 tank of gas.
 
I've noticed a slight lean in mine but coming from Tacoma's its nothing new :)

1 1/2" is pretty drastic thou
 
Some guys over on Toyota120 run just one rear Daystar 1.5" lift spacer on the rear Driver side of their 4th gens to correct this infamous lean. 5th gen would basically be the same concept. I guess since the coils are inset of the frame vs. outside it, installing the spacer on the driver side rear coil lifts the driver side about 1"-1.5" and actually lifts the passenger side about .5". In the end their 4Runners are just about level.

I bought a set from 4wheelparts last week for $40, just debating on if my 4th gen leans enough to install it yet. If anybody does try this, make sure you get the 1.5" spacer for the FJ Cruiser's, not the 2" spacer Daystar list for the 4Runner's.

As Harper suggested though, normally a stock 4Runner will not lean more than 1/2" to 3/4" to one side. If the dealer does nothing for you though, give the Driver side Spacer lift a shot.
 
iDRiVaT4R said:
Some guys over on Toyota120 run just one rear Daystar 1.5" lift spacer on the rear Driver side of their 4th gens to correct this infamous lean. 5th gen would basically be the same concept. I guess since the coils are inset of the frame vs. outside it, installing the spacer on the driver side rear coil lifts the driver side about 1"-1.5" and actually lifts the passenger side about .5". In the end their 4Runners are just about level.
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I was just about to recommend the same thing... but I've been too chicken to test it out myself. Hopefully someone will try it out soon on a 5th gen to see how it turns out. I think just a 1" driver-side spacer would probably be perfect, but are there any problems with having just a spacer on one side?
 
^^ There shouldn't be any problems using a spacer on just one side, the guys that are running this setup over at the other forum go off road quite a bit and none of them mention anything going wrong. Obviously you don't want to max out the travel of the shocks at normal ride height. I'm gonna see if I can trim off 1/2 an inch of one of the spacers so my 4Runner doesn't lean to the passenger side after install.
 
iDRiVaT4R said:
I'm gonna see if I can trim off 1/2 an inch of one of the spacers so my 4Runner doesn't lean to the passenger side after install.
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Sounds good Nate, sorry to hear you sold your 5th... I've been away from the forum here for a few months. I got married, went away for a month, then changed jobs so just didn't have much time to come here.

Hope that rear lift works out for you... if it goes well and you need help throwing the 2nd spacer away, let me know! :) I'd like to give it a try.
 
Will733 said:
I got married
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Congrats!!



I installed the one daystar spacer on the rear driver coil earlier today. I didn't bother trying to trim it thinner, figured I would try it as it was. My previous post, I said to keep the bumpstop first then add the spacer and the coil. That did not work. The spacer inside Diameter was too thin to slip it over the bumpstop. So starting at the frame, the spacer, then the bumpstop, then the coil. Basically the only problem with it like this is Ill lose some up-travel...until I trim the bumpstop. I wanted to test everything out first before I trimmed it.

With 1/4 tank of gas..
Before: Driver side rear 1/2" lower than the passenger side
After: Driver side rear 1/2" higher than the passenger side.
...These measurements are before driving around and no driver sitting inside.

Since this is in the 5th gen section, I went ahead and tested the rear coils I had sitting in the garage from my 5th gen TE with the spacer and my 4th gen bumpstop. Everything fits fine :) so this mod can be done on the 5th gens to level it out.
 
If this is an issue since 4th gen and the FJs also have it, why is Toyota not fixing it out of the factory? Or this is a quality control issue and some vehicles have it more than others, like the OP?
 
Perhaps this is needless to say, but make sure that your dealer has another sr5 on the lot when you go so that you can park them side-by-side and also take measurements of the one on the lot. Good luck.
 
I installed air bags in the rear and just have the drivers side pumped up more than the passenger side - and this does two things: fixes the lean and prevents sag with bigger loads! Only cost $90!
 
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