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foyaboya 04-28-2011 04:38 PM

Replacement of Front Struts, Rear Shocks, Rear Springs, and Bushings
 
I am starting this post for those wanting "Advice" "Tips"on Strut/Shock/Spring replacement, and just cause I want to so I can post pictures of it as well!:naughty:

anyway here goes...I welcome more experienced guys to jump in anytime I did alot of research and reading before starting this Job, both times!!! I'll explain...

I have a 1999 SR5 4wd 4Runner with the p265 70 R16 tires and I just replaced my struts (front of vehicle with COILOVER springs) and shocks plus new SPRINGS in the rear. Also replaced swaybar bushings and end link bushings front and back. Did all the work last night 4/28/2011 (all night LOL!)

I bought this Runner used in 2009 10 years old it already had 236k miles but it did not bother me cause I have friends that swear by Toyota especially Runners...well needless to say I was disappointed with the ride right off the bat, but since we got a good deal on it I just promised myself to upgrade the ride later. Well to my utter disappointment due to LACK OF EXPERIENCE and ignoring advice from attendees of the SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS I went out and bought the best shocks available at sigh...Autozone they sold me Gabriel Ultra's front and back...thought about the Monroe's but decided against it since they swore by the Gabe's...bad idea they wore out in less than 6 months...and i mean wore out...not started to ride bad...that happened after about 3 months (i did light off roading occasionally maybe like a total of 4 times in the 6 months.) the middles of the struts were completely torn up and the backs hit hard all the time. I kicked myself in the grass and swore to never buy cheapies again! I paid a whopping 35 for the fronts and like 20 something for the rears. This was in fall of 2010...

Light at the end of the tunnel...

Finally saved and bought up supplies from http://www.toyotapartszone.com

and also Summit Racing

I decided to go OEM (original parts) since they were exact matches on all the bushings and washers as well as the 99' rear springs and the rear shocks which I found out are brand name TOKICKO which are put on all Toyota 4Runners i believe and they were a good price for the rear shocks 35 dollars I know cheap but they are a good brand, if i don't like them I'll upgrade to the Bilstein's. From Summit I bought the Bilstein 24-187244 - Bilstein Heavy-Duty Series Struts, plus Brake Roters and Brake Pads.

I installed the front struts first (tip I did not make it to my mechanic but would recommend taking the entire strut assembly with your new struts and have them take the coils of the old and put on the new...he would have charged me 15 bucks a piece! instead due to time constraints i rented the strut spring compressor tool from Autozone for 50 bucks which they refund when you bring it back. I ended up needing it though to compress the springs in the back anyway so keep that in mind) once i got the struts installed I immediately took it for a spin with my neighbor who came by to help...holy crap what a difference! On top of that the Bilstein's raised the front like 2.5 inches alone! Very impressed! That was 11:30 pm.

Next I installed the rest of the stuff and finished umm....at 5:30 am! Do not underestimate the rear springs/coils holy crap that was a heck of a job! Also I have a major complaint with Toyota regarding the rear driver side shock top nut and washer! What the !#@*%^? were they thinking you have to be some kind of contortionist to get your freaking hand up there much less get a socket and a ratchet on it...there is all kinds of stuff in the way...contrastingly it took me all of 10 min to swap out the rear passenger side shock and an estimated 1.5 hrs to get the driver side rear! Ok i feel better for saying that!

All together with shipping I spent a little over $500 bucks on parts, and a priceless amount in blood sweat and tears, with a little learning and praying thrown in for free!

What's the verdict (Sorry to give it to you last) Do not get anything less than OEM (which i think stands for Original Engineered Manufacturer) parts or Bilstien or above/better...like Icon etc...PERIOD!
:peace:

cfranck1 04-28-2011 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foyaboya (Post 769989)

What's the verdict (Sorry to give it to you last) Do not get anything less than OEM (which i think stands for Original Engineered Manufacturer) parts or Bilstien or above/better...like Icon etc...PERIOD!
:peace:

"Original Equipment Manufacturer"

Thats why they say, "You get what you pay for"
Usually when you want the best Fit & Finish you buy from O.E. parts.

foyaboya 05-03-2011 12:34 PM

Found the main culprit...
 
2 Attachment(s)
Ok after replacing all above mentioned items...i was still not as happy as i wanted to be due to slight swaying going down highway. The day after the installation we took a trip out to west Texas and i swear coupled with the side wind I was bout fed up with the swaying...decided to turn to the tires next. Went out to discount tire and got BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A K/O's they did not have my size in stock (265/70/ R16's) instead they suggested 75/R 16's which i thought would be quite nice. Tip they had the White Walls bout 30 bucks cheaper per tire! Anyway after getting them installed it was obvious the main culprit was the tire. Here's what i decided. The reason for the sway and general ride complaints was the thinner walls on the previous tire which were Michelin LTX M/S2
Attachment 43817
apparently the BFG's have a thicker wall which made all the difference in the world.
Attachment 43818
does anyone have any air pressure recommendation's? Also they seem to be a bit heavier than the Michelin's? I can tell a little loss of power and seems like Runner is a little heavier on the road. So if i had it all to do over again I would upgrade the or make sure the tires were good then move onto the rest of the suspension. Oh yeah the guy said 4Runners were top heavy to some extent what are y'all thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Fernando

cknsls@adelphia 05-03-2011 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foyaboya (Post 773401)
Ok after replacing all above mentioned items...i was still not as happy as i wanted to be due to slight swaying going down highway. The day after the installation we took a trip out to west Texas and i swear coupled with the side wind I was bout fed up with the swaying...decided to turn to the tires next. Went out to discount tire and got BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A K/O's they did not have my size in stock (265/70/ R16's) instead they suggested 75/R 16's which i thought would be quite nice. Tip they had the White Walls bout 30 bucks cheaper per tire! Anyway after getting them installed it was obvious the main culprit was the tire. Here's what i decided. The reason for the sway and general ride complaints was the thinner walls on the previous tire which were Michelin LTX M/S2
Attachment 43817
apparently the BFG's have a thicker wall which made all the difference in the world.
Attachment 43818
does anyone have any air pressure recommendation's? Also they seem to be a bit heavier than the Michelin's? I can tell a little loss of power and seems like Runner is a little heavier on the road. So if i had it all to do over again I would upgrade the or make sure the tires were good then move onto the rest of the suspension. Oh yeah the guy said 4Runners were top heavy to some extent what are y'all thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Fernando

This has me concerned. I have the FJ springs and also the stock Tokico black shocks. I also have a set of Michelin Cross Terrains I bought some time ago. However, your complaint has not been a common one. I am thinking of going with the KYB GR2s since it's my wife's daily driver for the shocks. Since I tow a little, I may decide to go with the FJ springs ONLY IN THE REAR.

foyaboya 05-05-2011 08:30 AM

Continued findings
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by cknsls@adelphia (Post 773474)
This has me concerned. I have the FJ springs and also the stock Tokico black shocks. I also have a set of Michelin Cross Terrains I bought some time ago. However, your complaint has not been a common one. I am thinking of going with the KYB GR2s since it's my wife's daily driver for the shocks. Since I tow a little, I may decide to go with the FJ springs ONLY IN THE REAR.

cknsls@adelphia,
It is/was a major concern to me as well. Let me provide a further update. I have decided to take off the OEM coils i bought and return them to www.toyotoapartszone.com. I called them and let them know I was unhappy with the height of the coils as I was expecting them to be the tall 99' coils. It turns out I did not get the talls. I ordered by my VIN, pretty cool feature with them you type in your VIN and all the parts are filtered for your 4Runner. Anyway i am reordering the coils for the limited edition 99 4Runner which are a different part# (48231-35151) which are $83.58 a piece, i originally ordered rear coils part# (48231-35210) which are $73.60 a piece. He could not confirm the specs or measurement but I decided to give it a shot since they are different part # and more expensive:shrug:. I may go with Bilstein shocks in the rear as well, but for sure i am going to install the airbags which I think are called airlift 1000. I've read alot about them on a couple threads and the guy at discount tire said he used them on his 4Runner and it improved the ride noticeably. As it sits right now with the stock replacement shocks and springs it is 1 inch shorter in the back unloaded, and loaded with groceries and 4 3gallon water containers last night it was almost 1 3/4 in lower. My wife and I were sitting on the back of the Runner while filling up the water containers and i noticed if we bounced a little we were already hitting the bump stops :ybrick: no good! We shall see once I am finished with the other mods. I am very happy with the side stability of the rig with the new tires though if it's a daily driver i highly recommend the 3 ply sidewalls!

foyaboya 05-31-2011 03:11 PM

7 Attachment(s)
Posting up pictures finally. I mainly took pictures of the parts I took out. I will get under there and take pics of the new stuff.

OK old shocks and struts were Gabriel Ultra, I would not recommend using these at all since they wore out under 6 months and were only used in mild off roading 4 or 5 times.
Attachment 45397



the rubber of the eye was all tore up under load, can't tell here but there was at least a 1/4 in gap/tear before I took the bolt off the bottom support. Keep in mind these are only 6 months old.
Attachment 45398



Rear shocks, Possibly some life left in them. Replaced with Tokico OEM shocks.
Attachment 45399
Attachment 45400



Really worn out swaybar bushings...I went with OEM replacements but will upgrade to Energy Suspension or Prothane later this summer or fall.

Attachment 45396
Attachment 45395



Shot of the OEM bushings installed. I greased one the driver side and not the passenger side. The toyotaparts guy did not know if they were greaseable?? What do you think? Should I grease them both? Seems to drive fine, or is the felt lining contacting the swaybar meant to "grab" onto the bar keeping it from swaying?
Attachment 45401

cfranck1 05-31-2011 04:35 PM

Here is a few decent picture comparisons of 99 "tall" coils to others.

I put the 99 "talls" front and rear in my 2001. Love it. The ride height and ride quality are perfect for me.

http://www.sonoransteel.com/includes...ront_coils.pdf

Toyota Part Numbers for 99 "tall" springs.
FR Springs - Blue / Yellow (48131-35400) Passenger Side
FL Springs - Blue / Pink (48131 - 35350) Driver Side
REAR Sprigs - Yellow / Red (48231 - 35210)

Just don't order the 99 "talls" by your VIN.

farmerjon 06-25-2012 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foyaboya (Post 793136)
Posting up pictures finally. I mainly took pictures of the parts I took out. I will get under there and take pics of the new stuff.

OK old shocks and struts were Gabriel Ultra, I would not recommend using these at all since they wore out under 6 months and were only used in mild off roading 4 or 5 times.
Attachment 45397



the rubber of the eye was all tore up under load, can't tell here but there was at least a 1/4 in gap/tear before I took the bolt off the bottom support. Keep in mind these are only 6 months old.
Attachment 45398



Rear shocks, Possibly some life left in them. Replaced with Tokico OEM shocks.
Attachment 45399
Attachment 45400



Really worn out swaybar bushings...I went with OEM replacements but will upgrade to Energy Suspension or Prothane later this summer or fall.

Attachment 45396
Attachment 45395



Shot of the OEM bushings installed. I greased one the driver side and not the passenger side. The toyotaparts guy did not know if they were greaseable?? What do you think? Should I grease them both? Seems to drive fine, or is the felt lining contacting the swaybar meant to "grab" onto the bar keeping it from swaying?
Attachment 45401

Can you tell me the part number for the OEM Tokicos? I've been looking all over and can't find quite the right part... and if I search for parts by VIN on that website, I get like 4-6 different shock absorbers (the part I need, right?)

01thunder 07-29-2013 11:09 PM

i was looking at the sonoran steel link and i have an 01. the springs on my rig are blue/white for left, red/white for right. are there different springs for different trucks, meaning 2wd springs are different from 4wd springs?

JaDub 09-25-2013 06:35 PM

Foyaboya

Thanks for being the BETA site for the shock / spring change. I have a `98 series three that has a gawd awful mushy ride that I need to tighten up. I just ordered the Bilstein set ( F&R ) and am wondering what to do spring wise. I do most of my driving on the highway but do use it for hunting and boat towing. I don`t need any additional ride height increase or anything for serious off roading. You mentioned the `99 springs ?? I am aware the Bilsteins, because of their gas pressure , tend to give it a bit more lift but I don`t want `monster truck syndrome`. Any other thoughts on springs ??

Cory619 09-28-2013 08:15 PM

Perfect timing for this thread!! I want to replace bushings when I do my suspension. Should I go with Energy suspension?

JaDub 10-14-2013 04:06 PM

Rear shocks were a pain...........especially the left side of my `98. Bilsteins went in OK but it was a bit of a dance using the allen wrench and the open end wrench together at the same time. Did I mention you cannot see ANYTHING of the top mounting hardware........ this is all done by the braille method? Thanks god the old shocks and nuts etc were not rusted on too bad. I am now going to tackle the front shocks next.

I WILL say that changing over from the highway tread C rated Geolanders to BFG D rated All-Terrains made a HUGE difference. I`ve had these on my Nissan Pathfinder and loved them. I went thru two set and got in excess of 60K miles each time . I have nothing negative to say about the BFGs......... they`re GREAT. Any pointers on changing out the fronts is appreciated.

JaDub 10-15-2013 03:43 PM

Front shocks were relatively easy. The first side took an hour, the second side took 15 min. A good spring compressor and a large pry bar are the only `special` tools needed. Oh, and a cold brewski............ 8-)

Econorail 12-31-2013 12:54 PM

I have a 2004 4runner v-8 with 80k miles. I am turning the vehicle over to my wife to drive. She has a bad back and I thought replacing the shocks & struts would give her a more comfortable ride.

If anyone has any advice on what kind to buy, where to buy, where to get installed (Toy. dealer vs. other shop). Also approx. cost and any other advice or hints would be welcomed.
Thanks!
Mike

Gypsytoy 01-17-2016 10:01 PM

How important is it to orientate the coil springs in the same position that Toyota did? Here is what I am trying to do. I have a 1999 4wd 4Runner with 215,000 miles that I bought used with 140,000 miles on it. When I bought it I did tires and alignment. Now with an additional 75,000 miles its time for tires again so I decided to also do quick struts, rear springs and shocks. I found that the front passenger side had the original setup while the driver's side had the original spring with aftermarket shock. The paint marks on the driver's side faced to the inside or engine. This is different than what was original. The new quick struts don't have paint marks but are marked left and right but the position of the lower spring perch or end of the coil is not in the same position as the original. Does this make any difference?

Also, Toyota calls out 2 different part numbers for the spring. What is the difference? I see no difference between the 2 quick strut springs. The only difference I see is the orientation of the 3 top bolts to make it left or right. The new coils have the same number of turns but the material is of a larger diameter and about a 1/2" longer.

So, do I need to be concerned about the orientation of the end of the coil spring or just put them in the only way they will fit which is different than Toyota's.

Thanks in advance for any help or insight.

Gypsy


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