Beating the dead horse, rear shock question

[pcleary1210]

Howdy Folks,

my new-to-me (old to the rest of the world) 96 4runner has what I believe is a 2" or 2.5" spacer lift in the rear. Its also riding on generic Monroe budget-shocks. As such when I pull my trailer around with a 120lb tongue weight the whole back end droops by a couple inches. I'm not sure if they're failed or just hyper-extended and settling back into their standard working range, but the ride is bouncy and sucks anyway.

SOOOO.....what rear shocks should I get? I had bilstein's on my 87 runner and they made for an almost too-harsh ride (they were HD's). I found some generic skyjacker rear shocks for cheap, but they're hydraulic and wont keep the rear end of my 4runner up when towing. If the ride quality improves it might be worth the sacrifice.

I dont offroad alot, mostly tow a trailer. I might hit the occassional hiking trail or biking trail but I wont be crawling anywhere.

Thoughts?

-PC

 

[FdcCal]

PC, got to the top of the forum and take a look at the "Rear Sag" thread..

 

[4-Ripcord]

If you tow a lot, the billy HDs really are a good bet. You mentioned you didnt like the ride of the HDs on your old truck, but were you towing with them?

The sag is due to those tired old springs, and those spacers dont help one bit. Get some heavier duty springs if you tow alot.

 

[pcleary1210]

PC, got to the top of the forum and take a look at the "Rear Sag" thread..

Awesome find. Unfortunately mind was recalled and had the shocks changed out in 2002....In Las Vegas, apparently. I also found out it's only been into a dealership for service twice. Not sure that's a good thing....

Granted, my ride is level, it just sags in the butt-end when I try to trailer something with a little bit of tongue weight. I know the shocks are designed to control the springs, and not designed to carry weight, but I figured they'd help a little and improve my craptacular ride quality.

-PC

 

[pcleary1210]

If you tow a lot, the billy HDs really are a good bet. You mentioned you didnt like the ride of the HDs on your old truck, but were you towing with them?

The sag is due to those tired old springs, and those spacers dont help one bit. Get some heavier duty springs if you tow alot.

Can I get away with stock-length shocks with a mild lift? I'll spend some time on my lunch today and check out the rear lift to see what it's like and what springs there are back there. e

Toytec has OME shocks, or bilsteins for about $200 per set. For not much more, I'm assuming i can get a whole rear end kit and do away with the spacers all together.

Any recommendations on options? Dont mind a slightly stiff ride in the rear, but I dont want it to be too harsh. I dont tow alot, and its nevr more than 2500#.

Also, your truck makes me happy in the pants. Love that front bumper.

-PC

 

[4-Ripcord]

You can keep them with a small lift. But if you want to replace everything with toytec stuff (cudos, thats the right choice!), you could go with OME 891s and OME 60027 shocks. Those will be very stiff ride like sh!t unloaded, but when you tow it will ride very nice and in control. You wont feel like you are being tossed around by the trailer.

If you only tow moderately often , switch those 60027 for 60028 or the Billy 5125s.

890 rear coils are nice unloaded, but can't handle the extra weight of a trailer.