Compiled: FJ Springs Lift Info for 4th gen

[Snowshoer]

Bilsteins are on backorder now so I have to find something else. Xreas is shot and was hoping to work on it this weekend. Now back to the drawing board.

 

[chili]

Completed the install. More details here: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/101762-what-did-you-do-your-4runner-today-1721.html#post2519109

Didn't seem to have the problem with the rear springs seating (after a little help from the prybar).. Moog FJs for an '07 purchased from RockAuto. Maybe I just wasn't trying to get them as flat on the perch as others, but they seem seated well enough and aren't going anywhere. Did have to unbolt the brackets for brake and ABS lines in order to pull the axle down enough to get the springs and spacers in. Did driver's side first, used spring compressor on the passenger's side to get the spring down about 1 inch.

Sorry, no before/after measurements but I'm happy with the result. Looks like there's still some rake and I'd guess about 2" to 2.5" lift all around.

Edit: Camber adjustments are almost all the way out with stock UCAs, but it is in spec.

 

[vastano]

As someone who drives their 4Runner daily and will never be offroad, would you guys suggest going FJ springs/toytec/spacer/OEM shocks or save all the trouble of swapping springs and just get the leveling kit?

All i'm trying to accomplish is to get the rake taken care of before I install the TRD Pros.

 

[hkollie1]

As someone who drives their 4Runner daily and will never be offroad, would you guys suggest going FJ springs/toytec/spacer/OEM shocks or save all the trouble of swapping springs and just get the leveling kit?

All i'm trying to accomplish is to get the rake taken care of before I install the TRD Pros.

Yes...

My wife's 4runner is a daily driver, never been offroad, she always liked the ride of my 4runner with the FJ and Bilstein set up...It takes the potholes, street dips/bumps and parking lot speed bumps better.

Def recommend. also note The Toyota OEM FJ Springs are equal to factory and fine...bought them here:
Toyota Parts - Genuine OEM Toyota Parts & Accessories Online
buy the 4wd FJ version

I got some used ones for my 4runner, and bought new for the wife...same ride.

 

[Bennmann]

Holy moog fj

For those considering using Moog 81108 FJ springs upfront:

The last 3 days I have been living in my garage practically; tackling all new springs and bilstein's 5100s on my 2003 4runner with 120k. I went with T12 coils and airbags in the back since I didn't want to deal with the Moog rears, and I tow a boat frequently.

Prior to doing the lift I did theoretical height-gain calculations in order to keep myself under a 3" lift in the front. I set my front bilstein's at 1.75" and approximated the front coils would give me 1.20". This was not the case. The coils alone gave me 2-3" and sent my front from 33.25" to 38.25", kid you not. Well I wasn't happy with that and knew it wouldn't work with the oem control arms so I dropped it down to the .85" spot . Threw them back on, and boom, still pretty damn high. Moved on to the rear bags and springs at that point and those turned out really good. I took another measurement of both back and front now with the 1.5" (T12) rear coils put it. With the front's at the .85"
placement and the front Moog 81108's, I measured the fronts to be 36.5-36.75" (3.25" greater then stock). The backs sit at 38.5" and were originally 35.5", netting me a 3" lift in the rear.

SO for whoever is considering the Moog 81108 front coils, keep in mind you might gain 2.25+" from the coil alone, like I did (v6 4wd). My coils are not upside down either. I have an alignment in the morning and praying I won't need UCA or I will end up putting my front bilstein's at the 0" notch. Right now it is slightly visible that my toe camber is off. I also did all new LCA bushings and spent 4 hours trying to cut my seized ones out but to no avail, until I borrowed my neighbors torches and almost burnt the garage down.

But all said and done, I am very tired, and very happy how the truck looks.
The rear brake lines have a lot of room with no awkward angling so I am fine with that. I am puzzled how these 1.5" , $200 coils I purchased gave me 3" but it is what it is.
Just hoping the UCA can be adjusted enough.


(BTW: I "approximated" the lift beforehand by reading for hours through other members builds, using the compiled spring chart, and generally adding the numbers. Also, I did end up grinding the front Moog 81108's in order to seat correctly on my bilstein shocks and KYB strut mounts)

 

[t-man]

For those considering using Moog 81108 FJ springs upfront:

The last 3 days I have been living in my garage practically; tackling all new springs and bilstein's 5100s on my 2003 4runner with 120k. I went with T12 coils and airbags in the back since I didn't want to deal with the Moog rears, and I tow a boat frequently.

Prior to doing the lift I did theoretical height-gain calculations in order to keep myself under a 3" lift in the front. I set my front bilstein's at 1.75" and approximated the front coils would give me 1.20". This was not the case. The coils alone gave me 2-3" and sent my front from 33.25" to 38.25", kid you not. Well I wasn't happy with that and knew it wouldn't work with the oem control arms so I dropped it down to the .85" spot . Threw them back on, and boom, still pretty damn high. Moved on to the rear bags and springs at that point and those turned out really good. I took another measurement of both back and front now with the 1.5" (T12) rear coils put it. With the front's at the .85"
placement and the front Moog 81108's, I measured the fronts to be 36.5-36.75" (3.25" greater then stock). The backs sit at 38.5" and were originally 35.5", netting me a 3" lift in the rear.

SO for whoever is considering the Moog 81108 front coils, keep in mind you might gain 2.25+" from the coil alone, like I did (v6 4wd). My coils are not upside down either. I have an alignment in the morning and praying I won't need UCA or I will end up putting my front bilstein's at the 0" notch. Right now it is slightly visible that my toe camber is off. I also did all new LCA bushings and spent 4 hours trying to cut my seized ones out but to no avail, until I borrowed my neighbors torches and almost burnt the garage down.

But all said and done, I am very tired, and very happy how the truck looks.
The rear brake lines have a lot of room with no awkward angling so I am fine with that. I am puzzled how these 1.5" , $200 coils I purchased gave me 3" but it is what it is.
Just hoping the UCA can be adjusted enough.


(BTW: I "approximated" the lift beforehand by reading for hours through other members builds, using the compiled spring chart, and generally adding the numbers. Also, I did end up grinding the front Moog 81108's in order to seat correctly on my bilstein shocks and KYB strut mounts)

They are new coils, give them a couple weeks to settle and it will lower down a bit.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

 

[Bennmann]

They are new coils, give them a couple weeks to settle and it will lower down a bit.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

Update:

Went for a ride down street after waiting few hours. I adjusted the tilt from bottom out (camber?). Front down to 36", still giving me about 2.75" total gain in front on the .85" setting. Not bad but the Moog's providing 1.95" . I'll definitely see what a week of daily driving does. I'm starting to second guess moving the bilsteins from the 1.75" setting but we will see. The current rake is 2" still .

 

[haro]

Moog jf coil v6 4wd

just got my MOOG fj coil springs all around to pair a year old bilsten 5100.
front set at the 2nd setting and the rear spring cut 1/2" at the end. I did not take any before pic, but I did get a nice decent raised.
so far the ride is great taking speed bump at 25mph without spilling the coffee.
Also replace the rear end link.

 

[haro]

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[DirtyUp]

I have a set of FJ coils and I'm trying to decide on shocks/struts. I know a lot of people go with the 5100's but does anyone have experience with the Eibach pro Truck Sport shocks with FJ coils?

These are what I'm referring to.

Eibach Pro Truck Shocks - Total Automotive Performance - Your Source for Auto Parts and Accessories

 

[Bennmann]

3 hours after lift installed , bilstein 5100s front @.85 , Moog FJ springs,
And rear t12 wheelers springs.

1 week later with bfg muds 255/75 and trail edition rims . Front sunk a good amount. Going to place the bilsteins at 1.75" during Christmas. Might go to 2.5 if anyone has some UCA suggestions ! Probably will go on cheap side with SPC, can I fit 285s with no rubbing on These control arms ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nhaniger]

Thanks for the awesome writeup! I just got some 2014 FJ springs and shocks. There is no hardware, will all the nuts and bolts from my 05 runner fit or do I need to order anything? Any help appreciated!

 

[t-man]

3 hours after lift installed , bilstein 5100s front @.85 , Moog FJ springs,
And rear t12 wheelers springs.

1 week later with bfg muds 255/75 and trail edition rims . Front sunk a good amount. Going to place the bilsteins at 1.75" during Christmas. Might go to 2.5 if anyone has some UCA suggestions ! Probably will go on cheap side with SPC, can I fit 285s with no rubbing on These control arms ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Spc works great, and the updated balljoint with grease fitting is a vast improvement. With 285's you will probably need some spacers regardless of uca brand. Just a wider tire and there isn't much room in there. Even with 1.5" of spacing on my 315's I only have about 1/2" to spare.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

 

[pjbrownva]

Thanks for the awesome writeup! I just got some 2014 FJ springs and shocks. There is no hardware, will all the nuts and bolts from my 05 runner fit or do I need to order anything? Any help appreciated!

Yes and no.

I believe that you can reuse your hardware without any problems.
The problem will be with the shocks. The bushing on the 2014 FJ front is different from the 4Runner bushing. You will need to do some work to adapt the front shocks so they will mount.

Also, for the rear shocks, there appears to be some differences that will also require some work to get the rear shocks to mount.

Search the forums for information.

Here are a few threads to get you started, but there may be other solutions to the problem too. You'll need to do some searching.

Good luck!

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/200447-modding-5th-gen-fj-shocks-fit-4th-gen-4runner-easy.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/159642-5th-gen-4th-gen-suspension-swap.html

As for the springs, you should be good to go. Just know that for the front springs, the left and right springs are different. One is slightly longer than the other. You can distinguish them by their height and also by color coded paint markings on them. This thread (should) have more info on it. Do a search if necessary.

 

[nhaniger]

Thank you man!

 

[Bennmann]

Spc works great, and the updated balljoint with grease fitting is a vast improvement. With 285's you will probably need some spacers regardless of uca brand. Just a wider tire and there isn't much room in there. Even with 1.5" of spacing on my 315's I only have about 1/2" to spare.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

So I've been meaning to ask if anyone has found a good medium between spacer length and fitment. As you increase distant out to fit wheels at the UCA, you begin to rub on the wheel wells more, right? It seems a lot of guys just go to 1.25" spidertrax but is the whole 1.25" needed? There has to be a good medium in length to just fit the UCAs and have less rubbing. I know it's not easy to find a hub centric wheel spacer in any size but I am running the 5th gen trail rims and already have an increased wheel space compared to stock rims


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[pjbrownva]

Yes and no.

I believe that you can reuse your hardware without any problems.
The problem will be with the shocks. The bushing on the 2014 FJ front is different from the 4Runner bushing. You will need to do some work to adapt the front shocks so they will mount.

Also, for the rear shocks, there appears to be some differences that will also require some work to get the rear shocks to mount.

Search the forums for information.

Here are a few threads to get you started, but there may be other solutions to the problem too. You'll need to do some searching.

Good luck!

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/200447-modding-5th-gen-fj-shocks-fit-4th-gen-4runner-easy.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/159642-5th-gen-4th-gen-suspension-swap.html

As for the springs, you should be good to go. Just know that for the front springs, the left and right springs are different. One is slightly longer than the other. You can distinguish them by their height and also by color coded paint markings on them. This thread (should) have more info on it. Do a search if necessary.

Thank you man!

[MENTION=147838]nhaniger[/MENTION] , for the rear shocks it seems that the bolt on the 2014 FJ is a larger diameter than on the 4th gen 4runner. So some people suggest drilling out the hole in the frame on the 4th gen 4runner to accommodate the larger bolt from the 5th gen FJ.

That would mean one of two things (to me) for your situation.

Either 1 -- you will need to get a spacer or insert of some (unknown) size to take up the extra space of the larger shock, or, you will need to get the correct 5th gen FJ sized bolt for the rear shock, and modify your T4R by enlarging the hole in your frame to make it fit. If it were me, I'd look at trying to find / fabricate a busing to take up the excess space and use my existing hardware without modifying my frame.

I can't really tell you what to use or suggest good approaches, because I just don't know enough about materials, and how they react under wear and/or pressure.

I'm assuming if you have access to a good machine shop, that they should be able to advise you an fabricate some inserts. I don't know enough to tell you what materials would be good to use. Maybe someone with more knowledge could chime in and help with ideas.

See for instance this:

Yeah iv'e also read a lot that the modification required you to drill the bolt hole on the chassis larger to accommodate the larger bolt diameter. Is that's what they refer to when its stated that "modification" is required? Cuz if so that's not a very big deal.

Also does anyone know what ride height gain a setup like that would produce?

Here's an fix that someone tried as listed in Ark Swamp's thread on lift height gained from FJ cruiser suspension swaps.

I lifted my 2004 4wd 4 runner this past weekend. 122,00 miles on the truck. stock measurements from the ground to center of wheel well front was 33 and the rear was 35. I bought 2012 FJ Cruiser rear coils and front strut assembly with toyota struts with 12,000 miles. I installed a 1 1/2 inch spacer in rear and 2 inch spacer in front. (top mounted) finished results are 36 inches front and 37 1/2 rear. Also the lower mount on my truck was 39 mm and the lower strut assembly was 41 mm. I read about grinding and all that but we took the lower control arm off and decided there is not enough material to grind on the mount. So, I took a piece of 1/8 steel placed inside of the mount put a long bolt through the other side placed a bunch of washers on the bolt inside the mount then placed a nut on the end of the bolt snugged it up against the steel then took an impact wrench and tightened up the bolt even more which of course spread out the mount. this worked perfectly!! The other side we left the lower control arm on and just did the same thing while still on the truck. We loosened up the alignment bolts on the lower control arms so they would fall out of the way. Marked them and it worked great.

Also, I *think* that people are saying that the 5th gen FJ shocks are a bit soft on (at least some) of the 4Runners. I'm not positive, and that may only be part of the story... there are variables like which FJ your shocks came from (engine size, 4wd, edition) and which 4runner you have (engine, 2wd, 4wd, etc). But I can tell you that the Bilstein 5100 shocks front and back with the FJ springs are a very popular set up, and lots of people (including me) love it.

I got 4 bilstein 5100's delivered for $348 from one of the forum vendors
Total Automotive Performance - Your Source for Auto Parts and Accessories - Homepage

Here's what Ark swamp rider wrote a while ago.

For optimum ride and off road performance, your best option is 5100's front/rear with the FJ springs. My reply above was assuming you wanted to stick with the front shocks you have. 5100's will run about $375 for the set, and would ride better (IF you have the Tokico front's) and also perform better off road. As said, I don't believe there would be a huge difference between 5100's and stock FJ Bilstein's, so it all boils down to what brand the front shocks you have are.

Personally I'm about to go 5100's, but that's only because folks are charging an arm and a leg for the stock Bilstein setups. The 5100 fronts set on the second notch (.85) combined with FJ springs will net around 1.6" lift in the front, .25-.5" in the rear.

Good luck.

-Phil

 

[nhaniger]

Thank you! Helps

 

[Waterdog3]

5100's and new 2014 FJ springs from dealer. Slotted Dimpled rotors from Brake performance, 2011 4 Runner wheels, and KO2's. The Brake Performance rotors with the upgraded ceramic pads from them are really nice.

The ride is fine. Freeway speed manners are not so great. I doesn't track as straight as it did. Slam on the brakes at 75mph and you need to be ready to keep the truck on the road. It was not that way before. Not sure if it's the KO2's or what? I did have it aligned after the springs and shocks were installed by the shop that did the install. Think I'm going to have the Toyota dealer do another alignment? Also thinking about moving the fronts to the middle setting on the 5100's. Currently sitting at the 1st setting of .85

 

[lbhsbz]

I just found a used set of coils and silver bilsteins from a 2012 FJ to replace the 200K mile X-reas setup on my 2003...I got a about 1 1/4" in the front and 1" in the back. Haven't driven much, but the ride is nice...more stable than the Xreas, but not harsh.