Dirtco
New member
The following morning we woke up and had breakfast, Drake showed up in his lime green Jeep Comanche and we officially had the entire crew together. We continued through the 4Mile area where we followed Aspen Ridge (along with a couple scenic detours) down into Salida.
And thats when I noticed something wasn’t right with the 4Runner. The suspension was setting at weird angles every time I parked, and the front seemed to be setting a lot higher than the rear. Driving on the highway was even worse, and was pretty much like BJ Baldwin blasting through the streets of Cuba with one tire up in the air! After getting to the next section of dirt (just off Marshall Pass) I inspected the vehicle and found the issue. I installed some 2.5” coil spacers in the rear of the 4Runner to level it out, they were a temporary fix until I could dial in the front suspension and get the correct rear spring. It turns out the the spacers tore, and the coils shifted, folding in on themselves like a Slinky. Because of this the spring rate was drastically reduced and going around even a small corner resulted in the 4Runner leaning over and setting on the bump stop.
At this point I didn’t have many options. I didn’t have a coil spring compressor to remove the spacers, and even if I did the coil springs were bent and compromised. We tried a few things to get the springs to set straight, but nothing really worked that well and it sure wasn’t safe for any kind of on-road travel.
So we found a decent camp spot a couple miles away from the parking area and spent the rest of the afternoon and night hanging out. The following morning Nick and I went over the rest of the route and he continued on with Rick, Kyle and Drake. Aaron’s dad brought up a truck/trailer and Aaron towed my rig back home for me.
Does it suck? Yes, but I couldn’t think of a better group of friends to break down with! These trips are more about hanging out and BS’ing than actually wheeling, and that’s what we did. On top of that Aaron drove half way across the state to get me and my truck home in one piece!
Coil spring at full droop
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/156493849@N03/43565744024/in/dateposted-public/" title="fullsizeoutput_44c"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1849/43565744024_a17ede96f6_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="fullsizeoutput_44c"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset=“utf-8"></script>
Stupid spacer! :mad2:
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/156493849@N03/30415880498/in/dateposted-public/" title="fullsizeoutput_44e"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1847/30415880498_da4fa203b8_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="fullsizeoutput_44e"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And thats when I noticed something wasn’t right with the 4Runner. The suspension was setting at weird angles every time I parked, and the front seemed to be setting a lot higher than the rear. Driving on the highway was even worse, and was pretty much like BJ Baldwin blasting through the streets of Cuba with one tire up in the air! After getting to the next section of dirt (just off Marshall Pass) I inspected the vehicle and found the issue. I installed some 2.5” coil spacers in the rear of the 4Runner to level it out, they were a temporary fix until I could dial in the front suspension and get the correct rear spring. It turns out the the spacers tore, and the coils shifted, folding in on themselves like a Slinky. Because of this the spring rate was drastically reduced and going around even a small corner resulted in the 4Runner leaning over and setting on the bump stop.
At this point I didn’t have many options. I didn’t have a coil spring compressor to remove the spacers, and even if I did the coil springs were bent and compromised. We tried a few things to get the springs to set straight, but nothing really worked that well and it sure wasn’t safe for any kind of on-road travel.
So we found a decent camp spot a couple miles away from the parking area and spent the rest of the afternoon and night hanging out. The following morning Nick and I went over the rest of the route and he continued on with Rick, Kyle and Drake. Aaron’s dad brought up a truck/trailer and Aaron towed my rig back home for me.
Does it suck? Yes, but I couldn’t think of a better group of friends to break down with! These trips are more about hanging out and BS’ing than actually wheeling, and that’s what we did. On top of that Aaron drove half way across the state to get me and my truck home in one piece!
Coil spring at full droop
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/156493849@N03/43565744024/in/dateposted-public/" title="fullsizeoutput_44c"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1849/43565744024_a17ede96f6_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="fullsizeoutput_44c"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset=“utf-8"></script>
Stupid spacer! :mad2:
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/156493849@N03/30415880498/in/dateposted-public/" title="fullsizeoutput_44e"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1847/30415880498_da4fa203b8_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="fullsizeoutput_44e"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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