Louisiana Overland
New member
Recently I have been doing small, fairly inexpensive projects to improve the handling of my truck. As we all know, the nose dive and body roll on stock suspension is terrible....and the bump steer and wind shear are just as bad. Most any aftermarket shock and apring will fix the nose dive and will also help some with body roll, but what else can we do?
The beginning of my project list added urethane sway bar bushings and durobump bumpstops front and rear. The sway bushings indeed helped with flatter cornering. They also seemed to help with bump steer and wind shear to an extent. The truck drives perfectly straight now at highway speeds with very little input. Thats surprising considering the fact that 4runners really have to be DRIVEN in stock form. I have two more upgrades on my to do list and the first of those I got done today. Tomorrow I am installing a panhard correction bracket.
Rear Adjustable Sway Bar Links:
Why?
The sway bar is attached by a link that is bolted to the frame on each end. Two more attachment brackets with bushings are bolted to the rear axle. When a truck is lifted, the axle drops away from the frame by the lift height and leaves the sway bar ends pulled up toward the links and the links themselves are pulled at an odd angle, or maybe even bend. At these angles, the sway bar cannot provide as much function compared to the factory position. The fix is to use a longer link to return the bar to its stock orientation.
There are many options for longer links. For instance, a 2nd Gen 4runner rear sway bar link is an inch longer than the 5th gen link. Some folks have used aftermarket 2nd gen links from amazon made by Moog Industries. They are very inexpensive and will work, but the reviews are terrible. Rusting, bending, breaking etc. so I looked into Genuine Toyota 2nd gen links. They are no beefier than 5th gen links and are not adjustable. And the ones I found were $75 each. This would have worked I suppose, but at $150 for the pair, I can get beefier links that are adjustable.
Dobinson’s adjustable rear sway bar links.
These were on back order when I placed the order, but arrived at least two weeks earlier than I was expecting. Dobinsons Mike answered a couple emails pertaining to the order promptly and even changed my shipping address after I learned of an extended delivery date. It was a smooth, informed, painless purchase.
On to the good stuff....
The beginning of my project list added urethane sway bar bushings and durobump bumpstops front and rear. The sway bushings indeed helped with flatter cornering. They also seemed to help with bump steer and wind shear to an extent. The truck drives perfectly straight now at highway speeds with very little input. Thats surprising considering the fact that 4runners really have to be DRIVEN in stock form. I have two more upgrades on my to do list and the first of those I got done today. Tomorrow I am installing a panhard correction bracket.
Rear Adjustable Sway Bar Links:
Why?
The sway bar is attached by a link that is bolted to the frame on each end. Two more attachment brackets with bushings are bolted to the rear axle. When a truck is lifted, the axle drops away from the frame by the lift height and leaves the sway bar ends pulled up toward the links and the links themselves are pulled at an odd angle, or maybe even bend. At these angles, the sway bar cannot provide as much function compared to the factory position. The fix is to use a longer link to return the bar to its stock orientation.
There are many options for longer links. For instance, a 2nd Gen 4runner rear sway bar link is an inch longer than the 5th gen link. Some folks have used aftermarket 2nd gen links from amazon made by Moog Industries. They are very inexpensive and will work, but the reviews are terrible. Rusting, bending, breaking etc. so I looked into Genuine Toyota 2nd gen links. They are no beefier than 5th gen links and are not adjustable. And the ones I found were $75 each. This would have worked I suppose, but at $150 for the pair, I can get beefier links that are adjustable.
Dobinson’s adjustable rear sway bar links.
These were on back order when I placed the order, but arrived at least two weeks earlier than I was expecting. Dobinsons Mike answered a couple emails pertaining to the order promptly and even changed my shipping address after I learned of an extended delivery date. It was a smooth, informed, painless purchase.
On to the good stuff....
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