Ok imma give this another try. First off I'd like to thank everyone in here for the great information contained in this forum. I would not have been able to do this on going build without the sharing of knowledge and experience in here. Took a lot of reading and surfing to figure out what I wanted to achieve. With that said lets move on to the slow build........:cowboy:
First mod Motofab 1.5" coil spacer in front and roof cross bars
Here is my 04 SR5 T4R ON THE CHEAP build/mod thread. I always try to get the most economical yet functional parts to get my T4R lifted and functional for my needs. So if your like the Hawaiian Hillbilly and want to get your rig up and going on the cheap then please feel free to follow along and comment freely. I always look forward to an exchange of knowledge and tips.
First up is a pic of my T4R basically stock with only a 3'' front coil spacer as most of us start off with. I wanted to get rid of that rake in the front and give me the clearance I needed to get to our fishing grounds over here. Lots of lava rock trails and decent 4x4 trails. Cheap $35 part and easy install. I also cannibalized the THULE rack bars off my wifes deceased chevy trailblazer before we sold it for parts. First I shaved the mounts to match the contour of the rack and I permanently mounted them by bolting them into the stock T4R rack. But kept the original cross bars functional as well.
As mentioned I first installed a MOTOFAB 1.5'' (net 3") front coil spacer As most of us newbies do as our first mod. :thumb:
Very easy install thanks to this forum! I got the clearance I needed in front and got rid of the crazy ass rake we dread! This got me a ground to fender measurement of just over 35" in front and left the rear stock. Drove around like this for a couple months and it was good enough for the time being. I also removed the stock step rails as well.
After a few months of driving around like that...I got the bug (from looking at all the awesome pics in here) of lifting my T4R with a decent suspension lift and finally get rid of the motofab 3'' $35 spacer up front. I didn't like the stock suspension for the LAVA trails in my areas. It got the job done just fine but was a little to "squishy" for me...lol
So I started surfing around in here (A LOT) and I was looking for the answers I needed to make my initial purchases. After some time searching I finally settled on Bilstein 5100 struts and shocks as an economical yet functional purchase. I ordered the front bilstein adjustable 5100's through Downsouth Motorsports on ebay first and a few weeks later I got the rear 5100's sourced locally (son in law is service manager at Toyota) they happened to have a set of rear shocks for a good price that someone ordered and never came in to pick them up. Sorry never took pics of the rears before install.
Total was near $350 for the BILSTEIN 5100's front and rear set including shipping.
Next the search began for some lift coils. I noticed that a lot of members in here likes the OME springs a lot. Some were on the fence but most of the users in here liked it and gave great reviews. So I ordered a set of OME 885 front lift coils off of AMAZON of all places. I kept looking in the "warehouse" for discounted springs until I found them one day "after a few weeks of looking daily" and ordered them. We don't get free shipping here in Hawaii for most items. Kinda sucks.....but we do pay the price for living out in the middle of the big blue pond! Now although the OME 885 coils are commonly rated for the V8 T4R + weight I went ahead and ordered the set for my V6 T4R as I plan on getting a plate bumper in the future. Cost approx. $135 shipping included....it sometimes pays to keep looking for sale items at a score! Sorry didn't take pics of the OME885 till they were installed.
LIFT EXPENSE AT THIS POINT:
BILSTEIN 5100's FRONT AND REAR=$350
OME885=$135
So now that I had the bilstein 5110's and the OME885 front springs I was next focused on the rear lift coils. Again after a ton of searching and learning I ended up deciding on PROCOMP FJ 3" lift coils. I wanted a coil that would give me the height I wanted and also the ability to carry the extra weight of our fishing gear along with coolers and my 15" ECLIPSE SUBWOOFER which by the way is a heavy SOB and is over a decade old and still THUMPS my old school jams (everything from DEF LEPPARD AND IRON MAIDEN:AK47: TO JOSS STONE AND PEABO BRYSON:naughty: and everything in between) out loudly! So again I waited and waited for amazon to have these on sale (around 3 weeks) and I ordered them! Cost approx. $135 including shipping to Hawaii!
TOTAL LIFT EXPENSE THUSFAR:
BILSTEIN 5100'S FRONT AND REAR:$350 (DOWNSOUTH/LOCAL)
OME885 FRONT LIFT COILS:$135 (AMAZON)
PROCOMP REAR FJ 3" LIFT COILS:$135 (AMAZON)
TOTAL:$620
Heres a pic of the stock T4R rear coils and the fj pro comp coils...looks are deceiving as this gave me a full 3 inch lift in the rear
Ok now that I had most of the ingredients for a budget minded suspension lift....I got to work again. Looked around for better upper control arms and was almost floored by the prices for the good ones. So I searched and searched again. I came up with a set of tubular upper control arms off of ebay which used Tacoma ball joints and had a better angle than stock. Cost was $230 with shipping.
After reading a lot in here and with the help of the no spring compressor link OME Install - no spring compressor - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum I was able to start the front lift process. The BILSTEIN 5100s and OME 885's went in but I didn't like the original boot on the bilsteins so I installed a set of aftermarket boots and put everything back in. At this point I installed the tubular upper control arms as well.
TOTAL LIFT EXPENSE THUSFAR:
BILSTEIN 5100'S FRONT AND REAR:$350 (DOWNSOUTH/LOCAL)
OME885 FRONT LIFT COILS:$135 (AMAZON)
PROCOMP REAR FJ 3" LIFT COILS:$135 (AMAZON)
UPPER CONTROL ARMS:$230 (EBAY)
TOTAL:$850
Here are a few pics along the way in the front suspension lift....enjoy!
As I was manipulating the front lower control arms to install the OME885 and Bilstein lift I noticed that my lower ball joint grease caps were cracked and needed attention. So I ordered the replacement boots off of amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C6MXZBQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and got it changed out. Dealer was 30 bucks per boot I believe and amazon was 11 bucks. So no brainer for the Hawaiian Hillbilly!
Ok so...I got the OME885 coils and Bilstein 5100 adjustable struts installed on the front and it was time to get the rear FJ coils and bilstein shocks installed. It went very smooth after unbolting the rear sway bar and dropping the rear end to fully stretch out the rear suspension enough to get the stock coils out and then install the rear FJ coils.
Hawaiian Hillbilly lift completed! Bust out the tape measure!
Keeping in mind that this is my first TOYOTA and I had no previous experience installing a lift on anything other than older chevrolet trucks with straight axles it went rather smoothly. However, after installing the rear Procomp fj lift coils and bilstein 5100 shocks in the rear and the OME/Bilstein 5100s on the TOP SETTING up front I took it out for a test run and MAN WHAT A DISSAPOINTMENT! It was stiff and jumping and bouncing everywhere! The bilsteins were topped out and had no functionality and the springs were waaaay to compressed and therefore stiff on this setting lol I was very surprised that it even went on with the no spring compressor method. In any case it was horrible! So I busted the front suspension back out and set the adjustment on the Bilstiens to the 2ND SETTING and it was much smoother and better on the back when driving. I had found the sweet spot! The ride height was right where I needed it to be. So with that done I got my 04' T4R SR5 aligned at the shop and brought it home for some measurements. Heres what I found!
First pic is stock height with only the 3" motofab front spacer ground to fender measurement....roughly 35.5" Second pic is after removing the spacer and installing the OME885s and the Bilstein 5100s on the second notch and after alignment was done. I got roughly 39" ground to fender. If you keep in mind that the 35.5" was with a 3" spacer that makes my stock height 32.5" that's a 6.5" GAIN IN LIFT!!
This is where I wondered a bit if I had done things correctly or if I was just "lucky" with the height gains. I double checked to make sure I had the lower spring holders set correctly or if they were "upside down" as I've read in here in another thread. But everything was installed correctly. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of these lifts can help me understand the gains? It was explained to me that the bilsteins are a "lift" itself if used with stock coils depending on the setting you choose "if not set to zero". So I used OME885 "lift" coils AND the bilstein strut "lift" as well because I was on the second notch? Hoping for more info on this one folks!
So here's what I've come up with. OME885 coils up to 3" of lift and Bilstein 5100 on 2nd notch 1.75" total "should be" 4.75" of lift on paper. But I was at 6.5" of lift over stock! :shrug: My stock struts and coils were NOT completely worn out and they were fully functional at the time of the lift. Anyhow....this is what I'm at. It was a cop car before I got it and they changed the coils a couple years before I got it and the struts were done regularly. ANYWAYS....I LOVE THE LIFT! Again any and all comments appreciated. Perhaps we can help others doing their own lift to understand more completely.
So here's what my T4R looked like before and after the suspension upgrades! First pic is with only the motofab 3" front spacer on. Sorry I did not take pics completely stock. 2nd pic is after OME885/bilstein 5100 on 2nd notch in front and rear FJ spring/bilstein 5100 in the rear. I loved how it feels and rides on and off road at this point. Very stable on road and so much fun off road! Gets the wife and I to our fishing spots without a problem! But the tires look undersized at this point! lol More pics to come!
Aloha all! Now that I had my T4R lifted I was looking for the right tire package. For some reason here in Hawaii the original 17" SPORT rims are tremendously POPULAR! They are very nice rims indeed but I wanted something a bit more off road worthy. As we go through really jagged lava rock formations to get to our fishing grounds and don't want the sport rims damaged beyond repair. So like many of us in here I started searching through our local craigslist ads. I located a couple I wanted to look at. The first was a set of 15" rims and 33" tires. These old school toyota rims took me back to my high school days in the 80's....AWESOMEST DECADE EVER! But I wanted to see if the 15" would fit over the calipers up in front. BAD DECISION!!! As this forum says...most 15" rims will not fit! lol So...I chalked it up to a learning lesson. However, it did cost me a cool $80 for the set. SO my lift totals are now at:
BILSTEIN 5100: $350 (DOWNSOUTH)
OME885: $135 (AMAZON)
PRO COMP FJ SPRINGS: $135 (AMAZON)
UPPER CONTROL ARMS: $230 (EBAY)
15" TEST FIT RIMS AND 33 INCH TIRES: $80 (CRAIGSLIST)
TOTAL HAWAIIAN HILLBILLY BUDGET LIFT THUSFAR: $930
Ok so....now I kept the search going for a decent set of rims and tires for my T4R build. The last set didn't work out and are now in storage awaiting the right project vehicle! lol perhaps a nice Chevrolet pickup :redbrick: in the 70's to 80's models? hmmmmmmmm...we shall see! So...The Hawaiian Hillbilly came across a nice used set of 16" steel cragar rims with a set of 285/75/16 Procomp Xtreme tires on it for $550 on craigslist. With a similar offset to the stock rims on myT4R. So I drove to the other side of the island 3-4 hour roundtrip depending on traffic and right foot heaviness and I purchased them from another Toyota guy who had them on his Tacoma for a couple months. He (kool guy) no longer needed them as he went with much "shinier" chrome rims for his Tacoma as most people "WIERDLY" do here in Hawaii. Don't as me why...its a mystery to me as well!! I never understood the bigger shinier rims and smaller profile tires on a 4WD vehicle. But this Hillbilly judges no one on their choices for their vehicles. To each his own I say! Sorry I misplaced the craigslist ad picture.
HAWAIIAN HILLBILLY LIFT TOTALS THUSFAR: $930
ADD THESE RIMS AND TIRES: TOTAL IS NOW AT : $1480
Aloha gang! This hillbilly has been busy ripping apart my 01' sportster for a rebuild project but wanted to pop in and share my Thule snowboard/fishing pole racks I got off of amazon for about $150. They are made for our 4th gens and work very well. Easily mounts (no drilling) to our stock racks as you can see and holds a good amount of poles too because they are double sided which comes in handy on lifted vehicles because no more poles in the middle of the roof with single snowboard racks. Locking mechanism works well too. Had them on for over a month but never got around to posting them....so wanted to share with our forum members....HANG LOOSE GANG! HH
Just some pics to share of my DIY scooter rebuild. Rode this thing for a few years now and am ready to modify it! Got it torn apart in a day and engine is now on one of my engine stands and the fun shall begin. Hard to decide if I want to go with a hard tail conversion or stay with the swing arm. Decided I'm going with a bobber theme on this one folks.....gotta love old school! maybe with some 12" ape hangers and some fresh paint. First things first though this frame needs some attention. Aloha folks! HH
