Leveling with springs?

jca21

jca21

New member
did some searching and researching online and havent come across anything for the 5th gen.

wondering what you guys think about leveling using springs?

Front OME Lift Coils - Toytec Lifts: Toyota Lift Kits: FJ Cruiser Lift Kits, Tacoma Lift Kits, Tundra Lift Kits, 4 Runner Lift Kits, Sequoia Lift Kits, Toyota Truck Lift Kits

toytec lists the OME 883 can be used alone (im assuming with factory shocks) to achieve a level on 03-09 4runners.

given that the 09 stuff seems to be working on the 5th gens i figured the OME 883's should work on ours too.

theoretically the stiffer springs should help deal with nose dive while minimizing changing the stock setup?

ideally i want to keep the 4runner as close to stock height as possible but would really like to level it out. (barely squeezing into underground parking spots here in van)

i've given spacers a consideration as well but would like to explore this route as well.

opinions, advice and criticism welcome :reddance:
 
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The 4th gen 4runner is different than the 5th as far as spring rates. A 3" lift on a 4th won't be the same on a 5th.

Most all the 5th gen front springs on the market will lift the front 2.5" or 3". To achieve "level" you want to lift the front about 1" and leave the rear alone. The way most guys do this is either a spacer lift or Bilstein 5100 shocks which can be set to lift the front .85", 1.5" or 3". I have mine set to .85" and it looks level to me, opinions vary. Probably 1" front lift would be ideal. Again, this is assuming you leave the rear alone.

Another route you could go are adjustable coil overs in the front, you can set them anywhere from no lift up to 3" and have total control. Toytec makes a 5100 coil over that would achieve this, but IMO for $800 I would probably go with the 2.0 coil overs sold by Overland Warehouse. Link on the right side of the forum. 2.0 refers to the shock body diameter, not how much it lifts.

Another route is to install new front springs that lift 3" and rear springs that lift 2" or 1.5" to achieve more of a level. I would recommend 1.5" lift Sway Away rear coil springs sold on wheelersoffroad. On the front I would probably go with a OME spring if your going to run OME shocks and a different spring if you're going to run bilsteins. I learned that the OME springs work better with the OME shocks that the bilsteins.

EDIT: The rear Icon coil springs lift 2" so that would be great paired with a front 3" lift spring.
 
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interesting,

thanks for the info.

so blistein 5100's set at .85 with factory springs would be another leveling option
 
jca21 said:
interesting,

thanks for the info.

so blistein 5100's set at .85 with factory springs would be another leveling option
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I'm running and it's waaaay better than stock. Brake dive is gone. Still though, I often wonder if I'd be happier long term if I went with OW 2.0 front coil-overs (set at 1" of lift) for like $600 more. I'd love to do a back to back driving comparison to see how they would differ.

Another note, Caster is a big deal on these 5th gens. You want the alignment guy to get as close to 4 degrees positive caster as you can. With the .85" lift on the 5100's my alignment guy was only able to get about 3-3.5 degrees. (3.5 degrees is a huge improvement in driveability over the factory set approx 2 degrees). If you went with a front 3" lift spring my guess is that the most caster you could get would be near the 1-1.5 degree range. The 4r would steer super twitchy. That's why most guys who lift the front 3" run upper control arms ($450+). There's lightspeed, icon, or other brands but light speeds are the least expensive and use factory style ball joints. Upper control arms are abbreviated UCA by the way. UCA's also give more down travel (1"?) and are more durable than the stock.

The lightspeed or other UCA will give you an extra 2 degrees of caster right out of the box and make getting the caster aligned to near 4 pretty easy.

The lack of caster is why 5th gens (especially the models without KDSS) drive really "twitchy" and are hard to keep in their lane. That coupled with the horrible OEM tires and too soft suspension.

Another thing to consider on my setup (5100's all around) is that the rear springs are still pretty soft. Any hitch weight or a load in the back, or bike rack etc and it's soft back there, compresses easily. If you plan on having a trailer or weight back there you might just want to do it right from the beginning and get front coil-overs, rear springs and shocks and UCA. There's a reason most guys on this board spend $2000+ on their suspension...
 
i'll be upgrading tires later this year.

was really hoping that swapping out the springs for OME 883's woulda leveled and solved the issues :ybrick:
 
jca21 said:
i'll be upgrading tires later this year.

was really hoping that swapping out the springs for OME 883's woulda leveled and solved the issues :ybrick:
Click to expand...

Sorry I kinda went off subject...

Like a year ago I was looking at springs and thought the same thing about the 883 springs. My conclusion was that the 883's will lift the front about 2.5" which is too much to "level."

The 883 coils are the same spring rate as the 884 but they are 10mm shorter in length. But how much difference will the 10mm make? 10mm coil shims are advertised as lifting 1/2-5/8" so take the 884's 3" and subtract 1/2"-5/8" and you get about 2.5" of lift.

Check out this handy chart: Cruiser Outfitters
 
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Hey, was considering doing something similar to my truck. It looks like the 5100's are definitely the way to go for the SR5 model, however I believe the trail edition has different billstein shocks than the SR5. So I was curious to know if anyone has had experience with the 5100's in a trail edition?
 
from the research/reading i've done i believe the bilstein 5100s should be the same for the trail and sr5.

theoretically speaking the suspension system is the same, the only difference between the two being that the trail has KDSS.

so if that is the case you should be able to go ahead and order the bilsteins from toytec and they should fit.

havent done mine yet but its on my list to of to do's
 
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