lift, fix and tune suspension

J

jgilk1

New member
so when i got my 92 4 runner last year i put just enough work and money in to it to hook up a trailer and drive it 1300 miles back to spokane.. 33 12.5 on stock suspension

Its time to fix what i didnt back then.. The ball joints are shot, front shocks are shot, tie rods are shot,cvs are shot, break hub on driver side is warped 1.5" of downward travel in the rear, rear break pads just hit the rivits... And a Few other things

So i sitting in boxes, idler arm, ball joints, inner and outter tie rod ends, cv's, 2.5" bj spacers, moog cs255 and day star 2.5 cups steering stabalizer is there it just doesnt do anything..... So not only does this fix most of what is bad but it gets me going in the right direction..

still need some asian manual hubs and a really big pipe clamp rear break pads driver side break rotor...

Any ways figured to let you know what i am doing and what i am working with i am hoping for 1.5-2" lift over stock (3" over where i am now) in the rear and an inch in the front from nearly fully cranked t-bars i would like more upper travel then where the t-bars are now so i chose bj spacers that would take care of that...

With this i was waiting for most of the parts before i chose new shocks... In the rear i am running year old rancho 5000 series shocks i couldn't tell you how they preform with as bad as rhe rear springs sag... But since this thing will be used for mostly street driving with the occasional off road trail driving i was leaning towards the rs9000 or bilstein 5100s but i dont know

Will the catalogue # listed for the 999145 ranchos have enough shaft travle?

Is it worth it to mix the 5000 in the rear with adjustables up front?
 
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70 some views and no recomendation on shocks!!!!! Wow

Just got the ball joint spacers today... Few thinga left

Locking hubs from the junk yard, a 54mm socket, a wheel bearing packer, front and rear break pads, a rear break spring kit,
I don't know what else i need but it is getting there


How the truck sat when i bought it


Got the moog cc255 springs and the daystar 1.25" spring perches in yesterday didn't really lift it nearly as much as i wanted it to (nearly 2.5" in total over the old saggy) i should have taken pictures of the old springs bft i chucked them in the bin they were like 1/2" shorter then the moogs which explains why i was riding the bump stops going down the xity streets

 
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Sounds really similar to what I've been doing with my '92. Haven't quite gone to the lift idea yet. My brake problem in the rear turned out to be misadjusted by the PO so it turned out cheap.

I don't have much help on your shock decision, but I can tell you that I put Rancho's on my F-150 (Quick Struts on the front to level, and RS9000XL series with the adjustable dampening on the rear) and I've had no complaints. I am currently doing cheap parts on my Runner to get all the problems identified, then when I get serious about lifting or whatever, I'll invest more in my parts.
 
HanginInUtah said:
Sounds really similar to what I've been doing with my '92. Haven't quite gone to the lift idea yet. My brake problem in the rear turned out to be misadjusted by the PO so it turned out cheap.

I don't have much help on your shock decision, but I can tell you that I put Rancho's on my F-150 (Quick Struts on the front to level, and RS9000XL series with the adjustable dampening on the rear) and I've had no complaints. I am currently doing cheap parts on my Runner to get all the problems identified, then when I get serious about lifting or whatever, I'll invest more in my parts.
Click to expand...

The rear breakes are just now starting to squeal and the parking break is to that point of having to be yanked to get decwnt bite

The reason for the lift is because i wanted more suspension travle... The rear was abot an inch off the lower bump stops and
bottoming out (and severe sag) and the front is about an inch of travle from the upper bumpstop so i wanted to de-crank the
tbars get at least an inch of travle back in the front and a couple inches in the rear so it rides less adjaring going sown the city
strreets and will give better performance off road not having such stiff ride.

After this ill see how it sits i am wanting to do a chevy v6/v8 swap here in the not so distant future and will need to do a body lift to
have hood clerance for the engine so this all is just a start and the rest is cause well its at just over 220k miles the outter tie rods, and upper ball
Joints are shot and have play it was cheaper to buy a full wearables parts kit then each part individually and i wanted to replace all of it anyways
 
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Just finished doing ball joints and tir rod ends after fighting with the stock adjuster for nearly 2 hours i went down and bought new ones... Noticed what seemed like steering bind taking high angle left hand turns when the weight of the vehicle was shifted to the front passenger tire i kind of slipped it to the back of my mind till tonight when taking a sweeping 45* turn at speed and the steering locked up..

Apparently after replacing the adjusters i threw the bolts on how they were with the previous adjuster with the bolt length in towards the frame i checked clerance and it looked like i had about 10mm of space between the bolt and frame apparent with compression its enough to clear that 10 mm and caught on the edge of the frame preventing strring turn

Question should i cut the extra length off the adjuster bolts i have about 6 threads sticking out past the lock nut

or go to ace and pickup some metric ~ grade 8 bolts and replace them with shorter ones? Im not a suspension guy or a thatll degrade its intregity but 3+ threads need to go


Ps since i am putting 2" ball joint spacers on should i replace sway bar end links with new oem length ones or should i do the energy suspension link ends with the eyebolt mod and add an inch to stock Length?
 
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Ok so swapped the tie rods around in a hurry to get the truck off the jack stands i put the adjusters on the inside... Dou!!! So switched them around and no more binding, got the new rotors, break pads, and steering stabilizer on... Woot

Noticed the driver shock had a dent and unusual wear which turned out to be a hole and there was no fluid in the shock so it was removed the passenger side of the sway bar wasn't attached at all to the link and the driver link snapped when i applied pressure to it so no shocks up front and no sway bar amazingly its a fairly smooth ride concidering.. Neither shock was providing dampening and the sway bar wasnt even hooked up...

Thinking about budget and pricing and for ~$90 a piece its seeming hard to walk away from rancho 9000's being that the bilstein 5100 are about $135... And are adjustable (im use to lowered "sports cars" having stiff springs and heavy dampening im use to
 
It's amazing how much better a 2nd gen rides with a few new parts! I just finished changing my CV axles, and did the sway links at the same time. One new upper ball joint. Cheap Napa shocks. Now I can go down the road without the whole neighborhood hearing me! I went cheapest on my parts, tho, because they'll change again if I raise it...
 
These trucks ride rough enough as it is, I wouldn't skimp on shocks. I'd go Bilsteins or OME Nitrochargers all the way around.

If budget is a concern, go with Monroe Sensatracs. They're better than the Ranchos and half the price.
 
Yeah i have 2 different stores pulling in shocks 9k series ranchos and 5100 series bilsteins... I may use some inexpensive parts on my truck in some places but shocks and steering are not those places... It is amazing how new break and steering parts made this thing ride so much better
 
Well getting there picked up my second rancho 9k (999145) shock for the front, and have sway bar links on there way.. Also picked up a 4.5" grinder from harbor freight to install the front lift kit... Few more weekends and suspension will be done
 
I have a 92 as well. I was in a similar situation as you just last summer. I splurged and bought the entire OME 2" lift kit with ball joint spacers. While I was in there I changed all the ball joints, tie rods, steering damper, wheel bearings and cvs. One of the key things often forgotten is the tires. I got new tires and I have to say my 4runner rides so nice that all of those 20 year old and 240k parts have been swapped out. If you go cheap now, you'll be doing it all over again sooner than later. No regrets here.

Good luck on your quest
 
I havent decided if i want to go solid axel yet so i should have 50/60k miles to decide...
Went to isntall my second rancho 9000 (999145) open the box to find a rancho 999190 for the rear of 92-05 chevy blazer there pulling in another shock... Lets just say i am not very happy about it.. Or the fact that the shock had a huge dent in the side of it...

Should have saved time and money and ordered them directly from ranco because i have been waiting now almost a week... Oh well i think the last chain optioned auto parts store just lost my business... I dont like the attitude or selection of parts available onsite through napa and auto zone and i am severly starting to get tired of wrong packaged parts through orillys..

3 distributor caps, 5 doa voltage regulators, 4 "rebuilt fuel injectors.. If the stealership didnt charge nearly 50% over book i would buy parts there... That an i get tired of hearing "we can order that in"

Rant over..

My tires rears have about 40% and i think my fronts have just over 50% they should be good forvanother season or 2 bfr i have to change them wear amazingly is even though the alignment has been way out for so long
 
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