Lowering the truck
- Thread starter abunaitoo
- Start date
UnderFire
New member
That picture is photoshopped, that truck actually only has the Performance Products 1" drop spring package.
Let me break it down, coming from somebody who really looked into it and has figured out what and why things must be done.
First off, the reason why you will not find anything like a kit related to lowering a 4Runner is because of the suspension geometry, the 4Runners, 2WD or 4WD share exactly the same suspension, there are no ties to a 2WD Tacoma at all.
The main difference you'll find is actually in the front suspension, since you have a 4WD based chassis, the position of the control arms is situated in a spot mainly to gain ground clearance. Obviously not the right geometry when you're trying to lower the altitude, as oppsosed to the 2WD Tacoma, where the lower control arm sits directly off the bottom of the frame, giving it the much lower factory stance and making it easier to go even lower.
Your 97 2WD already has the shortest factory springs that were ever made for a 3rd gen 4Runner, they are actually shorter than the 1" lowering springs. If you crawl under the truck, you will notice both front and rear that you are already very close to the bumpstops, My truck (Also a 97 2WD) would bottom out in the rear often when it was stock because the rear axle only had about 3" of uptravel, going any lower would've made it worse.
This is a 2WD tacoma's front suspension for reference.
And this is what our geometry looks like when you try to lower an unmodified 4Runner.
Because of the design of our geometry, the only option to get anywhere near "low" is completely custom fabrication, or swapping over to a different frame, which is what has been done when you see 4Runners that are really low. You will also have to put large notches in the frame, and possibly the rear seat area for clearance in the driveshaft and rear axle areas, as well as most likely modifying the geometry of the rear 4 link or swapping to a leaf spring. To keep a factory rear floor with no big notches or holes you would need to swap in IRS out of something, like an RX-7 or 240SX, or whatever you could find.
Long story short, it's not easy, it's a massive project, and if you think you can do it, go for it and document it well. I'm planning on tackling the job on a 2nd gen eventually.
The 2 best frame swap threads (1st and 2nd gen)
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/188756-street-runner.html#post1922375
Invasion of the body snatchers.... | Toyota Minis
PWD4R
New member
That picture is photoshopped, that truck actually only has the Performance Products 1" drop spring package.
Let me break it down, coming from somebody who really looked into it and has figured out what and why things must be done.
First off, the reason why you will not find anything like a kit related to lowering a 4Runner is because of the suspension geometry, the 4Runners, 2WD or 4WD share exactly the same suspension, there are no ties to a 2WD Tacoma at all.
The main difference you'll find is actually in the front suspension, since you have a 4WD based chassis, the position of the control arms is situated in a spot mainly to gain ground clearance. Obviously not the right geometry when you're trying to lower the altitude, as oppsosed to the 2WD Tacoma, where the lower control arm sits directly off the bottom of the frame, giving it the much lower factory stance and making it easier to go even lower.
Your 97 2WD already has the shortest factory springs that were ever made for a 3rd gen 4Runner, they are actually shorter than the 1" lowering springs. If you crawl under the truck, you will notice both front and rear that you are already very close to the bumpstops, My truck (Also a 97 2WD) would bottom out in the rear often when it was stock because the rear axle only had about 3" of uptravel, going any lower would've made it worse.
This is a 2WD tacoma's front suspension for reference.
And this is what our geometry looks like when you try to lower an unmodified 4Runner.
Because of the design of our geometry, the only option to get anywhere near "low" is completely custom fabrication, or swapping over to a different frame, which is what has been done when you see 4Runners that are really low. You will also have to put large notches in the frame, and possibly the rear seat area for clearance in the driveshaft and rear axle areas, as well as most likely modifying the geometry of the rear 4 link or swapping to a leaf spring. To keep a factory rear floor with no big notches or holes you would need to swap in IRS out of something, like an RX-7 or 240SX, or whatever you could find.
Long story short, it's not easy, it's a massive project, and if you think you can do it, go for it and document it well. I'm planning on tackling the job on a 2nd gen eventually.
The 2 best frame swap threads (1st and 2nd gen)
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/188756-street-runner.html#post1922375
Invasion of the body snatchers.... | Toyota Minis
In the front would swapping to a macpherson style strut help? They're typically designed for cars and I don't think the use the same type of UCA
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UnderFire
New member
In theory, it would help the massive amounts of negative camber you get, but you may lose some strength since it wouldn't use an upper control arm, you could also run into issues with angles on the tie rods causing bump-steer issues or possibly binding at some point, and the lower control arm mounts are still a very low spot, prone to hanging up on things.
Brique
New member
So, OP, we've kinda gone down the rabbit hole here and I don't remember seeing any clarification: are you really going for "lowered" or are you just going for "not as tall"? You mention that you don't like it being hard to get into the truck. It that's the case, rather than $#@&ing with the suspension, it could meet your needs to just put some stock running boards on. If you don't have some already, they're pretty easy to come by. Hell, I've got mine sitting in my crawl space.
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rallypoint_1
Member
Troll thread????:suspicious:
