Shock help

[Cali 4runner]

Hello all I have an 87 4runner that I rebuilt the suspension on this last summer with a full ome kit (front and rear shocks, rear leafs, steering stabilizer, and torsion bars) and need some suggestions on shocks because the truck rides like a solid axle. I'm back in school now and am not planning to do any work till May, but I wanted to ask you guys what you would recommend for shocks? I have done some research and it seems that the new ome nitro chargers are not great dd shocks and are more suited for a built and armored rig. In fact I removed the ome torsion bars and reinstalled the stock ones but the ride is still way harsh. My new plan is sell my nitro charger shocks and get new ones I'm thinking bilsetins. What size? My next plan is to reinstall the ome torsion bars. Lastly I'm planning to remove a leaf from the rear ome spring pack to lower the rear and soften it up more. I think it should be dialed then.

If you don't want to read all that, what shocks would you recommend?? And what size with ome torsion bars and rear leafs?




I looked on their website and this is what they had in the catelog for ifs 4runner

https://www.amazon.com/Bilstein-24-1.../dp/B009FU7V1C

https://www.amazon.com/Bilstein-24-1.../dp/B009FU7S0G

Correct?

 

[Cali 4runner]

Also, here's a pic of the rake I would like to fix by removing a leaf from the spring pack. Tires are 32x11.5x15 bfg ko2s

 

[KidVermicious]

The best shocks in the world aren't going to do anything for you if your spring rate is too high, and if you lifted the front of the truck via the torsion bars, I guarantee your spring rate is too high.

So first, you don't have any added weight in front so the OME torsion bars aren't doing anything for you. Sell them. Run the stock torsion bars at stock height to get the best ride without converting to coilovers or something similarly drastic. Make up the height with ball joint spacers or a bracket lift, or lower the rear. Which is second, if you're not packing extra weight in the back then it will ride a little bouncy, especially if you bought the extra strength OME pack. So you need to yank a leaf. We were just talking about this in the other thread, and the word from the OME techs was to take the middle leaf I think? It won't let me tag him, but 10ac had that thread, maybe he could tell you.

Stick with the Nitrochargers for now. The shock's job is to dampen bound and rebound, not to make a ride stiffer or plusher, and the Nitrochargers aren't strong enough to dampen the compression enough to make a ride "rough'. Get your spring rate under control and I think you'll find that the OME shocks will work just fine for you.

You're right that the OME lifts are built for trucks that see a lot of dirt time and are carrying heavy loads. If that's not you, you'll have to do some modifying to be happy with that setup. But pretty much every aftermarket lift for the first gen is going to be the same, they're made for wheelers. Kinda comes with driving a thirty year old truck.

 

[Cali 4runner]

Thanks for the reply. I know its a 4x4 and not a caddy I would just think with a rebuilt ifs suspension it would ride a lot better. Before I did all the suspension work the old saggy suspension rode 10x better

 

[KidVermicious]

I'm willing to bet your old torsion bars were not worn out, just a little stretched. Use the OME torsion bars or put the stock ones back in, either way relax the bars back to stock height and throw some ball joint spacers in there to prop it back up and I guarantee it'll ride 100x better. Then you'll just need to deal with the rake, which you can address with a TINY amount of torsion bar preload, or if you want to soften the rear you can pull a leaf or two and drop it down to match the front.

 

[89FourRunner]

Listen to Kid he is 100% correct. It sucks to hear, but the OME torsion bars actually make the truck stiffer and in my opinion less capable. The OME rear packs are almost always way overkill in regards to lift and spring rate. Removing a leaf if a great idea. The more the front and rear end can flex (not talking about huge offroad flex, but talking about suttle unoticed flexing) will greatly improve traction in wet, snow, dirt, higher speed conditions.

Luckily these 1st gens have plenty of clearance at stock height so losing an inch or so of height is a great trade for more capability.

Ball joint spacers may seem like the cheapo way of modifying the front end but it is the best way. Just ensure your shocks do not limit travel and your front end will remain reliable. Ball joint spacers and then relaxing the bars to achieve a total of say 1 inch of lift (instead of 1.5) with the spacers will create a nice soft ride.

 

[Cali 4runner]

I'll look into the ball joint spacers. One question, how/when do they cause cv binding?