Sway after new coils/shocks

S

stever1000

New member
I just replaced my stock coils and tokio shocks with Bilstein 4600 in the front and Bilstein 5100 in the rear with '99 talls in the front and OME 906 coils in the rear.

When I go over bumps I am getting a lot of side to side sway (almost like I'm rocking side to side in the drivers seat). I had some sway before which I thought was due to my shocks not working (3 or 4 I could compress on the floor and they would take a minute to extend again). So I'm shocked I still have sway...

This is on a 2000 4runner limited

The sway bar links are <1yr old... could they be suspect already? They looked fine yesterday when I disconnected them but I'm not sure what else would cause this sway since the rest of the suspension is new?

Any advice would be great...my wife is about to make me sell this thing as she's tired of driving a "chariot"

Thanks
 
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How much lift did you gain with the new springs in the rear? Could be that you need a panhard bar relocation bracket to correct for the higher than normal angle that the panhard bar may be at.
I definitely notice the side to side movement over bumps with my OME 891s and will be doing the panhard correction at some point to fix that.
 
The 906 are only about 2” of lift so I assumed it would be okay...I don’t remember reading anything about needing that for small lifts
 
If the feel is 'tippy' it might be swaybar related.

If the feel is 'wiggly' it is the track/panhard bar no longer being level.

I haven't noticed it much with a 2" lift in the rear with similarly stiff springs (5th gen stock springs with 10mm trim packers) - but you may be more sensitive to it.

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
If the feel is 'tippy' it might be swaybar related.

If the feel is 'wiggly' it is the track/panhard bar no longer being level.

I haven't noticed it much with a 2" lift in the rear with similarly stiff springs (5th gen stock springs with 10mm trim packers) - but you may be more sensitive to it.

-Charlie
Click to expand...

I'll snap a photo on level ground tonight to check out if the panhard is level or not...
Thanks!
 
phattyduck said:
If the feel is 'tippy' it might be swaybar related.

If the feel is 'wiggly' it is the track/panhard bar no longer being level.


-Charlie
Click to expand...

2nd what Phattyduck said.

Regarding the rear end Wiggle:
If you have done nothing to correct the angle of your Panhard Bar, its unlikely it's level. eimkeith PCK no doubt made a huge difference in the "wiggle" the rear end of my ride. I was skeptical at first, but after install and driving, its apparent this kit was worth the $$. Feels much safer on the road. Obviously there are other ways to correct the angle.
 
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I bought my rig with a 4” lift. When I let off the gas, the front sways left. When I give it gas, the front sways right. Maybe I have the same problem as the previous owner maybe missed something?

Not trying to thread jack :)
 
I’m at 36” ground to fender with the rear 906 OME coils.

I don’t see why I would have this issue and not the countless other people running 99 talls and 906 OMEs
 
How did the truck drive before you swapped everything? Are the sway bar bushings shot? Is their slop in your steering?
Do you need an alignment? Also if you swapped to a taller spring in back your sway bar is probably at a pretty reasonable angle. A cheap fix is to buy front sway bar links since their longer and believe me they work!
 
What condition are your swaybar bushings, control arm bushings, body mounts?
New suspension is stiffer old softer, your going from one extreme to the other may take some getting used to.
 
Js'00imited4runner said:
How did the truck drive before you swapped everything? Are the sway bar bushings shot? Is their slop in your steering?
Do you need an alignment? Also if you swapped to a taller spring in back your sway bar is probably at a pretty reasonable angle. A cheap fix is to buy front sway bar links since their longer and believe me they work!
Click to expand...

96RedRunner said:
What condition are your swaybar bushings, control arm bushings, body mounts?
New suspension is stiffer old softer, your going from one extreme to the other may take some getting used to.
Click to expand...


the front and rear have new OEM swaybar bushings last year, and aftermarket japanese sway bar links last year. They are stock size because I did not gain much height overall with the new coils.

front has new steering rack bushings, new tie rod ends (inner+outer), new lower ball joints. new lower control arm bushings, Alignment done last year at the same time.

Before I did the shocks/coils the front end was super sloppy because of leaking shocks. Both shocks I can compress easily by hand and when released it took 30 secs or more to return to extended position.

The rear was sagged (sat lower than the front) and also felt a bit sloppy so I replaced the coils because of that. The shocks I wanted something to match the front so I chose the bilstein 5100s.

I would expect a little movement in my steering wheel because I haven't done the steering shaft fix, and I would also expect a little movement in the since I haven't done the rear upper/lower control arm bushings.

It actually feels like I am swaying side to side when I hit bumps that aren't perfectly perpendicular to my wheels.
 
stever1000 said:
It actually feels like I am swaying side to side when I hit bumps that aren't perfectly perpendicular to my wheels.
Click to expand...

When you run over seams in road like a overpass seam rearend scoots side to side is that what your saying?
If that's the case your panhard bar is your issue. It doesn't take much lift to cause
the butt scoot. Did you check to see if panhard bar is level?
 
I haven’t had a chance to scoot underneath to look and take a photo... but a quick glance it’s not level.

Is it supposed to be dead level?
 
stever1000 said:
Is it supposed to be dead level?
Click to expand...

Yes, leaves factory level. The panhard bar also centers axle with frame and body
you can measure that easy. More lift you have the more axle will be off center,
thats why adjustble panhard bar was invented, old technology. The PCK is the way to go use original bar.
 
I ordered upper/lower rear control arm bushings as well as panhard bushings so I'll see how that tightens it up first (as it was already on my list for the last 6months) as it seems a lot of people with 1-2" of lift with my setup haven't noted issues without adjusting the panhard
 
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I did a very similar setup. same rear combo, but front is 6112.

when I first put it in, my dad went for a ride the first week and he talked about how the suspension felt so stiff. and he was right, i knew ahead of time he would say something.

after awhile, maybe 2,000 miles... i drive down to see my pops in TX, and a couple heavy loads around town, i noticed that they really started to settle in. definitely not as jarring and it softened up. but i felt other weird things, like the tail wagging the dog. my panhard needed 2" boost to get level, so i lifted that. but i was still leaning in turns too much. the 2" lift pulled my sway bars up, making a weird angle for them to cycle which made the truck stiff. i extended those down, and now i'm in complete love with my suspension, look forward to giving my dad a ride again, he won't believe it.

if the sway is hard (jarring), try loading up cargo for a drive and mash the springs in their seats a bit.
 
thats interesting, maybe I just need to let them settle in a bit

I just got stock length swaybar links so I hope I don't need to replace them again lol
 
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