If you are have been reading any of my blog posts you are probably interested in upgrading your 4Runner (You can check out some other great upgrades here). One of the biggest things that you can do to change the look of your 4Runner is upgrading your suspension/lifting it. There are a lot of things to consider when lifting your truck, and we will go over them in this post.
Table of Contents
My 4Runner Suspension History
I have now had 2 different sets of suspension on the 4Runner over the last 5 years of ownership. I ran the Bilstein 6112 in front. The Bilstein 5160 in the rear with sway-a-way 1.5″ lift springs. This setup was on my truck for 80,000 plus miles and performed very well. Road handling improved greatly over stock, and it gave me the look I wanted.
I ended up upgrading from there due to the weight I have added to the 4Runner. Adding a front bumper and rock sliders made the 600 lbs springs sit a little low. When I went to put heavier springs on the 6112s the bolts were rusted and needed to be cut out. Perfect time for an upgrade! (If you change your suspension put lots of anti-seize on everything, especially if you live in a place where they de-ice the roads).
Current Set Up
My current setup is a set of Icon 2.5 with remote reservoirs and the CDCV valve both front and rear. These have a heavier spring at 650 lbs and a threaded shock body to adjust ride height in the front. I have the matching shocks for the rear paired with Icon’s 3″ overland lift springs. I looked at several different options for suspension, but was running into one problem, COVID. With me needing shocks fairly quickly, the availability was a big issue. For instance King shocks were 23 weeks out at the time. I found that Toytec happened to have these Icons in stock so I jumped on them. Toytec is also down the road from me a bit, and I have gotten to know a couple of those guys.
Things To Consider When Upgrading Your 4Runner Suspension
There are a few things to consider when looking for suspension.
- Do you want a progressive shock, a digressive shock, or a linear shocks? Do you have extra weight to support?
- Do you need a 2″ shock body or a 2.5″ shock body?
- Do you need remote reservoirs?
- Do you want to be able to control the compression and rebound of the shock thus making it softer or firmer?
- Do you need upper control arms?
- Do you need lower control arms?
Shock Choice
Progressive Shocks
Let’s get into this. Progressive shocks mean that the shock is soft at the top of the stroke or at low speed, then as the shock compresses it gets firmer. this could be good for those of you out there that like the soft plush ride on the road. You will feel less on the day to day drive, then when you hit a big bump you will get that firmness as the shock comes closer to bottoming out. This may benefit someone that runs less of a bump stop. In the off-road world I don’t think you will find too many companies offering a Progressive shock.
Digressive Shocks
Digressive shocks are what you will find on products like entry level Bilstein shocks such as the 5100, and the 6112. Icon is also known for running a digressive shock. What digressive means is that you will have a firm ride at the top of the stroke and at low speeds. As your compress the shock and pick up speed, the dampening will soften up thus soaking up those bumps more like that smooth butter. You may feel more of the little stuff at the low speed, but if you plan on bombing down those desert roads you may like the softer feel of the digressive shocks.
Linear Shocks
Linear shocks are those that have the same firmness no matter where and at what speed the stroke is happening. You will find this type of dampening from brands like King and Fox. This is a great option in my mind because you will have the piece of mind in knowing that the feeling or handling of your suspension isn’t going to change.
2″ Shock Body vs. 2.5″ Shock Body
Really this comes down to fluid capacity. The 2.5″ body will hold more shock oil, and in return will keep operating temps down. This really matters most when you are doing high speed off-roading that is cycling your shocks a lot. For the everyday driver, you will be more than good with your standard 2″ shock body. Most times with the 2.5″ shocks you will get a bigger shock shaft as well. This will make it more resilient to abuse over time. This doesn’t mean you can’t off-road with your 2″ shocks. Most if not all aftermarket shocks will be a vast improvement over the stock units. The 4Runner especially has very soft suspension. Have you hit the brakes and felt the nose dive?
Do You Need Remote Reseviors?
The short answer is probably not. The real reason for remote reservoirs is to be able to hold more oil. More oil in the shock body means the shock can stay cool easier at higher speeds. This is a big deal if you are a high speed desert racer as you do not want to have your shocks fade at 100 mph. For you and I doing 95% of driving on the highway definitely do not need them. Let’s me honest here though, we all want them because of the Gucci factor. They just look awesome under the truck.
Do You Need Upper Control Arms?
This can come up a lot when researching lifting your 4Runner. Let’s start by addressing what the upper control arm or UCA for short does. This is an arm shaped like a U that connects to your spindle and rotates up and down. Having an aftermarket Upper Control Arm will give you more caster when it comes to getting your alignment done. Once you get to about 3″ of lift on the 4Runner you will start to have problems getting the alignment to go back into spec. These will help get those numbers back to where they need to be.
I currently have Total Chaos Upper Control Arms. These have been great, but they do require a little periodic maintenance. These have Polyurethane bushings with a zerk fitting to squirt grease in. This prevents them from squeaking. If you live in an area that salts the roads, the exposed Uni-ball will start making noise and need replacing more often. I will be changing the 1″ Uni-ball to the Icon Delta joint with the retrofit kit, but they are 8 weeks backordered. I will be making a video of this as there are none out there.
One brand of upper control arm that gets a lot of attention is SPC. These are a great option because they have an adjustable ball joint at the top. You rotate it to match the measurements you are looking to get. These will also allow you to adjust camber as well. These don’t look as sexy as other upper control arms on the market, but they are a lot more functional than other options out there.
Do You Need Lower Control Arms?
The short answer is no. If you are choosing to go all out and do a long travel suspension, then yes you will need new lower control arms. For everyone else it is not needed. Adding them however will firm up the play that is in the stock lower control arms. New lower arms often come with greaseable polyurethane bushings, that will be much more firm on the side to side movement. With an aftermarket option such as the Total Chaos Lower control arm you will be replacing the lower ball joint with a 1″ uniball. This should give you more articulation, and be able to be replaced when the time comes.
Another time to consider looking at a Lower control arm upgrade is if your stock ones are seized up. If you go in for an alignment and they can’t mover the bolts, you are pretty much stuck getting new lower control arms. They will have to cut the old ones out, then clean up the mounts and put new ones in with new cam bolts. A new factory lower control arm costs somewhere between $275-$400 each. In my mind I will use that as an opportunity to upgrade even though an aftermarket lower control arm will cost between $1500-$2200.
Compression Adjustable Shocks
If you start going down the black hole of suspension research, you will definitely come across the discussion of compression adjusters. In short this is a knob somewhere on the shock that will make the shock softer or firmer. Turning this knob will allow you to adjust just how you would like the ride to be. You can also easily change it if you know you will be tackling some terrain that calls for a different setting. For me I have the compression adjusters on my Icon coil-overs, and have literally never touched them. I like the soft setting on the shock as it makes the 4Runner ride very nicely, but doesn’t fell like its too soft like the factory suspension did.
There are a couple brands out there that have compression and rebound settings. The first one that comes to mind is the Old Man Emu BP-51. These are a bypass shocks that allow you to adjust compression and rebound. For me I would really need to study up on what settings to use and what each one would feel like when the settings aren’t right. I think for 99% of people out there this might be overkill. Getting your suspension set up correctly will be awesome, but having too much control can really get you going the wrong way too. If you fell like you need both adjusters and don’t know what you are doing, I’d suggest hitting up a professional that does know suspension and how to get it right.
Other Components You May Need
If you are going past your basic 2.5″ lift you may need a couple other things to keep the 4Runner riding like a dream instead of it wandering all over the road. I have already talked about upper and lower control arms in the front, so we won’t go there again. When it comes to the rear suspension, you can get upper and lower links plus the panhard bar. The upper and lower links in the rear will help get your tires back to the center of the wheel well when you go to extreme lift heights. (Think 3″ plus). The panhard bar keeps your rear axle centered from side to side. Again once you lift to a certain height the factory panhard bar may not be long enough for the rear axle to be sitting correctly. There are a could different options to fix the panhard bar situation. You can get a new one with an adjustable end on it. This way you basically just make it longer to reach that sweet spot. Another option is to weld a bracket onto the axle side mount to raise the mounting point back up. This is the route I will be going, as it brings all the bars into the correct geometry for smooth operation.
If you have KDSS and are going with a lift that is 2.5″ or higher you should also look at KDSS spacers. This honestly is a pretty new idea, and one that I have been diving into the last week or so. Not only do these get the KDSS away bar back into the correct geometry, it supposedly takes care of a good portion of that dreaded KDSS lean. I decided to give this a shout and went with the Treaty Oak Off-road kit. I liked this one as it comes with 2 spacers for the rear sway bar and one for the front to fix the lean. Having the 2 on the rear will fix any contact issues you might have between suspension parts. Treaty Oak also offers the Eimkeith PCK package which is the KDSS spacers and the rear track bar relocation bracket. This is the option I went with and am waiting on. I will need to take the bracket in to get welded on, but have high hopes that it will fix the side to side movement I feel when I hit bumps.
Brands to Consider When Upgrading Your Suspension
There are more shock brands out there now a days than ever before. It can be very overwhelming to try to decide what to get. You can start by asking yourself what your ultimate goal is.
- What kind of terrain will you be tackling the most?
- Do you want to have adjustability?
- Do you want to be able to rebuild the shocks?
These are all questions to get you started. From there you can start narrowing it down. If you will be driving it on the streets most of the time, I suggest staying away from the high end coilers. The bearings on either end will make the little bumps more harsh than say your stock shocks. Factory shocks, and a few aftermarket ones come with rubber bushings that will soak up a lot of the little imperfections on the road.
Kings
Kings are basically the big bad boys in the shock world. They have a huge background in off-road racing, and their shocks are top notch. These can be ordered with a standard shock tune, or you can have them custom valved. They offer a model with dampening adjustments as well. I would have gone with kings myself, but COVID. I couldn’t wait 23 weeks for new shocks. (I guess I could have, but I have no patience).
Fox
Fox shocks also have a huge racing pedigree and are very good shocks. I actually run Fox shocks on my mountain bike and love them. I didn’t really look at them much when it came to a replacement mostly because nobody had them in stock.
Icon
Ultimately this is what I went with due to availability. I love the ride of them on the softest setting. Mind you I have their top of the line set of shocks. From what they say the middle setting of the dampening knob is the standard firmness of the non adjustable shocks. I haven’t played with it at all. I was very pleased with how nice they were off-road this past weekend. They shocks ate up bumps like it was nothing.
Old Man Emu
ARB makes Old Man Emu, and they really know what they are doing. I looked at the BP-51’s for a long time, but didn’t feel I needed the whole kit. With my Icons I just bought the shocks. BP-51s don’t come separate from the kit. These are their top end coilovers, and have a little bit different design than the rest. These are internal bypass shocks. This means that when they are riding in the middle of the stroke on a mild road it will bypass the shock oil around the piston valving making a smoother ride.
Once you compress or extend the piston past those bypass holes the shock gets firmer acting as an internal bumpstop. These also have the ability to adjust compression and rebound. Most shocks only adjust compression. I have heard nothing but rave reviews on this kit, and ARB stands behind their stuff with a 30,000 mile warranty. Those Aussies really know what they are doing when it comes to off-roading.
Bilstein
Bilstein makes several different models of shocks for several different applications. I have had the 6112 and 5160s on the 4Runner. I had 5160’s on my Jeep. I have put 6112s on my buddies Nissan Frontier. They have all performed flawlessly. The ride is great out of the box, and they give you the ability to adjust ride height with adjustable clips that the spring perch sits on. They won’t get you that pin point accurate lift height that a true threaded shock will get you, but they are a lot cheaper. A 5100 series shock can be had for right around $100 each and will utilize the springs you already have. You will be able to lift with these, and they have a lifetime warranty.
The 6112 is a step up from the 5100s. The 6112s have a 2.5″ shock body for increased oil capacity, and come with a matched spring. These served me very well for many years. The ride was firm, but great. To my knowledge none of the Bilstein line is rebuildable until you get to their really high end stuff like the 8100s. This will make them a use and replace kind of shock. In fact my rear 5160 was blown out when I took my truck in for an alignment.
Toytec
If you don’t have a Toyota then just skip this one. If you do I suggest you take a look at the Toytec aluma series coilovers. They offer a 2.0″ and a 2.5″ shock, and for the 4Runner they are mated to a 700 lbs spring. I know that sounds like a lot, but to compensate for the stiffer spring they run a lower internal pressure. This makes the ride plush, and the shocks much less prone to blowing out. They will also hold those heavy bumpers no problem. Again I looked very closely at these for a long time. I have been in the shop and talked to Hugo at Toytec face to face several times, but again these were backordered for about 6 months. These shocks are made in Canada by Elka suspensions and Toytec can rebuild them in house in the states right here in Colorado.
Vendors
There are several vendors on the internet that sell suspension. There are places like accutune that will valve the shocks to your specific needs. They will get a vehicle weight from you, and your intended use to do a custom tune for you. This doesn’t come cheap though. They only tune King and Fox shocks with remote reservoirs or bypass shocks. The cost of the tune is $450, but you get a 50% discount if you buy the shocks from them. Being that they only work on high end shocks, you could easily see a $3,000+ bill out of this service if you need the shocks. They claim their work is a game changer. I’m sure it is, but not sure I’m at the point of needing that just yet. Again I have been more than happy with my current setup.
Other vendors such as Total Automotive performance sell just about all brands for all makes and models. This is a great place to do some poking around. The website can be a little tough to decipher sometimes, but they have great prices. There are several discount codes for this website too so don’t pay what the list price is.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a suspension setup can be a tough and daunting decision to make. Especially with how much you can spend on it. This will definitely be one of the higher priced upgrades you can make to your truck if you go with a good product. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to suspension. That being said I highly recommend the Bilstein 6112/5160 combo. They come in at a decent middle of the road price, and perform very well. You will read all over the internet buy this, don’t buy that, this is the best, this is junk, and so on. I can’t tell you how many early mornings I’ve spent reading about suspension upgrades. Ultimately I just went for one and took a risk so to speak. Well I will tell you I have been very happy with bot of the suspension choices I have made. The truck handles great and the ride is very comfortable. Just make sure that when you put your suspension on to put lots of anti-seize on the bolts. This is what caused me to get new suspension in the end. When we went to fix my old Bilstein 6112 to put on my buddies 4Runner, we found out that they are fixable, and we had to find a place to sell us just one of them. Luckily 4 wheel parts in Denver was willing to sell just the one shock.