Page 1 of 1

Coil spring rear 4 Runner

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 9:23 am
by 4RUNNER_01
ok heres my problem and everyones with these things the rear has no flex and a few of my mates have done the ifs rears/inverted shocks upgrade and theyre still not that great at flexing.
Has anyone tried putting a coil rear end in these things if so whats involved? use a diff housing out of something with coil rear or just cut and weld all the brackets on to existing diff to replace leaf springs??? and what do you do with control arms ect???
This is its full flex now rear wheels off the ground by 30cm not good The guys that have longer springs/shocks are still 1 wheel off the ground but patrols can crawl through almost without lifting
Image

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 9:42 am
by berad
Start with inverting your shocks, the bushs etc will bind up, and the shocks look at full droop, if u pull down on the wheel does it come down... if not its the shocks stopping it not the springs, and if you dont carry big loads, drop a load leaf or 2 out of the pack.

How much lift does it have, if you have 8 inchs haha or so with that setup, thats not helping "big lift" springs or reset to be lifted are not for articulation, for starters it wrecks your shackle angle which is a big factor in articulation imo

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 10:02 am
by 4RUNNER_01
Yea i understand that it only has 2' lifted springs with 2' lifted shackles as far as i know but thats not the problem i know what i can do to maximise travel with leaves ifs rears RUF and invert shocks but its still not that great. i was thinking coils cause theres not much restriction with down travel?? But if its a massive job ill do up the leaves

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 10:16 am
by berad
Leaves if setup right will flex plenty good enough, What do you mean 2inch shackle lift? so youve put extended shackles on normal length springs?, Why? obviously for lift but the extended shackles are for correcting shackle angle with longer springs like ifs in the rear, and ruf etc etc .

What angle is the shackle at, at ride height?

It depends what you call decent.

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 3:36 pm
by 4RUNNER_01
The shackles are 2' extended shackles i mean. and theyre on standard length spring so it does defeat the purpose i know that but i bought the car like that i have a good idea how to set up the rear but i was thinking maybe coils will be better??

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 3:45 pm
by berad
Leafs can be as good as the runner rear easily, depends what you want it to drive like on road though, soft leaves are dogs on road. poly bags is a way to help them when carrying load or on road.

Ifs springs that are played with etc to suit the weight etc of your truck work good enough for the price, trailgear are good but i refuse to pay 500-700 for one pair of springs.

The runner links are short and not as good as others, gq links and mounts can be used if you have an idea about the maths behind a 4 link or know someone who does.

If it was my truck id invert the shocks, the ones you have will be long enough if you invert them, get some ifs springs and drop a leaf or 2 out of each pack, the new springs will make use of the extended shackles, and see how it goes. or use the 2 mains and put a thinner leaf in from your stock pack, cut it down rah rah rah there are endless possibilities, i looked into a tri 4link with long arms etc but it cant be engineered so that blew my idea.

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 8:31 am
by 4sum4
Bit limited for what you can do for links with a standard truck,fuel tanks kind of in the road.
3/4 elliptical works well for a cheap set up just don`t go over board with upper leaf

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 8:46 am
by thrashlux
This is what i did on my old truckj

I used parts from a coil 4runer
and an 80 series

axle from the runner and the panard rod assy

The spring mounts and arms from the 80

The limiting factor with the runner coil rear (travel wise) is the spring location and short control arms

using the 80 series components inverted solves this problem

Image

Image

Image

veiw of 2 standard tanks fitted
Image

I then fitted air bags for more travel softer ride and because all the off the shelf springs were way too heavy for an rn 46 (2 people can pick the back up)
Image

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:06 am
by Rory
while yes u didnt have much rear wheel flex there...the cabs still level, the rear passenger rear wheel would then drop into that rut and the drivers wheel would come back to the ground. pretty predicatable once uv seen it from this angle. U would need a very flexy rig to keep all 4 on the ground there. id stick with the leafs and play with them, get some longer rear mains made up to take advantage of the shackles, invert the shocks so they dont bind up, and go back to the same spot n see how it goes.

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:15 am
by 4RUNNER_01
Well it seems like coils arent too hard to set up just wish i had a direct comparison before i made the decision i dont wanna set up 1 then think its not good for what i want but leaves seem good by what everyones saying when set up right gives me something to think about
and i know ppl with patrols that keep all 4s on the ground there thats y i thought coils might be better?

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:40 am
by locktup4x4
I used stock Jeep Rubicon rear coils on mine. They maybe to light for a full bodied 4Runner, but the new 4 door Jeeps may have a heavier rate.
Those are 38's

Jason

Image

Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:58 pm
by bulldogy
Buy a set of Trail Gear 3" leafs or just get the whole classic rear kit there is plenty of flex and is matched well with a leaf front suspension. They flex out well and seem to hold up well.

http://www.locktup4x4.com.au/product/bb ... fa875.aspx

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:26 am
by booflux
Mine with the kit mentioned above, I am using the 12" shocks but should have gone the 14s

Image

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:53 am
by thrashlux
just a question with inverted shocks

how do you stop them getting the smooth chrome surface on the shaft destroyed

I know on my truck they would only last one outing

especially here ii have to repaint my shock body's every 2 weeks they get grit blasted but coral hitting them at 100km per hr

even my drive shaft needs a repaint after 2 or 3 outings (bare metal)

even at home on loose stone roads at high speed i would expect them not to last long due to damage from large stones

or is this only a mod that is good for crawling rather than a multi purpose craweler / hight speed tourer

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:12 am
by Willy Hilux
have them the other way up. Not the way that Jason has his on his LOCKTUP truck. And you can put rubber boots over them. Rancho shocks come with them.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:20 am
by booflux
The Bilsteins in Jasons are the same as mine and are meant to be run that way. They also came with a rubber boot I removed mine as it doesnt do the type of trips you do.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:42 am
by thrashlux
yeah i run the 31" rancho rs 9000xl with in cab kit with the rubber boots on the top i have extended the top mounts to right under thebottom of the tray to avoid moving my bump stops down so i get big up and down travel
all pretty irrelevant because i run an 80 series chassis now

when you guys say 12 inch is that compressed length ?

the boys in the usa seem to talk in extended length

so what is the main advantage of inverting the shock?

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:31 am
by 4RUNNER_01
Booflux i like how much travel you have on the back there what exactly is done to yours what springs and shocks? theyre some very long shocks though how much lift does it have to be able to run them?

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:41 am
by 4RUNNER_01
never mind didnt look at that link first is there a big difference between that and just doing ifs rears and inverted shocks cause i have long shocks and shackles already $1400 is fairly expensive althhough theres a lot in that kit and with the shocks do you know the measurement fron eye to eye at full extension?

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:54 am
by bulldogy
There is a lot of difference in the amount of flex in those leafs than in the ifs rear leaf longer shackle combo a lot more and a lot more stable and holding. Just depends on what you want and how much flex you want to coil it it will cost a bit more than the leaf setup.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:45 am
by locktup4x4
4RUNNER_01 wrote:with the shocks do you know the measurement fron eye to eye at full extension?
Bilstein 5125's All have a 14mm shaft and mount eye/eye. Im pretty sure these measurements are eye/eye?? Hope this helps.

Travel- 10.17" Extended Length- 25.93" Collapsed Length- 15.91"

Travel- 11.94" Extended Length- 29.70" Collapsed Length- 17.91"

Travel- 14.30" Extended Length- 34.90" Collapsed Length- 20.75"

Jason

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:53 am
by hilux79
4RUNNER_01 wrote:never mind didnt look at that link first is there a big difference between that and just doing ifs rears and inverted shocks cause i have long shocks and shackles already $1400 is fairly expensive althhough theres a lot in that kit and with the shocks do you know the measurement fron eye to eye at full extension?
How long are your extended shackles? You need 200mm shackles for IFS rears so you may still have to buy new shackles. I have just done IFS rears and am happy with the result for the cost. Oviously not the same result as boofs but alot cheaper. I already had my shocks in a /\ arangment but now need longer ones now. I will eventually drop a two more leafs and run a track bar.

Image

Image

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 12:00 pm
by lukethedork
thrashlux wrote:when you guys say 12 inch is that compressed length ?

the boys in the usa seem to talk in extended length

so what is the main advantage of inverting the shock?
12" is the amount of travel the shock has.
From everything I've seen the boys in the 'USA' talk in travel that the shock has. ie. 12", or 14"
Quoting the extended length of a shock doesn't tell you how much travel it has as the compressed length can vary from manufacturer.

inverting the shocks will give you more travel at the wheel, for every inch the shock shaft moves.
Also another advantage of inverting the shocks is that when people invert them, they almost always change the way the shock mounts.
On most stock vehicles, if you undo the bottom shock bolt and try to move the shock, it will move back and forward (relative to the vehicle) very easily, but the only way to get it to move sideways is to fight against the bushing.
So when you invert the shocks you change the way the shocks mount by 90* so that the shock can move side to side instead of forward and back.
Have a look at Jason's rig or any other buggy and you will see the direction in which the shocks are mounted.

Hope thats easy enough to understand,
Luke.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 1:29 pm
by 4RUNNER_01
ok well i have the 10.17' ones but rancho 5000's im going to invert them regardless of what i do to the rear coil or leaves and i have long enough shackles to do the ifs springs so it seems like probably the cheap way to go, then think about longer shocks later if they cause problems What ifs springs are the best for the 4runners or does everyone just play with em by removing leaves