Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey guys, just wondering weather or not its a real silly idea to have a small winch to pull down the rear suspension in a normal full bodied rig, after buying some coils that turned out to be way to tall for the back of my 4Runner I thought maybe this could work to my advantage if i pulled the rear down most of the time to have a more stable truck, then let it up for a bit of extra height when needed. I know its common with air shocks but never seen it in a normal rig. seems like a cheap fix for my spring prob.

Also what sort of winch do people commonly use i figure an atv or boat trailer winch would suit??

Not sure if it really is a good idea so please let me know...

Cheers Scott

Will screw with down travel of the whole axle. Will also shock load the cable fark loads over bumps.

if your springs are to tall for your preferred ride height, get some shorter/softer springs.

If its unstable & lifts wheels it can help on the trail, the idea is to not drive around with it pulled in and loaded up. Only pull in the susp. when you need it.

Yea the problem is i just got new springs and they were made a bit too tall but theres no refund or anything available although the springs are really soft and work well. I thought maybe just for steep declines and things like that i can at least pull the back down for more stability as its a few inchs higher then the front.

Every second buggy these days has a winch for that

I think it would work ok I've got one on my suzuki but i'm runing air shocks it works great on side angles stops the car unloading

If the coils are new then keep in mind they may sag a little with some use.

But if they don't then i would look at cutting the springs down. It's only marginally less dodgy than using a winch. Turps is right about shock loading the cable.

Alternatively a few bags of cement or roofing lead or other heavy stuff in the back to sag it.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

And yea Im sure they will sag a bit but they are way off for the moment.

After the shock loading statement was raised i thought that would become a fair problem, and air shocks would have very different characteristics to spring and shock id assume thats why all the buggies get away with it.

just woulda been interesting to hear if anyone had done it with a truck like mine, and if it works ok, but if i can dig up an old cheap boat trailer winch or something ill still prob try it and just limit using it to when its really necessary.

I'm no guru, but wouldn't that eliminate all droop? So on a perfect road (or at rest) the cable is tight, and the axle can't move away from the body. Now say you're on a rougher road, and you encounter a pot-hole. The wheels can not drop into it, without taking the body with them. Makes for a rough ride, plus when you do bounce into the pothole, there will be, as said before, the shock loading on the cable as the vehicle tries to regain equilibrium.

Not a good plan, IMO.