Suspension Education for Neophyte

A

anjin007

New member
Hello all,

I recently acquired a new to me stock 2008 GX470 with the intent of using it as a family vehicle/overlanding vehicle. We have visions of one day taking it to South America but in the meantime, exploring the West closer to our home. As I am contemplating the required modifications, I have most of them figured out with the exception of suspension. I have been reading several posts on various forums and I walk away a little more perplexed. I asked the question on GXOR and almost everyone was advocating long travel suspension.

I recently read Matt Scott's article https://expeditionportal.com/did-bilstein-just-make-the-ultimate-4runner-overland-suspension-system/ and tend to subscribe to his philosophy which is to say, I seek a balance of highway driving and trail performance. It realized everyone has an opinion on the "ideal" setup but I am missing the baseline knowledge to form my own educated opinion.

I am seeking about a 2-2.5 inch lift which is reliable and doesn't modify the factory mount points. Some of the kits offered talk about spring rates but I have no basis to know what my baseline is in the stock vehicle today and so no way to compare. The springs listed are called "medium" or "heavy duty" but those are qualitative terms and don't do anything for me when trying to decide which spring to choose from. Do I need to buy UCA's, sway bar extenders, longer bump stops, will these things increase reliability or can I just drop in shocks and springs and be done with it?

I'm a sponge, let me soak in the collective's knowledge. Thanks in advance.
 
Arktikos

Arktikos

Explorer
anjin007 said:
Do I need to buy UCA's, sway bar extenders, longer bump stops, will these things increase reliability or can I just drop in shocks and springs and be done with it?

I'm a sponge, let me soak in the collective's knowledge. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Good question. It could be that any deviation from the stock suspension will decrease reliability. A common suggestion I've found regarding suspension is to try it out as is first, to see if you really need to make any changes at all.
 
A

anjin007

New member
Good point and I have, it's comfortable but the airbags have 140,000 miles on them. From a reliability standpoint, I want to move away from them to a more analog solution.
 
C

chunko

Observer
I'm going through the same thing you are with my GX. I found some pretty good info on IH8MUD and the GXOR FB page. This thread goes over some of your specific concerns regarding spring rates and comfort at page 2 and 3:forum.ih8mud.com/threads/05-gx470-build.840463/. Personally, I'm going to try the 5100 shocks up front with the Toytec 620 springs and do the air bag trick in the rear (mine is an 09 with 65k mi so they still work great plus I'm a pragmatist/ cheapskate).

However I've already sourced the rear isolators for when I have to convert the rear.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
p nut

p nut

butter
The lack of response come from lack of info. You say you're going to explore the West. Not sure what that means. Are you hitting Rubicon? Or dirt roads? What is "required" will depend on what you will be doing.
 
T

toyick

I build Boat Anchors
Im not sure what exactly your looking to do, spend and so forth, but i would call up Icon and talk to them, They have worked directly with Adventure Driven to produce a very nice over-landing package at different levels for the 470, and having riden in higher end prerunners, Lexy, gave them a run for their money.
I would at least go with a bolt on Coil over and an upper control arm. In the rear, that just depends on what you want to do.
The cool thing with Coil overs, is its relatively easy to change spring rates. Getting rid of the airbags is a great idea.
I would hit up Seth and Adventure Driven, he knows the ins-outs of the gx470, and could tell you more of what he had for spring rates.
Its not that the information isnt out there, but every person has different needs... Payload, driving style, how deep their pockets are.
I would start with just some good springs in place of the airbags, and some nice coilovers with clickers(adjustable rate) up front.
 
J

JLee

Adventurer
Call Mark at MetalTech4x4, too. He's exceptionally knowledgeable and will be able to help you choose the right suspension for your use. I am not a fan of long travel (for most people). You have to remove your sway bars (which will compromise high speed highway stability), it's exceedingly expensive (unless you just do rear), and unless you're wheeling pretty hard it's just not necessary.

For my use, I've been able to get by on stock suspension (though a little more clearance would've been nice - I high-centered at Overland Expo West last year). When I do replace my suspension, I will probably go with Ironman's Foam Cell Pro offering (available at MetalTech4x4).
 
A

anjin007

New member
Thanks everyone. Like I said, I do not and haven't had experience with maintaining, building or modifying suspension to include knowing what all the parts and pieces are. The responses are great but I am also in the process of reading about vehicle suspension in general to help educate myself.

Chunko, you mentioned the "Air bag trick" for the rear. Can you point me the thread on this?
 
zidaro

zidaro

Explorer
Cuz u say you want a lift.....

Basics- med is for if your going to carry anything in the back, including peeps. HD is if your going to load the heck out of it. It will ride rougher (or as i feel, tighter) than stock with both completely unloaded, no matter what. The HD will obviously be stiffer and more harsh unloaded than the Med springs.

2" front should not need UCA's. 2.5" may. just depends on whether your wheels fit without rubbing the UCA, and if your alignment can get in specs.
 
AaronK

AaronK

Explorer
Long travel is completely unnecessary for most applications. People get so hung up on throwing fist fulls of money at their vehicles that they never go do anything with them. $3000 for long travel would pay for one hell of a trip.
I'd say go use your vehicle as is, learn its shortcomings, and go from there.
You'll probably be surprised at what it can do stock...

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.
 
T

toyick

I build Boat Anchors
AaronK said:
Long travel is completely unnecessary for most applications. People get so hung up on throwing fist fulls of money at their vehicles that they never go do anything with them. $3000 for long travel would pay for one hell of a trip.
I'd say go use your vehicle as is, learn its shortcomings, and go from there.
You'll probably be surprised at what it can do stock...

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.
Click to expand...
so does every one think bolt on coil overs and upper control arms are LT? around these parts?
 
C

chunko

Observer
anjin007 said:
Thanks everyone. Like I said, I do not and haven't had experience with maintaining, building or modifying suspension to include knowing what all the parts and pieces are. The responses are great but I am also in the process of reading about vehicle suspension in general to help educate myself.

Chunko, you mentioned the "Air bag trick" for the rear. Can you point me the thread on this?
Click to expand...

You essentially trick the ride height sensors so that the air springs are inflated more at what it thinks is the "low" level. More info here:ww.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22691. (the forum won't let me post links yet, sorry)
 
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