470SNC

On my FJC build I had for 7 years before the GX, I went in order of spacer lift, OME lift, 2.0 Walker Evans coilover with resi lift, to 2.5" Icon coilovers to 2.5" Icon extended travel coilovers with resis which is now on my GX. Each level got progressively better ride on and off the street.

I have learned that suspension with our trucks is really dependent on the money you spend. Unfortunately the more expensive, the better ride and performance. The funny thing is when I first got the spacer lift, I thought it rode and handled great, then I got OMEs and said wow this is way better, and then so forth to my current setup. I've taken several people over the years for a ride in my current Icon setup and convinced them to switch over just by the seat time.

wademracer

Ali SC3, It rode bad as in very stiff and would crash over bumps and rough roads. The original suspension was soft and the shocks were worn out. I was having issues with my air suspension and it would bottom out all the time on rough roads. When I first changed to the Bilstein 5100's my suspension had about 130,000 miles. I think the stock springs were just worn out or just not a great match for the bilsteins. At the same time I had installed Old Man Emu 895E rear springs. I found these springs are very stiff. Much higher spring rate than the Icons I have now. In my opinion the toytec/eibach front springs are a much better match for the bilsteins.

colink1

Last year I sold a pair of front FJ (4x4) stock struts to a 4runner (2x4) owner. Lifted the frontend about 1.5" from the stock height. I was running a pair of 5100s w/ OME 883 springs and it yielded about a 2" lift in the front of the FJ. I am wondering how a set of OME 883s or 884s would work on the GX.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

I do agree the eibach spring with the 5100 is probably the way to go if you can get over the c clip thing, I still can't I would have to go straight to coilovers after the spacer if I blow the stock shocks or airbags at some point.
maybe the factory springs are not suited for the 5100's then, remember I am using the non-preload spacer with stock shocks/springs not 5100's and the middle 2 settings work pretty well shocks seem to be working just fine on my rig they are not even close to blown, the second setting sort of feels like before I lifted it and the third setting is a little stiffer good for doing lots of turning. I dont use the first and fourth settings too soft and stiff respectively.
The 4runner and FJ doesnt have damper adjustment so I would def swap to coilovers on those cars for the best ride, for this ride I don't care about droop etc.. this is not for rock crawling it will be used for camping and hauling people/toys around. the spacer lift costs almost nothing and I still have damper adjustment, and can clear 285's with no chance of C-clip failure, so I am pretty satisfied.

There isn't much that beats coilovers with damper adjustment though, that might have to be the next setup if I have to change it.
honestly the part that rides noticeably more different now is the rear tricked airbags, the front handles bad roads similar to before unlike the rear which is stiffer, so changing to coils in the rear is probably a good idea for the ride quality if you are over 2" lift.

Project470

I'm going to go with adding toytec/eibach front lift coils (second notch from bottom on my 5100's) and convert my rear airbags to OEM FJ coils. I will report back with hopefully a huge improvement in ride quality.

grego2

Ali, I might have a solution to your rear suspension being stiffer, I was a Lexus tech in my former life and when we were doing all the clunk issues one thing we noticed was that when we replaced the link bars on the lift, most techs would tighten the bushing bolts with the suspension hanging which would preload and twist the bushings when the GX's were lowered back onto ride height, there would be problems setting the air bags ride height or the customer would complain about it handling different after the fix. If it went long enough, the bushings would fail and we would have to replace the links again under warranty and the whole process would start again. By lifting the rear end, you preloaded the bushings, with your truck sitting on all four tires at ride height, go under and loosen all the link bushing bolts and you might even hear a click or snap if one is under load and see if that might fix your issues with ride quality. Makes no other sense that the ride would get stiffer by just putting in a spacer and the air pressure not changing in the bag.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

I haven't done the spacer under the air bag yet so there is a little more pressure in the rear bags right now hence a touch stiffer. I drive it all the time now and it doesn't seem to be too stiff or anything, I will likely just leave it alone it seems to be accetable. some day I may go coilovers up front and FJ springs in the rear but I was just looking to just fit my larger tires properly at the moment but the ride turned out to be pretty good sort of comparable to stock I would say. I haven't reached my expedition stages yet, although surprisingly my wife cleared the idea of a roof top tent in the future, looking forward to that.

Thanks so much for that suggestion on the link bars, I have expereinced similar with torquing the control arms on my sc300 when it was up in the air by accident. those bushings are supossed to be torqued at ride hieght and well when you have a lift you get carried away and just toque everything down. I will un torque and re-torque them at drive height that should help if the bushings aren't shot already, luckily I have only put under 1k on the suspension doing city driving.

I had read (and also observed) that lifting these vehicles in the rear tends to push the axle to one side due to the link arms. doesn't seem to be noticeable enough on just a 2 lift, but i assume some adjustable links would probably take care of that as well, for now I will just loosen them and tighten them back up and see. Toyota's always seem to handle a bit better when you torque all that stuff on the ground so everything is at rest when its supposed to be, thanks for reminding me about that.

funny you mention about the ridr height after I lifted it some I noticed the sensors were acting a little funny when adjusting as in doing the same increments on both sides after a certain point did not result in identical lift. above 2 it got a little bit more trial and error to say the least but I still got everything level. will report back.
btw I really like the way the ride is, I am sure coilovers are the best, but its hard to beat a $40 non-preload spacer that lets me clear my tires, maintain a stock-like ride, keeps the damper shocks/settings, and has no chance of a spring seat failing.
It does seems the stock shocks can break at the bottom where the rod is skinniest, but most aftermarkets are the same way. probably the coilovers would solve this last issue as well but are $$.

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

Any update on installing the rear OEM Fj coils w/5100s? I have 5100's all around (stock spring and air bags) and am interested in how the rear Fj coils work out. Do they lift at all? For my front, when the 5100s were installed I was told they had to set the perch up one notch and therefore the front is slightly higher than rear, when rear is at 'N.' Therefore I need a slightly higher-than-stock rear setup to look level.

BlackCat81

I have FJ springs in the back of my GX. Yes, it lifts it. Mine sits at 22.5" from the center hub to wheel well.
It sits now now like it used to roughly in the "high" setting when I still had bags.


Edit; I just noticed you said with the 5100's. I still have the stock shocks. Sorry.

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

The 5100s won't change the rear height, so your input is exactly what I was looking for. I acquired a set of FJ rear springs with the understanding it would provide a height about stock or slightly higher. At this point I had no plans to do a lift all-around so when the shop swapped out all my old shocks (no springs or airbags, only shocks) with the 5100s, I was surprised that the front ended up with a slight lift. Apparently they had to use move a perch setting up '1' for fitment of the stock springs. They weren't sure if the FJ coils would give me any lift to even out the current setup, but based on your experience i'm hoping they work out fine. I'll post once rear airbags swapped; maybe next few weeks.

Thx for your input!

TRY666

Can you post a photo of your GX with 5100 up front on stock springs?


And where is your perch? on the second 'notch'?


How's the ride quality?


Thanks man.

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

Sure, I'll snap a pic this weekend. I didn't drive it today.

TRY666

Look forward to it!

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

My GX has Bilstein 5100s at all corners, using stock springs/front and airbags/rear. When installing the front the plan was to use Lowest (?) perch for stock height since no lift in rear, but - apparently some play existed with spring so the shop set perch 1 notch from the end. I'm not sure the terminology here, I wish I would have looked at them prior to the install just for my knowledge. Anyway, there is a slight lift up front from stock but not much. Below are two pics showing the rear at two height settings: Normal and High.

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

Wheel wells too dark from my iPhone pic, but I hope this gives you a general idea. I'm planning to swap rear airbags with OEM FJ springs in the next week or so. Current ride is too 'hard' from airbags. The rear/passenger side also lowers sometimes when the truck is off. Looks strange and bothers me.