rj4510

For all who have converted their suspension to after market, ditching the air setup, can you please chime in and let us know what brand conversion kit you went with and how satisfied you are. I've come across three conversion kit with the Arnott being the most expensive, but includes Bilstein shocks. I don't offroad or tow anything, but The mechanic, just told me the airbags leak and the ride height sensors are bad. Shocks may be good for now, but not sure with a 105K on the truck.

What issues did you run into with the conversion, if any?

Thanks,

gwoneg

I have the same question, airbags are starting to leak on my 05 GX and my wife wants me to look into less-expensive options. We don't offroad or tow anything besides a bike rack.

rj4510

This is definitely not the response I was expecting! There has been so much buzz about suspension conversion. I thought it may be well worth compiling all experiences into one thread, for my education and others. I've been struggling with what to do with the rear suspension to the point of total frustration. Everyone I talk to, including offroad shops tell me keep it stock or keep it forever, because the people looking to buy a GX want them stock and fully functional. That makes addressing the rear susspension pretty painful. Overall, I like the truck and it's treated me well. Not sure how much longer I'll keep it, so it's almost impossible to decide which way to go. From what I can see, replacing the airbags, shocks and possibly ride higth modules are well over 3K with labor and converting to springs is a death sentence. Is this what others are finding too, or are people blowing smoke up my #$%^?

itzjake

I converted my 04 GX470 air suspension. My sensors must have blown and the compressor wasn't pumping the air into the shocks (or whatever makes it work, I am no expert). I went to www.strutmasters.com and bought the GX470 conversion kit. It cost me around $400 with shipping and came with instructions. I paid the garage $40 and they installed it in about 3 hours. I will say this, if you let your air suspension continue to fail you are in for one hell of a bumpy ride. I'm talking absolutely roller coaster style. Since my conversion with the struttmasters kit I haven't had any issues. In my opinion the ride isn't as smooth but the deal here is that those parts in the air suspension are designed to dry rot and fail after about 8 years. You will end up paying thousands to replace compressors, seals, bags. That is why I dropped $400 on the conversion kit. I am pleased to say I am no longer riding a roller coaster and I have my GX470 back. I hope this reply helps.

06isDriver

I can guarantee that Toyota does not engineer anything to fail after so many years. Things just fail, its a fact of this material world we live in.

Now, I'm in love with my air suspension because we end up towing quite a bit or are heavily laden down with gear and stuff. If I were to ever convert, I think I'd have to also get the Firestone helper bags so that I dont lose that ride leveling ability. This would probably be the best of both worlds.

PitElevate

I have put an Old Man Emu 3in lift kit on a 100 series, 80 series, and now my 2008 gx470. If your needs are similar to mine, I wouldn't hesitate. My gx is used to tow my 2 snowmobiles, whitewater raft/trailer, medium difficulty off-road, get to Alta, camping, and daily driver. A quality off-road/fab shop can remove air bags/stock shocks, weld spring perches from an fj cruiser and install an OME or Ironman suspension/lift kit for the FJ. That should cost around 2k parts/labor. I went with a BFG KM2 255/80/17 on the stock rims, and had no rub or contact with control arms. I think if you don't need/want lift, you can proably get stock height coils and run new performance shocks for probably cheaper than a lift or oem parts. My opinion is that it rides/tows WAY better than stock. Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters sells OME lift kits and is a lot of help. If your near Salt Lake City Curtis Mcneil at Just 4 Fun Motorsports did my conversion and a flawless job. No issues with anything.

rj4510

When I posted this question, I was at a crossroad trying to figure out what to do, because the truck needed new tires, bags, lower control arm bushings, etc and we were going to use it this week for a long haul cross country. I went to several shops in the area and they couldn't tell me anything about the conversion. I tried a few offroad shops and they all told me, with the GX, people want things to work. They don't like mystery conversions, lights that won't turn off, etc., so convert and keep it forever, or keep it stock. They also suggested if I do it, to do something big and with purpose or keep it stock. I know they are offroad shops, but they had a good point too.

If I was in Salt Lake, (I used to live there) lifted trucks and going offroad are a pretty big deal, so I would have gone big. People in Phoenix do offroad, but they usually dedicate a vehicle for it and go real big, so resale would have hugely suffered for me here. Not sure when I plan to sell the truck, but I just decided to keep it stock and replace the bags. It was a good move so far. It's really nice haviving the smooth, silent truck back I used to know. Going big would require appropriate tires and the heat out here would just tear them up, so I'd more than make up for the cost of the bags in tire replacement and resale value.

Just what I discovered in my area. Doesn't mean the same is true in other states.

Matsui

PitElevate and rj4510 - it would be very helpful if you guys can provide a breakdown of cost (parts and labor) for the option you went with. Also please let us know where you bought the parts from and what was needed.

I have over 100k on mine and while it rides flawless now, I think it is just a matter of time when the suspension will fail and I'll have to evaluate both options.

Thanks.

rj4510

I paid $816 to replace the air springs at a local independent shop. I didn't need to do anything more with it other than air springs and still on my original ride height sensors.

PitElevate

OME Medium lift kit cost: 885.00 http://www.cruiseroutfitters.com/sus_4runner_gen4.html
Spring perches for rear OME coils: custom built (part of labor)
Remove stock suspension/airbag system and fab/installation labor: 1000.00ish
Alignment/steering system adjust: 125.00
.

Matsui

Is that parts & labor?

Matsui

That's not too bad. I think the truck looks great with that lift.
In some previous post people who considered conversion said something about the bottom of the spring (or shocks?) not anchoring properly unless you do some sort of fabrication (sorry, I'm not very mechanically inclined so I may not be explaining it properly). Did your installer do something special to make sure the thing is attached properly at the bottom?

Do you have any warning lights that have come on as a result?
How is the ride comfort compared to OEM?
What kind of tires are those?

GadgetRick

Truck looks good. How did you paint the wheels black or did you have them powder-coated. I want to either replace mine with gun metal gray or black or maybe paint/powder coat mine.

Sorry to threat hijack.

PitElevate

Thanks. I don't get called a soccer mom too much anymore, so I think the GX is even growing on the rednecks. Yep, he welded a bracket to the rear coil springs so they don't rotate in addition to the perches. Zero issues, the guy who installed the lift is really talented with the electronic systems. The ride is way better than stock in my opinion and not too firm. Tows a lot better, and doesn't get pushed around by my sleds and trailer. The tires are BFG KM2 M/T's in 255/80/17. I chose these because they don't rub upper control arms, dig better in deep snow, and are a bit better on gas than the wider choices. I siped them, so they aren't much noisier than the Duratrac's on my 80.

PitElevate

Thanks, powder coated the stock 17's. I get rid of as much chrome as possible. It's a sickness really. I would powder-coat, it was 45 a wheel and I was able to cover some pitting and dings. You will save a little money diy, but paying a little more for durability made sense for me. Also, powder-coat won't crack or flake if the rim gets hit by something. Non-powder-coat will.