Parts that have been removed:
2" Rear Cornbred Spacers. With the stock rear coils the truck swayed alot at highway speeds.
2.5" Rear Daystar Spacers. Wanted to see if poly made a difference over aluminum. It does not.
The rear spring Isolator/bump stop cone fits into the Daystar spacer, but not the Cornbred. When the Daystars spacers were installed the isolator cone wound up being so far up it would have been impossible for the axle to ever hit it anyway.
Front Bilstein shocks and 2" Cornbred spacers gave way to Sway-A-Way Race Runners and ATS upper a-arms.
Rear Downey springs and Bilstein shocks were replaced with OME HD springs and shocks after I built the custom rear bumper. Downey coils are a great spring for use with the stock rear bumper.
Downey supplied Rancho limiting straps were replaced with true 18" straps from Avalanche Engineering to match the longer OME shocks.
Stock Toyota cone and OME trim packer were replaced with a solid 1" spacer from Cornbred.
The longer shocks are for the Land Cruiser & the shorter ones are for the 4Runner.
3.5" Longer Bilstein Rear 1991-1997 Land Cruiser shocks B46-1478 were used in an attempt to adjust for the increased rear height. Unfortunately the longer length of these shocks will cause the drive shaft to hit the gas tank skid plate and the ride will be quite a bit firmer than the 4Runner Bilsteins.
Bilstein HD Shocks Compared:
Land Cruiser FJ-80 1991-1997
F4-B46-1478-HO
Typ 13/Typ 23
Compressed 380mm (14.96")
Extended 591mm (23.27")
4Runner 1996-2002
F4-BE5-2451-HO
Typ 17/Typ 23
Compressed 322.5mm (12.7")
Extended 513mm (20.2")
The longer shocks caused the drive shaft/rear axle to be pushed into the gas tank skid plate when you stuff the drivers side rear tire into the wheel well.. Clank clank clank as the yoke spins around. In the end all of the Bilstein shocks were removed.
Rockstomper front sway bar quick disconnects. These made a great deal of noise when the truck would shift weight when connected. I upgraded the heim joints from econo to chrome moly after finding 2 of the econo heims bent. Other people with these disconnects have had the econo heim joints break while driving. These have been replaced with the disconnects from NUKE.
Disconnecting the rear sway bar leads to 3 big issues. 1) it bangs around since it is connected to the axle and not the frame when disconnected. 2) The bar end gets caught in the skid plate/gas tank bracket on the drivers side. This will need to be pried out. 3) It will get lodged up into the frame on the passenger side. The bottom line is that the rear sway bar holds nothing back, it will bend before it limits articulation. Don't waste your time disconnecting it.
Up into the frame on the passenger side. Add a heim joint or any other type of disconnect end and this will get even worse.
I bent two rear sway bars testing the Land Cruiser Bilstein shocks. The bars bend in the middle effectively lowering the pumpkin loop. My original bar that came with the 4Runner is 3 3/4" off the ground. Gadgets old rear bar is 4" off the ground after one trip to the desert with the LC shocks. A brand new bar from the dealer is 4 1/4" from the ground in the center.
The way you can tell if the bar is bent is that it hits the cover of the electric locker, if you have one.
This is a brand new bar from the dealer. Notice how there is at least 1/2" of clearance between the electric locker cover and the loop of the rear sway bar. If the bar bends this gap closes. The new rear sway bar from the dealer appears to be a new and improved version with a taller pumpkin loop to clear the e-locker. A set of stock front 3rd Gen end links on the rear sway bar returns it to the stock location with a 2-3" lift. End links from 2001 and 2002 are beefier than 1996-2000.
The added weight on the roof made the 4Runner a lot tipper on the trails. Can't have that.
Big-O Tire sold me Chevy 5.5" back spaced wheels. They worked with 265/70/16 tires but not with 285/75/16 tires. Sold them on eBay and now both the tires and rims are on a full size Chevy in Minnesota.
I added shackle hangers to my Reese hitch. It came out nice but still dragged in Martinez Canyon. Can't have that.
Rockstomper bolt on sliders. Believe it or not but these were really nice sliders and they way they mount is quite strong. I got sick of everyone asking me why they were mounted to the body. Rockstomper discontinued these a year or so later as well. Maniac Metal Works also wanted me to run a set of their bars so off came the Rockstompers and on went the Maniac Metal Works sliders.
Hella fog lights & stock front bumper. Nice, but the TJM T-17 is nicer. Bye Bye.
Westin chrome side tube steps. Destroyed in less than 6 months. Adios!
Stock running boards and 16" steel Toyota factory rims bit the dust as well.
No photo, but do not use stainless steel hose clamps on your front CV Boots. They actually "cut" my boots which were not cracked, ripped or torn. They also did not leak. I added the clamps as a "preventative" measure which resulted the clamps cutting the boots and a $400 repair bill. Try a new clamp from the dealer or a zip tie instead.
End of removed parts & issues