March 4/00 - Norm Heu was mentioning that he wanted to do something about the butt-sag syndrome on his 1990 4Runner, so I figured "No time like the present!" and volunteered to install a set of lift coils and longer shocks. Norm had a broken arm, so he'd be unable to do much wrenching, but Ryan Comber said he'd drop by a bit later.

We actually had our choice of Downey or Old Man Emu (OME) springs. We decided on the Downey's for several reasons:

Shane Simard had already installed the Downeys in his 1992 4Runner, so we knew that they flexed extremely well and still had the ability to carry a full load of camping gear, spare parts, and tools. Also, the Downeys included a drop bracket for the load-sensing proportioning valve (LSPV) and the ABS sensor line (referred to as the "speed sensor" in the Downey instructions), as well as a stainless-steel braided extended brake line. The OME's do not come with the extended brake line, cost about $10 more than the Downeys, and "appparently" don't carry as much of a load (or so we were told by the person at the parts counter).

According to the Rancho shock sizes, the best shock for the job is the RS9009. Since this particular shock is actually designed for a different application, the stock eye bushing will not fit on the Toyota stud. You'll need to pick up a couple of EB4 bushings instead; the place where we bought the shocks just gave us the proper bushings and told us to bring the Rancho bushings back once we removed them from the shocks. If you have the choice, get black poly bushings as the black ones are graphite-impregnated and the coloured ones are not. We used a vise, a socket, and a large box wrench to press out the Rancho bushings and press the EB4 bushings in; the exact method will become obvious when you look at it. :)

If you have a spare tire mounted under the rear of the vehicle, you will need to remove it, if only to give you more working space. Norm had the factory swing-away, so we didn't have to worry about it. You do not need to remove the rear tires.

Here are the steps:

Measure the height of the rear wheelwells. We measured from the top of the rim straight up to the wheelwell.

Jack up the rear of the 4Runner by placing the jack under the rear diff. This will allow you some space to work under the vehicle. You should use jack stands under the axles as a safety precaution.

Unbolt the stock rear shocks and remove them. The top stud bolts might be a bit tough to remove due to rust, so soaking them with penetrating oil day before would be a good idea. The top stud bolts are 14mm, and the bottom eye bolts are 19mm. Don't lose the two contoured Toyota washers that fit over each eye stud (four in total) as you will need them later.

Remove the two 12mm bolts that hold the LSPV bracket to the panhard rod. The nuts are welded to the bracket so you don't need to put a wrench on them.

Remove four of the 12mm bolts that clamp the brake hardline to the axle housing. One is on top of the diff, one is to the left of the diff, one is near the left bracket for the locating bars, and one is near the right bracket for the locating bars.

Remove the 12mm bolt for the bracket that attaches the ABS wire to the rear of the fuel tank. The ABS wire looks like a rubber brake line, and runs to the top of the diff to the silver ABS sensor.

Remove the jack stands, lower the jack, and remove it from beneath the diff. Jack up the rear of the 4Runner at the frame, until the tires come off the ground. We actually used the hitch receiver. You should use jack stands to support the frame as a safety precaution. Do not jack up on the factory chrome bumper; it is bolted to the body and not to the frame.

Squeeze the left coil with your hands and pull it out. It helps a bit if somebody else pushes down on the left tire. Do the same with the right coil. If you can't squeeze hard enough, you are weak. Try eating spinach. :p

Install the Downey coils. The Downeys are just a bit taller than the factory coils; I was able to install them by pushing up on them from below and slipping them in, while Norm pushed down on the tire. The lift actually occurs because the Downeys have a higher spring rate.

Ryan showed up at this point, skillfully avoiding working with the coils. :)

Install the drop bracket for the LSPV. The LSPV adjusts the amount of braking power to the rear, based on the amount of weight the vehicle is carrying. The more weight, the lower the vehicle sits in relation to the axle, and more braking force is applied to the rear brakes. When you lift the vehicle, the LSPV thinks there is less load, and reduces the amount of braking to the rear. The drop bracket tricks the LSPV into thinking you are at stock height. The Downey bracket allows two settings; the lower setting is for the 1.5" coils, and the upper setting is for the 3" kit (1.5" coils plus 1.5" spacers). We actually used the upper setting, which provides some really nice braking.

Install the drop bracket for the ABS wire. We didn't bother with this step, we just tied the wire to the original mounting-bracket hole with a small zap strap. This allows plenty of droop, and if for some reason the ABS wire got taut it would break the zap strap (hopefully).

If you are following the Downey instructions, their method of changing the brake line appears to be incorrect, as the the removal of the upper hard line will leave you with an incorrect fitting on the new line. Here's what we did instead.

Remove the clip from the bracket at the end of the upper brake hard line. Pull the hard line through the hole in the bracket.

Position a drip pan below the rubber brake line. Unbolt the rubber brake line from the upper hard line with a 10mm flare-nut wrench. Don't worry too much about brake fluid leaking out, it just dribbles a bit.

Reinstall the four bolts that clamp the brake hardline to the axle housing. This makes unbolting the rubber brake line from the "T" a bit easier as the "T" will not twist.

Unbolt the the rubber brake line from the "T" junction on the axle housing.

Install the new extended brake line between the upper hard line and the "T" junction. The fittings on the new brake line do not rotate, so installation will be easier if somebody else holds the line straight out while you bolt it on.

There is a thin silver bracket attached to the diff which is clamped to the ABS wire; bending this bracket up 90° allows another 0.5" droop in the ABS wire.

Bleed the brakes with a 10mm flare-nut wrench in this order: left, right, LSPV. Remember to replace the black rubber covers on the bleed screws. Refill the brake master cylinder to the proper level.

Install the new shocks. It helps if they are set to "1" during the install to make it easier to compress and extend them. Don't forget to put the Toyota washers back on the eye studs, and put some grease on the studs before sliding the shock eyes on. Synthetic grease is best as it won't get washed away by water as fast as regular grease will. You can set the shocks to "3" once they are installed; you'll have to drive around for a few days and adjust them until you find the optimum setting ("5" is the stiffest).

Take a hammer and a brass drift, and pound the lip of the gas tank skidplate up a bit, where the driveshaft would contact the skidplate under droop.

You are done! Remove the jack stands, lower the jack, and take the new height measurements; we measured a 2" height increase at the center of the rear wheelwells.

You may want to readjust the headlights, as they will be pointed a bit lower now.

Check all nuts and bolts after a couple hundred km's, and retorque as necessary.

While Downey says that a drop bracket for the panhard rod is not needed, we noticed that the axle housing was now positioned about 3/4" to the right while at rest. Shane had installed a 3" drop bracket on his installation, so Norm will probably get Doug at TrailMax to fab up a bracket. This will correct the axle housing position, and will allow more right-wheel droop before the driveshaft contacts the gas tank.

Next: low profile bump stops and RS9000's for the front IFS.

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