gxman1

I know it has been covered here and read lots of posts. Here is a quick background.
I changed the airbag 6 months back, and yesterday changing lower control arm bushing I noticed shock and strut may have a leak, really cant tell.

I want to install front and back shocks and not go with OEM due to cost, and NO spring conversion in the rear. I want to keep the bags. I know I will lose the comfort feature, I cant tell any difference anyway and couldn't figure out sport and comfort.

I know Bradtank installed 4runner shocks in the rear and he likes it its not hard ride as compared to bilstein 5100, and both rear cost was $80, I think he is the only one here I found did it with 4runner shocks.

Please guide me with rear and front shocks, trying to do it soon.

Thanks in advance.

NTH

I replaced my rear shocks with 4-runner shocks as well. Nice and smooth!

gxman1

NTH,

Do you happened to know the part number, and how does it feel in comparison to OEM? What did you do about the front?

BradTank

For the front, I used a Monroe Quick Strut for a same year Toyota 4Runner where the strut is assembled already with the spring and mount. It really is a good ride combination, if I could have done it again, I may have have just gone with Monroes also for the rear. But otherwise I still think the OEM Toyota 4Runner shocks are a great swap.

I also have a Lexus LS430 and the GX with this combination may even be smoother than their flagship sedan. My big worry was that it would be a harsh riding luxury SUV if I didn't use the Lexus struts and shocks and my wife would complain, but that didn't end up happening. No warning lights on the dash or anything like that.

I agree that the original electronic ride system on the Lexus was always pretty gimmicky and I could barely tell a difference on even the extreme settings, and we bought it brand new. So I didnt feel like I lost anything ditching it.

gxman1

Thanks Brad,

Important thing is when you wrote you bought your GX brand new and you couldnt tell a difference on the comfort/sport ride.

Question for you and others is I really couldn't tell if I need the shocks and struts. I tried to drive in the parking lot, and slammed on the brakes, it dives down very little and doesnt go up and down repeatedly, only once and levels., I also sharp turn right and the truck doesnt bounce around on that side.

The shocks has appearance of just wiped from little oil, I know I didnt do it, some have reported same visual wipe look.
The trucks hits the bump stops in the rear over a dip on my street. Otherwise it rides ok, I really cant compare to new like you can, and I dont know what to look for.

I know you had it for a while, if you had to do it again would you have gone with original setup? or are you happy with the comfort?

Thanks again

BradTank

Some of those tests you mentioned only really work if the shock/strut has completely failed.

Most of the time they still technically work, they just don't do an adequate job of dampening and make an uncomfortable ride.

But if you see oil on the outside, I think that's all the evidence you need that they need to be replaced in the near future. And I'm also guessing they are all original.

But some people just don't care about having the "optimum" ride and could drive another several years and not even notice. My wife didn't even care when I replaced them and never noticed that they were on their way out after about 100k miles.

I noticed in that the car had a huge amount of body roll. It also just always seemed to be unsettled and was bouncing around. But when you get used to a ride quality over time, it's difficult to know the difference.

new2005GX

I have the exact same setup as Brad and really like it. I replaced the bags at the same time and those took a little while to break in but now the ride is pretty smooth. On the original shocks it was terrible and I dreaded driving it sometimes. Felt harsh and uncontrolled matter what the setting. Switched to Bilsteins only (no bags and original coils) and felt that was too harsh for me. Now I have the Monroe/4 runner combo (f/r, respectively).

I would caution you to temper your expectations to what the truck should ride like though as it still rides like a truck. That is, somewhat sloppy handling and harshness over big bumps. Feels much better when fully loaded up with people or gear though which is how the suspension is designed.

When removing the front right shock, the inner most top bolt rounded off and there is absolutely zero room to get in there. I ended up using a Sawzall pretty much by feel to cut the bolt in half and then chisel it off with a hammer and screwdriver. Went from a pretty simple repair (although be ready for a sore hand as you can only get a tiny wrench in there) to a nightmare and almost having to tow the truck or put it all back together with the old stuff (I already removed the left shock). Also broke a swaybar bracket bolt which needed to be drilled out! Fun times! I have a bruise on my inner bicep that covers my entire upper arm from having my arm in there and the Sawzall banging it against the inner fender.

Next time, I am spraying the crap out of all the bolts with penetrating oil well before hand.

I've pretty much changed everything in this truck at this point and with 120K, it looks great and runs and drives awesome.

Only thing I haven't done is the front end stuff...that is going to be a fun project that I am putting off for a while while my knuckles heal .

PS, I was getting some major driveline clunking and I know that is well documented but it makes it feel like the transmission is on its way out. Strongly recommend making sure you have the driveshaft greased up properly as per the countless threads on the subject. It took me a few times under there to grease it correctly and I also took a drill with a wire brush and cleaned up the exposed portion of the slip yoke. I think that was the final trick to stop the clunking as that was pretty gunked up from not being grease frequently enough.

gxman1

Thank you both!

I did grease the Driveline all of the zerks about a year ago few times, I havent done it in a year and the clunk and push as if some on tapped you from the back has stopped. No issues there.

I did the lower control arms bushing, I decided to keep the Original LCA and only did OEM bushings and ball joint. It made a good difference the front end feels tight when turning and all of the squeeking stopped. That was a job, I air chiseled it out. I know if I would of gotten aftermarket it would be easier at the same cost whole LCA with the bushings and ball joint ready to drop in. I just didnt trust the aftermarket parts of the welding.

I will go with the toyota 4runner rear and monroe front.

Thanks

new2005GX

Make sure you do the springs and bags at the same time. You are already saving a ton by using non stock shocks and it sounds like you are doing it yourself so you may as well replace everything so you are getting the best ride possible.

FYI that the air lines for the bags can be tricky to remove...make sure you have the SST as mentioned in the manual before you tackle that. Small hands helps too.

River19

By SST do you mean the Secondary Spring Isolator part?

I am making sure I have a shopping list and idea for when my bags stop baggin.......

I was planning on the full $250 kit from Metal Tech and stock ride height springs and maybe go the cheap route with Bilstein 4600s.....but I have destroyed more Bilstein products on my toyotas than I care to count. I may go Icon or Fox if something will work for rear stock ride height.

What springs (part #?) are people using for stock ride height? And I hate droopy rear ends so I need to avoid that.

Any good write ups and/or directions on this swap? I have read several threads on various sites but haven't found a soup to nutts tutorial yet

chiph9

SST = Special Service Tool.

Chip H.

River19

WTF is a Special Service Tool? Any link to said tool?

Thanks

Edit: I see in a PDF that the SST is required for disconnecting the Height Control Tube without damaging things, right? However technically it looks like the Airbags could be swapped out without doing this and/or if you are converting to coil spring you probably don't care too much about damaging the height control mechanism, right?

gxman1

I did the bags about 8 months back. I had a toyota mechanic drop it in for me. It took him 20 minutes to do both side and the labor was $80. I asked him about the tool, he said it makes it easier, I saw the the tool it wasn't anything special, IIRC it was some sort of regular tool I asked him about the SST he said its not required.

River19

Did you use Lexus parts or aftermarket from Rock Auto etc.?

new2005GX

The tool is not required but it does make it easier. Especially if the lines are seized to the connectors like mine were. I had to heat one of the connectors up with a torch to get it out. When I did that, I melted the plastic SST which made it pretty much useless for the other side. So I took of the air line at the manifold for the other one so I could work on the bag and connector on the bench. Ended up cutting half of the metal female end on the old bag off and gently removing the air line so it could be removed that way. If you live in a salt area, I strongly suggest removing the bag plus line for the LR bag as there is barely any clearance to get any leverage to get the line off. On the RR, you can get the bag out with the line still attached and remove it that way. Be gentle with the heat through if you need to warm it up to remove it.

What should be a 20 min job turned into a few hours for me. Everything is like that with this vehicle because it lives in the Northeast. If you want to get the tool, there is an EBay seller that makes them in Spain for half the price of the Toyota job. It is definitely not necessary though and if you do some searches on the 4runnet forums for those with air suspension, you will find a few different ways there.