I helped do an SAS on my friends 87 4Runner. He ordered everything from AP - 4" SAS and rear kit. He called to complain that it sat butt-low. They told him he should be running 5" rear springs to level it. He asked why the didn't tell him that when ordering - they said they ALWAYS tell people to run 1" higher rear springs than front for 4Runners.

The PO of my 88 had the same issue - ordered a 4" kit from AP and it sat butt low. Not sure how, but he was able to get them to swap the 4" they sent for 5" rear springs...

You could try to get AP to swap the 3" for the 4" rears, but I don't know how far you'll get. Your plan of adding more front weight and removing rear will likely be enough to level the the truck.

bkg

Agreed, wait a little longer. All springs especially soft springs settle over time. The few miles you have driven are not enough. Flexing them off road will make a big difference. On the other hand the rears are going to be settling too.

4runners are a lot heavier in the rear that trucks and most springs are made the same and to truck specs. I have learned to always go 1" more lift in the rear for my 4Runner and even that does not always do it. Oops, just re read your post, you already know this...

Do you have any old springs laying around? Could you just add an extra leaf to the rear and run it for a while? If you use a long leaf it probably won't be too stiff?

How does this center coil affect flex/articulation? I thought about doing this myself instead of an add-a-leaf.

I wouldn't think a center coil would hurt articulation at all.

For another option, you might be able to find some air shocks to fit the rear. That would give you easy height adjustablity. If you leave the air shocks cross-linked they will help articulation.

no effect on those....but when used to give just a little extra lift(1~2") then the ride may get a little 'better'...the leafs see less weight so they tend to last longer...payload ability goes UP.
But if you try to get 4" of lift with just the coil then there may be some sway especially with a load in the back.

well after me and my brother went out and started looking closer and measuring thing... heres How the pictures looks now.:

A- my rear leafs are well broken in.. they have 10K on them and tons of trail mileage. they've been in for a long time. so the rear leafs are not going to get any lower. but the front's will/might a bit.

B-the Allpro Leaf perches i welded on my rear axle tube are Bowed in the center down 1/2". serious peices of *****. FYI do not buy AP perches.

C-I'll be swapping my rear homegrown bumper that weighs about 120lbs for a Marlin Crawler type of bumper in the area of 60-70lbs. also giving me a bit more ride height.

D- Milemarker 9k winch needs to go on upfront.. that's 82lbs.

So with all that in mind.. I think i'll be "PERFECTLY" level. and I should have enough room to clear 36" TSL's next year.

J94, if that's true then that may be the prob with the saggy rear springs....the u-bolts may be actually pulling some of the arch out of the leafs IF the ends are bowed down. The solution is to replace the perches or weld a 3/8" thick plte all the way around on top of the existing perch.

As a check, if you thoroughly loosen the u-bolts and the rear suddenly gains more lift then the bowing is the prob for sure.

This suggestion of welding a 3/8 flat plate across teh perch is about the best suggestion I have read. I vote for that with bracing added so the 3/8's plate does not follow the bow of the AP perch. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

my D44 upfront has obviously the cast perch on one side so that's not gonna bow, and on the other side I'm running a Parts Mike perch, with the allpro spacer that comes in the SAS kit welded on top. basically a nice thick spacer. levels the perch height and toughens it up. The rear I Just welded on the AP perches.