Hey all. been a while since i posted a question, but here goes. I just installed a set of downey headers on my truck, and now im stuck for what to do next. i want to get a little more flex out of my truck before i go off to college, which is in farmington, new mexico. we went down in late march to check out the area, and gosh dang is there some great trails down there. we found some that were pretty challenging for a stock '01 4runner, and a more that we didnt even want to try. i have already pulled off the front sway bar, and once i get the time and money (probably next summer) i plan to put on BJ spacers with lift blocks in the rear, but i cant think of anything else i can do for little or no money that wont affect its road handling. i dont wanna cut into its road worthy-ness too much, because ill be driving the truck 400 miles every two months, to get back home to colorado and back. im really stumped, and would like some help. any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

cheapest things you can do are bj spacers and blocks or shackles in the rear.
careful with blocks or shackles though, they'll cause more axle wrap and screw up your pinion angles if you get too carried away.

ebay'ing a cheap body lift would probably be your next best bet. i've gotten a 3" for 50 bucks before.

Cranking the torsion bars is something you can do for free, you'll need to pay for an alignment though. I'd recommend some slightly longer shackles and an add-a-leaf for the rear, will work better than blocks.

I was able to put 33's under my 4runner for about $100 with a 2" body lift and the suspension mods I mentioned above. Works well off-road and still handles well on.

add-a-leaf as well, good call.

i've got one in my current truck and it brought it back to stock height (i have a heavy cap on it every winter and all summer last year). i got mine for 100.00. Rancho

It replaced the 1" block i did have in there. probly gave me 1.5" overall. again my truck is just back at stock height though, my springs are really tired.

for 100 dollars though you should be able to find some Chevy leafs, then for 50 more you can get the front spring mounts. i much prefer the chevy swap.

i would do BJ spacers (leave rear stock) and some low pro bump stops ($13 for 2) and remove the sway bay
here is a pics of mine ( i run the torsions relaxed a little for more flex)

Ya, like i said in my original post, i plan on doin bj spacers with either add-a-leafs or blocks. i dont have the money to do that right now, because i still have to buy tools and such for school.

basically, im lookin to do what you did with your truck, norcalsvx, as most of the trails in the area we will be in are higher speed sorta trails, kind of like baja racing. when i do the bj spacers, i was thinkin about leavin the stock rear springs in, or swappin the springs to below the axle with add-a-leafs, for a softer ride while retaining the ride height. how much time and money did it cost you to do your set up?

it cost $90 for the bj spacers, $200 for the dual shocks kit plus shocks (i run bilsteins) OME torsions i forgot the price on those) low pro bumps ($13 for 2) idler brace($50?) my truck had no fenders doors or a head when i got it a year ago. It bonbs pretty hard for what it is and with a locker and gears it doe OK on the rocks as well-

You wont want to run the springs under the rear axle. this will cost you a lot more money than simply building a pack to get a few inches of hieght to match teh BJ spacers up front. To move th esprings under the truck you will have to weld on new mounts under the axle, and then buy 3" lift springs to compenstae for the springs being under the axle. Building a set of springs to gain a few inches should run you less than $30. Get a set of Chevy(non-63's) and a couple of new center spring pins, use the longest leaf(non-main), from the Chevy pack and install it below the main on the toy pack, this should give you about 1-2" of lift w/o stiffening the ride likw an add-a-leaf will if you aren't carrying extra weight in the bed. Your origninal u-bolts should be long enough to accomodate 1-2 extra leaves before needing to buy longer ones. You should be abole to install the BJ's and springs for under $150, though you will want extra money for new ball joints(if you don't know the age of the currents ones), shocks $100-whatever you want to spend.

Question: How hard is it to install these ball-joint spacers? Cuz when i installed new upper bjs i had a hard enough time prying up the upper a-arm with 3 feet of pipe let alone an additional 1 1/2".

You did it the hard way. The easy way is to place an object (like a 2x4) between the upper A-arm and bumpstop and then jack up the vehicle. This takes off all the pressure from the rest of the components.