Donahoe Racing coil-overs

Front end suspension history
February, 2002 - September, 2002 — Stock
September, 2002 - July, 2005 — Sway-A-Way coil-overs
July 2005 - March 2007 — Cornfed spacers
March, 2007 - current — Donahoe Racing coil-overs

Sway-A-Way coil-overs
I originally ran the first version of the 2-inch diameter Sway-A-Ways from October 2002 to July 2005. The ride quality was great when I first had them, then they slowly lost their charge. They were in need of a rebuild, however, by August of 2003, they had produced embarrassingly loud squeaks on the slightest suspension movement. I couldn't and didn't find out until later that it was caused by both bushings going bad on the bottom heim mount. A frequent application of WD-40 helped to alleviate it, though I should've gone with an oil-based application. Anyway, by April of 2004, both hex lock screws which lock the adjusting ring had seized up preventing them from being adjusted. I tried drilling them out, but they were basically corroded to the mount. They had sagged around 3/4" of lift by this time as well. I was thinking of sending them into Sway-A-Way to get the nitrogen recharged and them rebuilt to the point they could be adjustable again.

When I finally got around to taking them off in July, 2005, I found they were toast (see picture). I had been riding around for a number of months with some noisy clunking in the front end that I was never able to diagnose, but once they were off, the culprit was easily identified—the heim bushing were totally destroyed causing the bottom mount to have play. They played enough to where the bottom mounts were being eaten away. They had also lost all apparent charge by this time resulting in a bouncy front-end ride. So, in 2.5 years of use, their short life was done.

Cornfed spacers
On went the Cornfed spacers in July, 2005. I was originally planning to run these as an interim solution until I got the Sway-A-Ways rebuilt, but since that never happened, they stayed on longer than I had intended. I bought the 2.5-inch variety used for ~$70 until I got around to getting something else. Not being picky about ride quality at all, and this is a truck platform after all, I had no hesitation running spacers and was in no real hurry to replace them. Within two days after running with the spacers, my stock coils had settled to 1.5 inches of lift, or a half-inch gain over the 1996-1999 4Runners. For those considering spacers, I would most definitely recommend them if you are on a tight budget and are wanting a lift. Even if you aren't on a tight budget, they are a real good option. As for the ride, it is a little more firm than stock, but I don't have anything bad to say about it. I prefer to have an adjustable coil-over option in the front as I am tired of dealing with constantly sagging springs and a substantial rake to the front end.

Donahoe Racing coil-overs
Okay, so now I'm my third lift setup. I went with the Donahoe coil-overs as they have been said to be the best suspension option in the front end. This is based on feedback and user reviews from others as well as thorough technical write-ups comparing the various manufacturer's products. Along with that comes a 1,000-dollar price tag. This fit within my budget and my needs for a quality suspension given the amount of time I spend on back roads which like to pound away at the 4Runner, so this was really a no-brainer for me.

After a year of having the Donahoes, as I write this in June, 2008, I must say that there really seems to be a lot of seemingly unjust opinions out there holding these things in such high regard. I really believe much of what you read on the Web from those who pay for higher end products really seem to be swayed to believe that because a product is more expensive, it must be better than something else, so they seem to have a desire to try to justify their purchase to others. I'm not sure if it's a maturity issue, ego issue, or what. Personally, these coil-overs are nothing special, ride-wise, and they certainly aren't a magic bullet by any means. My old Sway-A-Ways absorbed bumps substantially better than the Donahoes. Those things were like butter, even riding at street pressure. The Donahoes still bottom out fairly easy with 285s taking rolling bumps at some speed. However, the 4Runners with this amount of suspension are not the things to be jumping and getting air with. I've never done it with mine and would cringe at the thought of doing such. In addition, though it has been quite awhile since I've ridden with the stock suspension, I really don't think there is any discernable difference between the ride with that compared to the Donahoes. Not that it matters to me at all; I don't expect my 4Runner to ride like a Lincoln, and don't really care. It is a truck that takes me to great places, and everything else is secondary to me.

I still haven't had the need to adjust the front end yet, so I don't know if they've seized up yet or not. I am guessing it will take a massive amount of lubricant to get them unstuck, if even possible, but I may be pleasantly surprised when the time comes. They have obviously stayed pretty close to the same ride height since the day I put them on, though I haven't measured yet to see how much they may have settled.

One last thing while I'm at it: I have had an embarrassingly loud squeak on one of my coil-overs since day one. It is identical to the problem I had with the Sway-A-Ways later in their life. I tried to get Wheelers Off-Road, the vendor in Oregon where I purchased these from, to replace it the first week, but they indicated a squeak was a known problem with these and wouldn't do it. The noise comes from the lower mount, and I've tried various lubricants with no staying power at all. I can't believe the squeak issue of this magnitude would've been a known problem leaving the factory, especially coming on a $500-per-unit item. These might also be the source of a metal clunking sound my 4Runner has that I can't figure out where it is coming from, nor has my main repair guy. I have seen where another Donahoe 4Runner user had the same issue on his one-year-old set, and ended up having them rebuilt to rectify it. While this isn't the norm, this is another not-so-favorable score. So no, I haven't been very happy with these overall.

Ultimately, if you don't want/need the adjustability option, I think just about any other option would be the better way to go. No need to spend the extra money if you don't need to.

I chose the Old Man Emu heavy duty springs (model 891) as they provide the most lift of any other spring manufacturer that I had come across. After a year and a half, they have only sagged about a half-inch. I originally had 3.5" of lift in the rear, and it remained such when my ~125-pound rear bumper was initially installed. I had the comfort shocks (model N86C) to go with them up until the summer of 2006. At that point, the upper mount portions of both shocks themselves had basically broken (I have no idea what it is with all of my broken suspension parts to date, and you might be wondering the same if you've read this far, but the 4Runner does get driven pretty hard and frequently on the back roads) which was causing loud knocking on any type of road as the suspension cycled. I had the shocks replaced with the heavy duty (N86) versions as that is what my local shop had in inventory at the time. There is no difference in the ride between the two as it relates to my truck. In the same manner, in relation to the stock configuration, I never noticed any difference in the back-end ride with the Old Man Emu setup. The ride is just fine with this setup and I have zero complaints, and it did what I wanted it to do—to lift it. The ride quality was secondary as I'm not picky in that area. Unlike my front end suspension history woes, this combination in the back gets high marks from me, and I couldn't imagine anything else in that part of my truck.