Improving on-road performance

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Improving on-road performance

Postby gaspergartner on Fri, 07 Sep 2018 3:13 +0000

I started this discussion in "Are you happy with your gen8 Hilux ???" and I think it deserve it's own topic:

fooman wrote:
gaspergartner wrote:
fooman wrote:Stock suspension is soft and floaty on road
Stock suspension is pretty crappy off road. I drove on a easy trail and the suspension while soft couldn't seem to respond fast enough with the MT's. Very bumpy and car sickness inducing ride. I have a 75km off road trip coming up. ugh.


How to improve this without lifting the suspension? I know a funny requirement :lol:, but just wan't to have better on-road performance, already more than enough ground clearance for European roads and dirt tracks, off-roading is more or less prohibited.

It seems that stock Ranger is in advantage in this department, so still a little undecided what to buy.

I was thinking of fitting all 4 new shocks maybe a stiffer rear sway bar?


A common comfort mod here in Borneo is to fit double shackles to the leaves and add a rear sway bar. Some may replace the shocks. Plenty of parts from Thailand.


Here is a nice demonstration of the drawback of Hilux suspension compared to Ranger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZRTMNg1X24

What I had in mind to improve this is:
- Stiffer sway bars, I think that would greatly improve this floating effect, since this would eliminate leaning leaft and right. Though this would hurt the articulation off-road. Eg. Front and Rear
- 30mm wheel spacers. A wider track should improve handling (tiping over), or will it?
- New shock absorbers, I don't know what to chose and what improvements to expect
- New coils and leaf springs - don't think it's necessary, and hard to get in stock height
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby hiluxxury on Sat, 08 Sep 2018 4:24 +0000

Sway bars will improve the boat feeling that you describe. The front is already stiff IMV but certainly the rear could use one if you don'ts need offroad capabilities.

Shocks will help too - you might want to talk to a shop that can play with valve settings.

Spacers will help but so to will wider offset rims.

Or buy a ranger... if you want to do that to yourself :roll:
I might be wrong.

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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby same name on Mon, 10 Sep 2018 8:33 +0000

Morning All,
[i] I have done the GVM upgrade thing, made a huge difference.It must be remembered that these little trucks a re mainly sold to urban users, thus highway rate tyres, sloppy suspension.
[/i]Sway bars are a good idea, I will have a look at them for mine.
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby Tony2 on Tue, 11 Sep 2018 4:49 +0000

I don't know if you know this guys but the suspension is tuned to have 300kg+ on it.
Those of you who have bought a work vehicle for a family drive should seriously consider changing vehicles.

I carry a bit and the suspension feels good. On the rare occasion that I carry nothing the car feels like an empty wheel barrow.
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby gaspergartner on Tue, 11 Sep 2018 6:07 +0000

With heavy load driving characteristics are not good at all, again take a look at this demonstration (at 3:23), where they load the bed with water container:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZRTMNg1X24

I either carry 0 weight or full load of 1 ton (with added air suspension), so I'm considering changing old 2008 Lux with the new UTE, no other option for me :lol:
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby Tony2 on Thu, 13 Sep 2018 7:27 +0000

Wow that's a real life test.
Both runs have completely different lines (double turn 4.35). Not only that but the Australian car had different suspension to the hilux in Europe (probably like this model), so you might not even be looking at the same car.
I've driven two Rangers and two hiluxs on the same day, how anyone can call one a far better handler than the other is mind boggling.
4x4 magazine tested them both (and all of the other competitors) and called the hilux the steadiest tower of the lot and equal to any under load.
Like I said, if you don't like riding in an empty wheel barrow put something in it or buy a Mercedes.
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby Terror on Fri, 14 Sep 2018 8:19 +0000

Ive heard parabolic springs in the rear give a much nicer ride. They arent designed to carry as much weight as a load pack, about 200-300kgs constant max is what parabolics can handle.
Might be an option if you want a softer ride and dont need to carry as much constant weight.
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby DeadlyBeast on Fri, 14 Sep 2018 9:00 +0000

Interesting road test - partial filling a 1000L water tank. The load mass is dynamic, creating extra lateral forces around corners as the water moves under inertia, instead of using a static fixed load like it would be in real world use :shock:

Gasper - you are probably better off talking to your suspension shop in Slovenia to see what they can do to stiffen up the ride.
Most of the guys over here want lifted, softer, more compliant rides for articulation off road yet we do see some who want a car that rides like a Lamborghini around the track and still be able to go off road, handle heavy loads, and have awesome shock absorbing characteristics over the bumps... you cant have it all.

Its a ute - not a sports car. Drive to the vehicles abilities a design purpose.

You can probably get stiffer shocks over there for high speed cornering/highway use but expect a rough ride off track. No problem if you stick to sealed roads
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Re: Improving on-road performance

Postby gaspergartner on Fri, 14 Sep 2018 5:47 +0000

Thanks for suggestions.

In Europe we have two versions, one with 1t payload and 1920 kg rear axle load and a softer version with 1850 kg rear axle load. I searched the part numbers on http://www.toyodiy.com/ and see that Australian version truly uses different suspension parts front and back, can't really say how different that is.

For my needs (occasional pickup cabin) I will go with:
- semi air suspension on the rear
- adjustable rear shocks (Tough Dog)
- H&R 30mm wheel spacers

Depending how this will work out, I may additionally go with:
- Rear Sway bar
- Front shocks

Now, I just need to buy a new Lux :lol:
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