Suspension
When prepping your FJ Cruiser for off road use you might be considering a lift of the FJ. In most cases this consist of a suspension lift with replacement of a number of suspension components. There are to main categories of lifts, spacers or springs.
Spacers add a 3″ disc above the spring to lift the FJ. The spacer does not add additional travel because the original springs are retained. The spacer also affects the geometry of the suspension by shifting the range of motion down 3″.
A better lift is a full spring replacement. There a a number of options providing different stiffness and rates of travel from a number of manufactures. When replacing your springs would will also need to replace rear shocks. The front shocks can be retained because the full extended distance of the suspension is not changed. However, if you want to go the extra step that and a number of suspension options available.
The other consideration with your lift is what type of performance do you want. For me I was looking for low speed off road use. What I really wanted was the additional clearance that the lift proves as wells as a little stiffer spring.
For some people high speed off road (Prerunner) performance is what they are seeking. If this is where you want to go you will want springs tuned for high speed use as well as high performance shock with external reservoirs to help keep the shock cool.
