One Decision Shapes the Whole Build

Before you buy anything for a 1989–1995 Pickup, answer this: are you keeping the independent front suspension, or going to a solid axle?

Everything downstream depends on it. Torsion bars, ball joints and IFS shocks are wasted money if you are swapping the front end in a year. Link brackets, panhard hardware and long leaf springs are wasted money if you are not.

  • Keeping IFS is the right answer for most people. It rides better on the road, it is cheaper, and a well-sorted IFS truck with good rear springs and real tires will go further than most owners will take it.
  • Going solid axle is for articulation, strength and simplicity, and it is a fabrication project rather than a purchase. Start with the 1985-1995 Pickup / 4Runner IFS Eliminator kit, and read the solid axle swap page before you order anything.

Rear Leaf Springs — This Is the Part We Make

The rear suspension is where a loaded Toyota lives or dies, and it is the single best money you can spend on an overland build. A sagging factory pack with 300 lb of gear in the bed rides on the bump stops, and that is what cracks spring perches and breaks shock mounts.

Our own sets, built for the load rather than for the look:

If the truck only sags when loaded, a helper spring is cheaper than a new pack: EZ-Level 550 lb for 4WD or the 1,500 lb 2WD kit. For height without new springs, Toytec add-a-leafs, a U-bolt flip kit, or our rear lift kits in 3", 4" and 5".

Whatever you fit, replace the bump stops at the same time. Leaf spring bump stops, extensions, or both together. They cost very little and they are what stands between a loaded truck and a bent frame rail.

Front Suspension, IFS

On a 4WD the front is torsion bar, and torsion bars sag with age and with a winch bumper hanging off the nose.

Cranking torsion bars for lift is free and it is the commonest mistake on these trucks. It costs you down-travel and it wears ball joints and CVs. Two inches is about the honest limit before you want the spacer kit or a different approach. The wider set of options across every platform is on the Toyota lift kits page.

Link Suspension and Fabrication

For builds that go past bolt-on. This is the hardware we use on our own long-travel trucks, and it is here because almost nobody else sells it for a Toyota.

These frames were built in the 1990s for a truck that weighed less than yours does now. If you are hanging a bumper, a winch, a rack and a rear link mount off it, gusset it.

Armor and Bumpers

Range, Recovery and Winching

The 22RE will go a long way on a tank. It will not go far enough for some of the places these trucks end up, which is what the LCE auxiliary fuel tank is for.

A 1989–1995 Pickup is a light truck. A 10,000 lb winch is more than enough, and the mount matters more than the number on the box.

Lighting — Buy the Beam Pattern, Not the Length

The commonest lighting mistake is shopping by inches. A 40-inch spot and a 40-inch driving bar do completely different jobs.

Budget bars in the same patterns: Pro Comp DR48, SR48 and the DR6. Anything over about 20 inches wants a relay and a fused feed off the battery.

Where to Start

If you are building this truck to travel rather than to crawl, the order that gets the most out of the money is: rear springs, then tires, then recovery gear, then lighting, then armor. Armor is the most satisfying purchase and the one that does least for how far you can go.

Browse by System Instead

Everything else for this truck: 1989-1995 Pickup parts, lift kits, supercharger kits and the 22R / 22RE engine parts hub if the motor needs attention before the suspension does.

Building a different truck? 1984-1988 Pickup, 1995-2004 Tacoma, 1996-2002 4Runner and FJ Cruiser.

Not sure where your truck is weakest? Tell us what you are carrying and where you are taking it. On a 30-year-old truck the honest answer is often the springs and the ball joints before anything else.

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