Bilstein 5100's making for a rough ride

I'm a newbie so any help would be appreciated. I have a 2014 Tacoma TRD Quad cab. I put 33" tires on it and they were rubbing a bit on the front. Instead of doing an actual lift, I read on here that I could swap the front shock/struts to the Bilstein 5100's and it would give it that lift i was looking for and put better suspension on the front.

After a crazy amount of effort I was able to get them swapped out on the lowest setting. It gave me the lift I needed, but the suspension is soooo stiff and when I say stiff, I mean CRAZY stiff. It's the roughest ride I've ever been in.

Can someone tell me what I did wrong and how can I fix it?

Thanks!

Josh

 

did you use the stock coils? And what setting did you put the 5100s on? If you put them on zero with stock coils then I doubt you got any lift, and shouldn't have a rougher ride than before. Something tells me you put it on highest setting.

 

I did use the stock coils. I thought I was able too.

I put it on the lowest setting. I tried to use a higher setting because I thought I had to in order to get a lift but it was literally impossible to put them on. My only option was to go with the lowest setting.

Thanks.

 

if you are on the lowest setting with stock coils then I cant see how the ride would get rougher. Did you install anything else?

 

Check to see that everything that you installed is on the right way. I seem to recall another member having this problem, and it turned out that that clip that holds the spring at the desired setting, or the top hat, was upside down or something. If I find the thread, I will post it here.

 

Here's a photo of it. I can't find a lower groove for the clip so I'm pretty sure it's on the lowest setting.

 

I didn't install anything else. It seemed WAY to hard to install though. These were about 1.5" longer from the bottom of the shock to the lowest setting than the stock shocks when i put them side by side.

 

Subd

 

Looks like the spring seat (the black thing at the bottom of the spring) is upside down

 

The perch on the strut is upside down... I know cause I struggled with mine in the same way. Although I figured it out before putting it back together.

 

It should look like this

 

^^ Yep

 

x2.. this is definitely it. heres a pic of mine where you can see the seat is the other way around so the spring is likely just compressed much more than it should be and thats why the ride is rough.

 

Yep!

ETA: No wonder your ride is rough, those bottom two coils are touching.

Glad we got it figured out for you, and welcome to the forum. Now lets see some pictures of the rest of your truck!

 

Wow...thank you so much. I swear I mimicked what the stock one looked like.

 

No problem
And welcome to the forum!

 

You guys are awesome. I'm SO appreciative.

 

Now for the BS - does anyone else watch trailer park boys?

 

J Rock and the Rock Pile, Haaah!

 

Also if the tires are E-rated they are a lot stiffer and the ride will be more bouncy in general.