Bilstein 5100's on a '98 Prerunner

I'm looking to get new suspension on my truck.

I've been looking at getting 5100's, but the installation has been a little confusing to me. I've heard you need to have a minimum of a 2" lift on the rear in order to use them properly? For now, I want to have a 0" stock lift. I just want to have the possibility of a lift in the future.

How hard are they to install? I was going to get some Monroe Quickstruts to avoid having to mess with the coils, but the 5100's look nicer with their lift options.

 

The Bilstein shocks I had were good for 0 - 3" of lift.

 

I just installed the 5100's with Eibach coils. It wasn't really that hard of a swap, just be mindful when compressing and decompressing the springs when you swap the shocks. The 5100's are a huge improvement over the stock shock, it rides like a completely different truck now. I don't have any experience with the Monroe's but you won't be disappointed with the 5100's.

 

Thanks! How do you compress the coils, do you need a spring compressor? I heard it's a little dangerous, which is why I was springing for the QuickStruts with them installed. Are new coils necessary?

 

I followed the steps of a youtube videos thats floating around the forum. You can do the swap without using a spring compressor. Basically you let the shock and coil decompress in the truck by lowering the lower a arm down. Then you just pull out the shock/coil and put in the new ones (or your stock coil if you'e using it. Then jack up on the lower a arm after bolting the shock down and then it compresses back up. Then just bolt the shock down on the stud. I never had to use a spring compressor, and after seeing how still the Eibachs were, I didn't want to use one.