Not another suspesnion thread! :O

I've really tried to resist the urge to do one of these, but after cruising around the site search bar I can't find an answer to a couple of these questions:

• How many miles can you put on a stock suspension before ride quality starts to suffer? (I've currently got almost 40k)

• Would I be crazy to only upgrade my front suspension to level the truck out and take car of the rear later?

• If I do the front coil and and shock should I go ahead and just do the UCA too?

What it amounts to is that the SR5 Hitachi shock and coil suspension is "okay" but I'd very much like to know when the "practical" time to upgrade would be. I don't think anyone is gonna want these for spare parts, so how much use can I get out of them before its time to get something much better for offroading?

 

all depends on how you use your truck. usually the first thing to go is shocks. I would suspect they will last alot longer than 40k if used for normal street driving. if you off-road alot, yes you could have a bad shock by now.

always a good idea to upgrade ucas from a off-road performance standpoint if your lifting the front.

 

More than 170K on my stock 4x4 1st Gen with a lot of off-road work miles. No probs with shocks, ever.

Leveling is Ok, why not?

 

I hit 90k miles before my rear shocks started leaking. fronts were still fine when I took them off

 

Thanks everybody. I appreciate the feedback. Looks like its kind of what I was afraid of. Seems to be kind of subjective/up to the driver.

 

I can give you a mechanics note to show the wife your entire suspension is shot and you need new coilovers, control arms, a bearing in the front diff, and new leaf springs in the rear, all of which was caused ny not have full skid plates. also your tires are out of round and need replaced. btw, I'm not a mechanic!

 

Yeah, I mean some people drive around cars with shocks that are completely shot and they don't even know. Is just normal to them. And it's not necessarily a problem, a pristine shock is not mission critical for a car to operate. Also, they don't normally just fail, short of leaks. They more deteriorate over time so if one isn't fairly in tune with their suspension the gradual change may be missed entirely.

 

It's absolutely not subjective! Nor is it up to the driver, unless you just "decide" to change them. Three things will cause a shock to fail: Cycling, dirt and heat.
For example, my stock shocks always last a long time because I drive a lot on the road and when off road I go slow and stay out of the mud as much as possible.
Another guy might do a lot of high speed long distance dirt road driving. THAT is probably the worst for a shock. Repeated cycling without time for the shock to cool, + dust, = short life on shocks.
Usually, even though my shocks are not leaking, I will change around 50-75K miles. I know I can get 100K out of them based on my driving habits but I would rather change them before failure and they are not real expensive.

I made the mistake of getting some high dollar, "rebuildable" shocks once. Back then they cost about $500 apiece. What a mistake. They lasted about 25K miles before needing to be rebuilt. Unless you have the tools, you have to take them off and send them in. Which means you don't have a truck for a few weeks unless you change back to the stock shocks in the interim. Which means double work...
First time I sent them in one of the rods was pitted and needed replaced. Plus it was not cheap to get them rebuilt. I went through the cycle twice before pitching them in the trash and learning from my $3K mistake. Went back to stock and didn't look back.

 

I bought 6112s for the front and 5160s for the rear with Dakar leaf springs. It rides better on bumpy roads.

 

The hero we don't deserve.

 

I was actually looking at a 6112 kit with UCA for the front with the plan to do the 5100s and Dakar leafs pack in the back later on. Looks like the 5160's get the extra reservoir?

 

I didn't get new UCA for mine. Yes, they have an external reservoir which has a clean way to mount.