Suspension Needs Upgraded and I Need Guidance

Hey everyone,

My current suspension system just isn't doing what I need it too. It's alright for driving around town and the highway, but even then it is pretty stiff. Speed bumps need to be crossed much slower than you would like, and my rear suspension get's weighted down far too easily.

Additionally, there are some washboard / logging roads that I like to travel and the suspension is pretty rough on them.

I currently have Bilstein 5100's all round on stock coils (I know, rookie mistake), top place spacer for driver side lean, and the toytec 3 leaf AAL.

I plan on building a drawer system / sleeping platform, and replacing my tonneau with a topper, plus roof racks front and rear at some point.

So I was thinking:
OME Heavy Duty Dakkar pack, Light Racing UCA's, but I am at a loss for what to do as far as coils, coilovers, rear shocks, etc.

This is all for a 2013 DCLB running 265/75/16 BRFG KO2's

Thank you!

 

You could add some OME 887 coils up front or 886 if you plan on doing a bumper and winch at some point.

 

Yeah what he said. Swapping out for 887 coils will improve your ride a good bit. And it's pretty inexpensive to do.

 

I will look into the 887 and the 886 coils. I like the idea of an inexpensive route for the front, especially since I need to get UCA's to help with my alignment and a leaf pack for the rear already.

Great youtube channel by the way!

 

Ha ha thanks buddy! For what it's worth I'm running nearly the exact setup (5100s on "0" setting + 887s + Light Racing uppers in front, and extended travel 5100s with dakars in the back) and I feels just as good as the stock ride if not slightly better. I got my dakars right before they switch to heavy or standard duty though.

 

Any idea what I should expect a shop to charge to swap over the coils for me?

 

Awesome, thank you for the info! The longer coils and having the 5100's switched over to the "0" setting to reduce preload will probably and hopefully make a huge difference. I just have the standard rear 5100's I believe, so with a new leaf pack, I guess I'll also need to replace my rear shocks and sell them to recoup some cost, since they only have about 12,000 km on them

 

My guess would be about $200 CAD and that's not including an alignment. If you're mechanically savvy though, you can do it yourself very easily. I've used this method many times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6u7dC7EHg&t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo0FJSi-KYs&t

 

Thank you so much for the videos! I'll look into that for sure. I am not sure I am comfortable doing this myself, but I think I could get a friend who would be to help me out. Then I can just have an alignment done at a shop afterwards. Might even be able to get a set of UCA's installed if we are under there, saving labour on that as well.

 

It's pretty easy.... I am a idiot and have done it a few times.

 

Having watched the video it really doesn't seem to difficult, and I have the space to get it done. I don't have a floor jack of my own, so I'll have to see if I can get someone else involved, but I am really liking the idea of doing the install myself, plus it will save some money and I'll learn more about my truck while I am at it.

 

Do you have a harbor freight near you???? Go buy this 3 ton jack and jack stands 6 ton. You can use the 3 ton, but I find them sketchy at best.

 

I wish. I live in Canada though, so no harbor freight for me unfortunately. I was just down in Moab too, but didn't have the chance to get into a harbour freight on my way home.

 

I just searched princess auto and looks like there's some good options on there. If you plan on continuing to work on the truck I would definitely recommend picking one up. Even if you have to buy a tool or two for this job, you'll now have new tools, knowledge, and the satisfaction of doing it yourself as opposed to paying that same amount of money to someone else.

 

Definitely avoid the 2 ton floor jacks. That longer handle on the 3 tons gives you some peace of mind.

 

Since your truck is lifted you want a jack that lifts at least 20”, and the higher the better. My jack from harbor freight is a 3 too Daytona and lifts to 24 3/4, after the lift I needed more height to get the wheels off the ground.

 

So the 14" height on my 1.5 ton jack is a no go? What if I only needed to get one wheel up off the ground like changing a flat?

 

Would probably need use a 4x4 chunk of wood to get the extra height.

 

If you want to take the coilovers off yourself, have a shop swap the coils and then put them back on, should be somewhere between $40-60. My local shop charged me $40.