Yep, 'ol 96er gits herself leveled on 5100's, pics inside

Posting for those wanting to see a 1st gen leveled through the use of 5100's. Here's what I had done - Energy Suspension poly rack and sway bar bushings, along with 5100's set to the middle groove and 5125's for the rear. Some notes and observations:

- WHAT a difference in handling and road feel. Mind you I was on stock shocks and struts with 196k. The truck feels brand new again...the sloppiness and random noises/shuttering on uneven roads is now gone. I don't have to avoid every single imperfection in the road now.

- Steering response is tightened up and body roll has diminished substantially.

- I am within 1/8" of level from front to back and it looks much better

Thank you to Sonny for the great deal at DSMS for anyone thinking about 5100's definitely do it. They are incredibly solid shocks and struts, even if you aren't lifting the front. Next up are new 31's with some black D-spokes..on to the pics (no befores, sorry):

 

Looks great

 

Looks great!

 

Looks kickass. Have always dug those wheels & your truck looks so clean with the black and touches of chrome. Also thanks for the to get me to check for better rack bushings for mine, was already looking at doing the sway bar bushings but didn't think of the steering rack.

 

I like these wheels too, 2nd favorite to the old 87-94 SR5 wheels. Be forewarned about the rack bushings, my guy said he had to burn out the old bushings since everything was so seized in there. All replaced stuff was original OEM as it rolled off the line in November of '95, but she steers and handles better than brand new now.

Summitracing.com for those bushings by the way.

 

Looks great man

 

Nice clean looking truck man.

 

cleanest 96 ive seen

 

Thanks guys, it runs great and I love it. I love it for the spartan interior, its simplicity and reliability.

I also cannot stress how much of a difference the new 5100's make.

 

Mine has had the steering rack rebuilt recently so hoping there's no seizures upintheya, lol. Thanks for heads up on summit, I'll check them out.

+2, mine is base model simplicity & +2 on how much a difference the 5100s made on it vs. the base model Tokicos.

 

I was looking forward to see what the middle setting looked like installed.

I haven't installed my 5100's yet on my Tacoma yet.

I will post pics of mine in the next couple weeks when I put them on.

I'm gonna put mine on the middle setting as well.

Looks good dude.

-Paul

 

dude, put them on the highest setting!!!

 

You and me both. I love how simple everything is espially when you have power nothing and nothing will ever fail... besides broken window cranks.

BTW truck looks great!

 

Nice frame

 

5100's here and what a difference they made. Highly recommend that shock. I first had mine set to the top and now have lift springs and the 5100's set to the bottom. The ride is even better now with the lift springs.

 

I am so jealous! After reading this post I am going to have to do the same to my Tacoma (1995.5 model-probably original shocks).

Do you happen to have the part numbers for the bushings from summit?