98-04 Tacoma Bilstein 5100 Strut/Toytec Coil Guide

Hi all,

I know there are other threads that explain how to install struts and springs, but I didn't find anything with a satisfying amount of detail when it came to this particular setup.

If you are considering changing your front struts, the Bilstein 5100 and Toytec Coil is a great option! It will be much stiffer than the stock struts, but it will handle soooo much better. No leans on turns, no more nosedives when braking hard, and very smooth offroad. This setup will provide you a little over 3" of lift after your springs settle, and will require NO spacer.
You can also use your stock Coil springs if they are still good, but I decided to just go ahead and change everything while I was there. If your Truck has stock suspension you will also need to raise the rear. Either an add-a-leaf or 2" block will work.
So, without further ado, here we go!

~What you will need~

1. Bilstein 5100 Strut Kit (2)
2. Eibach Toytec Lift Springs (2)
3. Bushings and Washers (They usually come in a pack)
4. Strut Mounts and Spring Bushing (2)

~Tools~
1. 1/2" Breaker bar
2. 1/2" Ratchet and extensions (17mm, 19mm, and 21mm)
3. A compact 3/4" Ratchet and extensions (13mm, 14mm, 15mm, 16mm)
4. An assortment of Socket Wrenches (13mm, 14mm, 15mm, 17mm, 19mm, and 21mm)
5. Center punches
6. Pry bars
7. Bottle Jack
8. Jack stands
9. Wheel Blocks


~Optional~
1. Thread locker
2. Spring compressors
3. Extra Jack
4. 1/2" Torque wrench
5. An extra hand



~Step 1~

First thing you need to do is get the front wheels unbolted and off the ground. Break the torque on the lugs and raise the front wheels off the ground. I placed my bottle jack on the frame section right behind the differential cross member, but anywhere that has solid frame will work. Go ahead and remove the tires too.




PLACE BLOCKS ON BOTH REAR TIRES AND MAKE SURE THE CAR IS IN GEAR AND THE PARKING BRAKE IS ON.

Place jack stands under the FRAME on both sides and lower the truck onto the jack stands.


~Step 2~

At this point, wheels should be off and both hubs should be hanging free and fully extended.
Go ahead and unbolt the lower strut mount. There is a nut on the other side of the bolt, place a socket there to hold it in place and use a 1/2" breaker bar to loosen it. It will probably be pretty stuck. Use WD-40, PB Blaster, whatever but DO NOT FORCE IT AND STRIP THE BOLT HEAD. You will have to saw it off, and it's a PITA (ask me how I know).

Once you get the bolt and nut apart, it's a pain to remove the bolt from the hole. There is a washer that will come off with the nut, don't lose it! The spring will still be applying pressure to to the bolt, but throw in some elbow grease and force it out. I ended up using a center punch on one side to pop it out, and the other side I wedged it at an angle and was able to let the thread catch on the mounting bracket, thus allowing it to back out just with a socket wrench.

Front side of the Lower Strut Mount bolt


The Nut on the backside


~Step 3~

Next step is to remove the 3 bolts at the top of the strut mount. There are 3, and they shouldn't be that tight. Use a 3/4" Socket or ratchet and pop those suckers off. Be careful, the strut assembly may come crashing down! Catch it! DO NOT REMOVE THE CENTER BOLT.
Only remove the three bolts on top the strut mount.
If you remove the center bolt, the spring and strut will come firing straight down, and will either cause a ton of damage or serious/fatal injury. This is no joke guys, I think stock springs take 590lbs to compress them 1". Don't f*ck with them.



~Step 4~

Your next step will be to assemble your new strut. I used spring compressors and assembled the strut myself, but I will tell you this right now: HAVE A SHOP ASSEMBLE THEM!
It took me nearly 7 hours total just to compress both sides enough to fit in the strut, besides that, you also have to remove the compressors from the spring that, after being compressed, isn't spaced far enough apart to let the compressor blocks through. I had to use a pry bar to split the spring just enough to fit the compressor block through the gaps. It sucks. Get a shop to do it.

There are a few options for setting the strut up:

Bilstein 5100 + Toytec coil + Clip on bottom notch = 3" lift
Bilstein 5100 + Stock Coil + Clip on Middle notch = 1 1/2" lift
Bilstein 5100 + Stock Coil + Clip on top notch = 2 1/2" lift

Do not set the clip higher on the strut if you have a Toytec coil. You will destroy the strut. And no, it wont give you more lift. The toytec coil is taller AND it has a higher spring rate. It takes 620lbs to compress it 1" Don't risk your suspension because you think you might get more lift. You won't!


Here's all the bushing and washers you will need. You will need 3 washers for each side and two bushings per side as well.

Take a look




In this picture I have them assembled in the order they go on the strut


It goes strut block, washer, bushing with the little slot protruding on one end, washer, rubber spring bushing, strut mount, big bushing washer, then bolt.


Strut mount goes over this, then bushing, then washer, then bolt.


The bushing goes on top the strut mount, then the washer and bolt goes over.

~Step 5~

Once you get your struts loaded up, get them back into the mount and line the top three bolts up with the bottom strut mount. It might be off by a bit, just line up the top 3 holes, put a screwdriver into the bottom strut mount and turn it till it's positioned correctly. Real simple.
After you secure the bottom bolt (someone comment on the torque specs please), go ahead and bolt up the top three bolts, making sure to tighten them evenly. I put thread locker on all my bolts, but that's just me.

Finished Product


In total, this job took me about 13 hours. The majority of the time was spent compressing the new coils. Save yourself time and have a shop do it. If the coil were to slip while you were compressing it, you'd most likely die or lose a limb lol.

Stay safe and lifted! PM me if you have any questions
~Reid

 

Good write-up and lots of great info!

2 questions:

-So the middle spring clip is the lowest setting, or is this a typo? I always thought it went sequentially.

-Is it okay to use the 5100's to gain additional lift in conjunction with the Toytec springs? For example, I know that it's a bad idea to use the 5100's to gain additional lift over stock when paired with OME's products, but that must not be the case here.

Also - any before/after pics of the truck?

 

I had those same 3" Eibach coils on my 5100's before I switched to Icon coilovers. And you should always keep them on the lowest setting since the coils are already gonna give you 3" of lift. If you went to any higher of a setting you'll ruin a lot of front end components not to mention the 5100's too. You would definitely not have any travel of any kind with them compressed more on a higher setting.

 

Good writeup, except for one minor detail. 4x4 Tacomas don't have struts. They are coilovers. Even the OEM are coilovers.

Basically, anything with an upper and lower control arm is a coilover.

And if you are running a 3" lift with a 4x4, you should have a diff drop, too. It's cheap insurance to save your CV axles.

 

If you use the toytec coil, always put the clip on the lowest setting. The coil itself will net you a good 3 inches of lift

You may use the stock coil on the 5100 strut, and either clip setting will work. Bottom setting will be stock height, second will give about 1 1/2" of lift, and the top notch will give you about 2 1/2"

As for whether this setup is a bad idea or not, I live in Hawaii where practically everyone who has a Tacoma with a 3" lift runs this setup. It's a huge step up from spacers, and definitely a lot smoother. If you are worried about the extra height, throw a differential drop and upper control arms on. Heck, new spindles wouldn't hurt either!

 

I too have this 5100 Toytec coilover kit. I have the diff drop, and the SPC upper control arms. Without the UCA's you'll never get a proper alignment. OP, GREAT write up!

 

You’re wrong. They actually do have STRUTS not coilovers. Struts are a shock spring combo. Coilovers are too but the difference is that coilovers are ADJUSTABLE. they consist of a shock, spring AND an adjustable collar to fine tune spring preload. Even bilsteins and an aftermarket coil are still adjustable STRUTS not coilovers.

at least you’re confident in your response though lol

 

Last post before yours, Sep 4, 2017. Way to thread revive.

Struts are part of the steering mechanism and replace the upper ball joints.

Coilovers are shock absorbers with coils installed over them. Coilovers do nothing but support and dampen. No turning involved or anything.

What @jbrandt posted, is in fact correct.

 

https://knowhow.napaonline.com/coilovers-vs-struts-whats-the-difference/

cmon man really know before you start talking. You are very wrong. Actually coilovers don’t just “do nothing but support and dampen”, they literally have all the vehicles weight on the spring. Truck is not drivable with out the coilover OR strut

 

I wonder if @jberry813 agrees?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacomas-dont-have-struts.452101/

Go do some reading junior. And stop reviving 5 year old threads to call someone out when your information is incorrect. Don't be a douche.

 

You’re seriously gonna believe a thread post instead of a well established auto parts store? Very gullible. And you answered my post on the same thread doesnt make you any better than me.
Bilstein sells their 5100s assembled with the OME springs for the tacomas as STRUTS so how tf would you explain that?

 

You

You do you boo. Drive on, you shining diamond, rock that 10" lift with drop brackets and spacers and keep telling yourself that you are correct. You'll get far in this world.

 

I imagine you will either get bored or emotionally reactive before you are able to read my entire post and contemplate its meaning, but here goes.

The linked article is actually a NAPA know-how blog entry...not written by an automotive engineer. It doesn't surprise me that misconceptions in nomenclature made it into such an article. Frankly, this is seen all over the place, even with professionals using the technical terminology of their own discipline incorrectly. Further, it should come as no surprise that terms such as "strut" and "coilover" have technical meanings that aren't widely known. In fact, sometimes the incorrect usage of a technical term becomes so widespread, that it becomes accepted into the vernacular, although in a sense it is still technically incorrect. I see this in woodworking (rabbet vs dado, chamfer vs bevel), elsewhere in automotive (manifold vs header, cold-air intake vs open element filter), photography (zoom vs telephoto), cooking (saute vs fry, roast vs braise)....you get the idea.

If you're genuinely curious and willing to learn, I suggest you read the following articles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPherson_strut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_wishbone_suspension

While I don't advocate that Wikipedia is the be-all, end-all authoritative source (it's not), unlike some "branded content" written by a freelancer and posted to a corporate blog, Wikipedia entries are crowd-sourced and can be corrected by anyone. Further, if you wish to dig deeper, Wikipedia articles often cite more authoritative sources. Lastly, if you really care that much (it seems you are passionate about, or otherwise emotionally invested in this topic), you could always check out a book from your library. Here is one published by the Society of Automotive Engineers: https://www.sae.org/publications/books/content/r-300_els/

 

This has been discussed on this forum many times. You are absolutely wrong. Just because some idiots call them "quick struts" doesn't make them actually struts.

https://help.summitracing.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5260/~/what’s-the-difference-between-shocks,-struts,-and-coilovers?

Nothing about the function of a coilover says they need to be adjustable.

 

Yes. they are commonly misidentified as "struts". Even Summit Racing (link my me previous post) calls them "struts" sometimes, but the article I posted above clearly shows the actual difference.

Why do they call them struts sometimes? Probably because they got tired of hearing from people like you who think they know the difference based on how certain companies market their products.

 

To be pedantic (in the spirit of this thread, and the other TW thread linked above), a strut in the broad engineering sense is a structural member designed to resist longitudinal compression. From this perspective, a Tacoma coilover is a strut in the same sense that the windshield A-pillar is also a strut. In the context of automotive front suspension, we are taking "strut" to mean McPherson strut design (no UCA). On the same token, the performance tuner crowd, decades ago, took "coilover" to mean a shock absorber with a threaded sleeve to adjust the height of the spring perch.

If one wishes to be technically correct (the best kind of correct), a coilover is technically a strut, and a McPherson strut is technically a coilover (usually). Therefore, neither term (strut, coilover) is adequately descriptive on its own to determine whether a vehicle has McPherson strut or multi-link (upper and lower control arm) suspension. As long as one understands the differences between multi-link and McPherson strut suspension design and function, the debate over nomenclature, regardless of perspective, is rather pointless and seems to reflect lack of genuine understanding.

At a practical level, the terminology preferences don't seem to have any bearing on anything consequential. If you say strut, your mechanic will know what you're talking about, and vice versa. It's not like someone is going to accidentally bolt a McPherson strut onto their Tacoma and wonder why the handling sucks.