Third gen shocks/springs on a second gen

I've been between these and 5100s. From what I'm aware, you need the 3rd gen coils as well to achieve the front lift. Right now getting new take off coilovers is the same price as 5100s. With the 5100s you're basically guaranteed a 1 and 3/4 lift if you set them. But the trade off is you get new coils with the take offs.

 

You can get brand new take offs, including the springs already assembled and rear shocks for $150 if you watch for them. 5100's, which I had on my 2016, will cost much more than that for fronts. If you simply want to level, or slightly more, then go with take offs. A much better value. Also with 5100's you must compress and swap over the stock springs. If you want more than level you can add a small top spacer for cheap to take offs. On my 2016 all I wanted was level so I went with the 5100's. This was a few years ago and the cheapest 5100's were around $340 for front and rear. Rears provide no lift anyway. I just couldn't see the benefit of 5100's for my level intensions on my 2008.

 

I wish I could find take offs for $150

 

Be patient. I bought one set off a 2021 for $140 with 27k miles. Then found a 2nd set for $150 off a 2022 with under 200 miles (guy delivered them to me). Sold the 27k set for $130. I saw a front set with springs on FB with 20k miles for $100 earlier this week. I looked a long time to find the 1st ones. Was patient enough to catch the newer set on CL. After completing the install, driving around a few miles, with a driver lean 1/4" spacer I ended up at 36-3/8" on both sides from 34-1/2" driver and 35" passenger side. That is a gain of 1-3/8". Worth every penny, and a few bruises, to me. After this picture it settled 3/8" per side to the 36-3/8" numbers after driving around.

Some have mentioned going with 5100's over the 3rd gen Off Road coils and struts. Here is a comparison of my old 2016 on 5100's set at 0.85" and my 2008 on the 3rd gen struts and coils.

 

Just wanted to add this note in case someone else has this issue. I assume this is due to the original passenger outer tie rod in use for 14 years. Didn't have this issue on driver side. The joint itself is still nice and tight. No reason to replace the tie rod. I could not get the old castle nut down to the point of torquing it or installing the cotter pin. I assumed that the castle nut had some burrs on it. Ran a 9/16"-18 tap through the nut and it felt like it took a couple of burrs out. Still would not go half way on the stud. I took a die grinder to the threads in the serrated end of the nut to remove any bad threads or burrs. Then ran a tap in it again. Still no-go. I then started filing on the tie rod threads particularly around the cotter pin holes. Then the nut would go down to 1 thread below the hole. Laying a tap with 18 tpi in the tie rod stud showed some mismatch of the top half threads to the bottom half threads. I then went to work with my trusty Craftsman thread chase tool. It did remove material off on one side of the lower threads. Went ahead and bought a new castle nut. Tightened the chase tool and repeated several times. Finally the nut went down to the seating position for torquing. The top half of the nut engaged threads were stretched so I cut the lower half threads to match the top half. Couldn't run a die nut on the tie rod because it would spin when the die nut got tight. I put a long allen wrench in the cotter pin hole to keep it from spinning while cutting with the chase tool. This was still better than spending money on a new outer tie rod. Chase tool (pkg says inch up to 1/2" but used on inch and metric threads up to 9/16"):