Limited springs and OR shocks/struts to help the ride?

In what way do you think you asked the question differently?

In any case, my tip is to not drink too much of the kool-aid.

 

The 5100s are Bilsteins, aren't they? I looked at them briefly last night. Are they adjustable? If so, would be a nice to have feature to dial in the ride.

 

The preload has a finite number of adjustments. The damping is not adjustable. You have to spend $$$$ for that.

For example only:

https://accutuneoffroad.com/product...-5-dia-remote-reservoir-coil-over-w-adjuster/

 

Hammer hangers with cross tube will 100% tighten up rear end and get rid of jitters over harsh bumps.

Sometimes opposite ends of truck will cause issues with the other. The factory leaf hangers are paper thin and flex too much.

 

I’d go 62” deaver spring under in the rear with a bypass shock opened up all the way for compression stage. Front long travel, with a 10” coil over running a duel rate spring setup , and agin bypass shock with the compression stage opened up. Run something like a 0.008”-0.010” compression stack in the coil over. Sway bars might be needed with all that mushy travel. Will ride like a Cadillac on the road and through the woops.

 

Nonsense, OP needs an 4 wheel independent suspension swap from a Honda Ridgeline.

 

Actually……

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-irs-edition.232029/



Remember guys , if you ever want to see how to do anything the “right way “, just see what the “desert/ prerunner “ people do and copy.

 

I'm trying to improve the ride quality for strictly a street truck. The leather seats and chrome ...everything, on the Limited. Verses the style and purpose differences in the SR5, Sport, OR Pro occasionally used off road. Personally, I've removed every bit of chrome inside and out on this one, and body color matched door handles and mirror caps. That's the look I'm going for. Most people seems to want theirs to look like it's used for rock crawling, or overlanding. That's silly to me. If you use it for that, no problem, but if you're just going for that look?? ...come on

I haven't measured the height in all four corners, but I'm guessing it is 1" lower in the front? I really don't want to jack this thing to the sky, but leveling is ok. The goal would be to have wheels/tires to look proportional to the opening, and ride somewhat plush.

Not sure what you mean by the kool air comment.

 

The Kool-Aid comment is about having too much belief in the widespread opinions on this forum that spending $$$ on modifications will deliver you to the promised land. Fact check all statements of fact and spend your money wisely.

 

Some mods like the hammer hangers are bolt on and improve the factory weak points. Can be used with factory leaf springs. Unfortunately its going to cost money to try things and see how they feel. There isnt a magic mod that makes a tacoma ride great.

 

You mean short of the Cadillac swap mod?

 

New cadillac or old cadillac?

 

Pink Cadillac

 

Mary K?

 

I wanted to follow up on my own post after installing the Bilstein 5100s.

After reading about the Bilstein

$479 B8 5100 Series Set of Front & Rear Shocks fits 2016-2023 Tacoma with 0-1" Rear Lift | Provides 0-1" Front Lift | Includes TrendsAuto Decal | 24-263108 24-186728

B8 5100 strut/shock kit I decided to give them a try. Here are my impressions of the install and the ride differences. The install is super easy and can be done in your garage without any special tools. Search How to Remove Toyota Front Strut Assemblies the Fastest Way on YouTube. The Bilstein instructions say that the bottom adjustment groove on the front struts is stock ride height, next one up is .65" higher, and third 1.1" higher than stock. These measurements weren't accurate on my 2018 Taco Limited. I wanted to level out my truck, so I went with the third groove. Turns out the third groove is 1.5" higher than stock, making it .5" higher in the front than the rear. I drove it like that for a week just to see it would settle and it didn't change. In that time I started feeling a vibration in the left front from the diff bearing. Went down to the next groove and it was 1.1" above stock, so basically perfectly level. Still had the vibration from the front diff bearing, so I lowered it to the bottom groove expecting it to be back at the factory height, it's not. The bottom groove is .65" above stock, which is where I left it until I address the diff bearing.

I read about needing to replace the diff bearing when jacking these trucks up, but I didn't expect it to be a problem just leveling it out. Lesson learned. I now have the ECGS bushing and once I put that in, I'll go back to the 2nd groove on the front struts.

Now about the ride quality. The factory struts/shocks on my Limited were made by Mitsubishi and are complete CRAP! Super harsh and just not good at dampening bumps at all! These Bilstein 5100 are an improvement in dampening, but don't make as much difference in the ride quality as I had hoped. If you want plush, these are not the dampeners you should get. They are inexpensive though. I got mine from Stage 3 Motorsports for $450 shipped.

 

Thank you for posting all this.

Trying to sift through all the BS and bad recommendations here is frustrating and while I am sorry your experience has been underwhelming, I am glad you can be honest about what they are and aren't. I'm eyeing Pro suspension for the ride improvements but all the "Pro suspension is overrated bro, 5100's are just as good bro, save your money bro, please run the same shocks as me bro" have made me wonder if I don't really need to pony up that much..now I know I'd be pissed if I listened to those comments because it sounds like largely a waste of time if you're looking for much more than leveling (and then dogpiled with "it's a truck with less payload than a Subaru, it's supposed to ride like trash" comments).

The rear leaf spring hangers is an interesting thing I wouldn't have thought of though. I've wondered if the ride complaints is a combination of both suspension components and floppy chassis and that certainly suggests I am not completely off base.

 

Go with Bilstein 4600 for a non lifted street truck. Saves you money over 5100 series shocks.

https://www.shocksurplus.com/blogs/...vs-5100-series-what-are-the-major-differences

 

Thanks for the positive feedback. Just curious, how much would the Pro suspension cost? Would this be someone's take off, or new from Toyota. If it makes the ride plush and isn't ridiculously expensive, I might be interested. Can you explain your point about the rear leaf spring hangers? Is there a Pro version of those, or are you referring to something else?

 

PRO suspension likely costs similarly to some high end coilovers. I'm gonna suggest again, just bc I hate to see people throwing money away and still being unhappy; go to a dealer, drive a Pro first, and if you like it, then try to find some takeoffs. I know you initially said you didn't want to dive into a "full suspension replacement", but you're kinda on the road many others end up unfortunately taking, which is trying to settle for less when you'll ultimately never be happy with anything but the best. There truly is only so much you can do to make a tacoma comfortable to an ultra-sensitive butt, and even the most expensive routes can't compare to other trucks' comfort.

 

Good suggestion. I have driven the Off Road, but not the Pro. When I was shopping for one of these trucks I saw the price tag of the Pro and immediately went the other way without looking into it further since I didn't have any plans to do any off roading. What parts make up the Pro suspension? I know about the upper control arms, and I assume the struts/shocks are different, but not sure if anything else is different.