Swapping to 5100s from stock with spacers

Hi everyone,

New member here, looking for a sanity check. And some help identifying some mystery parts.

I just purchased this vehicle at a local Toyota Dealership.

Objectives:
-eliminate the front spacers and keep a similar stance.
-replace rear shocks to with Bilsteins
-identify UCAs

2018 TRD Sport:
-05tma30 marked spacers, looks to be 3” lift based on internet search?
-factory Bilsteins and springs up front
-mystery shocks in rear (gray color)
-OME EL112R Leafs with what looks like like a 1” block
-mystery uniball UCAs
-286/70R17
-Leer camper shell
-factory 4Runner TRD pro wheels
-mini bumper and winch upfront ~150 lbs

Wheel well heights:
-~23” front
-~25.5” rear

Partially educated Plan A:
-5100s w/ 2886s up front
-B110-P 5100s in the rear
-Leave the UCAs as is

Uneducated Plan B:
-Open to suggestions

I’m generally happy with how this drives now. Truck has a pedal commander, Injen CAI, Borla catback. Not looking to go anywhere in a hurry.

Someone dumped a lot of money in this thing but skimped on the suspension (except the leafs).

photos below

Thanks,
Ian

 

It really depends what you want to do with the truck. If you’re happy with the way it drives and looks, you could keep the spacers. If you’re planning to off road and abuse it a little, swapping will be a good.

The 5100 are tried and true. If you want larger diameter shocks, the 6110s are the next size up and make a lot of people happy.

Once you find out the UCA, of recommend greasing them, since there is no way to know last time they were greased.

 

The goal is to make it more off-road capable, while maintaining a decent daily driver.

Not afraid to spend for quality, as I plan to have this truck 10+ years.

 

I can’t help with indentifying any of those parts unfortunately but I did switch from Rough Country spacers to Bilstein 5100’s a while back.

I agree with @hyrule_trd, if you don’t plan on doing any real off roading, the spacers are fine. If you are going to take the truck off road then I would go with one of your listed plans. I chronicled my journey in my build thread if you’re curious.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/clean-purpose-built-3rd-gen-sr5.734054/

Edit: just saw your post about off-road plans. I would definitely upgrade. The 5100’s have been great to me.

 

I was going to guess total chaos uca's, but they use red poly bushings. The uniballs might need to be replaced as there's a bit of rust in there.

Bilstein 5100's get positive reviews and are cheap. So do Bilstein 6112/5160's as mentioned.

 

TRD Sport doesn't have factory Bilsteins (I see blue shocks, they should be Hitachi).
3" lift spacers should be 1.5" thick (roughly 2:1 lift ratio). Brand matters little, most all of them are just a machined aluminum donut.
I see a remote-reservoir mounting bracket in one of your pics, so whoever had it before probably stuck the stock shocks back on it (w/spacers) for trade-in.
Can't help on the UCAs or rear shocks (not enough of the shocks visible in your pics to see anything, if there is anything to see on them anyway)
Looks like new(ish) inner CV boots on that, I'd have to wonder if they had torn due to that lift being 3", and not 2"... You definitely do not want to leave that at 3" lift.

×4 on the 5100s. Those are a great choice.

 

Start by measuring center of hub to fender on each wheel. Stock is about 21 front and 22 rear. This is always how you measure lift heights.

It does look like a 3 inch lift in front to me which is too much. Your cv boots won't last long. Stay around a max of 23 front and 24 rear otherwise your shocks will not have much downtravel left in them.

Ideally you want 2 to 3 inches of downtravel.

A 3 inch spacer lift will result in the uca likely making contact w the coils. And the shocks will bottom out before making contact w the bumpstop.

Bilstein 6112 fronts (max of 2 inches btw) are what you want. Then in the rear either 5100s or more likely need 5125s which are for 2 to 3.5 lift.

Nothing really special with rear 5160s. (A common pairing with 6112s) About .3 longer than 5100s I believe. But much more money.

Carrier bearing drop.

Ditch the rear Block and new ubolts in the back depending on the current t height and the results if the 6112s

 

Updated the height measurements in the original post.
~23” front and ~25.5” rear

Thanks for sharing the right way to measure.

After some more reading it looks like 2” is a good spot to be. Hopefully it would prevent more headaches (and cv axles) in the future.

Sounds like the 5100s with 2886s, would be less preferred. With the bumper and winch, maybe it would be closer the 2.5” side. Is this more reasonable compared to the 3” spacer lift?

Worried I might get some rubbing with 6112s with 285/70r17.

Would the 6112s and 275/70r17 be able to utilize the suspension travel better than the 285s??

 

There is no difference in tire clearance between the 5100's vs the 6112's.

One is a 2" diameter shock and the other is about a 2.5" diameter shock. 6112's ride a little softer, have a little less body roll, come with their own 600lb spring and run about 700 on Amazon. 5100's with new springs are going to run about 500ish.

Both have top clip settings of 2" If you go with 5100s and aftermarket coils then add in a taco lean spacer on the driver's side.

Tire clearance comes from rim offset, width, caster from lower arm, caster from upper arm, and the willingness to trim a little or a body mount chop.

 

What’s the best place to get pre assembled 6112s? I know it will cost a few more bucks, but it would be easier to offload the old parts / or have as spares if assembled.

 

That would be @memario1214 with HotShotoffroad.

 

Will you sell 5125s by themselves? I only see them as part of a kit.

Also, what’s your lead time to ship on the assembled 6112s?

Side note, carrier bearing has already been dropped.

 

Any coupon codes I should know about ?

 

Another 5100 fan here....

 

Ordered 6112s and 5125s.

Will see how it turns out, but most likely the leaf blocks will be taken out.