Confused about shocks & lift - Need some help

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

I do not know my vehicle measurements before allpro expedition springs were added to the truck, so im not sure how to find my lift height in order to select the correct shocks. The info for leaf springs say they add 3" of lift, but I have about 450lbs in the bed normally and I'm guessing its closer to 2" of lift.

Question 1: How do I get an accurate lift measurement without the initial numbers?

Question 2: If im at 2"+ of lift, I believe standard billstein 5100s are out of the Question. I had the B110 extended 5100s on there, with sumo springs where the bump stops normally are, but the b110 blew so im thinking it compressed too much. Now im looking at the billstein 5125 and thinking that may be the best choice, so im looking for thoughts on that. I mostly drive florida trails, no real rock crawling so I don't think I need any overly bad ass shocks.

 

Measure from shock eyelet to eye at ride height. Then measure from the bump stop to the bump bap. Subtract the bump measurement from the eye to eye measurement. That'll give you your compressed measurement. Then lift the truck by the tow hitch to let the wheels drop out. Measure from shock eye to eye while dropped out. Your compressed and dropped numbers will be the compressed and extended shock lengths that you need to look for when buying new shocks.

Your previous shocks blew out because either the compressed or extended length didn't match from leafs to shock. Something has to give. It doesn't matter if shocks are "Tacoma specific".

You can also make the bump stops taller or add limit straps to prevent too much droop to keep them from blowing out again.

 

That's extremely helpful. Thank you.

 

When you droop it out make sure to unbolt the shock. That way you can see where the leaf limits out when it droops.

 

Ok, so you're making sure the shock is removed so the shock itself isn't limiting the droop or compression during measurement and causing you to end up measuring for a new shock that will inevitably blow out because it became the limiting factor. Makes sense if in understanding that correctly.

 

That is correct

 

I appreciate the education on the topic.

 

No problem. I went down the deep rabbit hole not too long ago.

 

This is very misleading. Any OEM replacement shock will work fine for the OP. His lift only affects the position of the shock at rest.

 

Springs do not limit up or down travel. Up travel is limited by the bump stop and down travel is limited by the shock.

Intuitively, a spring cannot limit up or down travel because it is springy. It bends.

 

Here's a great quote from member Ryan

 

So you're saying that if you catch flight that the internals of the shock should stop the weight of the axle and tires? Ok

 

They would, right up until the moment they didn't.

 

Also note that all of the OEM replacement shocks have approximately the same collapsed and extended length. They are interchangeable with themselves and the stock shocks.