Bilstein 5100's set at 1.75, son wants more than 2.5

I need some good advice here. I just purchased a 2007 2WD 4dr TRD Off-Road DC for my son (his money) who is due back from Iraq next month. The truck is Silver Streak Mica and is a twin to my 2008 4dr DC PreRunner. He's 22 yrs. old and wants a lifted truck. The 2007 I purchased for him is a really clean, one owner truck that's already lifted. The truck has Bilstein 5100's front and rear with the fronts set at 1.75. The rear has had the TSB done and a ToyTec AAL installed. The stock TRD wheels have Nitto Terra Grappler 265/75/16 All-Terrains. I think it looks great and have sent him photos. I've talked with him about the truck on the phone and he says it looks "stock" to him. He wants the front lifted higher and i don't think bumping the Bilsteins up from 1.75 to 2.5 is going to make him happy. From what I've read, the next step up will likely require additional mod's like control arms, coil-over's, etc. Where do we go from here? This truck is a 2wd PreRunner and will not be "wheeled" or driven hard off-road as it is his daily driver. Suggestions?

 

2.5 is fine i just got em and i love it i can definatley tell the diffrence

 

UCA (upper control arms) aren't really necessary other than to get the alignment back to spec, specifically the caster. You'll find that many here run 3" lifts with stock UCA. I have mine set to 2.5" with a toytec AAL. Truck is level. Also have 265/75 Definity M/Ts.

I say go for it and have the front set to 2.5". It will level the truck out nicely. Get and alignment and you should be good. Maybe some spidertrax spacers to bring the wheels out a bit, giving the truck a little bit more aggressive stance...here's a picture of my truck...





Kind Regards,
Ryan

BTW nice truck!

 

i'd go with some new wheels, or paint them black for a more aggressive look.
doing some other things like painting all that chrome black will make it look better too IMO.
no harm in trying the 5100's to 2.5, being a prerunner it's much easier to lift due to no cv axles.

Also, I think the king coilovers are 3 inches..? I may be wrong, but look into some coilovers.

 

if it's a prerunner get him spindles, that'll go nicely with the 5100's, and you can set them at 0" lift. The spindles will give you 3.5-4" of lift but will stick the front tires out prob 1-2 inches out of the wheel wells (not positive on on this), It'll look nice with the slightly larger tires, but your looken at about a 1k investment, and you don't need new UCA's. If your son wants to go higher, in reality you can go up to 5+ inches for the front with the 5100's and spindles, but be ready to start investing in new UCA's. PS, your son with need longer brake lines for the front, and obviously an alignment.

 

I'm fairly new to lifts, mods, and such but you can take many routes on adding height to the truck. You could, for example, reset the Bilsteins to 2.5, purchase some 17 inch rims + 285/75/17 tires and this should give him a little under 3 inches of additional lift (Bilstein .75 + Rims 1 + Tires 2). This will probably cost you an extra $1200-1500. A cheaper way would be to simply throw some spacers in, which may not be the best choice but perhaps the cheapest.

 

If you have the money and can avoid a spacer lift do it! I have spacers and the ride is real stiff and you feel every bump on the road. Will upgrade later but starting college so budget got cut with expenses for books and stuff!

 

this is 5100's with 885 OME springs, 285/75/16 BFG A/T's, and OME Dakar 2.75" leaf pack




I have 265/70/16 M/T's now but don't have a good recent picture, Still looks good, no rubbing on the frame or LCA's.
I forgot, my truck is a prerunner, with Dr/Icon's set at 2" with a .5" top plate, bilstein 5150's, Camburge UCA's, and still have the OME dakars.

 

I think I'll bump up the Bilstein's to 2.5 and see how that works out. RAB89 suggested I black out the wheels to change it up. Funny you say that because I put it up on jackstands today and pulled off all four wheels. I'm going to have them broken down and take the wheels to Arizona Powdercoating here in Phoenix to get them painted. I was sweating my %#* off today here in Phoenix working on this truck and my son called me from Iraq to ask how it's going. I tell him I'm hot and he says I need to stand a post with full flak (vest) and kevlar (helmet) in 120 degree heat for 6 hours. I stopped complaining when he said that. Ryan, thanks for your advice and I'll make sure that I send him the photo of your truck because I think its the "look" he wants with his truck. Blacking out the wheels and bumping up the Billy's ought to make a difference. I'm not ready to start pouring money into this truck because I have my own truck to "customize" and am putting his sisters through college. He's a Marine and not necessarily flush with cash either. I'll post pics once the wheels are back on. Tom

 

5100's set at stock level, with 885 springs?

 

I would set the billys to 2.5. Then if he wants more get a 285/75/16 tire. Then if he wants more....do the spindles. Wheels spacers give it a nice aggressive stance too.

 

One of the replies stated that many people on this site run stock UCA's with a 2"-3" lift and have no problems but that I may want to consider them to get the alignment within spec. How far out of spec will I be with stock UCA's and will the truck wear out tires more quickly. We all know that larger, all-terrain tires aren't cheap. What is the experience of those members running bilsteins @ 2.5 with stock UCA's with regard to alignment and tire wear? Also, truck currently has 265/75/16 Nitto Terra Grappler tires so they are a little taller than stock.

 

i have stock ucas with 2.5 and i love it my alignment is perfect!

 

I'm running OME 886/N140 and AAL+N182 (3" lift) in the rear with 33x12.50x17 (so 285/70/17) M/T's and 1" spacers on the tires (2" lift) . Still running stock UCA's and perfect alignment. 10K since all the stuff was put on

Wheels have even wear all around, no pulling, and drives great lots of clearance and no probs on any road i've tackled to date.

 

bill's were set at .85, but only a prerunner can do it, or you'll rip your cv's, Also there is very little up travel left.

Keats i totally understand what your talking about i'm a college student, and i pay for my own bills. Tuition, rent, truck, support the gf, you name the bill i prob have it. Take off the front mud flaps, or cut them down so there's like 4-6" inches of cover. You'll be amazed by the difference it makes to the looks of the truck.

 

I think you need to find out what he wants?
Makes no sense if you do anything and it's not what he wants.

As for UCA's 2.5" you might be O.K. but 3" your Camber will be positive and your Caster will be on the low side. It will still be in factory spec. But not at the ideal settings.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/40470-ucas-alignment.html

I went with a 3" lift first, thinking that was good enough. Eventually I stepped up to a 6" lift. (I wish I did the 6" first. It would have saved me a lot of money)
So find out what he really wants?

Good Luck!

 

Ahh thats the problem with being over here, compared to the MRAP's everything looks whimpy. LOL.

 

Tom,just as a point of reference,here's my truck with Billy's set to 2.5,and my wheels powdercoated.Next to it is my fathers bone stock....Congrats on the impending return of your Son,and I'm sure he's going to love his new truck.

 

The alignment specs will all be within range, caster will be on the low side. No excess tire wear etc. if you rotate tires, make sure pressures are correct, etc. everything you would do normally. The lower caster would cause the truck to follow the road a bit more than stock (Look up tramlining if you aren't familiar). Two things can aggravate this, One tires and two alignment particularly caster.

You won't have any problems with it though. It is not bad at all. I say hold off on the UCAs. When your son comes back, if he doesn't like the way it drives, go ahead and buy the UCAs.

Kind Regards,
Ryan

 

Yeah I think pictures never do 3" lifts on these trucks justice. My friend really wanted to lift his six inches and I lifted mine 3" with some fox 2.5" RR coilovers up front and an AAL with fox 2.0 RR shocks in the back, TC UCA's, and 17x9 rims with 285/70/17 goodyear duratrac's. I was sending him pictures and he was saying he cant tell the difference. But once we met up a week later to go to the beach and he saw my truck next to his he could not stop talking about it. Needless to say two days later he had icon coilovers, 5100 rear shocks. 1.5" AAL, TC UCA's, and 285/75/16 tires ordered. We are going to put them on ourselves when he gets it all in the mail. And if he wants more lift later on he can get spindles since his truck is a prerunner. That is the only thing I regret about getting a 4x4, i cant just get spindles to lift it more. Oh well, I KNOW the 4x4 will come in very handy many times in the future I say bump the billies up to 2.5" and get him some 33" tires, maybe some new rims with a nice offset/backspace (mine are 17x9 4.5BS -12mm offset and they give my truck a very nice wide stance) to make them stick out of the fenders a bit and he should be happy. I'm 22 and have almost the same set up and I cant stop looking out the window at my beautiful truck