First Gen Mid Travel - What to Buy

So the time has come for suspension. The original owner threw some P.O.S. KYB junk on and the bushings are now blown, the leaf packs are frowning, just overall....its all gotta go. I mostly camp, fish, romp fire trails, light wheeling, and I'm looking at building an expo rig, but we will see how it turns out. On a normal basis currently, I run around with 150Lbs give or take at most in the bed, but I do have the Allpro Apex with full hoops up front, skids, sliders and the tube frame rear bumper (which at some point I will mod to have a rear tire swing out).

I can't afford an SAS like I wish I could, so I've been looking at a decent mid-travel. Bilstein 5100 with OME883 sounds good but the way you guys talk about King makes me jealous, so I threw that in my shopping list along with Toytec Ultimate, Toytec Boss, Icon and Fox. I checked Wheelersoffroad.com, Toyteclifts.com, Downsouthmotorsports.com, and Kartek.com and made an excel spread sheet of it all. I looked at America's Tire store for 5 285/75/16 GoodYear MT/R and at Stealthcustomseries.com at the Ray10 and Stealth 6. I like the Ray 10 with 4.00"BS better, however it sounds like the Stealth 6 with 3.50"BS is the way to go on first gen tacos. A few other tid bits I was looking at were BAMF rear shock relocation and BPV.

Attached is the EXCEL Spreadsheet. It might take a second to figure out but lemme know if I got it all, including all the little pieces and if there's any way to get the price down (I included on the spreadsheet toytecs TW discount). Currently looking at an estimated total of lift, wheels, and tires of $4675.20 for Bilstein 5100 w/ OME883 and $6222 for Ext. Travel King 2.5. best prices pretty much all around are looking like wheelersoffroad.com. Between King, Fox, and Icon (Toytec also brought back sway away by the way) I was leaning towards King and Fox because they're progressive, and King because wheelersoffroad has the rear reservoirs for king and not of Fox. But honestly I'd be happy with Icon or King 2.5 all around. Im curious how the blue would look on my Jade Taco though



Regardless of the C/O and shocks, parts list that goes with either:

Camburg UCA
BAMF Rear shock Relocate
U-Bolt Flip
BAMF BPV
Front and Rear SS Brake Lines
Diff. Drop
OME Dakar CS046R Leaf Pack and bushings
Daystar Grease Bolts for the leaf packs and maybe the HD greaseable shackles
Wheelers Superbumps Front and Rear
Dry Lube for the UCA

So a few questions:

First off, am I on the right track?

650 or 700lb coil spring weight? (Front and rear all pro, all pro sliders and skids, someday a winch and campershell)

Bilstein 5100 or 5125 (if I do billies) or King 10" or 12" rear shocks with the remote reservoirs? (Will be doing BAMF Rear Shock Relocation most likely)

Shackles? (which do I get and do I need them)

 

Not exactly sure which are your questions. The red?

I run SAW extended travel 2.5" c/o's, and IIRC they are 650 lb springs. Front plate bumper, winch and sliders, handles it all great. You'd probably be fine with the 700 lb springs, too, but they'll likely take a bit less preload and will ride firmer. BAMF LCA skids are nice, but FYI, on the 1st gen version, they don't cover the LCA pivot like they do on the 2nd gens, and the 3rd bolt hole down by the LBJ does not exist from the factory; you have the drill through some pretty darn thick steel (LBJ spindle). Still, I'm glad I got them.

Deaver makes some great springs, but I didn't have the budget to get them at the time. Went with the Dakars and couldn't be happier. Eventually added the extra load leaf, and still love them. Handle great, flex good, handle payload perfectly (rear bumper, sliders, snugtop canopy, roof rack are all constant load, plus I tow and haul frequently)... probably the best bang for the buck rear springs out there. I went with factory length greasable shackles; the Daks can be squeaky, so keeping things lubed up and happy is a must. Paired with the Nitrocharger sports, I am quite pleased.

 

Looks like it's going to be a nice setup whichever way you go! Lol I'm looking to do something similar come Christmas time so far I've had my fox coil overs 2.0 and hasnt rusted one bit. Despite north east weather.

 

Bump

 

I'm looking into doing the same thing come spring time to my 96. I had done 5100 and Eibach's, Light Racing UCA's, Alcan rear springs with 5100's, all new bushings and joints in the front and greasable HD rear shackles pretty much all bought from Wheeler's.

Truck rode great and honestly for the price, spending ~$250 on front 5100's versus ~$2500 on coilovers (Canadian pricing) I couldn't really justify it and the ride quality wasn't really all it was cracked up to be in the trucks I've ridden in considering the extra cost. It's "better" but not $2000+ dollars better. Rather spend the money saved on tires and a good rear leaf pack.

This go around I may try the TC uniball UCA's opposed to the LR ball joint ones. Gonna try doing the Tundra 5100 up front, with the same Eibach coils as before. Maybe make some bastard pack for the rear or pony up for the J59's, and thinking of doing a custom rear mount and some 5165's or possibly 7100's depending on pricing up here.

 

Yea that's what I was thinking. I don't huck my truck, the wheeling I do is pretty basic, and I don't normally go very fast offroad anyways. I'd love to get kings and feel like I did it right and not have to worry about em, but for the extra 1500? That's a lot of money I could put other places. I'll most likely go for the 5100s but I was hoping someone running a basic king setup would step in and explain how they're "that much better" if I'm not constantly tryin to break shit. If anything 5100s would keep me from doing some severe stupidity, just keep it to a mild or moderate level

 

You know you're going to be tempted to do some questionable things no matter what you get... lol

Kings (and ADS, Fox) are better for a couple reasons. One you can get them in larger shock sizes (2.5" mainly), are completely rebuildable, and you can change the valving in them to suit your needs, plus can be had with options such as compression adjusters and remote reservoirs which it doesn't look like you're planning on getting. The big differences over the 5100's imo.

Unless you're trying to order everything from one site, SDHQ will give you 10% off for the TW discount and it's out of state so no sales tax. Looks like you'll do well either way though. Solo Motorsports suggests that first gens stay away from lift shackles to keep away from weird handling quirks - I think I might have seen someone mention them in this thread somewhere.

 

Just talked to Dan at wheelersoffroad.com. Sounds like I am pretty much on the right track. Of course, the kings are better, bigger, bolder and better dampening than the 5100s. The 5100s are however an upgrade from stock, and my kyb...well wood planks would be an upgrade so it'll feel magical to me. Dan basically said that 12-1500 bucks could be more well spent for what I do by getting new gears (4.88 was where I was thinking) instead of the Kings and stock gearing trying to haul 33's. Worst case scenario, I decide after a few years the 5100s just weren't cutting it and I can bump up to Kings. Sounds good to me. The 5100s do have a larger shaft than the stock shocks, and have better valving so it is all in all an upgrade.

With the armor I am/will be running and the winch I'll get someday, he recommends the OME 883 on the 5100s. For the rear, the stock shocks get Driver 7.7" and Pass 7.9" travel, so jumping to the BAMF relocation and 5125 at 10" would be a pretty good bump up. The more obtuse the triangulation of the relo the less dampening ability the truck will have, so a 12" doesn't sound like what I am looking for. I asked about the shackles and he said (if I word this right) that the shackle is mostly for ride height so if you are getting what you want "lift-wise" from the leaf pack and shock, you don't need the shackle. The HD grease-able shackle does allow you to reduce some wear and improves the quality of movement but he isn't sure how actually noticeable it would be.

 

I've done some black diamond 4x4 trails in my 5100s/OME 881s and they hold up fine, no issues yet. Up until recently I was wheeling every weekend with them (been taking a bit of a break lately). I just have to be sure to take it slow, can't haul ass in 5100s like you can in Kings/Icons/SAWs or you'll blow them out right quick. Of course you won't have the flex that a mid travel setup will give you either, but King suspension ain't expensive for no reason.

 

Blacks? I don't think I've played past a blue and I just about shit myself lol but if you can run that on Billies I'll probably run with those and then just catch up if I wheel with anyone else

 

If you ever come down south let me know, we can hit up the Miller Jeep Trail (one of the more popular black diamond 4x4's out here). I've done it a few times in my truck, it's a lot of fun. If you have a lift and the e-locker it's doable (sliders and armor recommended). It's closed until April I think, though.

My mom and sister live up in Monterey, I'd love to hit up some trails out that way if you know of any. I usually go up there a few times a year.

And yeah, I wheel with some dudes that have performance coilovers (Kings, Fox, ect.) and I'm always in the back of the pack playing catch up with my 5100s They do just fine crawling though. Just don't expect a ton of flex.

 

I was thinking about running the 10" 5125 with the bamf rear shock relocation so that should help in the back at least! But yea I've got a group of buddies in xjs that I wheel with in hollister hills! There's a couple guys from the bay that come down every now and then with some built trucks that I've been meaning to wheel with but for sure man!

 

5125s in the rear is the way to go, I didn't know any better when I got mine and got 5100s for the rear. I'm lifted about 2.5" in the back so the 5100s are past their 1.5" limit...fortunately I haven't blown one yet but I bet the rears will be the first to go.