low Cost Extended Travel Coil-Overs

I’m about to upgrade my TRD Off Road suspension and after reading about everything I can find, I still can’t decide the best way to spend my money..

I don’t get to go off road very often. All of the challenging dirt roads and trails are closed. When I do go off road, it’s just mild fire roads trying to find a camp site. I can’t drive fast because there is so much traffic now that I can’t do more than 25 mph without getting stuck behind a Camry, some Subaru, or a Wrangler.

So what I’m thinking about is a set of 5100s up front and 5160s in the rear to handle the extra damping load of a deaver add a leaf holding all my camping crap.
At most it will be exposed to 30 to 40 mph fire roads with some potholes hit at slower speeds.

Where I’m still undecided is if I should just get 3rd gen 5100s, possibly 6112s or I’m thinking to get 2nd gen 5100s as a possible extended travel option.
I’m making quite a few assumptions here as I’m working with dimensions posted by vendors for the bilstein stuff, but the Fox numbers come from their site so I hope they’re accurate.

Baseline:

3rd gen 5100 (

$137 24-263108 Bilstein 24263108 Shock Absorber

24-263108)
22.22” extended
17.58” compressed
4.64” travel

FOX 880-02-361 2.5 coil-over
22.59” extended
18.04” compressed
4.55” travel

3rd gen 6112
22.5” extended
17.67” collapsed
4.83” travel

Assumption: From what I’ve read, the Tacoma has about a 2:1 wheel to shock travel ratio. Bump travel is limited by the bump stop. From these shock dimensions I can guess that the bump is engaged before the shock compresses to 18.04”, so I’ll give a WAG at 18.5” shock length for bump engagement. Just for comparison purposes.

For example: 3rd gen 5100 extended 22.2 minus 18.5 equals 3.7 available compression or 7.4 inches of actual wheel travel.

Due to bump stop we have very similar travel across all three shocks at 8.18" for the fox and 8" for the 6112.

Again, this is with the guess of when the bump engages, so not actual known travel, just for comparison.

Comparison:

FOX 883-02-025 (extended travel) 2.5 coil-over
22.93” extended
18.04” compressed
4.89” travel

Extended 22.93 minus 18.5 bump engagement is 4.43 allowing 8.86 inches of actual wheel travel.

So if I’m close to correct, the extended travel with FOX may be less than an inch.

When we compare this to the 2nd gen 5100s.

2nd gen 5100 (24-239370)
22.56” extended
17.03” compressed
5.53” travel

2nd gen 5100 extended minus 18.5 estimated bump stop gives 4.06 available compression or 8.12 inches of actual wheel travel..
Already more than the 3rd gen 5100..

We still have to get access to some of the extra travel.

What if we had a 0.5” spacer above the top hat of the 2nd gen 5100.
This would change our dimensions to:

23.06” extended length
17.53” compressed (still safely under the FOX and 6112 compressed lengths)
5.53” travel (no change of course, but more is usable below the bump stop)

New 23.06 extended minus the guessed 18.5” bump stop yields 4.56 available compression or 9.12 inches of actual wheel travel..
If I’ve overestimated the bump stop length, then it could be even more travel.

I might need aftermarket upper control arms to make this work, but the savings in shock price could accommodate that cost.

I don’t want more than one inch of lift, so if I do this I would leave the snap ring at its lowest setting, and I don’t plan to go bigger than 265/75 r16s so alignment and caster shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve read that the TRD Pro has an extra inch of travel, so if that’s true I might not even need the control arms.

Anyone know if this has been done before?

 

If you don’t off road much, seems that worrying about travel to this level is just picking the fly shit out of the pepper.

 

And if you do off road a bunch, the qualities of the damping are a lot more important than 3/4” of wheel travel.

 

My vehicle use is exactly what you describe (mild to moderate fire roads plus occasional field), and the only difference is that I'm pulling a pop-up trailer in a stock 2WD Sport when I'm doing it.

I wouldn't overthink it. For that kind of use you don't need a lift. If you want one for looks or comfort, go for it, you'll love the extra dampening as others said. But there's no need to worry about travel.

I'm sure you'll be happy with the 5100s.

 

I know enough to be dangerous but I'm no expert when it comes to suspensions. I basically let my suspension shop make the call because that's what they do all day every day. Beach driving and mild offroad mountain trails. I don't rock climb or participate in King of Hammers. I only want 2-3" of lift and I want it level. Going to run 285-70-17 KO2's on 17x9 +1 offset wheels. They recommended the Icon Stage 3. Said it was a little more than I need but I won't be coming back later for something else. Not cheap $4,000 installed but that should do me.

 

Here is a video that may help you with your search.
https://youtu.be/_68Hc8GtLko

He also has a 4 myths video that is worth a watch.

For me, I decided on Eibach Pro Truck 2.0 coilovers and blocks in the rear. I will be installing them in 2 weeks. To get alignment correction and any possible benefits of extended travel, I also bought UCA's. I went for an unknown player in the North American market, Terrain Tamers. For the FSR's and light wheeling I will be doing, I think this will be an excellent set up for my needs.

I at first, I over thought the whole thing, looking at long travel and Icon, Elka or similar. In the long run, I realized, a quality kit like Bilstein or Eibach would be a better fit and cheaper.

 

I haven’t heard of anyone trying to maximize the travel by adding a top hat spacer, but I have heard of people selecting a longer travel shock and then limiting the range of motion with the bump stop and limit strap. I mostly read this sort of stuff in the mid travel thread and the long travel channel. You could ask your question there. They tend to be more technical then this channel.

 

This is the mid travel thread if you couldn’t find it.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/mid-travel-bs-2-0.410188/page-301

 

Droop is as important as uptravel. You’ll lose downward travel too. Watch this . You’ll know what I mean https://youtu.be/l1tTelhdEiM

 

the travel is important. agreed. but you should also look at the damping and how they will ride. the 5100 are pretty stiff. fox will be smoother on the road.

i have the bilstein 6112/5160 and i did max them out yesterday....but i has on a beach and hitting 4-6" rocks at like 20 mph (didn't see them). felt the control arms hit the bump stops. and then the rear diff as well hitting the rear bumpstops......but this was way to extreme driving. i just didn't pay attention.

 

I called Kings for some advice before ordering my shocks and the responds was and I quote “Extended travel is for marketing, it’s basically a gimmick”. It’s literally 3% more travel.

 

If adding 1” (+12%) suspension travel
is a gimmick than pretty much everything else we are doing to our trucks is a gimmick, e.g. adding 33” tires is only a 7% increase in diameter.

 

This is a great video, and this guy does a really good job of explaining how everything works together.. I found it while researching these different coil-overs and it helped lead me to consider trying this setup with the 2nd gen 5100s.

I was also looking at a more expensive setup. I was considering FOX 2.5 with DSC and how cool it would be to have the adjustable damping. However, as I thought it through I realized that I'm never going to put that much heat into my dampers. As much as I like the idea of adjusting low speed compression for better on road handling and then backing it off when in the dirt, I'm not realistically going to stop and change them as I go from pavement to dirt and then back.. This started changing my mind about the digressive valving in the Bilstein. It should give me a firm ride on pavement and then blow deeper into the travel when I hit something bigger in the dirt... Maybe it's what I want. One of the reasons I'm considering the 5160 in the rear is that it also has about an inch of extra travel which would give me a sense of balance with the front..

An extra inch of travel isn't much, but by using a spacer to take advantage of the extra travel in the shock and setting the spring on the lowest perch it will come without any additional spring preload so the ride won't get any harsher, and I shouldn't loose any articulation by keeping the factory springs. And while it's only around 18% more travel than the 3rd gen 5100 setup, it's not much of an investment to get it. I'll be operating within the shock's specifications. Theoretically, I don't see much of a downside.
I think my biggest concern is whether or not the measurements I'm seeing for the different 5100s are accurate. I'm not seeing the numbers from Bilstein, just vendors, so I'm not confident that it will all work.
It's all theoretical until it's measured and bolted in right?
If no one else has tried this, I guess maybe I'll be the first.
It's pretty low risk and If it doesn't fit or cycle cleanly, I'm only out a set of spacers...

 

I ordered my stuff and installed it.

The short version is, putting 2nd Gen 5100s on a 3rd Gen Tacoma will extend the travel.
If you put the clip on the second notch you get about an inch of lift with no extra preload on the spring.

The longer version:
Removing the springs from the stock shocks is a bitch without fancy spring compressing tools.
I had to go buy and rent more manual compressors and it was not a comfortable experience.
Due to the extra time all of that took, I was neither in the mood nor had the time to do all the testing and documenting I originally wanted to do, so no pics and not a lot of measurements from this.

Essentially I stuck the shocks back in place without the springs and compressed the suspension with a jack until the control arm hit the bump stop and just started to move the truck.

I marked the center of the hub with a silver paint pen by rotating the hub and holding the pen.
I used a yard stick with zip ties to note where the hub started in relation to the garage floor and then stopped at the bump stop.

Points where there could easily be errors:
• Maybe I didn’t hit the center of the hub perfectly, so fractions of an inch there.
• I expect inconsistencies in how tight the strut mount was in compressing the rubber bushing affecting extension lengths, so fractions of an inch there.
• Could be differences in bump stop compression, but I got/used the same marked point for both so I feel pretty good about that one.

Results:

OEM shocks measured travel - 5 and 7/8ths inches of travel

2nd Gen 5100s measured travel – 8 and 11/16ths inches of travel

I expect both actual travel numbers to be a bit larger as the bump stop should compress more under the weight of the truck.
However, this is also measured with the sway bar disconnected so that could limit the used travel.

I had planned to try and put a half inch top spacer on top of the 5100 to further increase usable shock travel.
I found that I could not get the 5100 to fit with spacer and feel comfortable with it. The lower control arm didn’t want to move without loosening the bushings and the inner CV joint was being pulled out farther than I liked. I was also concerned with brake line and speed sensor cable lengths.
I used rubber 0-rings on the shock shafts to see how much of the shock travel was used and the 5100 was near its bottom out without the spacer. I think there was enough travel left but the shock has a hard bottom out and I don’t know how much the bump stop can compress. It just didn’t seem worth the risk since I already had good travel gains that matched what my rear add-a-leaf and 5160s gave me.

Based on where the o-ring was on the OEM shock and the shorter overall length, I think you could easily put a spacer on top of that shock and get an increase in travel with minimal risk… But do this at your own peril... I didn’t put any effort into confirming that.

Another point I found interesting was how much the stock springs are compressed on the OME shocks.
I compressed the spring to the point it just barely allowed the shock to wiggle. The bare minimum required to remove the OEM shock. It was not a comfortable experience.
On the 5100 it matched up to the second notch from the bottom with almost a ¼ inch to spare. There was no additional spring compression at that setting vs OEM.

I wasn’t concerned about lift, so I didn’t really measure for it, but it appears to have given me about 1 inch in the front. Compared to the almost 2 inches that the rear add-a-leaf gave, the truck still seems balanced to me with about an inch and a half of rake.

One last point that might prove useful:
I put a little bit of anti-seize on the snap ring when I assembled the shock. I thought it might be helpful later if I decided to change settings. I found it was immediately helpful with rotating the lower mount to align with the top if you are a little off when putting the spring back on. I was able to put a screwdriver in the lower mount and rotate it easily with the top installed.

As far as the ride is concerned:
There are plenty of reviews out there on this so I won’t go into detail, but my impression is there is a little more harshness and little less brake dive, but you will probably be the only one who can tell.
It’s subtle, but different.
It will improve off road rough handling allowing faster speeds with a decrease in small bump smoothness. I would advise floating the washboard sections with a bit more momentum to take advantage of the change in how the truck rides.

 

This came out recently I might be of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATmyTbMJL3o

Also see this thread about the video.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/extended-travel-video.758936/

 

Do you know the extended and compressed lengths of the stock shocks?

 

OE seem right around 21" from center to strut mount stop. Too hard to compress and measure at the same time but based on the o-ring moving it gets right at 4" of compression at bottom out. It's a hard metallic bottom, not an internal bumper, so I definitely wouldn't want it to bottom out. Both of these shocks bottom out like that.

The plastic boot/covers add 3/4 of an inch or so of shock length due to an aluminum spacer they're built on. Without the boot it's possible the overall extended length could be made a little shorter, but I don't know how much before you run out of threads to tightening the strut mount cap bushings.

 

I'm surprised there is a 1.6" difference between the stock shock length and the king 2.5 extended travel shock length. I was under the impression there was only .25" - .5" difference, but I have heard varying stories.

 

All of these videos are pretty legit and give a pretty good prospective on what realistic gains you get. Kind of puts your wants vs needs in check.