1st gen suspension questions.

Hey everyone. First time posting. I have been reading a lot of the amazing threads about suspension on here but still have a couple questions about front suspension to go with. About three months ago I picked up a 2003 3.4 double cab with an upgraded suspension. The owner before me used the rig for overlanding which I intent to use for as well and it is not my daily. The pickup currently has OME in the front and rear along with dakar reinforced leaf springs in the rear. Currently the pickup has a huge rake as it sits now. I know once the rear is loaded up with all of our overlanding/camping gear it will level out a bit but not the whole three inches in rake it currently has as the previous owner stated. I would like to bring up the front a couple inches and have been reading threads about the bilstein 5100s. I do have an aftermarket bumper I will be putting on in the future and want to make sure I have some good support in the front end. Since the OMEs on the taco are fairly new should I get some new springs to lift up the front or would a better option be the bilsteins? I am pretty mechanically inclined but do not have much experience with suspension components. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

 

What you'll want to do is look at your current coils and see what part number they are marked with so you can determine what spring rate they are and then if your new bumper will be quite heavy, look at an upgraded OME spring like the 883 that has a rate of 590lb/in.

Keep in mind the front suspension will work a lot better if you don't try to raise it as high as it can go. By lifting it more than a couple inches from stock ride height with OME setups you quickly will run out of down travel and put more wear and tear on your CV axles.

 

Just be aware that if you add height up front you will create all sorts of issues with your CV axles (assuming you have 4x4). I put OME 882's up front and ran into so many issues with the cv axel angles and boots tearing that I finally just switched them back to the original ride height.

 

Also, whatever you decide to go with, do yourself a huge favor and replace your upper and lower ball joints while you have everything apart, OEM only. Especially if you're going to put your family in this truck.

 

That can be fixed by doing the bootslide mod or using the Oreilly offroad axles.

 

Boots still rip







You can do the snow mod to seal them up

 

So it seems your conflating two items: shocks vs. coil springs. Put together they make a complete coilover assembly.

As previously mentioned, you will want bigger, stronger coil springs (higher spring rate) to lift your front end up.

For shock bodies, Bilstein 5100s do seem to the be the go-to budget shock that many here choose, myself included. Don't use the 5100s adjustable snap ring to compress the coil spring and create lift, but rather use bigger coils. It'll ride far better that way.

Regarding the CV axles, the boots are probably going to tear on you shortly after lifting your front end. If they're OEM, I'd reboot them at the same time you do this lift, to avoid them tearing on you in short order.

 

Mine haven't ripped, .......... yet

 

And I only had a 1 3/4" lift give or take.

I just wasn't gentle with my rig; current owner's problem not mine.

 

I have about a 2"-2.5" lift and do not baby it either. Front locker as well.

 

I had the boot slide mod done on brand new oem boots and the boots didn’t Last 100 miles with the OME 882 lift. Giving up your oem cv axles for aftermarket ones is a big loss in my opinion. Also tried the diff drop, which did nothing at all. I think the OP would be better off taking that money and putting it towards a set of Alcans or deavers custom leafs in the rear that will maintain his desired rear height and weight load without giving him the unloaded rake. For me, the OME stuff was just money burned

 

Did you have any weight up front? 882's aren't for stock weight trucks.

The diff drop is 100% a waste of money.

OEM axles are fine, but I broke a few of those while wheeling so it made sense to get the offroad axles from Oreilly, they have lifetime warranty and extended boots so it was a no brainer. I broke one of those too and got a brand new one no questions asked.

 

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, I have been doing a lot of research and seems like OME 883 will be my best bet since I will be adding a bumper and winch. Yes the rake drives me nuts, but I wanted to make sure I had the correct setup with the added extra weight so my front end wouldn't have even more of a rake and soft suspension. Correct me if I am wrong, but in another thread, it seemed like a lot of people were going with the 883 over the 882 just because the 882 added more height than the 883 but without the added spring rate of the 883. At least that what seems to be the consensus from that thread.

 

That is correct. 881 and 883 have same length but the 883 are a higher spring rate. The 882 shares it's spring rate with the 881 but is a longer coil.