Adjustable compression/rebound rear shocks?

Hey all,
I have fox 2.5 coils up front and fox 2.0 for the rear. My springs are similar to the Deaver J59. Right now if the rear of my truck is unloaded, the ride quality is pretty annoying. I can’t tell if there isn’t any compression, and therefore no rebound, or if it’s compressing and rebounding too fast.

Either way, I was thinking maybe trying a different rear shock might help.
Has anyone experienced the bad ride quality and found a fix?

 

You try putting any weight in the bed? In the winter I usually carry 4-6 40lb sandbags and it noticably improves ride quality (probably because it compresses the leafs a bit).

 

Weight in the bed does help. last time I tried sand bags people poked holes in them to see if there was anything to steal in the bags… I was hoping maybe if the problem is rebound damping, I could avoid the hassle of putting bags in and out when I haul something. Sand bags are cheaper though and do work, whereas new suspension might not do anything

 

Did you get the correct Fox rears for your truck?

There are a few variants that fit, yet some are valved for heavier trucks.

When I installed my Fox 2.5 fronts and 2.0 rears, I felt exactly what you are experiencing. However I knew this going in because I opted for longer-than-Tacoma length shocks for the added travel.

For that reason, I bought a set of 5100's as well to throw on during light loads.

Here were the Fox in the rear -



And the weight on my truck -



When that weight came off, I'd throw on the Bilsteins -



This is how light I'd run with them -



The shocks side by side -



Didn't bother me to swap them since I would really only run the Fox when I needed to load heavy and be gone for several days.

Only takes like 5 minutes to remove and replace rear shocks anyway.

 

I believe I got these:
https://www.suspensionlifts.com/shop/toyota-tacoma/1995-2004/fox-0-1-rear-lift-performance-shocks-for-1995-2004-toyota-tacoma/

Do you have the part number for your Bilsteins?

 

Got rid of that truck some 3 years ago but yeah I used

$94 33-247717 Coupling, 3/4" (50)

33-247717 and

$104 33-247724 Bilstein Qc55T 1" X 1" Male Coupling

33-247724.

As for your shocks, they shouldn't feel 'that' stiff since you bought the right ones for your truck.

Mine were 10" shocks meant for light-duty trucks IE 1500's whereas your shocks are only 7" shocks meant for the Tacoma.

 

Ok thanks. It looks like those are advertised as 1-1.5” lift or 0-1.5” lift shocks.

The fox shocks are listed as 0-1”. Now I’m starting to wonder if I am topping those out, as I notice when I go over big bumps or go over bumps uphill, the rear will lose traction or maybe even go airborne.

Would you use the

$94 Coupling, 3/4" (50)

33-247717 and

$104 Bilstein Qc55T 1" X 1" Male Coupling

33-247724 (0-1.5”) with the Deaver J59 (mine are actually the Alcan equivalent) or the F4-BE5-D559-T0 and F4-BE5-D560-T0 (0-2.5”)? The J59 is supposed to be about 1.5” lift

 

You know it's funny, just a search would've answered all this and more

If you're wondering, I pulled the part numbers just using my username and the word Bilstein. Seems I posted info on the shocks you just linked as well.

They barely offer between 1/2" to 3/4" more travel between both different sets so moot point really.

 

Thanks. I’ve done a lot of searching on shocks over the years. It’s hard to piece all the info together. I just did some measuring and it seems like the 1-1.5” ones are a better fit in terms of not bottoming out before hitting the bump stop. The 0-2.5” shocks collapse to 13.93, and I measured that my truck would bottom out the bump stop with the shock down to approx 13.97 (not factoring in the angle of the shock, which I think would cause the calculation to indicate the shock would be collapsed even further during full compression) on the driver side. That’d give almost no cushion for the bump stop to compress.

Even the 1-1.5” ones don’t have much wiggle room for compressing the bump stop. That said, I could always get aftermarket bump stops if I find it’s a problem. Currently I can’t even bottom out the shocks anyway because my springs are stiff. I just don’t want to mess with shackle and bump stop replacement if I can help it, I hate dealing with those rusted up bolts.

 

Anyone know if the 5125s are valved "heavier" than the 5100s? I always thought they were just different length

 

I ordered the 1-1.5” rears, will post back with findings if I can remember

 

Should work well.

I really liked the Superbumps I had in the rear as well.