Almost 8 years owning 3rd Gen

Bought my ‘16 as a leftover in March of 2017. Only ‘16 on the lot. 6spd manual Access Cab. Now that I have over 100K on it, I’d like to do a few upgrades. It’s my daily driver. It never has a constant load in the bed, although I have hauled around mulch, topsoil, gravel at times (definitely maxed out the payload).

I’m thinking of doing the silver and red TRD branded Bilstein 5100 as well as the Deaver 1.5 AAL (1 leaf).

Additionally I would like to do the OTT Mild Tune to address the annoying hesitation I’ve put up with all these years.

 

Congrats on owning your truck that long since new!

 

Very nice. Congrats. Please provide an update after you have made the upgrades. Happy New Year

 

8 Years without the tune!! God Bless You sir.

 

Drop a few picks of the rig up, AC for the win for sure

Definitely consider the tune, huge improvement even for later models that were supposed to be corrected.

 

@Tacobelt you have some serious modding restraint. I bought my '17 new back in October of 2016 and started modding it the next day after purchase.

Anyway, for your purposes the 5100's are likely a good choice. I ran them years ago on my 2nd gen paired with eibach springs and for the price they were good. I would however consider options for replacement leaf packs. I've ran both single leaf AAL and the Icon progressive. The ride quality on the icon was a little better than the single, but they both rode like dump trucks. I upgraded to the Icon RXT pack and they are significantly better both on and off road, plus they're also configurable for payload needs. Also if you find yourself hitting bump stomps from time to time, get yourself some duro bumps front and rear.

The OTT tune is easily one of my favorite mods. I finally had it done (medium tune) about a year ago and wish I would have done it sooner. Made a huge difference in driveability with the auto transmission, no more hesitation whatsoever.

 

Your leaf pack is probably past its expiration date( worn out), they were crap to begin with. Go get a decent spring pack and drive for another 100k.

 

Thank you!

My leaf pack has to be shot. I’ve gone way over the payload when filling my gardens with stone. I don’t plan on doing too much more of that. Just one area left to do.

If I had the money, I’d go with the Deaver J66 or stage 1.

I’m confident I can do the install myself. I’m more intimidated by the front strut assembly. I will have to have the coils compressed etc.

 

+1 on the full pack route, I was gong to suggest the same, but it does add to the cost.

AAL is kind of a band-aid at that mileage, but probably better than not.

 

I just realized I had that TRD shock picture in there twice. Trying to post on an iPhone is mildly annoying.

Got my TRD Sport for $30,500. I plan on driving it as long as I still like it. That should be a while.

 

I used to keep an eye on the progression of the OV Tune, but after revisiting the idea after a number of years have come across the OTT tune. I need to do that for sure.

 

My Sport is over 9 years old (got it in late 2015). I had a handful of first year TSBs but the truck has been great ever since. 59K miles and it still looks and drives like the day I drove it off the lot.

Not looking to trade in unless I stumble upon a HUGE discount off of MSRP on a 4th Gen.

 

I rarely carry a load either, and have been ok with a 1" block the rear. But I would think it would be much cheaper to get the true Bilstein 5100 over the TRD 5100 version.

But I may be wrong. Either way, can't go wrong with the 5100's...

 

I want to say you could get the TRD shocks without the other nonsense (grill, harness), for like $350 back in 2021. Then they combined it into a lift package for over $1000. I found just the shocks again for around $350 shipped.

 

This is how my stock springs look at 101K miles…

 

Just buy new front shocks with new installed springs as an assembly, this is the most common route.

 

I just used the weight of the truck. Put a jack under the lower control arm and use that to compress/decompress the spring. It's really not that dangerous if u do it carefully and correctly.

 

Following! My '18 AC is due for rear springs, I tow a lot, and likely too heavy..... should do a full upgrade, but I'm lost on what to do, so this thread is perfect timing!

 

I went with ICON RXT leaf packs (option 2) and 5125s on my AC. I also tow a lot and load down my bed with about 200-300 lbs. I recommend a full upgrade if you can swing it.