bilstein 5100 alternative?

I was in this dilemma a few weeks ago and I ended up going OME/881s. Best choice I could have made. The deciding factor that swayed me to the OME stuff was that I had the option of the trim packers to level out the ride if needed. I ordered my struts and one trim packer for the driver's side and it sits damn near level. The ride is amazing, handles firm, but rides smooth. Well worth the price difference.

Good luck!

 

awesome are you running nitrochargers as well? and how does the trim packer work?

 

Yes, I am running the OME struts and the 881s. The trimpackers are 5mm spacers that go under the spring perch to level the truck. The struts have a welded lip and for the perch to sit on, just drop the # of trim packers on there that you want and then the spring perch and assemble like the stock strut. I was advised to run one packer on the drive side to compensate for the gas tank and the front of the truck is pretty level. The fact that this adjustability was designed as part of the system made me feel better about being able to make future adjutments due to sag or addition on heavy accessories.

 

so just compress the spring somewhat and add in some trim packer?

 

install them yourself, and save some $$, rent the spring compressor

 

No, you wanna put the trim packer on, then the spring perch followed by the coil and the top end components(bushings, washers and top hat). You will need to compress to add the top hat.

 

another question lol sorry guys but will trim packer work with other shocks other than the nitrochargers? they're about 250 for a set and I was thinking of getting something alittle cheaper liike bilstein factory replacements. thanks for all the help guys

 

I was told that the trim packers will only work on the OME struts. I was looking to go the factory Bilstein/881 route, but in the end decided that the piece of mind I got from having a strut/coil combo that was "designed" to be used together was the best choice. The best prices were Toytec for the struts/trim packer (w/ their forum discount) and I got the coils from TRDparts4u.com. Both were great places to deal with.

 

how much did it end up costing you?

 

Coils were like $142 + shipping and I think it was right around $265 shipped for the struts and packer. I also did an aal and shocks from Wheelers. I think it was right around $600 for all the parts.

 

nice the local shop wants to buy all the parts to make their money but it actually ends up being about the same as getting everything with forum discounts although I am going to run bilstein 5100 shocks in the back since those are in.. of course rcd would have the lesser desirable 5100 shocks in stock lol. I think with labor and parts i'm looking at around 850 for everything