Lift kit issues

Back in 2019 I had a lift kit installed on my 2016 tacoma that was purchased from Headstrong off-road. The kit contains Bilstein 5100 shocks.

The shop that installed the kit was recommended by several people from one of the Tacoma groups I belong to. About 15 months after the kit was I stalled my local Toyota dealer while doing an oil change discovered that the rear passenger side shock was blown. I reached out to Headstrong and they said I needed to contact Bilstein. After several months of emailing them back N forth they replaced the shock under warranty.

Fast forward to April of this year...truck was once again in for an oil change and Toyota discovered the replacement shock was now blown and leaking. Contacted Bilstein and after two months of going back N forth sending pics of the set up Bilstein discovered that the kit was installed with the overload springs left on, when they should have been removed by the shop that did the install per the specs of the kit.

I contacted the shop who specializes in doing lift ect...and they asked me to come in so they could look at it. The shop claims Bilstein is garbage and basically said their work was fine. The install went smooth and leveled fine at the time of install. The owner become very defensive while he was overlooking the rear end of my truck stating I shouldn't have gone with Bilstein shocks, blah blah blah

While the owner was bashing the lift on my truck he was simultaneously measuring the wheelwell height and determined that the rear passenger side was much higher that the rest. In fact it was about 1-1/2" off.

The owner said he'd eat the labor and remove the overload springs which Bilstein stated was the problem. I wasn't happy with that as I already shelled out $150 to have the replacement shock that was covered under warranty installed now he wants me to purchase a new shock which he called "shit" which was damaged as a result of improper installation. When I pushed back and reminded him I wasn't here for his opinion on Bilstein and that I was here to determine what the issue was he quickly whipped out his phone and ordered a new 5100 shock. I was happy with this and scheduled a day to have it installed along with having the overload springs removed.

Here's my question and main concern with this. I do believe what Bilstein said was true, however with that said why didn't the driver side fail too? This tells me that there is additional issue related to the install that I'm not aware of. Any ideas???

 

I have been on 5100s and never an issue, in fact my local shop never took anything out of mine. Your not getting lift from the shock. Did you buy the truck new?

 

So is the issue that the lift was too much with the overload causing the shock to top out and fail?

 

Yes brand new

The 5100 shocks can handle 1" lift per Bilstein however leaving the overload springs brings it to 2" in rear causing dampening.

 

The parts are good, the shop is shit.

 

Taco lean probably saved your driver side shock.

 

I got way more than 1" of lift in the rear with my 5100s. I haven't had any issues.

Whats all done in the rear besides the 5100s?

 

This is the kit

https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p401/OME_Coil/Bilstein_5100_Kit_(HS16BK-1).html

 

Where did the overload springs come from?

 

My understanding is that rear 5100's don't provide any lift. Based on your link (above) there is a drop down menu for rear lifting via an AAL (add-a-leaf). Did you have an AAL installed? If so, and if the shop did not remove the overload per your request, then the info that Bilstein provided is probably accurate. FYI: Bilstein does sell a modified 5100 extended travel but I can't remember the part#. Good luck.

 

Yes AAL. And per Bilstein they don't make a shock that would work with the overload springs.

 

Who added the overload springs. So the shop put them on or didn't remove them? So I'm trying to see how they got on the truck.

 

OEM pack has an overload. Headstrong said remove said overload when installing AAL.

 

It's my understanding that the overload spring comes stock on the suspension and needed to be removed in order to work with the AAL lift.

 

On my 2nd gen I did 5100s back in 2021. Year and a half 25k miles later both my shocks blew. First one blew and the 2nd one blew 3 months later. All I had was stock leafs and a 1 inch lift block. I had the 5100s rated 0-1 inches of lift. I've been a Bilstein guys for years, but they made it a huge hassle to get them warrantied. They wanted to me to remove the shock and send it to them for evaluation. Well, what the hell am I supposed to do without a shock? Buy a new one and then get another new one in the mail lol. Screw Bilstein.

 

I went with Icon. Happy with them so far.

 

Next go around I'll definitely spend some coin and go with good suspension.

 

I got lucky and married a girl who is bankrolling my truck for the sake of content creation.

Sucker

 

let’s see that pavement princess!

 

Its in the shop getting a 5.29 regear and a body mount relocation done. I plan on posting new pics once the CBI duel swingout rear bumper is done.