Lift question - bilstein 5100 with stock coils?

Is it okay to run bilstein 5100s at 2.5" on the front with stock coils?

My budget is either bilstein 5100 with stock coils and ome medium rear leaf pack or bilstein 5100 with ome springs and an aal kit in the rear. I don't do a ton of rock climbing, but I tend to load my truck down a lot with weight, tow trailers from time to time, and run desert and rough ass ranch roads fast (mostly unloaded)

Also will the bilstein lift clear 285s on scs ray 10 wheels with only 2.5" lift no rubbing?

 

ome springs with aal is probably the best route.

 

Can I clear 285s with a 2" front lift and would that ride better?

 

Sub'd

 

One more dumb question, do i need a diff drop kit and rear axle shims?

 

I’m looking to run a similar setup. From what I’ve read, if you run 5100s@0 all the way around w/888 coils and AAL in the back you can achieve about 2.75-3.0” of lift. No need to run UCAs/diff drop right away unless you do serious off-roading. It’s not recommended (so I’m told) to run your shocks at the highest setting.

Here’s the setup I’ll be installing in the next month:

5100s (2nd gen shocks)
OME 888 coils
Headstrong 3-AAL
265/75r16 Wildpeaks.

I know you can fit 285/75r16 with 3” lift but you’ll need 1.25 wheels spacers to clear UCA. I’ll let you know how lift turns out. Good luck!

 

I'm going to run the same package, but with the dever AAL for now, Light UCA Arms, and a diff drop.. It'll be easier to do it all right the first time.. Then down the road I'll do the OME in the rear.

 

Quick answer: Bilstein does not recommend running the 5100’s at the fifth (highest) setting on a Tacoma front end.

Call @HeadStrong Off-Road for your best answers though.

 

When you change the coils, you keep the bilstein at the lowest setting and the springs provide the lift.

 

Sorry, I thought you said stock coils at 2.5”, thats what the title says. You are right though, Im running 5100’s set on the 3rd stop on stock coils up front, have about a 1.5” lift and should not go higher without other coils. The ride on and off-road is really good with my current setup, even with the weight of steel Mobtown skids and and a heavy front receiver hitch.

 

I went with 265/75r16 set at 1.75. It seemed to be a good compromise of a taller than stock tire and decent ride and on a budget.

 

First off all im new this forum and got myself 2017 tacoma sport 4x4. I recently order a set of SCS Ray10 17x8.5 matte bronze w machine lip last month. Still waiting on wheels. Im planning to go with 285/70/17. I wanted bilstein 5100 shocks and call this company for a quote $950 with all 4 shocks OME springs with 3" lift. Is that consider a reasonable price and do you think it will rub. I dont go rock climbing, just mostly camping and dirt road pavement.

 

Headstrong off-road has the same setup (struts assembled) + AAL for about $850. UCAs bump the price to $1200.

 

What company?

 

I have the older Bilsteins at the first notch which gave about 0.85” lift, and a 1/2” spacer in the rear, 265/75r16, and it rides great. My understanding is the next notch would be okay ride wise, but going higher you start to notice it over bumps. Where I have it now there isn’t much if any difference from stock. The tires made a bigger difference in how the ride feels (better, more stable over bumps, stock tires were soft and floaty).

You are definetly not going to run the Bilsteins at 2.5” without having problems constantly bottoming the strut out and potentially damaging something. I am pretty sure Bilsteins explicitly says this with the older version and the newer version specific to the 16+ won’t even allow that much adjustment.

This doesn’t even get into the issue where the max lift the Toyota front suspension can realistically handle without compromises in geometry occurring is really about 2” from stock on the 16+. Not to mention drivetrain angles.

And coz we’re having a Ray10 picture whore contest:

 

Also, not sure what the offset on the ray 10s are but you may need spacers to run 285’s.
265/75r16 will fit stock.

 

Ray10 has plenty of poke to clear the UCA with 285’s. I’m not sure about 315’s though. Here are the wheel specs:

https://www.stealthcustomseries.com/products/ray10

 

88 Rotors Inc in Elmonte, Ca

 

This is the key issue with raising the perch on the bilsteins. Unfortunately adding OMEs or any coil that is taller does the same thing. Both raise the front end and in turn further extend the shock. The perkof the OMEs, if you need it, is that they have a higher spring rate so they can handle heavier loading. Ultimately though the higher you go the worse things get. Bottoming out a shock can be remedied by having a longer shock body, but then you run the risk of over extending your CV and binding the UCA bushing.

I say focus on what you want and need.
For the front:
If you want adjust ability get coil overs.
If you just want a lift get the bilsteins.
If you want to add a wench later, get OMEs, or bils+OME, or coil overs.
For the rear:
If you want something with stock capacity and rides well get a 3 leaf AAL.
If you want a little more load capacity at the cost of comfort get a single leaf AAL.
If you want a larger lift with greater load capacity then look for leaf replacements.

Unfortunately for the OPs wallet, based of what they wrote it sounds like your best off with coil overs like Icon ("run desert and rough ass ranch roads fast") with a OME leaf pack.

Since you mentioned a budget though I would go with "bilstein 5100 with stock coils and ome medium rear leaf pack" because you load the rear a lot.

 

I've decided Fuck the budget..

I'm getting spc uca, ome 888s, bilsteins, drop diff, and medium ome with an overload spring to get another inch..