Need Help Deciding Lift - King 2.5 / OME BP-51 / Dobinson MMR / Bilstein 6112/5160

Hello fellow Tacoma owners and enthusiast,

I have a 2021 Tacoma that I'm looking to lift to fit 285/70/17s. From my research it seams that 2.5" in the front and 1.5" in the rear is the sweet spot. High enough to clear tires and low enough to not strain the trucks suspension geometry.

Truck Info/Mods:

• 2021 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Long Bed Off-Road 4x4
• Most likely getting 285/70/17 BFG K02 tires.
• Demello Offroad Aluminum front bumper. (40-60lbs).
• Smittybilt Synthetic rope winch. (67lbs).
• Cali raised sliders. (I'd guess 140-150lbs).

Truck Potential Future Mods:

• Full skid package.
• Rear bumper.
• Roof rack.

Truck Usage:

• My daily but I don't commute for work.
• Hauls my various outdoor hobbies. Dirt bikes and etc.
• Camping. This truck is my camper/overlander. I take it out as much as I can (6-8 weekends a year).

Suspension Wants:

• Good/comfortable ride quality on and off-road.
• Ability to adjust suspension to meet the needs of the above bullet point and to adjust for when the truck may be loaded down/towing.
• If serviceable - Easy to find a shop to service so my trucks not on jack stands for months or can be serviced by your average driveway mechanic.
• Durability - Would be nice to have stuff that last and does not need frequent rebuilds.
• Looking for a suspension kit to try more challenging trails.
• Suspension that can grow with my trucks build.
• Not needed but a good looking kit is always a plus (Remote Resi's sure are puurrty).

Other Suspension Parts:

• For UCAs for any kit I've had my eyes set on the SPCs as they seam to get alignment done right and don't need as maintenance.
• Rear springs I'm considering the Icon AAL to get me started.

Notes:
Looking for some feedback on these lift kits. These are just the ones that peaked my interest but I'm open to other options. I know there is a large price gap between some of these. I'm okay with saving up longer for a better suspension set up. I will most likely own this truck for a long time.

I don't have any real world experience but from what I understand. King/Fox can be tuned from a reputable shop such as AccuTune/Filthy Motorsports to be very comfortable on the street by changing their valving. I also understand the ride quality worsens with the more pre load you have.

I like that the OME BP-51/Dobinson MMRs are a good middle ground between the Kings and the more budget minded Bilstein's. They both offer great adjustability. I'm not confident with their serviceability and performance. I find little information out there. From my understanding the OME is actually a 2.0 shock because of the internal bypass and the shock travel is less than some competitors. I also heard these can get very squeaky.

What's appealing about the Bilstein 6112/5160 is the price and that it seams simple to configure whereas a coilover takes some tinkering to dial in. I also know that this kit won't go to 2.5" but can still clear 285/70/17s.


Thanks for reading!

 

I'm in the same boat or should I say tacoma
I have a 21 trd off road on the TRD Fox suspension I added a rtt bed and roof rack and I have rear sag. It handles fine just can't get over the squat I'm running 255/80/17s and I'm looking for a good lift kit to accommodate my current and future mods

 

I finally pulled the trigger. Installed my Fox 2.5 Performance Elites last weekend. Haven't driven it much yet but rides good so far. Need to get an alignment.

 

What entire setup did you end up getting? Fox wasn't on your options above, curious what made you pick those instead?

 

A lot of researching. The OME setup and the Dobinson's are really not that much cheaper than Fox/King being a huge factor. I really disliked how you adjust the OME BP-51's rebound and compression by spinning the shock body. Technically its not a true 2.5 shock. It's a 2.0 piston with internal bypassing. This is hard to say if this is a pro or a con for someone like myself (daily driver/weekend getaway). A 2.0 will suffer shock fade faster than a 2.5 when running it hard. The Dobinson's are cool but it's hard to find information out there on them. Also, not in love with the way the resi hose goes around the shock studs on top. Those are small gripes but at the end of the day I realized Fox/King are much more well known leading me to feel more confident with support/parts/rebuild/help.

At this point in time I narrowed it down to Kings or a more budget mined Bilstein 6112/5160 set up. Taking a look at King. It's often compared to Fox so I naturally compared Fox as well. From what I've gathered the Technology/Features of Fox surpasses King. You get dual speed compression adjusters with Fox over only one adjuster with King. From what I've gathered Fox uses better oil and seals. Then the brand new Performance Elite series line came out. All aluminum body with better corrosion resistance. Comes standard with DSC. U cup seals over O ring seals that come with factory race series. The performance elite series also shared similar specifications to the Tundra modified rears. Just seamed like a better product to me.

Was really hard to remove the King blue out of my choices as I really love the color. I just can't choose a product based on aesthetics alone. My final debate was between Fox PES and Bilstein 6112/5160. Both were similar specs, same leaf pack. Icon RXT. Similar UCA and bumps. Etc. I just decided to splurge and I hope that was the correct choice. Time will tell.

Sorry about the long winded answer, but there was my thought process. Hopefully it helps someone.

 

No thats great, more research and logical thinking than most would make. Did you reference our articles by chance to help with some of those details?

 

I absolutely did! Both your tech articles and videos on Your YouTube channel. Very grateful for those!

 

Did you wind up doing a 2.5” lift with the Fox Elites? I noticed on the AccuTune site it shows the Fox Elites for 2016-2021 is only a 0-2” lift? Did you wind up going with SPC UCAs as well? I have been planning on the Fox Performance Elite setup and SPC UCAs but not sure what route to take for rear setup to level the truck (block, AAL, icon leaf pack). Is it 2.5” front, 1.5” back so for a 3” in the front it would be a 2” in the back? Thanks for any information and help.

 

I'd reach out to AccuTune to see what they have to say. They would be able to steer you in the right direction.

So for my coilovers I just installed them as is (their shipped config). It gave me around 3" up front but once it settles it will come down. More lift does not equal better off-road. I believe this is one of the videos that I watched that illustrated it well. https://youtu.be/l1tTelhdEiM

No, I'm running a cheaper UCA, that got bundled together in a package. I know the AccuTune UCAs can add enough caster to potentially clear 33's without doing a CMC. That alone may be worth the price jump from SPCs. With that said I heard a lot of great things about SPC.

I personally went the route of the Icon RXT leaf pack as its modular and future proof. I'm running option #1 on the leaf pack currently. Which is 1.875" unloaded. I'm waiting for them to settle but its around 2" right now. If you are running a RTT I'd definitely go with Icon RXT leaf pack. Also, I would run an AAL over a lift block.

 

I will definitely reach out to them and see what info they can provide on the shocks. I feel like SPC will likely be my UCAs and I may just go with the Icon leaf pack as well like I planned. Thanks for the reply and info!

 

I just hate sacrificing down travel for lift. 2.5-3" is a lot, and basically leaves no down travel, so when you haul heavy the front will basically just float and take impact from the road.

Hopefully your suspension doesn't do this and you can share some installed photos.

 

if he went with extended travel coilover he gains back that lost inch of downtravel going up from 2" to 3" lift. this is one of biggest reasons i splurged on extended travel coilovers. better ride at full 3" lift

 

Thanks for the write up! I'm in the almost the exact same boat as @BugJuice ... haven't pulled the trigger yet. This will NOT be my overland vehicle, but it should be fairly capable.

This is for daily driving (also not a commuter), and plenty of dirt trail camping, but not hard core overlanding.

I'd like a solid 2"-3" lift, good performance, but not high end. Was going Bilsteins. Not really budget conscious; rather do it "right", but I don't need pro caliber.

Help appreciated!

'22 Tacoma long bed 4x4 TRD Off Road
Prinsu roof rack
White Knuckle Off Road Sliders
likely will get a front bumper as well

 

Here are some pictures of my install.

 

Sick!!

is the tie rod hitting the sway bar? Hard to tell in the photo

 

I went with Fox #883-06-178, the one that requires a UCA (1"-2" lift).
https://www.ridefox.com/product.php...=Toyota&model=Tacoma&year=2021&position=Front

 

No, but very close. The other side is even worse... Not sure what to do about that yet.
I'm waiting till I get my tires delivered before I align my truck.

 

How is the ride? Is it more stiff or more plush?

 

Truck drives good! Better than the factory Bilstein TRD-Off-road suspension. The truck rides stiffer but I prefer it. Feels more planted and less "boaty".

 

I settled on BP51 in 2018 mainly because they weren’t supposed to require a rebuild. After both rears went out in the last 6-9 months I sent them off for rebuild at ARB. I wouldn’t call the ride comfortable but it was good enough. What I really hated was the noise of the OME Dakar HD’s! Squeaky and noisy. Hated it.

While they were off I went ahead and went to the FOX 2.5 Elites and totally fine with it. Also switched to stage 2 Deaver. Pretty happy with it. Buy once cry once.

only thing else you might consider is starting with some Bilsteins and let that run for a while. Then move to FOX later. Will be nice to have the Bilsteins as a back up when the Fox need a build. Then again, you may be totally fine with the Bilsteins and save urself some cash.