Overwhelmed By Suspension Options

I get it. I don't know how many times I while reading threads in here...

 

+1 I've always been a massive Bilstein fanboy, for one they have a factory in my city (San Diego) that has rebuilt old shocks of mine for free, and secondly I used to be really into the BMW scene and Bilstein being German they just went so well together.

I consider Bilstein to be the Toyota of the suspension world. Not always the highest raw performance but like you said, made to LAST.

My first gen tacoma I sold with 165k miles and on original bilsteins! No leaks and thousands of offroad miles it was incredible. My last 2nd gen I sold right here on TW with 125k miles, also tons of offroading and also original shocks. I'm determined to blow out my current stock suspension so I have an excuse to upgrade to the 8112s but so far its handled a ton of abuse!

There is something to be said about massive R&D budgets and as you pointed out both Bilstein and Toyota have the largest R&D budgets in their respective fields.... and it shows. (And yes I'm aware VW spends more than Toyota but IMO I consider Toyota more R&D dedicated because its spread over TWO brands instead of TWELVE like V.A.G.)

People think companies like Kia have "come so far! basically the same as toyota now!" but when I see toyota invest $9 BILLION into R&D last year while Kia commits 1/10th of that I have a hard time believing we won't see different results in quality. Toyota isn't stupid they wouldn't be spending that much $ if it wasn't getting them something tangible in return.

 

I'll just post lessons I learned with other 4x4s related to suspension and mods. I didn't do much to my 2nd Generation TRD OR and won't likely tear into my 3rd Generation TRD OR either.

- Armor and recovery plan in the budget first, otherwise we have a pretty vehicle that gets banged up and stuck.
- Good tires and correct tire pressure and OBA (before or after item 1 above) are real, real nice on a "stocker."
- People who want big ass tires need to regear and plan out replacing any turds up front.

So that would leave me with a high-quality OME suspension (or similar) to get 1" up front and decent leaf pack in the back running around 33" tires with lots of sidewall. OBA, winch, front and rear bumpers, a few real skids, strong rock rails and some solid in-bed mounts for fuel and water.

Anything bigger or taller or whatever, and I'd be regearing and getting into money I'll never have anyway.

 

I can agree with the 6112/5160 combo - nice upgrade for the money, i don't feel bad beating on it (they have some serious heft to them) and i have 30K miles on them and the ride hasn't deteriorated at all.

 

All good points and I wanted ot try to keep my post as simple as possible without covering all the variables. That said, how far as anyone pushed a King shock before it failed? Like I said my King shocks will likely last just as long or longer than a Bilstein BUT, why take the risk when I have the capability to rebuild. With Bilstein, you have no choice so you can keep pushing until failure. Where the line is for each, I dont know.

Like oil changes the recommendation will vary and changes on a regular basis. The recommended time to replace shocks is often 50k, is that absolute no, just like changing your oil at 10k is not absolute. That being said, what's cheaper? Replacing shocks every 50k or rebuilding them? I can push my oil change to 20k, should I? probably not. I cna push my shocks to 90k, should I? Probably not.

 

But if you maintain your shocks, you don’t have an excuse to get something new and shiny every 50-75k miles.

 

I have TC upper control arms, king coil overs in front, king shocks in rear, and expedition 3” springs. All came in around $3800... did same lift to my girls truck with an add a leaf in rear and it was $2900. Both ride amazing. Highly recommend it

 

Its all economics lol. Good thing is pushing 5100's to failure ( leak) means $400. Those shocks, under normal use, will last 60-90k.
Choices choices haha.

 

I do appreciate it, sir.

 

So I have been watching videos of lifts being done on YouTube to get a little better handle on the mechanics of this.

One little issue:
If you do a lift do you have to install a differential drop? I ask because I am planning to put in some IFS skids and some of them say that you they cannot be installed with a differential drop kit installed.

Thanks,

 

No. If you do a dif drop you will need to modify the plates. That said there are very few reports of people needing them.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/remove-the-differential-drop-on-your-05-tacoma.118545/

 

Speaking of lifts, I forgot to mention because I havent posted on the forums in a long time until just a few days ago.

If you do a lift, you will need to do the ECGS Bushing replacement. The Toyota driver side needle bearing is week and will break after the lift. The only fix is the bushing. This will cause excessive vibrations in the truck until replaced.

 

Understand some have had the issues, but its far from a sure thing. Shaun at Rogue Offroad states they have done a ton of Tacoma lifts and have had maybe a handful at most, have the bushing issue (1 them his own).

 

I have a diff drop and I run RCI skids. No issues.

 

Well damn. Might be removing some stuff this weekend.

 

It's close to a sure thing but is dependent on some variables. The needle bearing will fail at some point if you are running a 3" lift. It was one of the most common failure on this forum specifically from people with lifts. So common I replaced my bushing before the lift and was able to borrow the tool from a Tacomaworld member. Why bother with the risk. There are over 250 threads on it alone.

I can't speak for Shaun but I wouldn't expect every customer with a vibe issue to go back to him.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/front-diff-vibes-ecgs-bushing-fix.464941/

It's systemic across all generations...

 

I am very interested in your impressions once you get them on...I am looking at the same setup. Plan on doing it within the month.

 

So, it occurred to me that in all of this discussion of tires and suspensions, I have not bothered to look at what tires are currently on the truck. I checked. They are:

Given that this is a stock 2016 SR5 4X4 crew cab, can't I get larger tires on right now, without even doing any suspension adjustment?

I should have thought to look at this earlier.

 

Thank you so much for the recommendation @hiPSI

 

Thank you so much for your recommendation @rmepilot we really do appreciate it!!!!