Please don't kill me! Which lift?

Ok. Brand new truck. Little to no off roading planned. I am looking for 2" or thereabouts, mostly just to set my truck apart from the sea of Tacomas out there. (Side note: I love the aftermarket support that comes with having such a popular vehicle...not such a big fan of being able to swing a dead cat and hit three or four Tacomas with it everywhere I go.)

To my point, I think I have narrowed my options to:

Toytec spacer kit and rear AAL or block, leaning towards AALs. Install looks straightforward, cheap, easy to go back to factory if I so choose, and no concerns about this weird drivers side lean phenomenon that occurs, since all the same components are still there.

5100s in the front and AALs rear. Cost is maybe $100 or so more than spacers. I have no idea about the install...anyone have a "how to" handy for 5100s? Also, my shocks have 300 miles on them...why would I replace the rears with Bilsteins? Any good reason to?

I've searched and searched and read and read. If it makes a difference, I will be ordering 17" wheels for it with about 5" of backspacing and 265/70-17 tires. (Which also means there will be a pristine set of TRD 17" wheels and tires coming on the market soon if anyone is interested...)

Matt

 

Go with the 5100's

heres a how to video, this is for the old man emus but 5100 install similar.

part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6u7dC7EHg

part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo0FJSi-KYs

and this is w/o a spring compressor pretty cool how he does it. Hope this helps.

 

I would go with the 5100's, a new leaf pack for the rear and rear 5100's to match. Sell the stock shocks on here for a little pocket money.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/114418-bilstein-5100-install-thread.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/31862-how-front-shock-spring-removal.html

 

Jblaze is a ninja! Beat me to it haha!

 

All good. Its funny you say that bc thats what they say about me at work. lolz.

 

Thank you for the video, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Matt

 

So what's the advantage of getting 5100s in the rear over my stockers?

 

no need to upgrade your rear shocks, just save your money. rear AAL is all you need. For the front you can do the toytec spacer but the 5100s will allow you 5 different height options, from stock to 2.5 inches. the spacer is strictly 2.5" if I recall

 

I hate to admit this...because I consider myself pretty smart...but..

I just spent entirely too much time Googling "billies" as an option. Took me a WHILE to realize billie=Bilstein. FML.

 

And for my last question of the day, are the 5100s height adjustable while they are on the truck? (In my head, I am picturing dialing them up to 2.5" and finding out the truck won't align. No problem, I will just dial them back to 1.75" real quick and try again.)

 

4 height options? Stock, 0.85", 1.75", 2.50", right?

 

haha we all like to think we're pretty smart here. it's 4 options not 5

 

Yes, but they need to be fully disassembled to change the height.

 

and no to adjust them they have to be removed from the truck, not like the nicer coilovers. i would stay away from the 2.5" lift as you very likely might have alignment issues, and even if you don't, your stock tires will look pretty small under the front fenders. If this lift is all you have planned right now, consider 1.75

 

Adding to this ^^^^

Avoid preloading the coils if you can and instead replace the factory coils with lift coils. Bilstiens work the best when left at the first (bottom) notch.