Thinking of replacing 888’s

So about a year ago I installed 5100s on all four corners with 888s for around 2.75” of lift. A year later and it’s settled considerably to where it looks barely above stock.

Now I’m wondering if I can get a different coil to fix the issue. I’ve heard different brands like toytec can get me close back to my desired 3” but I’m not sure if I’m just chasing my tail here.

What are your suggestions, if any?

 

Do you have a lot of weight on the front of the truck? Bumper, sliders, etc... if so, get a heavier coil.

One year seems a little too soon to settle 2.75”. What are your measurements compared to when you lifted and prior to lift? Do you have really heavy wheels/tires that could be killing your coils?

Long story short, need more info, settling that much in one year doesn’t make any sense.

 

FWIW I installed the 888 coils with 5100's originally and netted about 2.5" of lift. they settled to 1.5" of lift over 1 year with only skids and sliders and light bar. I swapped out to 886 coil with a 660lb spring rate vs 590lb for 888 I believe. this is against most retail recommendations. the ride quality is good, not too stiff in my opinion but I do notice the 5100's lack some rebound control for the stiuffer 886 coils. from what I have read and the general consensus is the 887/888 coil rate is too low for the 3rd gen Tacoma as it weights about 450lbs more upfront. this is just what I have read and heard, don't take it too the bank. I don't have any regrets changing to the 886 coil and it was an affordable fix to the sagging.

 

That’s a solid idea to fix this, I need to do more research into using the 886 on the 5100 though to make sure I won’t mess anything up.

 

As I understand it, the recommendation comes from the circlip that the 5100's use not being rated for the stiffer spring. That being said, I think a lot of people have and do run 886's on the 5100's. IMO, the valving on the 5100's is good enough for a stock weight vehicle, but on heavier setups it's just not adequate. If your setup is quite heavy, a good rebuild-able coil over is the best way to go if you want to maximize lift and carrying capacity.

 

I agree^^ The 5100's were designed to work with the factory coil which is 712 lb (or there abouts from what I can find) so personally I don't see why the retaining ring would be an issue with the 660lb 886, but I'm no engineer. curious why all the vendors websites recommend not using this combination.

 

My only thought is that the 886's are also longer than the stock ones. So F=kx means that for more x, you get more F. Again, I don't know for sure that's why they don't recommend the 5100's and 886's, that's just what I was told.

Maybe the best bet is to use the stock coils up a couple notches on the 5100's? It should be easy to find some stock ones laying around for free/cheap.

 

I’ve been thinking about this the past few days. The stock coil is shorter yes but we are still running it higher than the 0 notch on the 5100 so essentially it’s potentially similar length to the 886.

I think this will be with any suspension system and you just need to know your limitations. I do trail runs yes but I don’t do any boulder work or extreme functions.

The 888 just too soft of a spring set up for our front ends. Mine has settled lower than my friends leveling kit which blows my mind.

I’m expecting a similar ride to 5100 with stock coils set at top notch.

 

Assuming its a spacer, a leveling kit won't really settle. Spacers just move the whole strut assembly down further.

Regarding the 886 vs the stock coil. The stock coil's solid length (fully compressed) is shorter than the 886. When you put the stock coil up a notch or several notches on the 5100, you are just pre-compressing it a bit so that the length of the strut assembly when under the weight of the truck is longer than the stock length. This is what lifts the truck. But the maximum amount of force the stock coil can put out on the spring perch is always exactly the same, F=k*X. The OME coils achieve lift by adding coil length (X+Y) so that when compressed by the weight of the truck, the length of the strut assembly is longer than the length of the stock strut assembly. But since it is longer than the stock coil, when it is fully compressed it may exert more force than the stock coil does, F=k*(X+Y). Now I don't know exactly what X and Y are, but the stock coils are around 14" and the 886 coils are around 16", so there's probably an inch or so of additional compressed length in there. That is potentially an extra 600-1000 lbs of force on the perch. I'm guessing that the margin of safety on the 5100's is not so small that it can't handle that additional force, but that's probably why they aren't "approved" for it.

Everyone gets so hung up about the spring rates of the OME coils, but that's not the whole equation. If spring rate was all that mattered, how could you run coilovers with 600# springs and get 2-3" of lift? Or 700# springs with a bunch of extra weight and 2-3" of lift no problem? /Rant

Bottom line, I don't have any great solutions for you . Maybe just add a 1/2" spacer if you're not too worried about performance and be done with it.

 

who do you think you are bringing math knowledge and intellect into this?

I’ve read so many cases about people having success in this circumstance that I’m going to give it a shot...that and it got delivered today.

I’m just going to monitor the shocks and make sure everything runs solid. If anything this will be a replacement until I get my long term king or fox suspension.

 

Haha! Let us know how it works!

 

Opted against it in the end.

not because I thought it was a bad decision, I make those all the time.

I decided to sell the coils and save my money with everything going on.

may just add a spacer to it or venture to the 1st notch realm.

the options are figuratively endless.