Keeping in mind that this is my first TOYOTA and I had no previous experience installing a lift on anything other than older chevrolet trucks with straight axles it went rather smoothly. However, after installing the rear Procomp fj lift coils and bilstein 5100 shocks in the rear and the OME/Bilstein 5100s on the TOP SETTING up front I took it out for a test run and MAN WHAT A DISSAPOINTMENT! It was stiff and jumping and bouncing everywhere! The bilsteins were topped out and had no functionality and the springs were waaaay to compressed and therefore stiff on this setting lol I was very surprised that it even went on with the no spring compressor method. In any case it was horrible! So I busted the front suspension back out and set the adjustment on the Bilstiens to the 2ND SETTING and it was much smoother and better on the back when driving. I had found the sweet spot! The ride height was right where I needed it to be. So with that done I got my 04' T4R SR5 aligned at the shop and brought it home for some measurements. Heres what I found!
First pic is stock height with only the 3" motofab front spacer ground to fender measurement....roughly 35.5" Second pic is after removing the spacer and installing the OME885s and the Bilstein 5100s on the second notch and after alignment was done. I got roughly 39" ground to fender. If you keep in mind that the 35.5" was with a 3" spacer that makes my stock height 32.5" that's a 6.5" GAIN IN LIFT!!
This is where I wondered a bit if I had done things correctly or if I was just "lucky" with the height gains. I double checked to make sure I had the lower spring holders set correctly or if they were "upside down" as I've read in here in another thread. But everything was installed correctly. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of these lifts can help me understand the gains? It was explained to me that the bilsteins are a "lift" itself if used with stock coils depending on the setting you choose "if not set to zero". So I used OME885 "lift" coils AND the bilstein strut "lift" as well because I was on the second notch? Hoping for more info on this one folks!
So here's what I've come up with. OME885 coils up to 3" of lift and Bilstein 5100 on 2nd notch 1.75" total "should be" 4.75" of lift on paper. But I was at 6.5" of lift over stock!
My stock struts and coils were NOT completely worn out and they were fully functional at the time of the lift. Anyhow....this is what I'm at. It was a cop car before I got it and they changed the coils a couple years before I got it and the struts were done regularly. ANYWAYS....I LOVE THE LIFT! Again any and all comments appreciated. Perhaps we can help others doing their own lift to understand more completely.