Hey guys, I've been through 70+ pages on Bilstein 6112/5160's, probably 8-10 pages on Kings, and a little bit of what was posted about progressive vs digressive shocks (by engineer1?) and still have a few questions. Ideally, I want to raise the front my stock ORP (off road premium; formerly trail premium) about 1.25"-1.5", gain some performance increase (desert), while minimally sacrificing long term durability and maintenance. The 4Runner is my daily driver and 99%+ of my driving is around town (mall crawling), so it makes since I don't go too extreme in the off road area.

Questions/Thoughts
1. Those of you that have the Bilstein 6112/5160 combo, how happy are you with it? How's the reliability been? Reports of some leaking have given me pause. In retrospect would you have gotten something else and why?

2. There's a King group buy going on at the moment. I originally thought this would be a better option but I talked to King and they estimated around 25k miles between servicing (1-2 years). This means my vehicle would be down for approximately a week, which isn't acceptable for my needs. I'm hoping to get 80k miles out of the Bilsteins before replacing. (I get higher performance often/always necessitates increased service intervals. It's just too short for me.) Am I missing something here? Any reason to essentially pay twice the cost of the Bilsteins and have additional maintenance for Kings with my needs? Additional comment: I found some old (2014?) threads in a cummin's(?) forum and some of the people thought Bilsteins were a better shock.

3. I was avoiding the spring spacer route because I was hoping I could gain a little performance and maintain the reliability & minimal maintenance with a little extra money.

Thanks for the help!

Why not 5100's if most of your time is on hard road? They are throw away and last for a long time and cheap to replace. All of high performance shocks will take maintenance.

Honestly I never even looked at them, but will check them out. It seemed like there was a lot of hype about the 6112/5160 combo essentially being the TRD Pro setup, so I went with that. My thinking being that Toyota going that route meant it was a good compromise. I originally wanted a Pro but wanted a sunroof more.

If it makes you feel any better I had the exact same thought process. Still do. But the 5100s with a Daystar spacer seems like a good compromise for people like us who use our 4r as a daily driver

Most people have no clue as to what to use and when to use it. Let me help you but be honest with me:

There is a big difference between Baja style high speed desert running and normal off road or even slower speed crawling. For the high speed desert runs ( I'm talking hours at a time, not 20 minutes once a month) you need a large bore shock with remote reservoirs. Why? Two reasons... the remote reservoirs keep your shock oil cooler and the larger borck can absorb the big fast hits and provide a cushion. Raptors are built for this and to a lesser extent the TRD PRO. Are you this guy? Remember every shock made for this application will need a lot more maintenance.

Now let's talk about the second application. Lower speed intermittent desert or normal off road or even mild crawling do not require remote reservoirs or larger bore shocks. This is where the 5100's come into play. Think of them as a really good stock shock upgrade that will let you lift a few inches. There are others as well that fit this profile but the Bilsteins are very inexpensive and last a.long time with no maintenance.

Serious rock crawling is totally unique. Shock travel is very important here and long travel suspension is preferred, which is a whole different animal.

Remember the time you spend on the road. You need a long lasting no maintenance shock that handles well on the road. Only a fool would build something for 1% of the time... thats like carrying three spare tires.

I have had my 6112/5160s on for about 10k miles now and no issues with reliability. The only issue I have had is I have to check the dust boots on the 5160s every now and then as they tend to move around.

5100s would be far more economical though...

12000 miles on the 6112/5160 combo. No issues, love the ride.

I currently have 5100's and just ordered the 5160/6112 combo. Like the ride with the 5100's but the stock springs are still a little too soft for me. Also I wanted a 1" lift and level (so 1.85" in the front and 1" in the rear), mostly used for on road with occasional off, hopefully more in the future. Also didn't want to go bigger than the stock tire size and I should be able to get within the alignment specs without having to get UCA's.

If you want the kings. You could always keep your stock shocks and run those while you're getting your kings serviced.

The kings will ride the best. The 6112 combo will be the balance between budget and ride. And the 5100 are going to best value because you will most likely never out drive thier performance and they are a pretty good upgrade from stock.

5100 are what I ended up going with. Kings were out of my budget and couldn't really justify them. And I figure I would rather get 5100s and save for kings if I really felt like they were necessary. Which I doubt considering I have 0 plans of flying around like I'm running bajam

What did you end up going with? I'm totally in the same boat. I was debating between the 5100s all the way around vs 6112/5100 setup. I'm confused more than ever, I heard the 5100s were harsher yet some say its softer. My 4runner is definitely a daily driver most importantly. Any other input?

Thanks!

20k on my 6112/5160 combo. Still very happy with them.

you can't compare the 6112 to a race shock like a King or Fox. you just simply can't. they're totally different leagues

I have the 6112's for the front and 5100's in the rear. They seem to match very nicely. The car feels balanced and similar between the front and back.

This is 100% correct.

The 6112/5160 are non-rebuildable nitro charged shocks. They are designed to live their lives and be replaced. Personally I look for a shock to last around 60-80k miles and then I'll look to replace it. Sure they may go a lot longer or less.

Rebuildable options like Fox, Icon and so on. Will never 'last' as long because they are not designed to last 80k miles. 'Last' is also a relative term. Does 'last' mean time between rebuilds or does it mean the total life span.

If you are talking about time between rebuilds, rebuildables will always cost more. If you are talking about total live span, then they may be an ROI at some point.

For example .... You drive 25k miles per year.

Say its $4000 (just a guess) to buy the full Fox, King or Icon setup. Then $500 (just a guess) to rebuild them every year. In 75k miles you'll have spent about $5500. At 150k miles you've spend about $7000. Yes there a lot other factors like downtime while the rebuild is done.

A 6112/5160 combo costs about $1200-$1500. At 75k miles you buy the current offering (maybe an upgrade) for around the same price. Now you are $3000-ish. At 150k miles you buy another new latest and greatest for around the same price. Now you are at $4500-ish. One big thing with this option is you have NO down time. You also have the ability to change things up with no 'wasted' money because you are spending the money anyway.

I was talking to one person the bought Kings and he'll run them until they leak and they buy something else .... OMG. He was hoping to get 60-70k miles out of them. Personally I don't have that kind of cash just laying around.

FYI ... best price I've found on the 6112 and they have 5160s too.

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