Three years ago I installed Bilstein 5100s and poly sway bar bushings on my '18 SR5 for leveling and body control. No complaints with amount of front lift and ride.

About a year go, I moved to an area with terrible roads - broken pavement, potholes, multiple speed breakers for a few miles in all directions.

In an effort to improve the truck's compliance over small bumps, I upgraded to Fox 2.0s (retaining the stock coils in the rear only). I hoped that the switch from digressive to progressive would help soak up the small stuff. I knew it wouldn't be like a Raptor, floating over everything, but i was hoping for some improvement.

What I got was amazing body control over smoother stuff, but a very harsh ride in my most common use case of 25-45mph over crappy city streets. I feel like the truck has little to no damping over even the smallest imperfections. It seems like I feel every single crack, expansion joint, piece of gravel, uneven repair - everything.

Finally, the front out-of-the-box lift from the Fox's is juuuuust this side of too high - in some scenarios I get a little negative rake which I can't stand.

All of this has me considering a return to stock with just a touch of leveling from front spacers.

The truck is otherwise dialed in, paid for, and perfect for my needs, so I'll say now that "shoulda got a GX" isn't realistic at this moment. I'd love to keep rocking this thing for another few years while I save for a house.

Anyone else gone back to stock and been happier with the ride?

This is my experience as well, and fwiw I'm running stock suspension (+ KDSS) with a 1" front spacer lift.

What tires are you running? I noticed the biggest negative change in ride quality and handling was due swapping in larger, heavier, C load tires.

I've had nothing but bad luck with Bilstein. From leaking shocks to extremely bad rot in short amounts of time. Longevity issues and shitty customer service. I was done

Been rockin Dobinson's for over three years now and they are the best affordable shocks I've ever used.

Well, there goes my theory about stock at least being cushier...

it's a good thought, but I have General Grabber APTs in stock sizes, SL load rating. I picked them since they have a nice mellow AT/HT mix and an accoustic layer as well. They're mounted on TRD wheels which are also pretty light.

I'm wondering if the TRD Pro Foxes are any more forgiving. There's a good deal on a new set out there that is tempted. OEM-ish ride, and keep a small amount of leveling without spacers.

I have a 2024 TRDORP with Dunlops and a 2022 GX460 with Michelin Defenders. The tires on both vehicles are stock size with 33 psi in both. I find the ride over small imperfections in the road a little better on the 4Runner and equal everywhere else. If you're running a tire with stiff sidewalls or high psi that will affect the ride quality.

I keep reading how smooth the Trd pro Fox shocks are so that may be worth a try.

260K miles on our set of Bilstein 5100s. Only complaint, the rear boots split.

I have about 40k on mine and still brag about how much they've helped the vehicles responses to roll and dive. They're stiff but I wouldn't call them stiff by any means.

I, knock on wood, haven't had a leaking issue and if I do, they really aren't that expensive to replace.

As such, I can't imagine going back to stock. I like my set up a lot. I'm still running 265/70s BFG KO2s, Load Range E, though and I wouldn't mind going to a TA, Load C for my next batch. Either I have another bearing going out or these tires are louder that I remember.

In fact that's what I did! Snagged a set off ebay and will get them installed next week. Across my 2 4R's, my buddy's 4R and his wife's i've installed probably 6 sets of shocks so I'm throwing this one to a shop I like. I've had my fill!

I'll report back on my impresssions of ride quality.

Please do interested in going this route

I am still using the 5100's with +1.50 in the front and cornfed 1" in the rear, seems to be fine for me FYI, don't think I would go back to stock

We have had plenty of "buyers remorse" or people switch systems after upgrading. I wouldnt say they go back to "stock" but we have had plenty go from extended travel and max out lifts, long travel... etc and they go back to a 2.5" stock width lift to get some drivability back and ride comfort. Upgrades dont necessarily improve ride quality on road and sometimes can cause substantially more maintenance and upkeep. Rebuild costs, bushing replacements and maintenance from upgraded parts usually arent factored in when pricing out the kit.

I figured instead of starting a new post I would jump on this thread with my issue.... hope that is ok!
I recently bought my wife a 2013 Limted 4R. The X-Reas system must be shot as it is awful to drive. Feel every little bump/crack in the road. I watched a video on removing the X-Reas system which is what I intend to do. The local Toyota dealership quoted me $1750 to replace the system with a stock suspension. I found that outreagous and plan to do it on my own... I hope.
I bought a used setup(pics are in picture album as I couldn't figure out how to attach them to this post) off a 2019 Sr5 with only 33,000 miles. I noticed it is missing the top piece(shock mount, front suspension support, mounting plate??? seen it called all three of these). My question is can I use that piece from the exsisting OEM X-Reas suspension or is it different? Thanks so much for any help!!

I had a 2016 TRD Pro with the stock bilsteins, I took them off and went bp-51, then that truck was totaled and now I have a stock TRD Off-road (stock suspension). The bp-51s were adjustable; when mostly on road I'd stiffen them up for handling and they were great, but could make them cushy and floaty if I wanted. However, fiddling with adjusting them for the road and then off-road was kind of a pain. The original TRD Pro suspension was probably the best all-around and in hindsight I would probably leave them (and the Fox version of the TRD Pro is apparently better). The current fully stock suspension is stiffer than the Pro suspension and if I wasn't planning to go GX at some point soon I'd probably upgrade it to something else (maybe just TRD Pro Fox suspension, maybe bp-51s again)