how so? how does my truck ride, please tell me. I actually explained my setup in a previous post here, and there are more details in my build thread.
the Bilstein adjustable shocks are meant to be used with a stock spring, in fact the lift amounts ring true if you use a stock spring. fourth perch is about 2" of lift.
the reason you may think running on the 4th perch is bad is because you are thinking about the tundra trd coils, which will not ride well for two reasons. first its going to have zero down travel, secondly the spindle will hit the coil limiting full droop and making a nasty feeling clunk. if you stick a tundra coil on a stock front shock, you will get the same amount of lift as you would on the tundra 5100. the spring is longer and therefore gives more lift because it is pre-loading the suspension.
the tundra coils are longer than the 4runner stock coils and roughly about the same spring rate. because the 4runner coils are shorter, you have to pre-load them more to get the same amount of lift. on the 4th perch i get about the same amount of lift as the tundra coil on the 1st perch. if you were yo measure how much you compressed the tundra coil and the 4runner coils before you put them in, you would notice that they were compressed the same amount to achieve the same amount of lift because they have roughly equivalent spring rates despite being different sizes.
Anyways stock springs on the 4th perch is my favorite combination so far, and yes I have tried all of them 1st 2nd 3rd with trd tundra coils. 4th and 5th with stock coils. additionally all of my steering and suspension components have been replaced, so i can actually feel the little differences. the tundra coils being progressive makes them flex out poorly because the spring rate increases progressively. the stock coils are more linear in their spring rate.
I think the majority of people opinions on how certain springs and shocks feel and perform aren't accurate because they almost certainly have worn bushings and ball joints that are affecting the feel of the vehicle. I have eliminated all of those variables by replacing them with poly bushings and new ball joints. there really is a night and day difference once everything has been replaced, my truck has as smooth of a ride down the road as my moms Lexus RX350.
