Bilstein 8125 Series Coilover

[AssBurns]

So I was scrolling through the Bilstein catalog today hoping to find a good upgrade for front suspension on my 2000 4runner, after seeing the 6112 series and wondered why I don't see many folks running Bilstein coilovers such as the 8125 and 9200 series. The 9200 series are more for race applications but the 8125 series are more for Jeeps and Prerunner type builds. I noticed they have a 6" coilover model that uses the 2.5" ID coils. I talked to my brother about pricing since his company just started supplying Bilstein a few months ago. He is able to get a set for roughly $700. I can easily located a good set of coil springs to get the right spring rates for a couple hundred bucks or less. So what I would like to know is what the specs are of other coilovers like Fox, King, Icon, SAW, etc.
I saw somewhere that Icon uses a 650 lbs spring. Everywhere I've looked doesn't show anything on extended and compressed lengths, spring rates, valving, etc. Does anyone have any specs they would like to share? If not I may try emailing the manufacturers to get some specs. Trying to figure out if this would be a practical way of upgrading my front suspension (Tundra 5100's w/ Toytec Eibach coils on the second perch) to match my rear Bilstein 12" 7100's. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[AssBurns]

Emailed King, Icon and Fox to see if they are willing to share their specs. Emailed them a few hours ago with no replies yet. We'll see if they are willing to share any information on their setups. It's like pulling teeth trying to get specs from the top manufacturers. I'll post up anything I hear from them.


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[AssBurns]

Reply From Fox Shocks

Reply from Fox's Offroad Sales Department.

The 2.5’s we have for your Tacoma have vehicle specific valving and use a 14x 600lb per inch spring.
The 2.5 IFP (883-02-023) measures 20.49” extended and 15” collapsed (3” lift) 5.49" Travel
The 2.5 IFP (883-02-024) measures 19.58” ext and 14.55” collapsed (2” lift) 5.03" Travel


Thank you,

General Sales Department
Off Road Division

So I am assuming the 6" travel Bilsteins would work perfect. I would probably either need a limiting strap or mount them high enough to keep them from over extending the CV axles.
The Bilstein 8125 (33-225487) 6" Travel
Extended Length: 19", Collapsed Length: 13"

With my current setup, the Tundra 5100's (24-188265) the travel would be 5.45"
Extended Length: 18.68", Collapsed Length: 13.23"


I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to run dual rate coils on such a small coilover but running a 650 lb primary coil and a 550 lb secondary would possibly be a good starting point. I got a little more research to do on dual rate coilovers and the ability to run them on a 6" shock.

 

[sn0wrunner]

How are you envisioning the top mount working? Are you going to machine one out of aluminum? Weld one together out of steel?

 

[AssBurns]

I was thinking one out of steel. It wouldn't be hard to weld a couple tabs on a plate. It wouldn't be as cool as the aluminum ones but that isn't really an issue.


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[sn0wrunner]

Looking at the bottom of the shock, you might need some sort of spring cup like the ICONs have so the spring doesn't come in contact with the CVs.

I think you're right about needing the limiting straps. If you build a top mount like this, it's essentially extending the length of the shock giving you more droop than the shock already provides.

 

[AssBurns]

I will have to look into that to see how close the CV gets to the coilover. I would like to know how fox is measuring their coilover. If it is measured from eye to eye or eye to mounting plate. I'm assuming it's the mounting plate so if I had an extended length of 19" plus 1.5" or so mounting plate, it would be the same length as the fox extended travel coilover but would still have an extra .5" of compression.

I was also looking into the Fox coilovers. They make a 6.5" travel coilover that has the compression adjusters for $400 a piece w/o coils. I would need limit straps on these for sure.

I haven't heard great things about Bilsteins customer support and replacement parts are more expensive from what I hear. So I may decide on a different manufacturer. We'll see, I still have a lot more homework to do


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[sn0wrunner]

Hmmmm. I was guessing they measured eye to eye. This could be a pretty cool project. Post up what you end up doing!

 

[AssBurns]

Here are the specs for Fox's 2.0 Remote Res Coilover (980-02-006)
Travel: 6.5"
Extended Length: 19.35"
Compressed Length: 12.85"

These seem like a plausible option with the shorter compressed length and good pricing on Poly Performance's website. $289.95 or $409.95 with Compression Adjuster.

Or I could get all fancy with the FOX 2.5" Performance Series Remote Coilover (983-02-101)
Travel: 6.00"
Extended Length: 19.50"
Compressed Length: 13.55"
$474.95 or $562.46 with Compression Adjuster. These are a bit more pricey and I probably would not need these with out long travel. 2.0's should be more than enough for my application.


I doubt I will be ready to take on this project anytime soon. I have to get some bills paid off first and fix a few things on the Runner first. I just want to get it all mapped out for when I'm ready to pull the trigger. Also it may help anyone else that may be looking to do something similar to what I want to do. If anyone has any other tech info or opinions please post them up!

 

[AssBurns]

For King Shocks here are some specs for their 2.0 and 2.5 6" Remote Res Coilovers
(PR2006-COHR) 2.0"
Travel: 6"
Extended Length: 19.000"
Compressed Length: 13.000"
Price on Poly Performance: $409.50

(PR2506-COHR) 2.5"
Travel: 6"
Extended Length: 20.000"
Compressed Length: 14.000"
Price on Poly Performance: $445.20
These are a little longer than I would want to use but they could work.

 

[AssBurns]

Finally got a response from King Shocks. Really surprised how long they took to get back to me since I always hear how great their customer service is supposed to be. Here is what i got:

Part #25001-151 Front Internal Reservoir Coilovers for 1996-2002 4Runner
Spring Rate: 600lb
Travel: 4.113"
Extended Length: 19.455"
Compressed Length: 15.342"
Price for Pair: $1,044.75 from King themself and same at Poly Performance

I'm a little surprised how limited the travel is on these. I was expecting at least 4.5" of travel. Stock shock travel is somewhere around 3.5" from what I have read. I for sure would rather have external reservoir 2.0 than internal floating piston 2.5". Time to save some dough and decide which one to go with. Most likely Fox or Bilstein.

 

[AssBurns]

Decided to compile all the info I have collected into one sheet that I have attached to make it easier to read. Hope this helps anyone looking to make a decision on purchasing new shocks or coilovers. If anyone has any info to add feel free to post it up.

 

[Cat100]

Decided to compile all the info I have collected into one sheet that I have attached to make it easier to read. Hope this helps anyone looking to make a decision on purchasing new shocks or coilovers. If anyone has any info to add feel free to post it up.

Thanks for creating that pdf. Good info