audiness
Senior Member
Took some time over the long weekend to install the lift I bought from Toytec:
Front: TRD Tundra Coils, Bilstein 5100 adj. shocks (3 perch Tacoma version)
Rear: OME 906 Coils, Bilstein 5125 shocks
Before: Front-L 34.5 Front-R 34.5
Before: Rear-L 34.25 Rear-R 34.5
After: Front-L 37.5 Front-R 37.5
After: Rear-L 37.5 R Rear-36.5
Gained almost a full 3" over my extremely worn-out saggy stock suspension. After a few days I have noticed some settling in the front, the measurement is down about .5 inch on each side over the initial measurement. My stock shocks were hopelessly worn out, once they were off the truck, I compressed them by hand and they took about 5 minutes to return to full extension by themselves.
The ride: Immediately noticed a much stiffer ride overall, but I would describe the truck as very controllable, I had a lot of bouncing before the upgrade. I do feel a bit more body roll, but nothing too concerning.
Front- very plush, the increased suspension travel is very noticeable. I was a bit worried about using the Tacoma 5100s over the Tundra 5100s, but they feel great to me. It feels "lifted" but on-road handling is hardly affected. I need an alignment very badly now.
Rear - I was a bit worried about the 906s being too firm, but I think they feel really nice with the Bilstein 5125s. I did get a chance to go off-road just a bit, and the ride is much stiffer, but not jarring. I think the Bilsteins do a fantastic job of keeping things smooth.
The install:
Front- I was surprised at the amount of time/difficultly. The hardest part by far was getting the newly built coil-overs back into the stock location. I used a jack to push down on the front upper control arm as far as possible, I think I had it at "full droop." The upper ball joint looked like it was going to explode. I managed to get the bottom shock bolt back in after much tugging, levering, and hammering. I have no idea how people have done this with top plate spacers. If these shocks were 1mm longer i don't think I would have been able to get them back in the truck. I put the adjustable perch on the lowest setting, I am not sure if this makes it longer or shorter. I did install the front diff drop, hopefully i installed that correctly. It made me feel a bit more comfortable with the CV angles.
Rear - quite easy by comparison, I used the bend-the-original-shock-back-and-forth-until-the-top-nut-breaks-off method to remove the old stock shocks, and it worked well. Installing the new 5125s was straightforward, and the springs went in without much hassle. I did not install the extended brake line.
Before:
After:
Installed after much fuss:
I ground down this point on the suspension arm just a little bit, as it was very close to contacting the spring:
hopefully i got this on correctly:
Front: TRD Tundra Coils, Bilstein 5100 adj. shocks (3 perch Tacoma version)
Rear: OME 906 Coils, Bilstein 5125 shocks
Before: Front-L 34.5 Front-R 34.5
Before: Rear-L 34.25 Rear-R 34.5
After: Front-L 37.5 Front-R 37.5
After: Rear-L 37.5 R Rear-36.5
Gained almost a full 3" over my extremely worn-out saggy stock suspension. After a few days I have noticed some settling in the front, the measurement is down about .5 inch on each side over the initial measurement. My stock shocks were hopelessly worn out, once they were off the truck, I compressed them by hand and they took about 5 minutes to return to full extension by themselves.
The ride: Immediately noticed a much stiffer ride overall, but I would describe the truck as very controllable, I had a lot of bouncing before the upgrade. I do feel a bit more body roll, but nothing too concerning.
Front- very plush, the increased suspension travel is very noticeable. I was a bit worried about using the Tacoma 5100s over the Tundra 5100s, but they feel great to me. It feels "lifted" but on-road handling is hardly affected. I need an alignment very badly now.
Rear - I was a bit worried about the 906s being too firm, but I think they feel really nice with the Bilstein 5125s. I did get a chance to go off-road just a bit, and the ride is much stiffer, but not jarring. I think the Bilsteins do a fantastic job of keeping things smooth.
The install:
Front- I was surprised at the amount of time/difficultly. The hardest part by far was getting the newly built coil-overs back into the stock location. I used a jack to push down on the front upper control arm as far as possible, I think I had it at "full droop." The upper ball joint looked like it was going to explode. I managed to get the bottom shock bolt back in after much tugging, levering, and hammering. I have no idea how people have done this with top plate spacers. If these shocks were 1mm longer i don't think I would have been able to get them back in the truck. I put the adjustable perch on the lowest setting, I am not sure if this makes it longer or shorter. I did install the front diff drop, hopefully i installed that correctly. It made me feel a bit more comfortable with the CV angles.
Rear - quite easy by comparison, I used the bend-the-original-shock-back-and-forth-until-the-top-nut-breaks-off method to remove the old stock shocks, and it worked well. Installing the new 5125s was straightforward, and the springs went in without much hassle. I did not install the extended brake line.
Before:
After:
Installed after much fuss:
I ground down this point on the suspension arm just a little bit, as it was very close to contacting the spring:
hopefully i got this on correctly:
Last edited:
