Got the Moog 81108 coils in yesterday and wow they feel good! This has been my suspension battle timeline:
Stock non leaking xreas with orig coils, 125k:
Bought the truck and couldn't believe how sloppy it was. 3 days after owning it I had to make a hard brake on the highway and the truck nosedived so hard the abs kicked in. The truck body was rolling constantly. After a few weeks of ownership I couldn't take it anymore.
Sure theres lots of options, but My limit was around $300 bucks :ballchain:, and anything less was a huge win. I was thinking used take-offs.
Tacoma front yellow bilstein and offroad progressive coils. Rear: taco yellow struts, fj moog springs:
Gave me some lift, but instantly on my test drive I was not seeing much improvement. The truck was still constantly bobbling around, and dipping much farther than it should. I tried to tell myself it was ok, but lies lies lies. I was in the hole around $150 and knew I had to make things better.
Bilstein 5100's with oem coils @2.5"
I thought 5100's would stiffen things up in the front. Torn on whether to use my oem springs or the taco ones, I tried the oem ones. Iset the billies @2.5. It was..ok. The 5100s were stiffer than the taco coils for sure, but the coils were still limp, even with the preload.
Bilstein 5100's with taco offroad progressives @.85". Rear 5th gen tokiko shocks with moog fj coils
I switched out the front oem coils with the tacoma coils with .85" preload. The idea was that the preload on the progressive coils would stiffen things up. And it did. Much better than the oem coils. But it was still effing bouncy. I drive 60 miles a day and the whole ride was me trying to compare the bouncing to all the vehicles around me. Am I imagining? Am I medicated? Do I need to accept the characteristics of frame on body? NO! There's got to be something better. I got some free 5th gen tokicos for the rear which helped the back end a lot. People, do not put taco rear shocks on your truck. they are way too weak. I also got some cooper at3's all around at 36psi which helped a little too. With the front still leaving something to be desired, I moved onward.
Bilstein 5100's with fj moog 81108 (rear unchanged)
After telling my wife I was done playing with the suspension, I bought some moog 81108's. :wink2: Set the billies to .85" and after a record 2.5hr coil change (including cleanup!) I nervously go for a test drive. By now I've pretty much memorized the road characteristics of my neighborhood. Where the truck bobbles, now it layed flat. Where it started bouncing, now it stays solid with the rumbling vibrations of bumps meeting their doom. I was happy. This feels like it should. And most importantly, I can stop analyzing every bump and thing about other things, like that damn wind noise!
I was worried these would be too stiff, as they advertise 650lbs, but they arent at all. I have the v6 with no heavy bumper or anything, any I dont think it would be crazy to go stiffer. But I'm happy.
thanks everyone for their info.
The best part, the moog 81108's were $29 bucks with free shipping in the amazon returns section!!!!
