Very interesting thread here with lots of great info. I slowly building out the '97 family camping rig and (after reading this thread like 3 times) have kind of narrowed down options to the Dobinsons 201V or OME 861's.... but then I got curious and stumbled across the Bilstein 36-281831 kit for a 4th Gen.
Now a little background on my rig is it's already lifted with 6112's w/ 650lbs springs up front and 5100's (the extended travel ones from Wheeler's sku# BIL-4R5100-X2) bagged 890s in the rear. Which when loaded for a simple camping/offroad trip it worked great. Fast forward 6 months and I clearly underestimated my weight requirements once the family got hooked on offroad trips. Since the lift we started building drawer systems, got a full rack, RTT, etc, etc... total static weight on it now is ~450lbs (tools, drawer system, kitchen, rack, RTT, etc.), loaded for a 4 day trip and we're up around 700lbs.
After reading this thread the first 2 times to wrap my head around all the info that people like [MENTION=239416]Wrecked - Rebuilt[/MENTION] and [MENTION=28464]eimkeith[/MENTION] have shared, I went to see if there were any other offerings out there. Thats where I stumbled across the
Bilstein 36-281831 kit, its a 4th gen 2.2" lift rear coil that supports 400lbs of extra weight (constant).
So given that the 3rd gen's stock curb weight is about 3900lbs and a 4th gen's is about 4300lbs, is it wrong to assume that if they did fit in the 3rd gen coil perch you'd be up around 700lbs load capacity?
They look like linear load rated springs, but has anyone has ran these on a 3rd Gen?
Anyway, just thought I'd throw them out there as another possible option for those of us that a really loading up the 3rd gen with some heavy accessories/gear.