I ran 5100s for about 2 months before I got rid of them. Such a terrible ride. Anything you put in the back is going to be an improvement over them.
I've not had such a bad experience with mine, but my understanding is that the SS 5100s are a bit different than the standard 4runner ones.
I feel you wanna do the rears with that kind of set up you have a couple options
One would be to add shock hoops in your upper rear wheel Wells giving you a higher mounting point for the shock allowing you to fit a true extended travel shock with an actual reason to even need a rear shock with resis in the rear of our rigs will also allow for a 2.5 w/res and 14+ of travel also would be using a different type of shock in any style of shock you choose ..we currently use shocks with top stem mount for bolting down the shocks top mounting point. You would need to get shocks with eyelit mounting pointing like the shocks on the rear of a Tacoma or tundra etc..basically we bolt on vertically they bolt on horizontally.
You need help installing any of the suspension you picked up let me know I knock that shiiit out right for you.
The other option is relocating the bottom shock mount/ add a completely new mount actually, and this would be mount inward the direction of your diff creating a farther mounting point and angling your shocks allowing for a longer shock travel length
Then there's doing a custom fab canteliever rear suspension you can have built
Starting at 5k to adventure down that path.
The 5k option-as nice as it would be-is definitely out.
I'd definitely be interested in some alternatives in terms of either shock hoops or relocating the mount towards the diff. (I loved the writeup on that here:
Toyota 4Runner Suspension Upgrade).
I've also seen pictures of some 4runners using a ford shock tower to get a bit more height. That seems simpler, so it obviously must have some drawbacks.
That question always comes down to the fact that I don't know how to weld, and though I'd like to learn-I think that attempting to learn on my shock mounts is probably a bad idea.
Between shock hoop/shock tower, or mounting them in towards the diff what would you say the benefits/downsides are to each? Also, what sort of costs for each of those?
Man I told you all the exact same shiiit brotha, and what your best options are. Coming from someone that runs a heavy ass rig and height to boot...and when he said traditional it was just as I was explaining to you
But in either option there is one common factor, to give you a baseline to start from ..that your rig will need 2.5's in the rear no matter what to get what you want and looking for, for it to be done correctly and for you actually feeling/being satisfied..that's a fact.
LOL. Yeah, I remember what you said man. To be fair, I talked to Metaltech months ago about this. You're right though, I need 2.5s in the rear. Now I just need to convince my wife that the little 2.0s aren't going to be any good, and that I really need to spend another grand on shocks (if I can get lucky with a craiglist find), plus whatever it will cost me to a mount solution that works for me.
Thanks man.
I'll definitely hit you up for some help getting the fronts installed in the next month or two (got to get send them out to have adjusters added and get them rebuilt). Is the rear something you'd want to tackle as well?