Tundra Bilstein 5100 Assembly for 3rd Gen 4Runner

[r_akusa]

I searched around for a while and didn't find a good dissection of how the Bilstein 5100 fronts go together for the 3rd Gen. Instead of sending it with what I thought was right.. I figured I'd post some photos to get to the bottom of this and hopefully help others who find themselves in the same boat..

This is how Bilstein tells you to do it (instructions included with the 5100 shocks):

Not gonna happen:

So then I tried this layout:

Which looks pretty legit:

Seems right.. Right?

 

[Tyler James Inc]

No; the correct way is how the instructions say to have it. It will not isolate the shock properly without both rubbers.
What spring are you using, and how are you installing that spring?
It will also likely have a knock, due to the lower "washer" being metal-to-metal against the top plate.

 

[TheFatGuy]

If im not mistaken the top hat has rubber boot at the bottom...can someone confirm this.

 

[killzone90]

I just bought tundra struts also and I'm going to build them just like u did

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[giovannie23]

I searched around for a while and didn't find a good dissection of how the Bilstein 5100 fronts go together for the 3rd Gen. Instead of sending it with what I thought was right.. I figured I'd post some photos to get to the bottom of this and hopefully help others who find themselves in thesame boat

If im not mistaken the top hat has rubber boot at the bottom...can someone confirm this.

actually i think it depends what kind of top hats you get
i got aftermarket for mine cant remember the brand
but they had one bushing already assembled with the top hat, so i wasent able to get it to fit like you
at first i wasent sure if i should keep the top hat bushing and ditch the bilstein or vice versa but i ended up cutting the top hat bushing out and adding the bilstein bushing like the directions say just to be safe

 

[r_akusa]

If im not mistaken the top hat has rubber boot at the bottom...can someone confirm this.

I picked up brand new top hats from the Toyota dealership since my original ones were in pretty terrible condition. They did come with rubber bushing already installed on the bottom so I figured I could leave out the bottom bushing that Bilstein tells you to use:

I just bought tundra struts also and I'm going to build them just like u did

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Alright cool good to hear. It's really the only way that seems to work with these top hats (as far as I can tell).