Long travel shock help

I've been looking all over the web and forums about long travel shocks and have confused myself with too much information. I'm hoping you guys can help get it straight. I thought it would be a basic thing but I just can't grasp the difference between long travel and lift. My question is:

Can I put bilstein 5100 long travel shocks on the rear of my 2002 t4r that has a 2.5-3" lift on it already without any more mods?

here's the shocks I'm looking at:

https://www.suspensionlifts.com/sho...in-5100-rear-shocks-1996-2002-toyota-4runner/

I'm running a 2.5-3" suspension lift with bilstein 4600 coilovers set as high as they go in the front and 4600 rear with ome springs (not sure the number as I bought the rig like that. Eventually I'm going to add the 5100s to the front as well.

Half my brain Says the 5100 long travels will work fine with no more mods in the rear and the other half of my brain says I'd be an idiot for adding those shocks with no other mods. What do you guys think and why?
Thanks

 

Lift basically changes the static resting position of the suspension WITHIN the normal suspension movement range that comes from the factory.

Long travel CHANGES movement range of the suspension.

Technically, you can have a long travel suspension that rides at factory height, if you want to set it up that way.

The problem with changing the range, is that you have to account for everything connected to suspension. The fronts will require longer/wider control arms, extended CV axles, extended brake lines, extended steering links, etc. And lots of $$$

The rear will require less changes, but extended brake lines are a must, and maybe some of the links depending on how you are doing it.

The shocks/coilovers are responsible to limiting the range of movement of the suspension. It’s easy to think long travel shocks are a cheap way to increase travel, if you don’t know that the shocks are the cheap part of the equation.

 

Thanks for the info. I kinda new what you said already but now it's confirmed.

How do I figure out if I need longer links in the rear to use with the 5100 long travel shocks?

I'm only thinking about using the 5100's because my rear shocks are toast and the 5100's are cheap. I've been happy with the bilstein shocks that came with my vehicle until now. So my thinking is they will work with the stock rear control arm, extended brake lines and possibly a couple of longer links. Is this correct?

 

Unfortunately, the website lists it incorrectly.

"Long travel" is anything but a bolt-on solution, and anything that mounts in the stock mounts that provides more travel than stock is considered mid-travel.

You state you already have a 2.5-3 lift but you're utilizing stock-length shocks. You're basically at your shocks' end of their extension and will provide no farther travel; you gave up droop (extremely important) for aesthetics.

If you do not wheel, then this isn't an issue but on bumps and the sort as your suspension cycles, it might even feel like you're hitting a bumpstop.

Not ideal.

What OME coils are you running in the rear?

 

He isn't looking into long travel, so he won't need to look into cv axles, brake lines, tie rod end adapters, etc.

However, even with mid-travel he needs to consider correcting his panhard bar as that should be done even at 2" of lift.

He's also maxing out his shocks based on his lift.

 

No.

You'll just need to have a taller bumpstop as those shocks are approximately 1" longer in their collapsed form compared to stock.

You cannot utilize the added travel appropriately until you take care of several other items - rear brake line, custom rear lower links, panhard correction, F150 fuel tank mod, and redoing the upper link geometry. At this point you may as well relocate the rear shocks and go outboard both for stability as well as travel but you'll also need to run rear spacers depending on the shock you choose.

The rear, already flexes well enough. Add some longer shocks, and you'll utilize that little bit of extra travel. But to get real travel, you'll address the inhibitors I noted above.

 

Ok. Thanks for all that. I guess for now I'm just going to get the bilstein 5100 for a 3" lift.

I know I'm maxing the shocks out which is one reason I want to upgrade. The 5100's for a 3" lift are affordable. I would guess maxing the shocks out is probably why they are toast. All I know about the rear springs is they are OME. They were installed already when I bought it.

I've been looking at panhard correction kits and after shocks thats my next move unless you think I should get extended links first. I don't know enough to know which is more important. Any suggestions?

Last night I read an article explaining mid vs long travel. I now see there is a ton of stuff to convert to long travel and probably won't go that route right away but eventually I will. In my list of suspension upgrades UCA's is definitely on the list. My cv axles are for a 3"lift and they seem really well built. I haven't seen too many people running them but they are trakmotive #T08043XTT bought from rockauto.

I'm going to look up the f150 fuel tank mod because I have no clue what that is.

 

You mean rear lower control arms when you say links?

Won't benefit you, you'll still make contact with your driveshaft after replacing your rear brake line, having long enough shocks, and coils.

As for your coils, they'll have a white sticker on them depicting their part number. You just need to go look.

Going long travel requires welding of parts onto your vehicle.

 

I will take a look and see what coils I have today and get back to to you on that. It's sounding like going for a long travel setup is more modification than I want to get into. Thanks for the advice. I think for the driving I do a mid travel setup will be OK for the next year.

I'm planning on getting another vehicle in about a year because my present job is ending in 6 months and I won't be driving the dirt roads I'm driving now. At that point I'm putting the 4runner in the garage and building it up over 9-12 months. I've been looking at all kinds of suspension setups available for 3rd gen 4runners. The only thing my research has shown me is I have a lot more to learn before I decide which way to go. I'm taking a welding course over the summer which should help me figure out how far I can go with things.

Thanks for all the info and explaining what's involved with a long travel setup. It's not just bolt a kit on and go. I'm glad I posted here before making a huge mistake buying those shocks.

 

A stock 4Runner, is more capable than many of the people that drive them.

What treacherous roads have you ventured on? Would like to see pics of your rig in these adventures. Otherwise, any mods you're performing are really for aesthetics only.

And yes as far as long travel goes, there's cutting and welding involved. Sometimes just to reinforce things, you just have to fabricate many of your own parts from scratch.

Have been doing that lately with my friends Tacoma such as this "clamp" that'll actually hold up the rear skid on his rear end he'll swap in next year -







You're talking between $9-11k just in that rear end once complete.

His current rear end, since he did a rear shock relocation and runs hydros, I recently did new hydrobump strike pads for him -









Custom steering and rack slider I helped make -









Mind you, this is after we installed his long travel. Solo motorsports kit up front with Fox 2.5s and coilover bucket reinforcements to accept a bypass shock as well.

So like I mentioned, unless you are really an offroader and not some "Overlander" gimmicky type, you don't need anything more than a stock rig.

However, if you want to just lift it then do so! Afterall it's your rig. But going long travel without really grasping with what's involved will put you in a world of hurt.