Suspension Upgrade- Bilstein 5100

I’m going the bilstein 5100 route for a suspension upgrade (maybe fox or king down the line so don’t come for me) and I’m just wondering if I should upgrade the coils or re-use the stock coils? My goal is to have more clearance off-roading.

 

Stock coils are fine so long as you don't add a bunch of weight.

 

I think down the line I want to add armor… so weight is definitely a factor. From my research I see OME 885 in the front and 889 in the rear provides the lift I’m looking for with the 5100 kit. I think I might go that route… thanks for the input!

 

I have the 5100’s on my rig and initially used the stock coils with front 5100’s set at .85” to level it. This setup worked nicely to level and firm up the ride.

When I made the decision to add a bumper, winch and skids, I upgraded the springs all around with Dobinsons. I used the 302’s up front and 599’s in the rear and with the extra weight, ended up with about 2” lift all around. I also added JBA UPC to ensure I could get a good alignment but likely would have been fine with the OEM UPC. I’m very happy with the results.

CrikeyMike at Exit Off-road is the expert with Dobinsons suspension systems and helped me select the parts for my rig. You might consider reaching out to him for his recommendation.

Cheers,
Bob

 

I think higher spring rate at 0 lift setting vs stock springs with higher preload setting seems same thing.

I know spacers are the most hated topic but for me if just a little front lift is needed for bigger tires a small spacer over front will keep the stock ride comfort. Only thing my 4x4shop friend told me is if I don't upgrade front bump stops don't hit obstacles hard as it would top out the shocks and damage them. He told anyways if I hit hard on Bilstien5100s it would damage the weld points too.

As someone who has played with multiple lifts my would suggest if you are paying a shop for the install go big, do it in 1 go.

 

I love my set up:
2” lift Bilstein 6112 w/600 lb coils front, 1.5” lift Eibach T13 coils rear, Bilstein 5100 rear shocks, 285/70/17 Falken WP AT3, Energy Suspension front bumpstops

 

agreed, once and done

 

The following is my experience with Bilstein 5100s. I probably need to do a write-up on it so this sounds less like a 7/11 crackhead wrote it.

I put the front set at the 2nd to last clip. This is supposed to give you 1.5" of lift. It gave me 2".

I got rear Wheeler T13 coils. Supposed to give me a 1.5" lift. It gave me 2".

Some combination of these components reduced my driver sag to less than 0.5". It also resulted in the rear of my 4runner being only 1" taller, which was desired (2" would have been fine with me too).

I intended on achieving a 1.5" lift because I wanted the lowest chance possible of the uca being a limiting factor. I was going for maximum reliability. For some reason, 4runners are very variable on when that is a problem. Could be 2", could be 3". It doesn't seem to be a problem for mine at 2".

If you are not interested in a lift, I would either leave the front stock or move it to the 2nd clip for the supposed 0.85" lift. For me, I guess that would have given me almost 1.5", nearly leveling the vehicle. I am very curious to see how 1" rear springs and the 0.85" clip setting would have turned out. I am also interesting in what a rear spacer would have yielded for ride quality.

Ride quality: Vastly improved in almost all situations. The vehicle is more compliant. The shocks reduce body roll enough to at least offset the height. I feel as if I can go faster in a corner (but who cares about that). Nose dive isn't reduced, because that is a function of the spring rate of the front coils as far as I know. Hell, maybe the rear coils even helped it a bit. It feels reduced because it comes back to stock height faster at least. The only negative part is you can definitely feel shitty parking lots and crappy pavement at low speed. My mother reports the rear seats as being bumpy, so maybe take that into consideration if you have children or whatever (that is due to the T13 coils have around ~202lbs of spring rate, a little more than the 180lb stock rate). If you did just shocks, it would not be bumpier in the back. I personally don't mind, I am used to old trucks. I also like how it doesn't sag as much towing. The vehicle is way more compliant on trails.

I would highly recommend not going with anything higher than around 200lb spring rate in the rear, unless you are adding significant weight. I would bet 220lb spring rate in the rear would ride far worse. At least for your rear passengers.

Some of this depends on what you want to achieve. Do you want metal bumpers all-around? Immediately step up to something far more expensive with remote reservoirs. You will need much higher coil spring rates on the front and the back. You will be a slug. You will also have to change your front diff fluid very often. I would definitely talk to people if you are going that far. Do you only want improved ride quality? Great choice. Do you want a cheap lift? Great choice. Do you want to run slightly bigger tires? Good choice.

I avoided the spacers because the shocks are literally $100 per corner, so spacers would be a waster of money. With coils being $200, this is a very cheap, good lift at $600. It takes roughly 6 hours to do it too. Just make sure you mark your alignment cams and get those close.

I will note, you can do this safely without buying a full strut assembly. You just loosen the control arm and slip the shocks out, which is why you have to mark your alignment cams. Saves on cost.

 

great write up! I have 5100 set up all around on my 2011 using all stock coils. Set for a 2” in the front and 1” spacers in back. That alone was night and day compared to the toyota oem stuff and loved it, still do. knowing what I know now and what I did to my 2022, I wish I would have set up my 2011 like my 2022. With the 600lb springs in front (waiting for my Slimline bumper to arrive) nose dive under hard braking is barely noticable, T13 coils give you a proper lift and improve sag when I load it, barely .50-.75” loss.

Install was super easy, fronts took about 1hr each dropping lca out of the way and rear coil swap was about 30 mins each side.

either route you go, you will notice increases in ride quality and handling far above the stock set up.

 

I have 5100's all around, fronts set on the bottom cir-clip with Dobinsons 302's up front, and 1" CornFed rear spacers. Had Dobinsons 599's on the back, but they gave me too much lift for my stock weighted vehicle. Vehicle profile sits great, ride is great and I've been on this for almost two years now.

IMHO, springs are tricky when it comes to ride height based off of all the variables out there regarding extra weight or no extra weight on people's 4Runners. Just about everyones results vary, even with the same mods or not.

 

Damn you must not drink when you work on stuff

 

the faster i work the more time i have to drink!

 

I agree with this completely. When I originally installed my 5100s I removed the sway bar link to make room for the spring to drop out. Worked but not as well as when I installed my .25" spacer on the drivers side. That time I loosened the lca and was able to drop the assembly right out. Super easy. Just make sure you mark the cams. Not a biggie if you're getting it aligned afterwards.

@delta_runner22 I am extremely pleased with the 5100s. Took the nose dive out and are great on the highway. Decent off road (forest roads etc...). Obviously they are not the best option for more aggressive offloading but I weigh how much time I'm going to spend on each type of surface and make decisions that way. I have a Jeep for more aggressive of reading and don't care quite as much about the Jeep as I do the T4R.

Anyway, after multiple tweaks, my suspension setup is as follows

Front
Bilstein 5100 set at 1.85"
.25" spacer on drivers front
Ironman UCAs

Rear
Bilstein 5100s
Bilstein 1" lift springs
10mm ome spacer on drivers rear.

The Spacer pretty much correct the lean that will be very noticeable after lifting the truck. The UCAs fix the caster.

 

Interesting you still needed a spacer, mine corrected itself for some reason after my shocks and springs

 

Had an interesting encounter last night with a 6 pt buck on a slight curvy road doing about 40 miles an hour. It’s safe to say that with the OEM set up it would have nose dived to the ground and felt like I was going to flip end over. however with the set up I have on it now and full panic breaking to not hit the deer standing in my lane, the 4rn stayed controlled , barely nosedived, stopped flawlessly and quickly with about 20’ to spare. I guess the buck was also impressed because he just stayed there for another five seconds staring at me before he moved on. Lol!

 

Hello my fellow Runners, can someone tell me what the typical suspension height difference is on the 4runner(2021 trd offroad) in stock setup. i have a spacer lift kit so i don't know what it was before it was modified. i see a few folks adding a 2" front and 1" to 1.5" in the rear.
thank you all, always appreciate your expert opinions.

 

My stock hub measurements(center hub to edge of fender) were 20" front and 21.5" rear

 

Awesome, thanks, that gives me a better idea of what to purchase for front and rear.
thanks again,
Flg

 

Do you have a pic when it was just on the first notch? Have this on my taco now and love it, curious how much it changes the stance on a 4R

 

Easiest way to get an idea of what it will look like on your rig is to put a jack under the front center and jack it up .85"

Measure from the bottom of the fender to the Centerpoint of the wheel to know how much you've jacked it up.

Also, the front side plate has a hole in the center rear that is a jacking point.

 

I dont actually have a rig to jack yet. We're on a waiting list. I'm just looking at all the build threads getting an idea of what I want. Had my Taco for 7 years now but 2nd Gen apples arent 5th Gen oranges so I cant spot what I'm looking at right away

 

That definitely makes it a little more challenging.
I originally was thinking of just leveling the front by setting it at .85". Ended up going 2" f and r.
There were a ton of threads and pictures on this site of folks that just leveled the front. Just search for them and you can get a good idea.

Once you get your rig, I suggest trying the jack method to see what it will look like for real before installation.

 

Question regarding the 5100's...I'd like to level the front via this way, but some speak of an imbalance or lean. I have a 2023 ORP with KDSS. Can I do a "5100 level" and be good to go?

 

To level for the lean (well on mine non-kdss) instructions were to set drivers side on clip #6 and passenger side on #4 to achieve 2” front lift using 6112’s up front

 

I had the lean after installing the 5100s set at 1.85" However, I don't have KDSS. I corrected it by using a 1/4" cornfed spacer in the front drivers side and a 10mm spacer in the rear. Since I twist my own wrenches, it wasn't an issue experimenting and tweaking it to get it right. If you're doing it yourself, start with setting the fronts at the height you think you want and check for a lean after a few days/ weeks. Correct as needed.

Couple of things to note....

Don't just replace your fronts with Bilsteins. Do all 4. The rear shocks dont lift the rig unless you do springs and/or spacers.

Get an alignment after you are done.

 

Thanks for the info. You’re saying do all 4-just curious as to why. I don’t want to lift the rear, just level some and take away the aggressive brake dive.
Or am I thinking wrong on this?

 

The bilstein 5100s will get rid of that nasty nose dive. But they come with a firmer ride overall. Personally, I like it a lot but the sky is the limit on what you can spend. For my driving (95% on road and 5% dirt roads/ fire roads), they are the right choice for me.

The fronts are adjustable but the rears are not. The rears won't provide any lift.

The reason to do all 4 is that they are designed to work together. You will be much happier with the ride quality if you do all 4.