Eibach PRO TRUCK Sport leveling shock initial review...

I have the full Eibach Pro Truck lift kit on my 4Runner. Bought it from Tire Rack ($748 w/ free shipping) in July of 2019. A shop in Springfield, MO - BKS Trucks installed it for $475. I love it - removed the body sway and nose dive on braking. Supports my winch and bumper + sliders and skids. Comfortable riding on my mile long muddy, rocky, private road.

I took my 4Runner on some extreme hilly, rocky, muddy trails in the Ozark National Forest in October - the suspension worked just fine.

Only complaint which I believe applies to all suspension lifts - towing my boat 1000 miles from MN to MO I had good bit of rear end sag. The fix for that is to add airbags to the rear springs. For local towing, couple miles to the lake and back, there's really no sag.

 

Looks great!

Can you share the tire size along w/ some more pics? Thanks!

 

Sure.

Those are P rated Falken Wildpeak AT3W 265/70R17. I had Falkens put on the same day I bought it. Also have Falkens on my Nissan Frontier.
1st mod on my 4Runner other than the tires was a TRD Skid plate and Warn Winch / Winch bumper (200lbs combined) so heavier springs than stock were a must.

Crappy little video of me doing a water crossing in the Ozarks National Forest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRZadwzYX5Q

Brown pics are from Sunday. Pics are newest to oldest.





Pic with Shrockworks rock sliders and Caliraised light bar.


Lift, tires, Trd Skid, and winch/bumper only (no sliders / light bar):


Lift, tires, Trd Skid, and winch / bumper only:


No lift - winch, TRD skid, bumper, nerf bars removed - note the front end sag.


Day 1 home from the dealer after getting tires put on.

 

2 more pics...

Ozark National Forest:

Aftermath:

 

Looks great. I like that you lifted it and kept the stock size tires, which would be my preference. Does your 4R have KDSS?

 

Mine doesn't have KDSS but pretty sure the Eibach kit works with KDSS.

 

The Rear 5100's allow for up to a 2" lift

 

Read some complaints on Bilsteins being stiff / rough riding. That said, I just put 4 Bilstein 5100's on my Nissan Frontier 2 weeks ago in addition to a PRG spacer lift.

Spent hours on the other board looking at Dobinson spring / shock combos. That ugly 1980's teal color turned me off. The Eibach has an adjustable front and more or less one size fits all. If looking at buying the full Eibach kit, I'd wait for their new adjustable rear to come out in the next couple of weeks.

 

Pretty sure you can get the Dobinsons in black. Just have to order them.

 

@DRobs your ride looks great ,
i have question so you are using the whole Eibach pro kit with the springs and also what did you set the front at 1.6? what is the difference between using the OEM spring to Eibach
i just want a more leveled Rig than lifted one thanks

 

Thanks for the additional pics - looks great!!

 

spring rates are 660 lb/in. front and 205 lb/in rear.

 

@Oey12, last update was December 2019...anything new to add or report? Also, do you still feel the next setting up would work ok? I'm just so paranoid about a reverse rake, but would like the front end up, with a bit of rake.

 

Nothing different to report, they have been set it and forget it. I honestly can’t find any cons really. Maybe it rides a little stiffer than stock...I think they are perfect. Best suspension mod I have done on a truck. As far as rake is concerned that is going to be a personal preference. I didn’t want a leveled truck due to towing and filling my cargo area. The one inch setting is noticeable especially with stock tires but obviously the next setting is much more noticeable. I love my setup but stock highway tires look a little small. I am planning to go to a 255/75R17 soon.

 

So taller, but a bit narrower?

 

Yes sir... It’s like upsizing without all the weight penalty...in my mind at least. The Continental Terrain Contact ATs are a front runner for me due to their excellent rain and dry traction reviews. And they make the trusty Michelin LTX Defenders in that size as well if I decide to run them again. A slightly narrower tire should give me better performance in the rain and snow. Tirerack tested them and said they are a great tire however their winter performance is so so. But every other user and commercial review state the exact opposite. They are also cheaper than stock size in that particular model as well.

EDIT: I am not 100% sold on that size yet. I put 265/70r17s (1 upsize from stock 265/65r17) on my 2nd gen Tacoma and it seemed my ABS and Traction control became more sensitive. I used to hand calculate my gas mileage and it went down but 1 mpg. Interesting enough I went from a Nitto Terra Grappler (42 pounds) to the larger Michelin Ltx Defender (39 pounds) so in theory I should have gotten better mileage...definitely NOT the case in my experience with 90% highway.

Not that I have ANY need for an aggressive All Terrain...those General ATXs seems be be getting above average ratings for road use including rain and handling.

Pretty damn tempting...

 

According to Eibach, these are coming out in a couple of months.



Adjustable rear set-up comes out in roughly 1 month.

 

I'd like to see what the price difference turns out to be on the front + rear setup shown above vs. the Pro Truck lift...

 

It's a good question.

In a thread on the other forum, Ryan from Eibach stated the new front coilovers will be competitively priced with other 2.0 coilovers on the market. The Fox 2.0 coilovers are about $1,000 for the front pair.

As for the rear.......I have no idea. It's a brand new product to the market that I haven't seen anywhere else and it'll be really convenient for a lot of people to really dial in their rear lift height. But at the same time, it's really just a nice adjustable spacer made of metal. Maybe $250 for the pair?? But that's a complete guess.

 

I get the distinct feeling that the Pro Truck lift would be all I would ever need if I wanted to lift my 4R. Set it and forget it. Heck, I'm not even set on the Pro Truck - I don't see myself wanting that much lift. I'll most likely go with the setup this thread started out reviewing - F/R Eibach shocks with stock springs. The biggest decision is whether to set the front clips at .80 or 1.6...I lean toward 1.6 with the possibility of a 1/2" spacer in the rear.

There's definitely going to be a big market for the Eibach adjustable setup, though.

 

I agree. It's not that hard to commit to a pre-selected lift size.......especially when you have 4 choices. Fine tune adjustability with the new threaded shocks would be nice, but not necessary for my application. If I was to go that route, I'd just spend a bit more money on some Kings anyways. I could see those new threaded Eibach shocks working well for someone who adds bumpers/skids/ect to their truck after buying their suspension. But if you're looking for the best bang for your buck, I don't think you can beat the adjustable shocks with your stock coils.

I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever lift height you decide on. Just a matter of personal taste. For me, I felt the back end was already high enough. It still has plenty of room to clear my 285's at stock rear height and not rub when I'm flexing it out on trails. I'm not rock crawling, so maybe if I did that would be a different story, but I'm happy with my relatively low lift height. Lower center of gravity = more stability.

 

quoted for future reference, I need something done for rubbing issues.

 

**SLIGHT UPDATE** I have some very small but great observations in ride quality. Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive about 3 miles on some heavily rutted road in south NJ. Truth be told they were roads that lead to back country homes but none the less it was a rough road. You would not want to drive faster than 10 15 mph with a car or small CUV.

Well I decided to do 30 to see how the suspension would do. And all I have to say is how impressed I am at these 350 dollar shocks. They continue to impress me for a “entry level” Offroad shock. I love them especially when compared to the Bilstein 5100’s I have used in the past on other Toyota models. When I was driving I was grinning ear to ear and my wife was laughing at me. But she gave me her infamous smirk when I asked her how well they ride...based on that smirk I KNOW it rides well.

Again I am running factory size Michelin Defender LTX at about 33 to 35 PSI for reference.

Hope this helps...probably not for you serious offroaders but to the guys and gals that don’t rock crawl.

 

Do you have aftermarket wheels?

 

@Oey12, that's actually good to hear. As much feedback on your setup as possible is very much appreciated. I have a question, and this may have already been answered...are the Eibach shocks you bought the same ones that come with the Pro Truck lift kit?

 

I will keep adding whatever I notice along the way...glad it’s helpful. One of the big reasons I post this stuff up is because when I was researching I never found much in depth info. And when it was in-depth the tires and wheels were dramatically different from stock. Usually the reviews only talked about off-roading which is important but most people who upgrade shocks also do a lot of on road driving as well. I prefer stock wheels and for the most part factory sized tires so performance in that arena is very important to me.

I believe they are the same shock but admittedly I could be completely wrong. I highly advise further research on that... At the time I purchased mine there were two versions available, the adjustable like I have and the non-adjustable fixed factory height. Don’t recall if there was a valving difference between the two.

 

I was just on the Eibach site, and I'm fairly certain they are the same shocks as in the Pro Truck kit. Eibach only listed the Pro Truck Sport leveling shock (these) and a less expensive Pro Truck shock, which was non-adjustable - to replace the stock shocks (with no accommodation for lift), for our 4Rs.

 

The adjustable front shocks you can purchase by themselves and the shocks available with the pro truck lift are in fact the same shocks.

 

Sorry for the slow reply. Front shocks are set at the lowest setting.
My truck probably has a little rake as I have all that weight (almost 200lbs) hanging off the front. I'll dig through that other thread and get my wheel well to center hub measurements.

I went with the full Eibach kit instead of a mixture of factory and Eibach. Main reason was, I felt the non-KDSS Off Road suspension was horrible.
Way too much body roll and nose dive. I didn't notice the horrible handling characteristics during the 2 test drives I took before buying it.


I spent about a year looking at / test driving / researching on youtube multiple vehicles before buying the 4Runner. I was working overseas at the time but started test driving various vehicles while home on vacation. My prerequisites were 4 doors, 4x4, with an electronic rear locker.

I was real close to buying a Tacoma Off Road with manual transmission. MT's are fun to drive + I'd been driving a Toyota Hilux Diesel 4x4 MT for the past 3 years in Africa. Found the crew cab Tacoma to be too cramped inside.

Test drove 4 Ford F150's, 2 Jeep Wranglers, a couple Silverado's, a Nissan Pro4X MT, a Tacoma Sport MT, and 2 4Runners.
The 4Runner ultimately won out for inside cabin space + Toyota reliability. Plus it was $20k cheaper than the F150 3.5EB I liked.



Side note, I hadn't been doing much hand calculation of MPG's since adding the Shrockwork sliders. The dash MPG calculator has been stuck on 18.1mpg for awhile now. Got 19.21mpg hand calculated my last tank. Not too bad for all that weight on there. I also added a Spring Booster recently and find that is lots of fun. Really takes care of that gas pedal lag.

 

These are supposed to be available any day.