2.5" body shocks with stock UCAs?

I'm looking to do a 2-in front, 1-in rear lift on my 2013 TE. It's got 135K on the stock stuff, I guess it's probably time to replace it, haha.

I'm still unsure in which direction I want to go with the suspension, but the 2.5 inch body shocks are appealing to me. I'm kind of between the Bilstein 6112 and the Fox 2.5.

One thing that recently occurred to me, these are larger shock bodies, and have larger coils. Will these work with stock upper control arms? I want to go with a 2-in lift height to not need the UCAs for alignment purposes, but I'm just wondering if the larger coils will contact the UCAs under normal operation.

Having to replace the UCAs is a deal breaker. I plan on doing the work myself, and getting those things out after 9 New England winters is probably going to be damn near impossible to do in my driveway. Also, it's not something that I really want to spend close to a grand on.

If the 2.5s are a no-go, I may go with Fox 2.0's, or look at a Dobinson's setup.

Thanks for any info!

 

@Trail Runnah when I was talking with Hugo at R4T he was telling me about the pressure difference (in general) between 2in and 2.5in shocks resulting 2in would ride little better than non adjustable 2.5s. He was also saying UCA also depends on how much travel each shock has in addition to alignment specs. If the shock has lot of travel the stock UCA can come in contact. As for winter corrosion its better to go with aluminum shocks or get coil over sleeve / cover thing. If you like you can give R4T a call and ask for Hugo 303-909-6047. Again may be its just me who would like to talk to his and discuss about these down to details.

 

Thanks for the info! What company is R4T though? Don't think I've heard of them.

 

I have the icon standard travel 2.5 front coils on my 4th gen with stock upper control arms and haven’t had an issue for the las 2 years. Like mentioned above it does depend on the shock travel as well on whether you’ll need UCA’s.

 

If you go on the Fox site, the 0-2" lift 2.5 Factory Race Series doesn't require a new UCA but the 0-3" version does. The 0-3" shock is longer so that probably causes it to hit the UCA at full extension.

 

Thanks for the info, that makes sense. You know, it never even occurred to me to go to the fox site. I've been looking at different vendor sites, and have been watching a bunch of different YouTube videos of them. That's actually what got me thinking about the 2.5-in body shock possibly hitting the UCA. I'm not going for long travel or anything, and like I said I only want to go 2 in, so maybe I'll be fine.

My main worry was the spring itself. Just being much larger and being too close to the UCA. I saw a video comparing aftermarket UCAs to the stock ones, and now I really do see the benefit of them, they do have a lot more room inside to allow for more travel and larger springs and shocks.

 

2" is a good height, but the UCA requirement has more to do with extended length of the shocks than lift height. If you get the 0-3" coilovers you will need the UCA despite the lift height you want to achieve.

 

2.0 vs 2.5, remote reservoir vs non-remote, with or without adjusters... lots of options. We can definitely get a 2.5 Remote Reservoir coilover to ride smoother than a 2.0 IFP coilover. Non reservoir coilovers are something that are difficult to service also, so if you are looking to spend $ on good shocks, definitely make sure you are aware of all the pro & cons to each option. There is usually a reason they are cheap.

 

Yes @AccuTune Offroad. I'm planning to work with R4T for my next lift and they say they will work with you to order the shocks to the tune I need and R4T do the install. Need to prepare my budget for that. I heard you are working on a new UCA, so exited for the info on that too. This would be for a on-road only 4Runner Limited. Hoping to work with you in future.

 

Thanks for the info!

I'm not trying to add any travel, I'm just trying to get the front up a bit and hopefully improve the ride at the same time.

Roads are terrible where I live in New England, lots of large potholes and broken, choppy pavement. Also, most "off-roading" I do is more than likely on semi rough dirt roads. I'm not trying to build a trophy truck, but being able to travel at a decent speed on them would be good. I figure what works for that would work on our shite roads.

I'll have to reach out to you guys in the near future.

 

If you want a ride height that is lifted 2" over stock, you will need more shock travel otherwise your shocks would be nearly topped out/maxed out at ride height. This will create a rough/harsh ride. See diagram below. Shoot us a message when you're ready!

 

I recently installed pre-assembled Bilstein 6112's on a '22 Tacoma with stock UCAs (2" lift). It rides significantly better than stock, which I was not expecting ...Just something else to consider.

 

Thanks for the info! That's what I'm probably going to go, the pre-assembled ones. Been there done that messing with spring compressors and whatnot, rather just be able to slap a prebuilt one in.

 

Just got a pair of the assembled 6112s with the 600lb springs. Kinda hard to find right now.

 

After watching a few videos on how to change front shocks without a spring compressor, I am going to try this when the time comes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX9WB2hZflo

 

Does Bilstein 6112 with pre-assembled springs give you closer to stock softness or is it quite firm? (I know its hard to explain in words). I'm looking for something closer to stock suspension softness, yes I want that nose dive and bodyroll type of softness.

So far I only heard of OME BP51 you can dial into that kind of softness but very hard to digest that price tag just for city only use of my Limited.

 

I have a pair of the 6112s assembled with the 600lb springs but haven't got them installed yet so I'm no help. Sorry. There's another version that comes with the 650lb springs. I think Thatbassguy might have the 6112s with the 650lb springs. The 6112s were pretty hard to find when I was looking recently.

 

It's hard to explain because it's on a new Tacoma. I've driven it both pre and post lift. The stock ride was so-so. It felt loose to me. Post lift, it seems to handle better and a very soft ride.

The post-lift ride, as my wife describes it, is "a Cadillac type," "smoother, more comfortable and more loft" to it. It's her DD for the time being and she's been driving it 2 weeks now post-lift.

To answer you better, it is not any firmer than stock to me or my wife and it soaks up speed bumps well.

 

Thank you, that is good to know. If 6112 are softer that 5100 I only have to change front. This suspension are very hard to choose as taste is different from person to person.

 

I agree! I'm having a heck of a time trying to choose shocks, one person says it rides great because they like stiff, another person says something rides terrible because it's too soft. Honestly, I don't want stiff suspension, the 4Runner is not a sports car.

 

Yeah, most places they seem to be out of stock, which is why I started looking at Fox suspension. I'm thinking I may want to do a hidden winch, so maybe the 650 lb is what I would want. I really want a soft ride, I actually don't care about nosedive or cornering, I just want a "hit a speed bump at 25 mph and not feel it" type ride.

 

Thanks for that review, that sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Now, just to find it in stock, haha.

 

Yeah, if I can't find them assembled that doesn't look too difficult.

 

I'm not sure I understand that. From what I understand, unless you specifically go to long/extended travel shocks, you're not adding any front suspension travel. So if my stock suspension has 8" of travel; 4" up, and 4" down, lifting it 2" basically has me driving around drooped 2" all the time, leaving me 2" of downtravel left. So I'm not adding or subtracting travel, I've just changed where the static ride height is within the existing range of travel.

Am I off base with that?

 

Wheeler's has the 650lb spring version in stock and will assemble for an extra charge. There's a small shop I got the 600lb ones from that will assemble them that has several more 600lb ones in stock.

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Yes this reference is correct.

Taking away that much droop/down travel on a stock coilover is not ideal if you are also looking for good ride quality. See animation below. Sounds like you are looking more into replacing the coilovers for something rated for 2" of lift, which will likely have more shock travel than stock and wont be an issue.

 

This is a very good illustration, thank you for sharing it.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Yes, I'm looking for something designed for 2" lift, not modifying stock stuff.