Bilstein 6112/5100 upgrade - '23 TRD ORP

INTRO:

I have a shop getting ready to do the following suspension upgrade on my 4R TRD ORP. This is going to be a Bilstein 6112/5100 setup with 285/70/17 KO2s. My only concern is making sure the 4R's lift looks correct. I am going for something with a slight forward rake after the suspension/lift work. I trust my shop, but there are a lot of variables and what might look good to one person might not look good to me. Here is some background information, and please chime in with any recommendations.

VEHICLE INFO AND PARTS ORDERED:

- 2023 TRD Off Road Premium (Midnight Black) (Non KDSS)
- No added weight of metal bumper, winch, sliders or roof rack at this time
- 17" TRD Pro Wheels (Shop assures me 285's will be fine)
- KO2s in 285/70/17 replacing the 265/70/17 Nitto Terra Grapplers
- Front: installing Bilstein 6112 kit part #47-310025
- Front: installing SPC Upper Control Arms to replace the OEM UCAs
- Rear: installing Bilstein 5100 shocks part#33-313146
- Rear: installing Bilstein B12 Springs (Standard Load) part #36-281824

FACTORY RIDE HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS:

From Center of Hub to Fender:
Driver Front: 20 2/16"
Passenger Front: 20 2/16"
Driver Rear: 22 4/16"
Passenger Rear: 22 8/16"

From Ground to Fender:
Driver Front: 34 9/16"
Passenger Front: 34 8/16"
Driver Rear: 36 10/16"
Passenger Rear: 37 2/16"

Any way you look at it, it appears I have a front factory rake of around 2 1/8" which seems a little more than what I thought it would be; also, there appears to be almost no "driver side lean". I took measurements on my driveway which is decently level but not perfect.

ISSUES/QUESTIONS:

My shop is very experienced with Toyota suspensions. An initial email from them says the front will be a 2.1 lift. My concern here is that when reading the mounting instructions for the Bilstein 6112 kit, there is a chart that shows "typical lift heights" and circlip locations for this system. For a non-KDSS 4R 4x4 (like my TRD ORP), there is no "typical lift height" of 2.1" listed on the chart for the various circlip locations. However, the chart does show 2.1" of lift for a 4R TRD Pro when the #9/#6 circlip locations are selected. I wonder if my shop has the 4R models mixed up. The parts are on order, so the work has not begun, and I will address this with them.

FOR NOW, IF THERE ARE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS ON WHICH CIRCLIP LOCATIONS TO CHOOSE WITH THE 6112 KIT TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL OF "ALMOST LEVEL BUT A SLIGHT FORWARD RAKE" PLEASE LET ME KNOW ALONG WITH ANY OTHER THOUGHTS ON THIS SETUP.

Here is what she looks like right now. I will post the "after" photos once the work is done.

 

VEHICLE: 2023 TRD OFF ROAD PREMIUM (Midnight Black Metallic) w/ TRD Pro Wheels

Bilstein 6112/5100 upgrade info and photos are below (pre-lift photos are on previous post):

Suspension and Tire Upgrades:

Bilstein 6112 strut and spring kit up front (Part #47-310025) - shop told me they set circlip location at #8 / #6.

SPC Upper Control Arms to replace factory UCAs.

Bilstein 5100s in rear (Part #33-313146).

Bilstein B12 Springs (Standard Load) in rear (Part#36-281824) - advertised at achieving 1.5" of rear lift for 5th Gen 4Runner 4x4 (Non-KDSS).

Tires: BFG KO2s 285/70r17 C-load.

Rubbing Issues:

There was very minor rubbing on the front mud flaps after install. Front mud flaps have been removed, and now there is ZERO rubbing. We did not even have to trim the front fender or do a fender liner pushback mod. The tech told me the only way this was achieved was because of the adjustability of the SPC UCAs and probably the offset of the TRD Pro wheels (+4mm offset).

Measurements Pre and Post-Lift (center of hub to bottom lip of fender on basically level surface):

Note: I have no after-market metal bumpers, sliders, roof rack, or any other additional substantial weight on the vehicle. Basically, it's a stock TRD Off Road Premium with TRD Pro Wheels.

Pre-Lift Measurements (1/2 tank of gas and tires at 32psi):

DF: 20 2/16"
PF: 20 2/16"
DR: 22 4/16"
PR: 22 8/16"

Post-Lift Measurements (Full tank of gas and tires at 34psi):

DF: 22 12/16"
PF: 22 12/16"
DR: 23 12/16"
PR: 23 12/16"

Observations:

- Amazingly, the post-lift measurements at each location came out to a 12/16th fractional reading. These are actual measurements taken twice. I guess I just got lucky or my tech is a genius.
- There was not a ton of pre-lift "driver's side lean" on my vehicle (only 4/16" inch higher on rear passenger side. Maybe I was a little off on my measurements that day. Anyway, there is currently zero driver's side lean.
- It appears I currently have exactly 1" of forward rake based on post-lift measurements taken the day after work was completed. I will check again in a couple of week after settling takes place and update any changes.
- The achieved front lift was approx. 2 10/16" or 2.6250" which is fairly consistent with the Bilstein install manual approx. height for #8 / #6 Circlip Location of 2.6".
- The achieved rear lift was 1 6/16" or 2.3750" which is less than Bilstein's published estimate of 1.5" for the B12 (standard) springs.
- Going into this, I would not have selected the #8/#6 Circlip Location on the 6112s because I was thinking I wanted a front lift in the low 2" inch range. But I think it looks good and probably helped some with clearing the 285 KO2s. It should also give me a little more clearance off road.
- What "looks good" on lift heights/setups is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but the results of this lift were essentially what I wanted. I hope it maintains essentially the same level of front vs. rear lift height ratio after settling.
- I don't know the caster results of the alignment and did not ask since there was no rubbing issue with the 285s. I assume the SPC UCAs allowed for a lot of flexibility on the post-lift alignment, and on the highway everything seems very good on alignment.
- I have only driven it about 30-40 miles since the lift. I feel a difference in how it drives, but I don't really know how to describe it and cannot say at this time if the handling is better. I don't sense that it's worse or better - it's just different. I will be interested to take it off road to see how the 6112/5100 setup performs.
- There does not appear to be a noticeable difference with road noise from the 285 KO2s.
- The shop had zero issue with putting the 285 KO2s on the TRD Pro 17x7 wheels and was very confident this would not be a problem.

Misc.:

I hope this information has been helpful to someone out there who is trying to research suspension/lift and tire upgrades as hard as I researched it. As hard as I researched it and thought I knew how to achieve certain results, I realize now the end result is somewhat unpredictable. There are so many variables to the equation, it is damn near impossible to read these forums and know that you will get the same result as someone else. Luckily, I like the end result I got.

 

Congratz..!! Looks good. Fantastic job by the shop keeping it level to the dot. When I lift front was leveled and rear was off by few millimeters. Ex-



I'm a big fan of keeping mud flaps. So I would suggest you try pushing the mud flap back. Here's what I did. I used a blow torch (since I don't have a heat gun) to heat the mud flap to a point where the plastic is flexible. Then I pushed in back and stack tightly something hard (like wood) between the tire and mudflap for a day. When the mud flap cools down it was pushed back and little more flatten.

I like to keep the mud flap to give little bit more protection while driving on gravel roads.

 

Looks really good!

I missed this thread until just now. I have a 6112/5100 setup with B12 heavy springs and the 6112's are medium load springs. I also wanted to maintain a slight rake, and went with whatever clip provided 2.3" or 2.4" of lift, with KDSS. I think my stance is pretty similar to yours.

If you decide you would like to have mudflaps, the RokBlokz are designed to provide more clearance than OEM. Mine cleared 285's on -6mm offset wheels with 3.9° camber. (Side note: have your alignment shop get you as much caster as possible while keeping camber and toe in spec.)

Otherwise, a heat gun or torch, and a hunk of wood can be used to adjust the OEM mudflaps as @kmeeg mentioned.

Enjoy your new setup!

 

Thanks, man. Yeah, I would prefer to keep the front mud flaps, so I will try a heat gun on them.

 

Appreciate your time to do this post. Will probably sway my decision on lifting the wife’s runner

 

Small typo on above rear lift height. It was 1.3750 and my big thumbs mistakenly typed 2.3750. Again, not sure why the B12 springs did not achieve their advertised lift height but it was close enough.

 

Thanks! Your setup was actually one I saw in my endless research and that I went by before doing this. And yes I am definitely going to consider the RokBlockz if I can’t manipulate these factory mud flaps to work.

 

I also have a 2023 4R ORP non kdss and I am also looking at the Bilstein 6112 pre assembled and 5100 rear shocks. This is my first lift/ level and my question is can i do this without replacing any other parts and have no issues with A arms or ball joints going bad prematurely? I am looking at the 2.3" setting and addding a low pro winch bumper. Will the kit from shock surplus level the truck if i order the 2.3" or do i need something else in the back other than the included rear shocks?

 

You have a lot of variables going on there with the metal bumper and winch adding weight to the front. If the 6112s give you 2.3" of lift in the front and left the rear stock springs, then it seems you would potentially have some reverse rake because I am pretty sure the 5100s in the rear to not add lift to the rear. My '23 TRD ORP came from factory with about 2 1/8" of front rake (measured from center of wheel hub to bottom lip of frender). I'm sure yours is close to that. If you are going with the 2.3" ciclip location on the 6612s, I would look into adding a rear spring. I added the Bilstein B12 springs to the rear which has a published 1 1/2" lift for 4R 4x4s (Non-KDSS). If you are going with the 2.3" front lift, then maybe you could go with the B12s that only give 1" of rear lift. But I think you need something to give you some lift in the rear or your rear may be lower than the front.

Just my non-expert opinion. At the end of the day, I told my shop what I wanted, and they got it done for me. Find a shop that will communicate with you about all this.

 

My set up.

2” lift Bilstein 6112 w/600 lb coils front (clip 6 on driver side and 4 on passenger), 1.5” lift Eibach T13 coils rear, Bilstein 5100 285/70/17 Falken WP AT3, Energy Suspension front bumpstops, front/rear mudflaps still on

 

This is my exact set up also. I'm still running 265's but 285's are next. Your ride looks great! I'll try to post mine up here later.

 

6112's circlip 6/4 and T13 rear spring/5100's. 265/70/17. TSO front bumper. Sits pretty level. I have added a drawer box since these pics and rear is about 1/4" lower.

 

nice, the 285’s really set it off. Thx!

 

looking good!! I love my SSO bumper as well.

 

@Behold28: Can you provide an update on your current thoughts on your setup? How are you finding it for daily pavement such as pot holes, bumps, driving over manhole lids etc?

If he's not around maybe others can chime in?

I'm stuck in the quagmire of lift decisions and like this look along with @TrailSpecial22 @Guppy1301 setup. The only difference seems to be the springs? Are the springs in the rear what affects the ride comfort?

 

I would say it’s a combination of the rear springs and shocks for ride quality. Mine rides great, but that’s just my opinion.

 

you’ll find a lot different rear springs since they typically have to be purchased separately. T13 coils are near factory spring rate and ride well with 51x0.

 

my Eibach T13 rear coils gave 1.5” lift and are 13% stiffer (195 lbs rating) than stock.