Can't decide between regular lift kit and fancy BP-51

EDIT 2: Thoughts on Dobinson MRR? Sounds similar to the OME BP-51 but costs slightly less.

EDIT: I guess I shouldn't have said I'd only consider OME. However, they seem like a good value and a quality product. I'm open to other suggestions technically.

Hello, 5th gen here. I'm going to 33" tires (285/70/17s) when my original tires wear out so I need to lift 2". I have a little time still but can't seem make up my mind. I have decided to go with Old Man Emu though. EDIT: I guess I shouldn't have said only OME. However, they seem like a good value and a quality product. I'm open to other suggestions technically. However, I'm split between the regular lift kit:

https://mudify.com/pages/ome4r-4run...kYcaApzqEALw_wcB&targetid=&utm_id=19585008643

And the fancy adjustable BP-51:

https://mudify.com/products/ome4r-4gen-bp51?variant=43410298667248

I'm usually of the mindset "buy once, cry once". However, the huge price difference has me second guessing. I do off road every few weeks though mostly on the beach or in the hill country near Austin, Texas. This is my daily driver and family road trip vehicle.

Please help me decide. When my wife pissed me off last week I almost just impulse bought the BP-51 but now I'm leaning towards the regular kit as I'd really prefer not to spend more than two thousand extra for perhaps not a lot of return. Thanks!

 

I swear I’m not a paid spokesman, but I love my Dobinsons IMS, which from what I understand is a non-adjustable version of the MRR. I know a couple others with Dobinson setups on tacomas that are also pleased.

I also got dobinson coils, and they seem to be holding up fine, with no sagging after nearly 30,000 miles on them. I’ve heard there are some ome coils where sagging can be an issue.

If you are looking for daily driver use, and you put a lot of miles, think carefully about spending too much. Eventually you’ll either need to replace or rebuild them. If you get something expensive, you’ll want to have them rebuilt, which means planning to have your truck out of service for the time it takes to have them rebuilt. That’s why I like the IMS, good middle ground, as it wont hurt as much to simply replace/sell them when the time comes (if that’s what I need to do). Not totally cheap, but the assembled coilovers and rear shocks/springs came in well under $2k, and were fairly straight forward to install myself.

 

Thanks so much. That is something to consider (I drive 20,000 miles a year, mostly highway) and will have plenty of time to buy more once they wear out. Perhaps I should go with something like what you have and see how I like it. I'm somewhat knowledgeable about suspensions in general but not in the off road realm. Mostly cars, RWD. It's hard to understand how a lift kit could somehow improve both on road and off road driving characteristics (if not adjustable). The last thing I want is 1) to make my road driving worse 2) somehow create problems with the vehicle's reliability or safety.

Ha my puppy keeps knocking the tablet out of my hand trying to get me to play with him, typing is hard. And yes I play with him plenty.

 

My thoughts are that quality shocks with good damping characteristics can greatly improve on-road manners, within the “limits.”

However, lifting a vehicle will decrease the limits of the vehicle, just from a stability/higher center of gravity perspective. Regardless of the quality of suspension lift.

So basically, a lift will decrease your on on-road limits (period), but within those more restricted limits, it can feel like a whole new vehicle. My IMS shocks feel absolutely fantastic within the limits, and I look for every opportunity to take rough country backroads just to feel the ride. But….slamming on the brakes at high speed with an evasive maneuvers thrown in will toss you on your side just as fast as any other lifted vehicle. At least that’s the attitude I have when I drive my 4runner. Sure enough, I had to brake and evade to avoid something at highway speeds once. The back end felt like it could step out if I pushed it any harder than I did. In the end, you cant avoid the fact the 4runner is an old school SUV (imo that applies when lifted moreso, but to stock as well).

 

Regarding what makes a suspension good for off-road, I’m not so sure about. But it seems to me that it will depend on the type of offroading. Rock crawling seems to need long throw, and a spring rate balance corner to corner that allows them to articulate as freely as possible. In other words, being oversprung probably isnt good.

Fast off road where bottoming is a concern, probably would require harder spring rates, and damping quality would play a bigger role in maintaining controllability.

Most non-sponsored (lol) 4runner owners that use it every day, for a variety of uses, will have to find a balance in there somewhere.

 

I have that tire size and OME nitros. I was just in a shop and talking to them about BP51’s and they kinda steered me more towards the Dobinsons for the option of more height and the price point ~$700 savings.

So far my OME hasn’t let me down but I keep adding weight and figure it’s time to pull the trigger.

 

I have tried few suspension options on my 4runners and so far my ELKA 2.5DC is the best I've had. When I compare that to something like TRD Pro Fox on trails I think to myself TRD Pro suspension is (removed my original word ) not so good.

So I too will vote for suspension with adjusters "buy once, cry once". But keep in mind fancy shocks needs rebuilding depending on your use. May not last as something like Bilstien6112 or Ironman FCP. Or even like XREAS where people complain that they leak. But for me here in CO we have couple of shock rebuilding places. So for me its just drop the car take uber home and when its ready just go and pick it.

On a side not, I too look at OME BP51. Rear shocks turning when adjusting was a no go for me. Also not easy to adjust the front was not to my taste too. I prefer dual adjusting suspension that can be adjusted by hand

 

I appreciate the thought out replies, y'all. And the type of off roading I do is either light off roading like rough dirt roads (never fast), essentially rock crawling, or the beach (never fast). I think I should keep it modest for now. I've heard nothing but good things about Dobinson.
@McSpazatron , yes I do understand there's no free lunch as far as center of gravity which is why I desire the least lift needed to clear 33's with the best up and down travel balance for articulation. Which I have come to understand is 2-2.25" (paraphrasing Adventurer Tinkerer video guy who I really appreciate by the way!).

 

If the boss (wife) pissed you off, I think that's a good sign right there Get the BP-51, I think you will like it if you can afford it. I have had it for over a year now and what a difference over stock and any other kits out there. Not a true comparison, but i also have a taco, on that we have the fox suspension, and I think the BP-51 is still a much smoother right than the taco fox. One thing I don't like is that it is hard to change the settings on the suspension without removing tires, there are some tools included there with the kit but they seem hard to operate. In any event, I pretend to have tons of time to do off-road stuff, but when reality hits home, I have to work and do other stuff, and deal with a similar boss like the one pissed you off!
Good luck and send us pics!

 

Haha I'll consider it but I'll likely go with a more standard lift to start with. I'm glad to hear positive reviews on the BP-51 though. There's remarkably few reviews that I can find, even on YouTube.

 

Dobinson IMS took me here. Rides good on the hi-way, too. I do mostly light off-roading a few times a year. I have been to Moab where I pushed the 4R to it's (current) rock crawling limit. I really had pick-and-choose the lines to get up here. Lots of spotting. Yes, I hit undercarriage a few times. I was the only 4Runner and was treated like a rock star by the Jeepers. IMHO the Dobinsons do nothing great, but do everything very well.(On hi-way comfort, handling, off-road capability.) And when they wear out, you simply replace them.

 

Doing nothing great but everything well is exactly what I'm going for. Nice picture and testimonial. Are those 33's? Prob 285/70/17?

 

Got another question for all: Does Dobinson do sales? Or vendors that sell Dobinson?

 

Exit off road sells them. Crikeymike has a thread on the vendors forum. He was helpful in helping me pick out the correct coils and shocks to suit my intended use, and it came out spot on for me. Yes, it’s worth waiting for a sale, but not sure how often they have them besides black friday.

 

my set up and its a dream on the highway and very nice on the trails.

2” lift Bilstein 6112 w/600 lb coils front, 1.5” lift Eibach T13 coils rear, Bilstein 5100 rear shocks, TRD skidplate, 285/70/17 Falken WP AT3, Energy Suspension front bumpstops, SSO Slimline Bumper w/ Badland Shackles

 

Looks great! What load range are your Falken’s?

 

thank you. Just P rated standard load

 

Tires are Falken Wildepeaks, 275/70R17.

 

Side note to OP. Went to Stellar Built and they recommended a Dobinsons IMS over the BP-51

 

What's Stellar Built and thank you for the response.

 

https://stellarbuilt.com/

They said that unless you like to constantly fiddle with the settings (and some ppl do) the IMS is what they recommend. I spent about 15-20 min chatting re:BP51 vs MMR and to be honest I can’t see where I personally would enjoy tuning my suspension.