Old Man Emu/OME spring choice questions, progressing from stock to armored

BLUF: Have you used the medium spring (885, 896), stiff shock (90000, 60005) OME lift on a stock weight 4runner? OR, have you used light load springs (884, 895) and standard shocks (90021, 60004) on a heavy 4runner? If so, how did it ride? Did anything break?

Hey guys, I've searched around and haven't seen anybody ask a question quite like this so I'm posting up hoping for answers. I've got a 2005 (4th gen) V8 4WD 4Runner SR5, 262k miles. I suspect the stock suspension is sagged/worn and needs replaced all the way around, it seems to ride a little lower than I'd expect and the old tires had a little cupping. I hit a small divot on the way to work and bottomed out the truck on city streets, it's definitely not controlled like it should be, and faced with the choice between OEM components and upgrading, I'd prefer to upgrade to the end-goal parts and be done with it.

However, it's pretty dumb to jump straight to the endgame of stiff shock, heavy OME spring combo I know it'll eventually need. I also suspect it will be dumb to buy the light load, standard stiffness shocks knowing I'll need to replace them in a year or two with heavier duty components as I build this thing up. This 4R will get heavy, the plan is for front and rear steel bumpers, winch, skids, sliders, long range fuel tank, twin battery, etc. Coils are cheaper to replace than the whole 9 yards, so I'm interested in buying the medium coils and stiff shocks as a way to hold me over until I've got the rest of the truck squared away then buying the heavy coils at the end to swap them, but I'm unsure if the medium coil/stiff shock combo at stock weight will be tolerable/would top out too easily. Some spring sag or a truck-like ride doesn't concern me, nor does ride height/inches of lift; smart spending, load capacity, technical trail capability, and parts durability are my prime concerns.

Edit: It appears the combo over on toyota-4runners for V8 trucks from stock to higher loads is 885/895, so I'm likely to settle on that, all that's left is shock choice.

Edit 2: For anyone who stumbles on this thread, I ended up going with 885/895's with stiff shocks front and rear. Ride is totally OK with a stock weight V8 4Runner. People who complain about the ride are soft people.

 

imo if $ isnt a problem, go with my set up in my profile but use T12 springs or heavy OME in rear. There are so many choices out there and so many opinions.

 

I'm interested in the OME parts for the firmer ride compared to Bilsteins, but don't want to drop 6100 series money.