Best non BP-51 or Non-adjustable Lift

[NisquallyLC200]

Recently bought LC200. Considering a lift. I welcome any/all perspective and opinions.

So I'm considering a lift. Obviously gold-standard is OME BP-51. I'm also looking at Dobinson MRR. It's starting to feel like fishing to me. I love the idea of fishing or more than actually doing it. I love the idea of having all of those adjustability options, but at the end of the day (between work, a new born, family, etc.), am I really gonna have time and energy to put into taking advantage of it? More and more I'm liking the idea of a set-it and forget-it lift. Pro's and Con's with what I'm thinking? Best non-adjustable lift?

Much appreciated in advance.

 

[timjax]

BP51 and MRR are rebuildable, adjustable coilovers (as are other popular options like King, Icon/Slinky, Radflo, etc). Great for off road with adjustable dampening, remote reservoirs for reducing fade, etc.

If you want set and forget with no adjustability, you would be better off looking at twin-tube gas shocks and spring combos. These would be like factory shocks that you replace when they go out, rather than having coilovers rebuilt and serviced.

Options include:
Old Man Emu Nitrocharger (very popular)
Dobinsons Twin Tube Nitro Gas
Tough Dog
Ironman

An in-between option is the Ironman Foamcell Pro, which are rebuildable, but are twin-tube and have less adjustability. Tough Dog also has an adjustable option, and Bilstein has a monotube option that is non-adjustable.

On the same token, there are adjustable and/or greasable UCA's (SPC, Total Chaos, Icon, Camburg, ARB, etc.) which are great for those who want/need the capability, as well as non-adjustable and non-greasable such as Dobinsons and Blackhawk.

 

[Yossarian]

Also Bilstein. One of the 1st to have an aftermarket shock for this vehicle, and now a more robust solution with springs is also available.

 

[Tommy Dwyer]

All of the suggestions above are good, but would be helpful to all in giving you input would be your use case.
How / where do you take your cruiser. Fire roads, rock crawling, bombing in Baja? What kind of load... how many passengers, how much gear, rooftop tent? Do you pull a trailer, etc.

 

[NisquallyLC200]

man you guys are on it! thanks for the quick replies.

what I want out of build:

-OEM+ aesthetic (mostly stock look, 4x4 sleeper)
-Capable/useable suspension
-Likely going to run 285/65/18 KO2s
-Fire roads, Tahuya, long road trips, frequent trips to Oregon dunes, Utah and Colorado sometime next year
-Want to stay light, typically 1-2 passengers, plus a dog, medium load at most.
-Not a ton of gear, want everything contained inside, except for maxtrax, other recovery tools, and water - building or buying roller drawers
-sleeping inside vehicle
-no RTT, no trailer.

 

[TheGrrrrr]

man you guys are on it! thanks for the quick replies.

what I want out of build:

-OEM+ aesthetic (mostly stock look, 4x4 sleeper)
-Capable/useable suspension
-Likely going to run 285/65/18 KO2s
-Fire roads, Tahuya, long road trips, frequent trips to Oregon dunes, Utah and Colorado sometime next year
-Want to stay light, typically 1-2 passengers, plus a dog, medium load at most.
-Not a ton of gear, want everything contained inside, except for maxtrax, other recovery tools, and water - building or buying roller drawers
-sleeping inside vehicle
-no RTT, no trailer.

I think you would do well with the OME Nitrochargers and Medium springs.

 

[Yossarian]

Your usage does not dictate a lift, or much of one. Not popular here on mud for sure, but lifting does have it's downsides. Beware of going overboard with suspension/springs beyond what you need. Search this section of the forum, much has been said on the subject.

 

[wet sprocket]

man you guys are on it! thanks for the quick replies.

what I want out of build:

-OEM+ aesthetic (mostly stock look, 4x4 sleeper)
-Capable/useable suspension
-Likely going to run 285/65/18 KO2s
-Fire roads, Tahuya, long road trips, frequent trips to Oregon dunes, Utah and Colorado sometime next year
-Want to stay light, typically 1-2 passengers, plus a dog, medium load at most.
-Not a ton of gear, want everything contained inside, except for maxtrax, other recovery tools, and water - building or buying roller drawers
-sleeping inside vehicle
-no RTT, no trailer.

I’ll share my $0.02 which is exactly what you didn’t ask for. I have a similar use case but with heavier load requirements (6ppl and ALL our gear inside and on roof). I went with the adjustable 45mm Tough Dogs with heavier rear springs and am really happy with both the 4x4 sleeper look that I also was going for and the functionality. After finding the sweet spot of adjustment for daily use, I only adjust the shocks for wheeling which takes 60 seconds and is worth doing. 275/70/18 K02s and Trail Tailor UCAs also.

Here’s the rig in Moab last week!

Mike

 

[RTaylor]

Just get your 285s and enjoy the new setup. It’ll do exactly what you want. Basic OME or similar fits your requests best if you want a taller, firmer suspension.

 

[TeCKis300]

I second @Yossarian . Bilstein's are probably the closest to what would be a TRD Pro setup if one were offered for the 200-series. They're probably closest to OEM quality with a long history of supplying performance suspensions to manufacturers. The new Ram TRX has suspension developed by Bilstein.

As you said, too much adjustability is a double edged sword. So is the rebuildability of race suspensions, many needing to be rebuilt on 30-50k intervals. They have exposed shock shafts, use quicker wearing heim joints or hard links. More precision and potential performance but at the cost of long term durability and increased NVH.

 

[Tommy Dwyer]

As @RTaylor said, start with the 285/65 KO2’s and enjoy your cruiser. That’s what I did with mine for the first eight years that I owned it. When the stock suspension was showing signs of being a little tired, I upgraded to the OME Nitro Charger Sports with medium springs (2702 front, 2722 rear) Very basic lift, upgrade over stock suspension, very stable loaded with gear and boats and or bikes for two people...and no drama. Just a basic setup. In a nutshell, start with the tires and see if you need a suspension upgrade based on your usage.
....now if you just WANT to do it now that’s a different ballgame