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So I was talking to a buddy of mines who ran some bilsteins and this is how his looked after 8k miles. For a more truck like ride but compliant on street driving what springs should I go with?
IMG-20200923-WA0048.webp
 
So I was talking to a buddy of mines who ran some bilsteins and this is how his looked after 8k miles. For a more truck like ride but compliant on street driving what springs should I go with?View attachment 2444618
I'm not seeing anything wrong with those shocks if he ran them on gravel for a distance and took them through one of your chicago winters.
 
I bought the 5160's from Bilstein Lifts ($880 shipped) and they are set to arrive by the end of the week. I'll report back after install, and to also comment on Bistein Lifts, which had some poor reveiws online. Guinea pig be me.

I'll be replacing the iron rods that are OME Nitrochargers in the hopes of a softer more compliant ride. My fault that I ordered the Nitrochargers in the first place, as I never planned to run any additional weight with the exception of occasional towing. If anything (coming from an autocrosser mindset), I remove weight from the truck at any opportunity :))

Stay tuned for my opinion on these in 2-3 weeks.
 
I gots my 5160s installed after disabling/removing AHC. Running OME torsion bars and 2865 springs with TT sway bar links. I’ll report back after I load it back up and get a few hundred miles/off-road trips. So far much better road maners and seems to work pretty well once starting to compress. Not great small bump compliance as would be expected.
 
I bought the 5160's from Bilstein Lifts ($880 shipped) and they are set to arrive by the end of the week. I'll report back after install, and to also comment on Bistein Lifts, which had some poor reveiws online. Guinea pig be me.

I'll be replacing the iron rods that are OME Nitrochargers in the hopes of a softer more compliant ride. My fault that I ordered the Nitrochargers in the first place, as I never planned to run any additional weight with the exception of occasional towing. If anything (coming from an autocrosser mindset), I remove weight from the truck at any opportunity :))

Stay tuned for my opinion on these in 2-3 weeks.

Interested in hearing your feedback as I tow an S2000 to the track frequently and have been wanting to replace the shocks and lift the 100 series.
 
I'm not seeing anything wrong with those shocks if he ran them on gravel for a distance and took them through one of your chicago winters.

Is that oil on the outside that's supposed to be on the inside, maybe?
 
Had 5100s before. It's normal for them to leak a little bit. Here is the doc from Bilstein

Waranty.webp
 
I gots my 5160s installed after disabling/removing AHC. Running OME torsion bars and 2865 springs with TT sway bar links. I’ll report back after I load it back up and get a few hundred miles/off-road trips. So far much better road maners and seems to work pretty well once starting to compress. Not great small bump compliance as would be expected.

I guess I'm about to find out, but since you came from AHC---interested in your opinion as it's been a long time since our truck had AHC...

In my opinion (unweighed) The OME nitrochargers were about 3 steps after "Sport" on the dial. Crashing compression (bump)....

Thanks
 
Interested in hearing your feedback as I tow an S2000 to the track frequently and have been wanting to replace the shocks and lift the 100 series.

Will do, but the review will be unladen. It may be a while to report on the towing, unfortunately.
 
Interested to hear all of your opinions. I've got a Tough Dog set up that I just installed, and my truck is light (no armor except sliders, no 3rd row). Small bump compliance is pretty harsh, which I understand is a trade off without going to something like a King setup. I don't fault the shocks, and I think my ride issue is because the rear springs are over sprung for my specific application, which is my fault based on wanting to get the additional height I wanted.

This weekend, I'll try going back to my previous spring setup with stock rear springs and a 30mm spacer up top to see if the springs are the issue. I also think that for my specific circumstance, with the front at ~22" and 23" in the rear, fender to center of center cap, I'm at about the boundaries of recommended droop, which could also be a contributing factor. Torsions have been re-indexed appropriately.

My setup right now is TT upper control arms, TT extended sway bar links, TT diff drop, stock LC torsions, Tough Dog 41mm Foams/45mm adjustables and Tough Dog 949L rear springs.
 
So what do you think of the Bilsteins vs the Dobinson IMS series shocks for the 100 series? Both are pretty new. I have the rears on and like them. I think they'll be perfect when my BIOR rear bumper is on. I'm waiting for the extended travel fronts, they should be shipping soon.

 
Ok so after one quick trip (650 miles) I have some initial impressions. Mostly highway, lots of FS roads, and two real actual trails I think I like them. I am undersprung in the rear for my load but I can certainly say she handles much more confidently on road. Much less roll while turning and handles all but the smallest bumps much more smoothly than the AHC I had before. I’ll get my springs dialed in and report back after another trip or two but so far much smoother even off-road. I can carry much more speed and even though I need stiffer rear springs it even has less body roll. I call it a win!
 
Initial Impression:

Bilstein Lifts: Delivered as promised with no concerns. Ordered on the internet, receive undamaged shocks that were packed OK per the delivery commitment. Shocks arrived in their own boxes with stickers and full instructions including photos of proper orientation when installed and diagram proper spacer stackup. All hardware for install was included.

Install: No glitches /concerns were communicated. Installed by All Aspects in Chesapeake VA. They do not specialize in Toyota, but take care of tons of track and race cars. I trust them with my track car to not check after their work, and my other stuff. Known the owner for decades.

Ride (compared to OME NitroChargers): Slee could make these as their "house" kit. They ride much softer than the OME, but still maintain good motion control. They seem to have much less compression and rebound than the OME. They don't crash over bumps and they let the axles extend and compress and recover softly. Roll control and nose dive under braking is (as you would expect) not as aggressive as the OME's, but I'm OK with that. My take is that the OME's were designed with rates that were tailored for increased weight, when my goal was to maintain/remove weight.

Caveat:
A. The Bilsteins are perfect (IMHO) for those that are looking for a aftermarket option for their mall / light duty cruiser. I will never take the truck on rocks or fire-roads just for fun. It's a beach truck / tow vehicle / wife machine. If it goes off road other than that, its nothing technical. I will not be offering my take on the truck doing Baja or Moab, so someone else will have to do that.
B. I have no experience with Fox, Icon, Dobinson's, Slee, Foam cell, etc. Take my review with this in mind.

Results: More compliant ride that allows more free suspension cycling, in contrast to my experience with the OME that were like iron rods, crashing about over everything. Happy with my $880 expense. Wish I had moved on from OME earlier.

Bonus: Less interior squeak's and rattles!!!

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-Ed
 
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I've run the 5160s for about 3500 miles now lots of highway lots of trails and rocks around Colorado and Utah im heavy in rear and have ome tbs up front with no added weight.

I'll start with my opinion on the rear, I run ome 440lb springs and am often over 650 lbs on the forest service roads/highway and about 400 on the tougher trails. On the road over loaded the shocks do quite well with minimal floating and decent control, when I'm unloaded for the trails it's solid as a lifted" 100 can be. The truck handles the larger holes and rocks great, little on the soft side but I prefer it that way.

As for the fronts my results are somewhat subjective since I'm over sprung for the weight I'm at. The shocks do fine but the springs are to stiff and unload is harsh.

Over all I would do it again for the money I spent. Eventually I'm going to have to delete the torsion bars but I'll be leaving the rear the way it is.
 
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Added pictures to post #76
 
Those socks must be pretty ripe by now, I hope you’ve changed them!

My only previous suspension experience is with first gen Tacomas. Word on the street at that time was Bilsteins are rubbish and I never even considered them for that reason. If that turns out to be wrong it’ll be great news to have another option for 100 series. Keep us all posted.
I've ran all 3 levels on the tacoma, the 6112s and 8100 series are legit as it gets..
 
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