Shock upgrades 1st gen tundra

I don't think anyone would be disappointed with Kings. You just have to look at your needs and see if you want to spend $1,200 or $300-600. 35K miles is a lot. I would probably opt for something that is the most street friendly. Most people love their 5100's. How is the rest of your front end? If you are due for shocks, you probably want to look at your ball joints, tie rods, and control arms.

 

Those are getting replaced as well

 

Also since you asked what would you recommend as far as ball joints, tie rods, and control arms?

 

Everyone here says you cannot go aftermarket on the ball joints, gotta stick with OEM. You could probably skimp on the tie rods but the OEM are not that expensive. On the control arms, that's up for debate. You'd have to do some research there. Again, it depends on how much you want to spend. If you don't lift the front too much you can keep your OEM UCA's. I chose SPC UCA's for cost purposes.

Check out Toyota of Cool Springs for the lowest price OEM parts(in most cases). They offer a forum discount on shipping too.

 

Yes, like that with the res attached to body. How are you liking the Billy’s? Looks like you have an add a leaf too. Bet it rides nice. With the Deavers when not sagged and only 5100 the rears did really well. Most of it probably due to the leafs as mentioned.

 

I am also in the market for shocks...but now I am really so confused.

 

If I do the rear bilstein external resivoir should/need to upgrade the leaf springs or can I keep the stock ones?

 

These are the best riding shocks that I've run on a 1st gen. The 5100's are close for most use. The 4600's are a great replacement for the stock shocks if you don't want to lift the front.

 

Stock or with an AAL is fine. The 5160s are rated for 0-3 inches lift iirc

 

What kind of driving do you do? Is your truck usually loaded or empty?

 

Unless going to the fancy external bypass shocks, and even then it only applies near full droop or full extension, I will say leaf springs make a bigger impact on ride.

The reservoir allows you to relocate the pocket of nitrogen gas and the separating piston from the shock body to the reservoir. This leaves more room within the body for your valved piston and shaft to move up and down. You also get the added benefit of slightly more oil and that gives more capacity for heat dissipation. Aside from the inch or so more travel you wouldn't feel a difference in a side by side comparison unless you were cycling them fast off road for an extended period of time to heat them up. (If valving and all else is the same, strictly mono tube vs reservoir)

In other words if you don't drive fast off road or need every inch of travel, not required.

 

I think I am going Icon. I have read quite a bit and been back and forth on Bilstein vs Icon.

Currently, I am doing 100% on road but plan to move to 80/20 in the near future and longer excursions within the next 2-5 years.

With that said, I narrowed it down to 6112/5160 vs Icon 2.5 coilovers/2.0 rear. The price difference is only $440 and the Icon's will come with 700lb springs for the bumper/winch/skid plates. The travel on the Icon seems a little longer (UCA's are planned regardless), will handle more weight and can be rebuilt. That seems to easily be worth the additional cost.

My only concern with the Icon's are the actual lift it provides. I've seen on some other forums/trucks that the recommended lift is quite a bit under the advertised lift.

IE: 0-2.5" but recommend staying at or under 2" because performance is essentially terrible if you go higher. Not sure if anyone has had that experience but that would be disappointing after dropping $1600.

 

I gained exactly 2" up front with Icon 2.5's. I could raise it up a tad if I wanted to.

 

Icon will go higher than 2 inches. I hav3 mine at 3 and it is cranked down. Keep in mind mine came with 13 in 500 or 600 lb springs. I forgot as it’s been a long time. With 700 lb springs I’m sure they are 14 inches, so with a little preload you’ll be at 3. When you do need a rebuild I recommend DC shocks in San Dimas. Curt is super cool and has been rebuilding shocks for over 20 years. He also is the Icon authorized service center in SoCal. His turnaround is fast and prices are fair. HTH

 

How many miles did you go before a rebuild?

 

I’ve been very happy with the Icons on this truck and my last 4runner.

 

If they don't lift as high as youd like, you can try taking off the supercharger to save weight. I'll find an 03 donor intake manifold for ya.

 

Haha I'll keep that in mind. As long as I get a solid 2" I'd be happy.

 

That is NOT what she said...

 

This is my first rebuild. Over 60 k but more of an interesting fact is over 10 years old. Granted they were not working like new but by no means dangerous. Even how they are before the build they were better than the Fabtech new.Lol

 

This is exactly my experience with Icons as well. Love the ride!

 

where did you guys get your 5160’s?

 

Wheelers off-road

 

Hey everyone I was wondering what you all thought about the kyb rear shocks as I ordered them today off Amazon for $35 a piece. I just got a message back from someone off fb market that has used he said for about 500 miles of a pair of bilstein rears off a trd wreck. Here is a pic. Should I cancel my kyb order and see if I can get these delivered please help.

 

Stay the course on KYB.

 

I bucked the Bilstein Trend and got these...

 

Thanks professional hand model

 

I just installed today the KYB shocks ($38) your talking about on my 2006 DC and they are great. The old bilsteins still worked ok but at it 159,000 it was time. Took less than a hour to install. I’m not lifting anymore than the 2” level in the front so they fit the bill. KYB is a good shock I’ve installed on 3 of my trucks.

 

I think those KYB were my second set of shocks a shop installed after the originals 4600’s. They were pretty decent. Nothing bad to say about them. They actually rode softer than the 5100’s on the truck now.