Hidden winch possibilities/got trapped in the snow for a day

5100s have selectable perches. The bottom of your coil gets raised up on the shock body, that extends the shock shaft and lifts the truck.

 

So I just use my oem front springs and pay someone to put it together?

 

Which....is also how lift spacers work....

 

That’s kinda what I was thinking and I already have the spacer kit...

 

To be fair, 51000s are great shocks. But mechanically, used as a lift they are doing the same thing spacers are, increasing the pre-load on your springs to push the truck higher.

I had 3" spacers in the front on mine, it rode great, when empty. But with just 900lbs in the back it squatted terribly. A couple weeks ago when I did tie-rod ends and front brakes, I removed the lift.

Honestly, I think our trucks have a lot of clearance stock and are actually more useful for truck stuff with a stock like suspension.


With 900 lbs of concrete in the bed and 3" front spacers.

 

You did a really good job with that. What kind of light's from Home depot, and how did you wire the lights to get them to work?? Lol, I only know of 120V Christmas lights that plug into the house supply.

 

Yeah that makes sense, but also 900 lbs is a lot to have in the bed so I feel like even stock it would squat but probably not as bad.

 

There powered off of a little battery pack via double A batteries I zip tied behind the grille.

$7 Led String Lights, Mini Battery Powered Copper Wire Starry Fairy Lights, Battery Operated Lights for Bedroom, Christmas, Parties, Wedding, Centerpiece, Decoration (5m/16ft Warm White)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072NH2FQ1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JqB-DbE56GFN5
something like this little leds on a bendy metal cable.

 

I heard beyond 2" is maxing out w/o modifying front end and having abnormal expensive component wear. I have the 5100's and am now looking at the 1 notch below 2" lift setting, even though I prefer the 2" setting.
I pull a boat and don't want to look at the sky.

 

That’s probably true. It’s just what I have though, also I feel If I lift the rear I might need longer shocks.

 

Well, 1700lbs payload capacity so I don't think it should have been that bad at just over half. They design trucks with a rake for a reason. I used to put that much in my little 93 toyota pickup all the time and of course it was low in the back but not that bad.

This was my old truck with 1300 lbs of weight in the back so you can see why I was a little disappointed with my full sized truck with less weight when it was leveled.

 

Oh wow yeah. Nice truck by the way.

 

Yeah, I sold it to pay for the tundra and kind of regret it. Once I had a kid having a vehicle without enough room for all three of us to use made it a lot harder to use so I upgraded to a tundra for the backseat. I do miss 25 MPG and the maneuverability though.

That pick was taken when I moved back down to MT from Alaska.

 

Oh rad. My parents are thinking about moving to Alaska and I might end up being the moving truck. But I’m staying in Washington unless a better opportunity comes up. This truck used to be my dads and I’ve literally known it my entire life.


Yes. That’s me.

 

Kool, you got these from Home Depo or Amazon cause I'm with your program.
You lift the hood to turn it on/off, or spliced to have a little switch outside the front grill?

 

I just zip tied it in a way were I can fish my finger though the grille to hit the switch. I found mine at Home Depot but those are exactly the same. If you look closely on the drivers side you can see the wire to power the lights running into the grille.


Be carful how you put the wreath on it scuffed my paint a bit on the hood. My paints shot anyway but it’s so small it would probably just buff out with a good compound.

 

Makes sense, what if your towing though?

 

The matching 5100 rear shocks give 1" additional travel if lifted with 1" blocks or not. These shocks are great for gaining the trks 2" lifted height with added stiffness to perform well off road, vs stock shocks. However, definitely not to be used as a substitute for lift gain in order to slam the trk around in off road competition.

 

Yeah I have the supplies for 3 inch front and 2 rear just really don’t wanna mess with the breaks I hate working with break fluid and it’s hard to bleed them on your own.

 

Although I could probably go down to like 2.5 front and 2 rear from what I found that’s the most you should go without nodding break lines and all that.

 

Maybe I could do this?
Rough Country 75030 Lift Kit 2.5" fits 1999-2006 Tundra Includes N3 Shocks Suspension System Aircraft Aluminum

$250 Rough Country 2.5" Lift Kit w/N3 Shocks for 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra - 75030

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LFM6JZV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_RFC-DbVA1EQS4

 

Don't for for the Harbor Freight for a puller, this one is a little more durable:

 

There are two kinds of spacer. The rare kind is a shim that goes between the upper mount and coil, which has the same effect as a 5100 by extending the shock shaft while granting lift. I haven't seen those for the Tundra in years. That is not to be confused with the shims often used for leveling driver vs passenger, those are just spacers avoiding the word spacer.

The common kind is a puck that lowers the upper perch of the shock/coil by creating space between that upper perch and the coil bucket to achieve lift. You have the same range of travel but it has been moved downward considerably(around 1.8" of downward shift for a 3" lift) because the puck bolts on top of the perch mounting bolts. For most day to day driving this isnt too big of a deal, but when in the full extension of travel you are out of the range that the rest of the suspension is meant to handle. This is where things like ball joint wear/breakage and coil slappage on upper arms can happen.

Really, with the geometry on a 4x4 Tundra there shouldn't be lift applied beyond 2" by the coil/shock, but most spacers are for 3" because that means they can sell you a 1" rear block to get level.

 

So what would you recommend? Is that rough country kit no good?

 

Don't buy that junk. Do research here and decide what you really want, then save up for it.

 

Like everything else, do your home work and compare the pros and cons to what you choose. Stiffness comparison for primary application and your comfort zone is a thought some forget about. But most important would be doing your homework about RC to find others complaining about front alignment and other issues after product install.

I had a never ending serious problem with alignment using RC's 3" lift/leveling product on a Silverado. I had their product professionally installed. Because of that and since then, I'll never touch any of their product again. They had a design problem and threw me under the bus.

I additionally purchased their highly recommended aftermarket control arms that were useless and a scam for more money. Using the OEM's would have been no different. With the RC kit installed my front tires were burning bald on the outside edge rapidly. With rotating tires every 3 thousand miles, the tires would only last 20 thousand miles. So, choice was to keep RC level/lift and eat buying tires every 20,000 miles, or go to the junk yard and remove/rebuild OEM control arms to replace the RC control arms, or just sell the trk while it was worth something and not go through the hassle.

I sold the trk. Was easier to buy a different mfgrs competing new trk because Chevy's new fuel management system on the 5.3 had inherent problems that would go past warranty. Finally, after all that money spent on a few similar worthless new trks, I have this ole Tundra by fate and know better for what to do and don't. So choose wisely and go for the time tested better product.

I remember RC as the cheaper choice when they started, and newbies like me took the bait because of very limited cash flow. Had a CJ Jeep and replaced the springs which were OK to me because I didn't have a clue to know better, Lol. RC products are still not comparable to quality that the old school boys and some recent mfgr engineers offer today.

Read/research and save (not for the best) for a no headache product that you can afford!

 

What do you want of your truck? So far sounds like a daily driver that you care about and needs to carry a winch and go off road?

 

Well, not really.
nl
The weight doesn't shift, its always pulling down. If your going up a 20º slope, which would be pretty steep, that angle from say, your engine, is just shifted back about a foot from where it is on level ground. Most of the weight is still in the front (without a load in the back)

If you have a locker, there is a point there, but most of us don't have a locker or even LS

Going downhill, most of your braking is still in the front, like it always is, which of course is why are rear brakes are nothing compared the the fronts. They always are doing most of the work. The rear of your truck can only come around on you if your fronts are also slipping. Which the won't, because a vehicle with chains is the next best thing to a tank.

With our trucks with no center diff, in 4x4 the power is split 50/50 front and back so the front gets just as much power as the rear in all situations, except the front has more weight and thus more traction to make use of that power, but most importantly, with front chains you can pull yourself up and out of of holes instead of your rear end trying to push you down into them. You can pull yourself in the direction you need to go, and let the rear end trail behind.

Of course four chains are better, but most of your traction is always going to be coming from the front chains or no chains so that is where they are going to do you the most good.

And why RWD vehicles are a sad joke unless they are also a rear engine vehicle. My 67 VW is a beast in the snow but thats because it as a 20/80 weight distribution to the rear wheels.

I don't know the numbers but I wouldn't be surprised if our trucks unloaded are 70/30 front biased, but even if they where 50/50 I would still want the steering wheels to be the ones with the most traction.

 

Ok. I’m not really trying to make the truck taller it’s just more I want it to sit level. Do you have any recommendations or are the bilstines the best bet? And if they are how do I do the front shocks?