Shock upgrade and level for street driving

Howdy all

My truck has 185k on it and rides rough. I think it likely still has the stock shocks on it, so they are obviously in need of replacing.

My main goal is ride quality. I drive the truck around the city and never off-road (it's 2wd anyway). I haul stuff every now and then.

I'd also like to lift the front end 2.5 inches as it sits pretty low.

I'm thinking of going with Bilstein 5100s but I want to know if there are any better shocks for street ride quality. I've read tons about off-road but no one really talks about street use.

I've also read that the bilsteins 5100s at the top setting ride a bit rough. I'm wondering if it's better to use a lower setting with spacers for ride quality.

 

5100s are harsh. Especially on the top notch.

I changed my 5100s out for the 6112/5160 combo. I’d estimate they are 15% less firm and 50% less harsh than the 5100s.

The 6112s come with their own new springs.

 

I had looked at the 6112s. They seem to have good reviews and they would probably ride pretty nice.

I wish they costed less. Prices I see are about 1200$. I feel they cater more to the off-road crowd and I might be paying for a lot of performance I won't use.

 

Hit up @memario1214. He has good prices and you often saves on tax and shipping. Which saves you even more. I bought my 6112 fronts 5100 rears from him.

 

IMO, leveling it 2.5” will lead to a harsher ride more than an off road oriented shock will. You are losing suspension downtravel so, for example, when a tire hits a pothole, it can exceed that tire down travel and top out the shock (think, bottom out the shock but in the opposite direction). Also, leveling past 2” leads to its own set of possible issues (alignment, new UCA’s, bump stops, etc).

I have had good luck with most of the shocks I’ve tried on my truck (and a few on the sequoia) - 5100’s, 6112/5160, Eiback pro truck, Eibach 2.0 coilover, Dobinson MRA, fox 2.0, prolly one or two I’m missing. Of those, the best bang for the buck would be the 6112/5160.

BUT… the best budget value is tied between the 5100’s and Eibach sport truck (or whatever they call that line that is in the same price range as the 5100’s). The Bilsteins are digressive damping which means slightly firmer initially but softer on big bumps. They are sportier feeling and you will feel small bumps more often, but still very comfortable. They also corner very well. The Eibachs ride softer with better small bump compliance which, IMO, leads to better on road comfort. But they can wallow a little in the turns - not in an unsafe manner or like they are warn out, just softer all around compared to the bilsteins.

I have Eibach fronts and 5100 rears in the sequoia and get zero complaints from my wife and kids. I’m going to try 5100’s all around and see if the ride/cornering trade off is worth it to them, but have been very happy with the Eibachs for the money. Still improved over stock.

 

I found the 6112/5160 set on sale for around $875. However, this was about a year ago. The 5100s are absolutely on the harsher side. To be fair, I should mention I run TRD sway bars front and back.

 

Are the TRD sway bars worth the upgrade for ride quality? I see sets on ebay for 170$ish.

 

Getting closer to pulling the trigger on something. I was originally thinking I didn't want to spend more than 8-900$ ish but I am re-thinking that since stuff is on sale. Might be willing to spend about 1200.

Shock surplus has a 5% off sale and is selling gift cards 10% off. I'll buy whatever amount of gift cards and then buy the shocks so it will be 15-ish% off.

Options and cost out the door:
6112s/5160s: 1083$
6112s/5100s: 887$
5100s: 454$
Eibach stage Pro-Truck stage 2: 1076$
Fox 2.0 performance series coilover kit (with single chamber rear shocks): 1237$
Eibach Pro-Truck sport strut: 495$
Eibach stage 1 pro truck kit: 713$

Right now leaning towards the 6112s/5100s at 887 but the adjustability of the Eibach and fox kit has me intrigued.

Thoughts?

 

You may want to talk to @AccuTune Offroad and go custom.

a 2wd regular cab is a different spring rate than what most aftermarket stuff will be geared towards. Ive run multiple different OE coils on mine, the crewmax 4wd coils for example are stiff AF on my 2wd.

if i were looking for street i would buy fox 2.0 from accutune

i have a set of eibach pro truck ride height adjustable i will sell for 50$ plus shipping. I ran them for 150 miles but they raised front too much for my taste (1.5 inches at bottom setting)

 

I have 6112s on my 2WD (second setting from the bottom) and they are stiff as ****.
The truck hops over bumps in the road.
5160s on the rear, but they aren't the problem..

 

If you decide to go entry level, I would highly recommend Eibach over Bilstein 5100’s. The street ride difference is significantly better on the Eibach, ESPECIALLY when it gets colder.

Personally, I don’t think I would ever use Bilstein 5100’s again, unless Eibach went out of business or something of that nature. Bilstein higher end stuff is very nice. The 5100’s make for a much much stiffer ride (even at the lower settings) and make a crappy family vehicle ride quality in my case and in my opinion…

 

Great input everyone. I am definitely leaning towards Eibach now.

If this is really the case I may just end up re-using my stock springs. I don't really want to have to go custom and spend crazy money. I looked at the foxes on accutune, I would be looking at 1100 before even getting a set for the rear. Also, I sent you a PM about the shocks.

I think I am now leaning towards the Eibach Pro-Truck sport strut for 495$ and just re-using stock springs. The kit doesn't come with springs, lifts 0-2.5 similar to the 5100s or 6112s and seems to have good reviews, specifically less stiff vs Bilstein stuff.

 

The rear sway bar is a huge upgrade if you dislike body roll. The front TRD pro sway bar is a minor but noticeable improvement. I run both. Just know that a sway bar works by rapidly increasing spring rate to a wheel when there is a height or load bias between the two wheels connected by the bar - meaning potholes and such CAN be a little stiffer. My truck is heavy and I like to take corners at speed, so what little ride difference that makes is negligible to me.

Sounds like you have it narrowed down to a few. Make sure to add $100 to the budget for new top hats if you reuse the OE springs as there’s a good chance you won’t be able to reuse yours.

Two big advantages to the Eibach 2.0 kit is, one: it is a true coilover in front that you can adjust to whatever ride height you want - not just the pre set height adjustments of a circlip. And two: it uses a standard 3.0” x 16” coil spring that you can easily swap for a different spring rate. The stock 4wd spring rate is 700 lb/in; I’m not sure what 2wd is. A popular upgrade is to go with a lighter 650 lb spring for a smoother ride, but it requires better/more damping. I believe the 2.0 kit comes with 650 lb coils, as do /did the 6112’s. Being 2wd, you could probably look at a 600 lb/in spring and be perfectly fine. Lighter than that and you would need to ask somebody more experienced than me.

 

I will echo blenton on the sway bars.

I tow a fair bit and drive a lot of highway. The truck handles much better with trds on both ends. I read before I got them that the rear trd bar makes about 70% of the difference and the front 30%. I’d say that is a fair assessment. The rear is definitely worth it IMO…the front per your own taste and needs.

 

For the guys who have added the rear TRD sway bar, was your truck equipped with any sway bar at all? My ‘21 TRD Pro has nothing in the rear, do I guess I’d need the entire kit, like this:

 

All our trucks have swaybars unless removed by the truck owner.

I think y'all have convinced me. I'll buy some TRD swaybars and install them. Doesn't seem like an expensive upgrade for ride quality.

 

@citrusmaster Interesting. I am the second owner of my truck, but no evidence of a sway bar here. There is one in the front however.

 

Another vote for Eibach Pro 2.0s over Bilstein anything. I had 5100s and 6112s before. I was not impressed with on road comfort. The eibachs are easily the best 2” shock offering currently IMO.

 

Yeah I was thinking in the front but it seems the rear was implied, my bad.

 

Thanks for the feedback. At this point I'm pretty convinced Eibach is the way to go. Now just deciding between stage 1 and stage 2. It seems their "pro truck sport shock" is the same thing as the stage 1 kit but without the Eibach springs.

 

I believe the only trim with the rear TRD sway bar from the factory was the TRD Sport (not TRD Off-road). That trim wasn’t available until sometime after the mid model refresh in ‘14.

 

Yes. You need everything in the picture. The entire kit. Be specific in your ordering as there are many dealers where you can order just the bar itself.

I love mine. Shamed many a BMW on a highway cloverleaf on ramp.

Top 3 best "easy money, easy effort" mods one can do to their Tundra for road driving.

 

@TundraMcGov. good to know. Thank you.

 

I pulled the trigger on a rear sway bar. I got an Ebay motors 10$ discount on top of an already pretty cheap price, came out to 166 after tax. Seems to be the exact same part sold on Amazon with good reviews.



As far as shocks, I have decided on the Eibach Pro-Truck sport struts (stage 1 but re-using stock springs). User Hbjeff seems to have a pair of the front with 150 miles he will sell for 50$ so I will talk with him and see how that works out. I will order the rear from ShockSuplus, seems it will come out to about 260 for the rears.

Depending on how much this lifts the front I would consider adding 1 inch rear shackles as well.

 

I got my rear swaybar installed. It went very smoothly and was extremely easy. The kit came with no instructions but I was able to find some instructions for how to install here. Took less than an hour start to finish. I am pretty impressed with the quality of the kit given that it came off of Ebay. Well worth the money I'd say.



I took it for a drive and it definitely feels a bit tighter on turns. Planning on ordering my shocks tomorrow.

 

I purchased the Eibach front shocks that user Hbjeff had for 83$ shipped, and had a local shop swap my stock springs over for 40$. Total of 123$ to get them on.



A few notes in install: Doing the job wasn't too bad, but I did ended up wasting an hour trying to find the "quick way." First side took two hours, the second side 1 hour. I thought that I could wiggle the strut out without removing anything by just prying on the lower control arm, but after some time trying, that isn't possible. I then thought since mine was 2wd and didn't have a CV axle it might be quicker to disconnect the upper ball joint to remove it, but I soon realized that was a lost cause and gave up on that as well.

Things moved very quickly after I dropped the lower control arm similar to this video. This is definitely the quickest method and I recommend it to any others doing this job. Disconnect your sway bar links, jack up the truck, remove the lower ball joint bolts, and ever so slightly loosen the lower control arm bolts. After this just remove the upper and lower strut bolts and it is out.

I have my spring perch on the middle setting, and it looks to have added about 2.5 inches of lift as advertised but I will measure tomorrow to get the true lift amount. Front still looks a small bit shorter than the rear so I am happy about that. I still probably need to get an alignment this weekend, but it didn't look too far off with eyeballing and a measuring tape for toe angle. I drove it a couple blocks and didn't have any issues.

I also ordered the rear shocks (262$ shipped from Stage 3 Motorsports) and plan on installing them tomorrow and also doing a transmission fluid change while I am at it, which requires removing my cat shield so that will be a bit of a project as well.

Also would like to order some new fender liners as mine seem to be misisng. Any recommendations there?

 

I wonder how that sway bar compares to the TRD. Seems like a good price.

Also did your Eibach rears come with bushings or did you have to order separate?