At the Crossroads with my build

First up,

Many thanks to all on this site who have helped and or contributed to where I am right now.

I have had a blast looking at all your modifications and ideas, which as expected, are costing me a small fortune

Anyone who has followed my build thread knows that my intention was initially to black out the Platinum from top to toe, and so far, I am nearly there. The only remaining item is the Headlight retrofit from @eledobleu, which will occur in the very near future (still trying to decide exactly what I want/need).

So where to go next? and, looking into the future...

I have the stock Platinum rims and crappy Dunlop 275/55/20 tires which I will run to destruction or thereabouts. I am about to fit Spidertrax 1.25" spacers to bring those wheels/tires out into the fender flares a little bit; temporary fix?.....(OEM offsets are +60 which I understand 'pulls the wheels into towards the hubs).

I would like to level out the stance, from what I have learned from this great site, plus other online mining, she sits about 2" high in the back.

It appears then, that by raising the front by this amount will get me close to being parallel with the asphalt?

I have never thought of 'off-roading" before and I may never get into that, but my question is;

Do I spend money on, lets say Bilstein 5100 shocks for the front (the adjustable ones which use the OEM coil springs) and call it good, or do I look at something like the Toytec Boss 3/1 kit with SPM UCA's as an insurance policy for later on (future proofing) should I decide on bigger tires/new wheels/off-road adventuring?

Apologies in advance, I know all the information I seek is probably on here, but it's been a busy day for various reasons and I may also be a touch lazy, hahaha

Appreciate your thought and help

As she sits right now: -



Thank you all

 

I say go without the rear lift blocks; the wheels wells are pretty big and fit large tires. Blocks will just reduce the ride quality. Putting blocks in the rear doesn't allow you to use a larger tire unless: you don't go off-road, utilize some sort of bump-stop spacer, or make the wheel well bigger. You could just get some Bilstein 5100s or Fox 2.0 shocks to raise the front a few inches and run 34 or 35" tires. I run LT285/70R18 Nitto Exo Grapplers on OEM aluminum wheels with no clearance problems. If you ever do get thoughts of going off-road 18" wheels would be a better choice over 20" wheels.

 

Oooooo

I say you start a blacked out/ murdered out thread

Blacked out tundras are badass!

 

If you've made it to this point where you are questioning it. It's time. 5100's at the least. IMHO.

 

The 5100s are very affordable. Should you opt for something else down the line you won't feel too bad about the money spent on 5100s. You'll really like the look of your truck with the 5100s (top setting). You don't need UCAs either. I don't think you'll notice much difference in ride, maybe it'll feel a little better,,,, at least that's what I told myself. I did the 5100 and then changed when I had a good idea of what I ultimately wanted.

 

Thanks Warren, I guess a couple of bills is not such a bad investment if I change my mind later on

 

Just ordered my 5100's from @sdhq_offroad
Great to work with. I plan to delay the install until I finalize wheels and tires. I'm going from 20s to 18s. Then get an alignment and update my build page! Good luck!

 

You will get a lot of opinions on this. Mine would be to just go with an adjustable coilover and set it for a couple inches lift to level your truck. You can always adjust it higher and lift the rear later if you decide to. Or just do it all at once. I used shackles for the rear instead of blocks.

The reason I didn't feel comfortable with the 5100s is the clip setup that holds the spring. It may be just fine, but Just not for me.

So do you plan on blacking out the tailpipes? I had mine ceramic coated.

 

This is exactly what pushed me away from the 5100's. Now I have the Toytec Boss suspension and couldn't be happier.

 

If you do anything other than 5100s on the middle setting (1.5" lift)...you won't make it until the tires are done before getting larger ones. Once you lift the front, you'll hate how small your 275/55/20s look. You are correct, your OEM wheels are a +60 offset, so adding 1.25" spacers will effectively change that offset to roughly a +30; which will get you about flush with the fender...not the flare, but much closer to it than it is now.

 

IMO...Slap on TOYTECBOSS lift with some 35s n 20s of your choice update audio system slap on led light bars n cruise where all the ladies hang out!!!

 

More pics of your rig please !

 

Scurdyness Mods

 

hahahahaa, my Grandkids may like the look...BUT not the wife and I,

 

Most coilover set ups are the same way with the clip.

 

Oh really? I guess I haven't seen any others with that setup for the tundra besides the 5100s and ome. My fat bobs have the adjustable thick ring around the bottom, like other adjustable coilovers. It inspires confidence.

 

I remember a few years ago some of the Bilstein set-up had some serious failures. They redesigned the shock and I have not heard of any the failure since. I would feel comfortable going with Bilstein's.

If you are not interested in messing around with adjusting your coilovers and rebuilding them, etc. you might want to go with maintenance-free set-up like Bilstein or OME. This was the primary reason why I did not go with adjustable ones. I have done absolutely nothing to my OME set-up since the day of installation (about three years ago). . . and I like it that way.

 

That's a good point... Not having to rebuild.

 

So it I go for adjustable shocks, I will have to rebuild them at some stage?....this may change my direction. Fit and forget sounds good to me?

 

If they're not rebuildable, then they're basically disposable... meaning you'd have to replace them. Rebuilding is a lot cheaper than replacing.

 

It's not that you have to rebuild 'em. It's more like you get to rebuild 'em. The rebuildable type offers a lot more adjustability in terms of changing internal valving. Having said that, who's got time to do it? I mean install, remove, rebuild, install over and over 'til you get 'em just right. @jberry would be a good place to start or Keith at dirty deeds. Straight out of the box though, they're pretty cool, I just don't know if they're the $2k cool, certainly not for everyone.

 

We do tuning in house as well.

 

Well, I've got fat bobs coilovers. Once the shocks inside go bad, I'll replace them with something better, or go with a higher end coilover. I paid 450 for them and figured it would be better than spacers.

If the shock inside can't be rebuilt, it can be replaced.

 

Did you see how much some shops charge for rebuilding? When I was reading up on it, it was more than brand new OME shocks.

I don't have the mechanical know-how so I would have to pay someone else to do it. I know no local shops around where I live that does this. So for a mechanical inept like me, I would have to pay someone to uninstall them, send them to be rebuilt, put the truck out of commision until I get them back. pay someone to reinstall the shocks, then pay to get it aligned, etc. Too much hassle for me. Most posts I read indicate that the interval between rebuilds is definitely shorter than interval between replacing OME shocks. That was one important reason why I went with the OME kit.

Another factor to consider is the salt/chemical durability. Everything (including $$ coilovers) disintegrates in my area where we have plenty of snow/ice. It is, I figure, a lot less painful to replace an OME shock than a coilover due to corrosion.

 

So, 1600 miles on the new truck and time for some measurements...suspension/springs settled in?
She is sitting 45mm (1.4") high in the rear, barley noticeable when seen from afar, in fact one of my buddies asked me if I had levelled her!!!
I am going to sit on the fence with this levelling idea for a while (common sense versus endless/needless spending; wins the day?)......I will revisit this later on.

 

Yes but can you adjust the height on the truck?? I dont think u can.

 

If you can swing it go for the toytec boss. You will be happy with the outcome.