Bilstein 5100s on a first gen: max lift only 1in?!

After a couple of weeks of researching here and shopping around, I thought I decided on this setup for my 2003 Tundra SR5 4WD Access Cab:

Front: Bilstein 5100 maybe at 2.5 inches (about max)
Rear: Bilstein 5100, 1 inch block

Just went to a local shop to see about buying them, and the salesperson said for the older Tundras (i.e., mine) they max out at 1 inch in the front.

Said he wasn't sure, but thinks he remembers that they used to go to 2.5 inches, but "they" had problems, and now they are limited to 1in for me, and if I wanted more lift, I'd need spacers. (Not sure if "they" is Bilstein or the Tundra owners that ran them at 2.5 inches.)

Any ideas what the deal is?

 

In the interest of getting this little thread a boost, I did some research...that doesn't answer my question. Page 2 of this PDF from Bilstein says, indeed, "Do not use" the highest settings, and indicates that the max lift I can get from these is 1.1in.

https://productdeskapi.cart.bilsteinus.com/media/products/bilstein/E4-WM5-Y517A00_1.pdf

So...why is that? And if I really can't get more than 1.1in out of a $600 set of new shocks, blocks, and u-bolts, what's the next best option that doesn't ruin my ride quality, the truck itself, or my credit card? (I know $600 isn't much around here, but I need to be careful.)

The salesperson said I could get those shocks AND a spacer...but I thought spacers were undesirable, which is why I was going to spend more on the 5100s.

A little more info about what I want to end up with:

I do pretty modest offroading in the southwest - mostly southern Utah, northern Arizona. My stock Tundra has served me well so far, but as I get more experience I'll want to do a little more aggressive trails.

Anyhow, it's getting to the point that I will need to buy new tires. I figured I'd get slightly larger ones, and do a modest lift at that time.

My (stock) rear end currently sits only slightly (.25in to .5in) higher than the front. I don't know if that is from the camper shell and the drawer system I made, both of which are pretty heavy, or if the leaf springs are...worn out?

And when I do go off into the desert I usually add at least a 5gal jerry can of fuel and usually around 20gal of water, in addition to my other gear. The back end gets pretty saggy, to my eyes anyhow.

I just did the math, and 20 gal of water and 5 gal of fuel is only about 200lbs total. That's about the same as just another human passenger. My other camping and photography gear weighs something, too, but it doesn't seem like it should affect the truck that much, not compared to loads of gravel or lumber or whatever.

It seems like I want:

-A little higher front end for tire clearance, better approach angle.

-A little higher rear end for those reasons, and to level it out.

-A refreshed / fortified rear end to handle the load best.

I do not and don't have any intention of towing anything. The cargo weight is water, fuel, camping and photography gear, firewood, maybe a second spare tire.

 

Ok, so to continue the apparently onanistic nature of this thread, here's an update:

-I've ordered a set of 4 Bilstein 5100s. I will, it seems, set them at a max of 1.1 inches in the front*, which is something of a bummer. I'm still not clear on why that is my max, or what I can do to get another inch, without spending a lot more money. (I've decided that spacers aren't the route I want to take.)

-I have settled on getting new shackles on the rear to raise it. Sounds like the best option for ride quality.

-I've been told to get strut mates: just two for the front or all four?

-Diff drop kit: what brand / source?

What is a good source (or brand) for the shackles? Like this thread, 1st gens don't seem to get a lot of love here - many of the sources y'all frequently talk about (@Coachbuilder1, @TOTAL CHAOS, @Toytec Lifts) don't seem to have these for the older Tundras.

*Regarding the settings on the 5100s, here's the chart from the Bilstein installation manual:

 

So i do not have experience with the 5100 series shock, but i did run 3 different brands of coilovers on my 2005 tundra.
Think of the arc that a arms travel in. This is a fixed range of motion no matter what shock you run.


Stacking a spacer on top of the lift shock is bad for 2 reasons:
1. When the suspension travels all the way up, the shock fully compresses before the suspension has reached the heigh of the arc.
2. When suspension travels down it will reach max droop before the shock is fully extended. Thus wasting downward travel in the shock.

A properly designed coilover will match the arc of the suspension travel with shock travel. So they bottom out and fully extend together.

From my memory there was about a 2 inch rake on my stock 05. So if you only raise the front a little, you wont need to raise the back.

The shackle on a gen 1 is inverted, so you cant do lift shackles. You can only do a block, new leaves, or an add a leaf.

I’m guessing that bilstein is recommending limiting the 5100 lift on 4x4s due to the angles of the cv joints. They dont want the blame of wearing the cv out due to big angles. The gen 1 shafts are shorter than gen 2, so they cant hanle as much lift as a gen 2 can. Guys lift their gen 2 three inches, which would torch gen 1 cv’s.

Hope this helps

 

Definitely, thank you!

 

Ya I’m in the same senator except I am towing often. Mainly cords of wood (1 at a time). This thread answered some questions thanks. Hoping for more posts!

 

Hi, I was wondering the same thing so I called Bilstein to find out why. Cause both the 5100s and the 6112s have the same lift restriction. I was told:

The reason we can't raise more than 1" is because the upper control arm ball joint doesn't have enough movement at full extension... Lifting any higher than 1" results in the Sprindler coming into contact with the spring on our trucks. If you replace the stock UPC with a uni-ball UPC, you can raise more than 1". Hope this helps.