Finally installed the Bilstein 5100's

I finally got around to having the Bilstein 5100's installed and what a difference it has made. I cannot believe after putting 122K on the truck, I didn't do it sooner. The truck handles curves now and does not have that "Platinum" lean. The truck feels much more "planted." With my tire setup, I decided to go with the middle setting, which put it dead even with the rear. If you are on the fence about the 5100's, just do it you will be amazed in the difference it will make. My truck did not have the front Tundra lean, so shims were not needed. The truck looks great, but it does squat when pulling my boat. Now I am trying to decide what to do for the rear. Trying to decide on shackles, springs or possibly airbags and adding the 5100 rears. Any advice?

 

The ras hd will work great but it will raise the rear up a bit.

 

Thanks for the info. I have been researching RAS and will probably end up going that route, just hope it does not give it too much rake. From what I have read, it will give about 1" of lift which is not bad. I do plan on adding Bilstein's to the rear as well.

 

You will love the ras. Just adding this made the truck handle tons better with a trailer and it doesn’t sag. But with adding the new struts and rear shocks it will be even better. i have the Eibach stage 2 about to go on next week so we should both be smiling as we drive with new suspension. It’s crazy how much it helps especially after 100k miles.

 

I run blue Sumo Springs towing my travel trailer. I run about 600lbs on the tongue (4500lb wet) and with stock suspension I have about 1.5" of rake with the trailer hitched and the bed loaded. I'm very happy with the Sumo springs as they keep the rear height stock and prevent bottoming out. Off pavement they basically act as a big bump stop and really take the harshness out of hard hits.

I'll be putting in Eibach Pro-Truck leveling shocks in the front soon. The plan is to set them to 1.2" with the stock front springs, so the truck should be completely level with the trailer. I didn't want a whole lot of lift but wanted to get rid of the rear high look while gaining some clearance under the front axle. Between the 1.2" of lift and going to 275/70r18 tries should gain 1.7" of ground clearance under the front axle. Will post an update with how they do towing with just the blue Sumo springs. If I get some squat in the rear I'm either going to install RAS or HD leaf springs as I've come to appreciate not having the truck really tall.

One other mod you can consider to really make the truck handle is adding a rear sway bar. I went with the TRD unit, but the Hellwig sway bar also gets really good reviews. This was the best mod I've done to my truck and makes towing and general driving so nice.

 

Truck looks really good. I'm very curious as to how the on road ride comfort is now compared to stock as far as harshness goes. My platinum needs shocks soon and i can't decide on 4600 vs 5100. I may even just do the first clip to get only the .87" lift. I'm not off road too much and would rather keep my road ride good, but definitely want to firm up the steering response. TIA.