Looking for a Suspension Unicorn

Hey everyone,

New to the forum as I just bought a new-to-me 2019 TRD Limited. I have been stalking the suspension threads and am more confused than when I started!

I live in Northern New Mexico, the roads are horrible in general and to top it off, I live a couple miles up a dirt road. My road gets thrashed by the monsoons in the summer and snow in the winter. I also take several hunting trips every year, so put in a lot of miles on the highway.

I am looking at a suspension setup that is comfortable on the highway but can handle some pretty horrendous dirt roads. No rock crawling, but miles of washboard forest roads is a weekly occurrence for me.

My budget is $5-7k. I thought I was set on a Fox setup from Accutune, but have been reading about potentially needing to service the suspension around 25k miles. I need something more durable, as getting the suspension rebuilt every couple of years does not sound doable.

Also looking for something adjustable as I usually have nothing in the bed, but go on trips with several hundred pounds in the bed, potentially towing a 4-5k pound trailer.

Most important to me:
Durability
Comfort
2.5-3” lift
Adjustable

I was originally looking at a Fox Performance Elite setup tuned by Accutune, MCM UCA, and a CB shackle instead of a heavier leaf spring. Airbags for when I need to tow or have a lot of weight in the bed.

Experiencing a bit of decision paralysis at the moment, please help me spend $5-7k of my hard-earned money!

 

This is like a replay of the last couple months for me nearly the same truck and budget and live in NM as well. I had made up my mind on the new suspension (King 2.5's) then started looking at the new Bilstein 8100 series and ended up going with those, haven't installed them yet waiting on new UCA's and rear leafs to arrive. It's posted in my build thread with a couple of videos that helped make up my mind.

 

What made you decide to go with the 8100s?

 

The tech, performance and stated durability between rebuilds, I haven't installed them yet but out of the box they're high quality. I generally thought of Bilsteins as being a budget product unless you were getting into their custom built stuff and hadn't even considered them, then I started doing some research after seeing a video on them and feedback from someone that has been running them I went for it. Originally I was looking at Kings or ADS and settled on Kings, I haven't had the best luck with Fox or Icon so they weren't considered. Something else to think about is the UCA's, I stopped using Uniball UCA's due to the maintenance and stick with ball joints for the UCA's for the way I use the truck.

 

There’s another thread on here from someone who also chose the 8100s and is loving them.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/bilstein-8112-8100-full-review-thread.140384/

https://www.tundras.com/threads/best-offroad-suspension-for-2020-tundra-4x4.127443/

 

If it were me in those conditions I would use the tried and true Outback staple OME suspension.

if you need adjustability put bags or ras on the rear but the ome suspensions is dang near built proof and designed for over landing like you describe day in and day out without fussing or complaining.

there is a reason these come from
Australia where I highly doubt a lot of the shinny and flashy suspension we have will survive.

 

The issue being the the OME BP51's for the Tundra have been having lots of quality issues.

For the OP's use case, the Bilstein 8100 should hit the spot well. He can then do new leaf packs or the RAS in the rear. Hit up @memario1214 and he can help you narrow it down more and then he is also an awesome vendor and can sell you everything you will want/need at an extremely fair price.

 

not sure as I have not spent any time looking at that suspensions set up however the tried and true original design is basically built proof and has been around for a long time and has been used on tons of vehicles.

honestly they have been around longer than bilstien 5100, 6100, and 8100.
They have been used all over the world and manage to be one of the best selling and probably most widely used aftermarket suspension.

not saying any of these new set ups are bad, I’m running the Eibach stage 2r myself but the ome set up on my 4 runner was pretty dang awesome.

but each to their own. The newer set ups do not have the longevity trials the ome has.

but it all depends on what your willing to put up with. Rebuilding or set it and forget it.

but there are a lot of options. And to be honest I like my Eibach stage 2r but I’m kinda missing the firmness of the ome.
It rides fantastic but I will probably go a different direction when the truck hits 200k miles.

 

Fully agree, the OME is great but their comparable version to the 8100 has been having some issues so between the 2 of those, I'd go Bilstein.

Suspension is such a rabbit hole and so much is up to the users tastes and preferences as well.

 

Heard lots of good things about the terraflex falcon setup. Comes in a tow/haul version with adjustable rear shocks. Definitely not the same level as a 8100 but good bang for the bucks. I believe they're under 2k for the setup.

 

Any of the top shelf 2.5” or 3” coilovers will be a delight up front with some good UCAs. If you’ll use the travel, a set of nice 2.5” bypasses will be awesome out back with a set of quality leaf packs.

My setup works really well for a “basic” mid-travel suspension. ADS 2.5” coilovers up front with 2.5” smoothies in the rear. MCM UCAs and Deaver U748 leaf packs. TC shackles. Duro Bumps in front and hydro bumps in the rear.

Ride is great, and the grins while hauling ass on the rough logging roads are worth it.

I’d do 17” wheels with LR-C tires in the 34” to 35” range if I was running your conditions all the time….

 

You can't go wrong with either decisions from the 8100s to fox, King, ads etc. With that said I run the King 2.5s ext with resi and adjusters on my sequoia and my tundra is long travel on Kings as well. My biggest factor on why I went with King over everything else was due to my geographic location being closer to King and also the turn around if or when it comes time to rebuild them. Servicability with multiple different vendors due to King being a common household name in the 4x4 world is why I made that decision.

 

You must have read my Tread about the 8112/8100 ! if you have any questions ; feel free to ask ! Our needs and expectation for a suspension combos is similar a lots !

Cant go wrong with these, and they ride just so great on the street/highway , too !

Are you wanting to go fast over wasboard ? Or just would like to drive normal speed over them and have a smooth ride ? If so : i beleive a shock thats not degressif valved would be better ( smoother ) then the 8112 , in the sens that a properly valve shocks that are not degressive valve will be smoother on small road inputs like washboard , BUT will perform less on large road inputs like washout, big holes and big rocks at speed !



Whatever you chose : go with a quality leaf pack and by-pass shocks in the rear : These will completly change the truck behavior and performances for nasty foret roads and make the most differences in performance and confort !

i LOVE to go fast on nasty roads and 110% happy and impress with my 8112/8100 shocks , and still blown away how much abuse and large input these can take and never feels overwhelms or under-damped , i have even yet to feel them bottom out, even if i have try very hard on purpose , especially pair with blue sumos back and front ! I also have a strong Rally car back ground ( and ridden race cars with full blown exeTC and pro-flex Gr.N rally dampers ) and i would never tought a 7000 + ponds truck can handle gravel road this well with just bolt ons

all in all ; i am sure any accutune shocks in your budget will ride awsome anyway, pair with a proper leaf pack ! let us know what set-up you will go with !

 

I have now had the Falcons with the Tow Adjustable Rears for soon to be 4 years. Absolutely can't say enough good about them. For highway use they are a massive improvement over stock. Offroad for hunting/fishing trails and some rough stuff they are very good. Not exactly for extreme situations but for the vast majority of us that will never occur. But, and this is big, I live in the Phoenix area and the truck has spent very little time in freezing weather. It seems if you live in cold climates the fronts are leaking at a disturbing high rate. This is shown with just a little reading on this forum. So, if you live in the Southwest, I can't recommend these enough. Otherwise, use caution.