AALs and 5100s

bumpedmyhead

bumpedmyhead

Well-Known Member
I ordered some 3 leaf, 2in, Toytec AALs for my 18 dclbspt. Im adding a topper, kayak racks and have mtb's. About 260lbs all the time, with another 200lbs of toys, plus camping gear. Do I need 5100s? If you do recommend them, should I get the extended length? Headstrongs sight says extended length "can support" 3-4 inches lift, but Im not "lifting", technically. Front is currently stock. Thoughts? I really dont want to lift. Im content with a little, but, will stick with 265/70/17 at's.
 
Anyone? Toytec stated that with the additional weight, and some settling, the rear will be raised about 1 in. So, will the stock Hitachis handle this? Or, will regular length Bilsteins be better? I cannot find any specs on the stock shocks, like extended length and collapsed length.
 
I have their kit with 887 coils set at 0 and I love it got a solid 2.5” up front and 2” in the rear with their progressive aal does great for me but I also got some UCA’s also I love it rides a little more stiff then stock but that’s with any lift i also run 285/75/16
 
bumpedmyhead said:
I ordered some 3 leaf, 2in, Toytec AALs for my 18 dclbspt. Im adding a topper, kayak racks and have mtb's. About 260lbs all the time, with another 200lbs of toys, plus camping gear. Do I need 5100s? If you do recommend them, should I get the extended length? Headstrongs sight says extended length "can support" 3-4 inches lift, but Im not "lifting", technically. Front is currently stock. Thoughts? I really dont want to lift. Im content with a little, but, will stick with 265/70/17 at's.
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I’d replace the sport OEM shocks with the bilstein 5100’s you’ll be happier and if you want later you can add coils up front for lift and set the bilsteins to 0 like @Boss_Taco77 did or keep the OEM coils and set the 5100’s to 0.75” and do the AAL for the weight in the back. It will sit close to stock just a little taller. Either way the 5100’s would serve you well.
 
What @OR17TRD said. Just want to add something to keep in mind about suspension for Tacomas and in general... shocks alone don't help with your lift or even the weight load in the vehicle really. The rear leafpack takes pretty much all the brunt of the weight in the bed, and rear shocks are mostly just there to control the travel more smoothly. In other words, if you were to remove your rear shocks and drive around, your bed would still be capable of the same weight capacity/etc...however your rear end would be bouncing up and down all over the place. The rear shocks prevent that bouncing by controlling how fast the rear body/bed can travel when going over bumps or offroading. A longer shock mainly allows for longer travel, mostly beneficial when the truck is lifted (if you were to lift and use stock, short shocks, the shock would need to be extended near it's maximum travel when sitting still, meaning it has less potential travel left).

With all that said, it may sound like I'm saying that you don't need to switch to 5100s because you're not lifting, however I agree that 5100s would be a good idea here, mainly because they would be stronger and more dependable than stock ones, and you're adding semi-permanent weight to the rear. If I were in your shoes, I'd do 5100s.

Hope that helped.
 
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