Need Advice for 2015 Tacoma Suspension System
- Thread starter sertguy
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DaVikes
Adventurer
I think the U bolts are probably a little long. The bump stop mfgr should list a minimum compressed hight. At least Timbren does. Anyway if you can find it you can measure. Another way to check before cutting bolts is to slowly articulate the axle by driving it up a truck loading dock or something similar. Then you can see if the bolts hit the frame.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I'd trim those u-bolts personally.
As for arrows on the springs, not sure what OME puts on them. Maybe. Do the EL095 have one bushing eye where the main spring is wrapped completely by the second spring (called a military wrap)? If they do and it's on only one end you know this is definitely the front of the spring.
If they don't have a military wrap then an arrow would be very helpful, although you can figure it out by the distance from the eyes to the center pin. Leaf spring are not symmetrical and I'm pretty sure the short length is the front on our trucks.
As for arrows on the springs, not sure what OME puts on them. Maybe. Do the EL095 have one bushing eye where the main spring is wrapped completely by the second spring (called a military wrap)? If they do and it's on only one end you know this is definitely the front of the spring.
If they don't have a military wrap then an arrow would be very helpful, although you can figure it out by the distance from the eyes to the center pin. Leaf spring are not symmetrical and I'm pretty sure the short length is the front on our trucks.
sertguy
Observer
I trimmed the u bolts up and noticed the shock leaking from the reservoir. I contacted Headstrong Off-road and this is what I have to do to get a replacement:
I am so extremely sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue with your Bilstein shock. Unfortunately even though it is brand new it will still be treated as a warranty claim. Bilstein has changed their warranty procedures so they like you to come to us now instead of going directly. The issue with that is they want to still have final say if they are going to warranty it or not. At this point we need you to send us extensive pictures of the shock, shaft, entire body, upper, and lower mounting points. This way we can do a “pre-inspection” of the shock to make sure that there isn’t anything glaring that would prevent it from being covered under warranty. Then the shock will have to be sent back to us so we can work with Bilstein directly on the warranty. Once they rule on whether it is warrantable or not we pass that information on to you. If they approve the warranty claim, then we send out a replacement to you. The other option is we charge you for the replacement and send it out right away and then you put the damaged shock in the new box and send it back to us for inspection. If the old shock is deemed warrantable then we refund you the amount paid for the new shock minus shipping. Usually either way, the shipping of the damaged shock to come back is not covered as well as the initial costs incurred to ship the product out to you will not be refunded as well. One thing that we have added is that the process for you to return the damaged shock to us should not take more than 30 days from the time you receive the new shock. If it takes longer for you to return the shock to us then we will have to also charge you the credit card fees which are 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction. We have had too many people take months to return the shocks to us which now creates more fees for us to incur. Since that is the case we are now having to pass these fees along for people who are taking an excessive amount of time to return the defective shock.
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I am so extremely sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue with your Bilstein shock. Unfortunately even though it is brand new it will still be treated as a warranty claim. Bilstein has changed their warranty procedures so they like you to come to us now instead of going directly. The issue with that is they want to still have final say if they are going to warranty it or not. At this point we need you to send us extensive pictures of the shock, shaft, entire body, upper, and lower mounting points. This way we can do a “pre-inspection” of the shock to make sure that there isn’t anything glaring that would prevent it from being covered under warranty. Then the shock will have to be sent back to us so we can work with Bilstein directly on the warranty. Once they rule on whether it is warrantable or not we pass that information on to you. If they approve the warranty claim, then we send out a replacement to you. The other option is we charge you for the replacement and send it out right away and then you put the damaged shock in the new box and send it back to us for inspection. If the old shock is deemed warrantable then we refund you the amount paid for the new shock minus shipping. Usually either way, the shipping of the damaged shock to come back is not covered as well as the initial costs incurred to ship the product out to you will not be refunded as well. One thing that we have added is that the process for you to return the damaged shock to us should not take more than 30 days from the time you receive the new shock. If it takes longer for you to return the shock to us then we will have to also charge you the credit card fees which are 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction. We have had too many people take months to return the shocks to us which now creates more fees for us to incur. Since that is the case we are now having to pass these fees along for people who are taking an excessive amount of time to return the defective shock.
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Ryanmb21
Expedition Leader
That is BS - I would be contacting my credit card company immediately. Who has time for that song and dance? Joke.
sertguy
Observer
Update:
So I finished the installing the leaf springs and it raised the rear about 2.5 inches, as expected. However, i have not done anything to the front end and after comparing the front and rear, the rear is only 3/4 inch higher than the front. My question is, it appears the stock Bilsteins coilovers are adjustable and on the 3rd snap ring? If so I'm assuming the original owner may have adjusted them.
Is it safe to assume that When installing the new coilovers I should keep the snap ring on the 5th location to yield about 2.5 inches of lift.
The rear is about 39" from floor to bottom of the outer most fender and the front is 38 1/4.
Thoughts???
Stock: 3rd snap ring
New 5th snap ring:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
So I finished the installing the leaf springs and it raised the rear about 2.5 inches, as expected. However, i have not done anything to the front end and after comparing the front and rear, the rear is only 3/4 inch higher than the front. My question is, it appears the stock Bilsteins coilovers are adjustable and on the 3rd snap ring? If so I'm assuming the original owner may have adjusted them.
Is it safe to assume that When installing the new coilovers I should keep the snap ring on the 5th location to yield about 2.5 inches of lift.
The rear is about 39" from floor to bottom of the outer most fender and the front is 38 1/4.
Thoughts???
Stock: 3rd snap ring
New 5th snap ring:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
The old coils are probably stock, since they have the paint stripes on them. Toyota factory coils have those marks to indicate something, spring rate, which side, etc. Not 100% sure. But you'll see people refer to them using the color, free length and number of wraps. I believe his are pink/white or pink/pink (it's hard to tell for me in the photos), but that's been seen on the driver's side on 2nd gen TRD sport (I think) trucks.
They are definitely not factory shocks, look like 5100s. It's a common upgrade to reuse factory springs on 5100 shocks set to lift. This works fine although I've heard people say you should not use the progressive rate TRD coils on 5100s when you lift because you end up with a pretty harsh ride. I dunno if that's the truth or not. Seems to me that lifting an otherwise unmodified truck with the 5100 would just set the ride height higher, you shouldn't be compressing the spring significantly more until you add weight. Perhaps it's a mismatch in the valving and the progressive rate spring?
When taking measurements it's better to use the center of the hub to the fender lip rather than ground to lip. The reason for this is the distance from the ground will vary widely depending on your tire size and pressure. So you might get 3" of lift but being on a 32" tire will mean this is the same measurement as a guy on 33" tires and 2.5" of lift or a truck on under inflated 35" tires with 1.5".sertguy said:
If you use the hub center to the fender lip then you're only measuring ride height and it won't matter on the tire at all. That said, mine measure a little less than 23" from the hub center to the fender lip and that's about 2.5" or so of lift.
Last edited:
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I think 25" is a lot, but it depends on what it was to start. Mine stock at 42K and ~6 years old was about 20" and that's a pretty typical measurement. Some people start higher but 20.5" is about the highest a stock truck will ride. To be kind to the CV axles on the highway you should try to stay below 3" of lift. I actually didn't want quite this much but I didn't want excessive rake so I put in about 1/2" more than I intended to make it look better.
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