Bilstein 5160 Reliability Question

I stumbled across the 4Runner forum and it is littered with issues on the Bilstein 5160 rear shocks and them leaking. Similar on the Tundra forum. I had an "oh shit" moment as I just bought them and have researching suspension upgrades like mad for 4 months.

Did a search here and only found a few random reports. Best theory I found on the 4Runner forum is that people who were having issues had 2+ inches of lift in rear and that the 5160s were design for 0-1.5" of lift.

For people with 5160's on your Tacoma, any issues with leaking?

 

my buddy with his gx460 blew out his 5160s in the same 40minute stretch of fire road i blew my stock rear shocks on my 2021 tacoma OR. If you're looking for better-than-stock reliability the 5160s aren't it.

 

See so that is on a Lexus. The 4Runner forum has a lot of posts about the 5160 reliability there too. I have to think more people are using these on Tacoma's than most other vehicles. Wondering if there is something different about the leaf springs and how they get installed/used on Tacoma's vs. a different type of suspension?

 

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5160 is 2-years

 

I've been running 5160's with stock leafs for 1-2 years and no issues. Some light wheeling and fire roads but mostly commuting and crawling to the mall so take it for what it's worth.

If you choose the 5160 for your build just be aware of what they are and what they aren't. To me these are what should have come stock from the factory (or 5100's). These are not for racing the Baja or KOH. These are designed for use with minimal/no lift. They are not Fox/King/etc heavy duty shocks and they will likely fail sooner if you push them hard. They are a great option for a large majority of Tacoma drivers that don't do much offroading and aren't looking to break the bank on suspension upgrades (read: they are economically viable as a stage 1 option).