Worth upgrading from Bilstein 5125?

How are these shocks?


Is it worth upgrading from bilstein 5125? Or is the upgrade just a nominal step? I have all pro expedition leaf pack because when I go fishing:camping I have easily over 500 lbs of gear, coolers, etc. and also, why are some bump stops like $20 and some $150? Not actual shock type bump stops but just rubber/poly looking ones? Thanks

 

And while I’m at it, what’s a reasonable step up for the front from 5100’s and 885’s? I’m not trying to go all out here and have the baddest truck in the land, I just know I can do better.




These maybe all around? Or am I overthinking this and have a decent set up to begin with. Purely for performance. I live in Hawaii so this is mostly for crawling over rocks. I drive some pretty hairy roads. But it seems like I have very little travel how I am. GF has a Jeep and put a $750 rough country 3.5” lift and the travel and articulation on it is worlds better than my truck..

 

Both king and fox are a progressive valves shock.
The icons and bilsteins are a digressive valves shock.
Kinda apples to oranges.
King and fox kinda work better at slower speed.
The bilstein and icon feel a little more stiff but are better at a higher speeds.

 

So, something like this in the front? I’ve always made it where I need to go and I am against bling, but there where times where I was worried I wasn’t gonna make it or the truck went on two wheels, etc..

so I should be looking at progressive?

 

I spent about 4 hours today using the search function.. just saying. Hard to sort it all out with people just doing it for looks and status and also people going balls to the wall. I just want better than what I got. Thanks

 

You could go with the Fox 2.0 coilovers up front to match the rears that you posted in the original post: The combo should be a step up from your current Bilstein’s. No King bling. Subtle and matchy matchy

 

That’s perfect. Right on brah

 

Am I gonna need extended brake lines for all of this?

 

A glorified landscaping truck first I’ve heard that one that good!

 

@whatstcp is correct. If you’re looking for an “upgrade” what does that actually mean. There are digressively valved shocks and there are progressively valved shocks. Regardless of the type, you want the correct valving for your uses & regardless of all that - you want a shock long enough to actually allow decent travel. Most factory replacement shocks (especially the really expensive ones) are actually quite short and will limit travel but may ride really nice within the travel range. Then there’s b110 which are just significantly longer than the rest (because they were designed for tundras IIRC). My shock length thread will help if you are looking at other options but as far as “travel” goes you can’t beat a $200 pair of b110’s. But again. - these require extended brake lines & IDEALLY some other things too (like aftermarket bump stops, decent leafs, etc). Here you can see the humble b110 stretching out with stock hangers, Dakar leafs, superbumps & ext brake lines, and poly shackle bushings.
Again - what are your “upgrade requests”. This will guide you to proper shocks. Whether it be weight carrying smooth riding - or simply as much travel as possible without breaking the bank

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-rear-shock-options-with-lengths.584583/

 

Thanks for the link. I just removed the sway and am gonna order some bump stops soon. Maybe I'll just leave it as is for now. Thanks

 

The more I look at it, it seems like I will bottom out and ride the bump stop very often when off road. Is that normal?





and you can see where I was bottoming out and the u bolts digging in to the frame. Not good

 

I’m thinking that I’m gonna go the b110’s and extended brake lines at some point. But I’ll run what I got for now and see how it works. Just removed the sway bar too so I should be better off I think. Fishing trip soon so we’ll see

 

The Super Bumps are larger but compress down to the same height as the stock bump stops. It’s more progressive and cushy

 

Thank you man for all your help

 

Well took the thing out finally and shit, didn’t realize how much these bump stops would help. I was real worried about the amount of space the bump stop leaves before bottoming out, but it’s like a secondary shock now. Maybe I’m a newb for not realizing that but this has improved my set up to the point that for my use I have no desire at all to upgrade from what I got now. Thanks

 

Sweet! One of the best simple mods