birdhouse

ll, first post hear, so go easy on me.

the truck- 94' pickup ext. cab v-6, 5sp, 3.0, 4x4

i've been slowly collecting parts to lift my pickup. i'm concentrating on the rear first. i have already swapped out the oem rear shackles with the 6" trail gear shackles, and that took some of the sag out of the rear, but was way less dramatic then i thought it would be.

i recently read about the zuk spring mod where you cut the upper bump stop and pop in those ebay springs. i've got the 14" ones ordered in the 100# rate. i chose the 14" because at full droop (jacked rear end up) i measured 13.25" from top of leaf u-bolts, to the frame inside the bump stop. not sure how much this will lift my rig, but i'm going to find out... i also will drop the carrier bearing to keep the drive shafts close to a straight line.

i know i'm going to need new shocks. i will be going the bilstein 5100 route.

some measurements: current full droop shock mount length (unbolted shock to make sure it wasn't keeping axle from dropping) 22.5"
current shock length sitting: 17.25"
distance between oem bump stops (sitting): 3.5"
distance where zuk spring would go w/ full droop: 13.25"

some rough calcs tell me that 17.25" sitting with 3.5" left of compression travel means i need a shock that will collapse to ~14"

with a 22.5" shock measurement in full droop, plus adding 3/4" with the springs, i would think i would need an extended shock length of at least 24"

bilstein lists the 24-185752 for toyota pickups with 3-4" of lift, but it's specs are 16" coll. and 25.63" ext. this seems like too tall of a shock for my purpose. this leads to a few questions-

can i put on another model number shock like the 24-186223? 15.48" coll. and 24.59" ext. the lower mount hole is too small, but could i just get a 16mm bushing to fit in there? are all 5100 shock eyelets the same with just different bushings to fit different mounts?

also, i'll be cutting out my upper bump stop to fit the springs in there. do you folks think i'll need to fab a new bump stop just forward of the axle? or maybe the truck will never get that low anyways and no bump stop is needed? the most i'd ever even think about putting in the bed is 2000#, and that isn't likely.

basically i'm looking for maximum travel without bottoming out or topping out the shocks. those 5100's are spendy and i don't want to be beating them up!

also, should i be worried about the rear brake line with all this?

thanks for any thoughts and or wisdom!

adam

birdhouse

i'm a bit surprised that no one has anything to say here.

i guess my main questions is weather the bilstein 5100's have the same eyelet, with different bushings to fit different mounts. the rest i can figure out on my own.

adam

Gevo

Don't take it personally. I'm sure whoever reads here doesn't have the 5100 to comment on.

birdhouse

gevo-
thanks for the response. and no, i don't take it personally. i just thought folks might have some input on weather bump stops are needed or not ect. with the zuk mod.

adam

Gevo

some threads gall through, some get more attention than they should. lol.

birdhouse

gevo-
yea i hear ya. i'm a fairly active member at a renewable energy forum. (fieldlines.com) so i know how it goes. i typically help there, as i have a pretty vast knowledge in that realm, but i'm new to the whole toyota thing. had a dakota before my 94 pickup and i'm looking for a few pointers.

adam

adam

martinezoi

you don't have to cut your bump stops, just use a different spring. I used 2010 jeep wrangler front springs cut to 13inches from the 18inches. They are about 5 inches in diameter so they fit perfect around the bump and bump stop. I posted lots of pics in a thread I posted about it. It made my 4runner come from 31inches from the ground to 35 inches

birdhouse

martin-
from what i understand, you can do the mod two different ways. the first is as you describe, the second is to use much narrower springs from black magic and use the cut bump stop as an upper keeper for the springs.

seeing how i already have black magic spring in route, that's the method i'm going with.

can anyone confirm that all 5100's have the same metal mounting eyelet with different bushings to yield different mounting diameters?

adam

birdhouse

i just stuffed the black magic 14" 100# rate springs under the back end. when they were first in, it looked pretty lifted, but after driving home, not so much.

current measurements after driving home between the top of my tires and the bottom of the chrome factory wheel well wrap is 7.25" rear, and 6.25" front. these measurements are with 31x10.5xR15 tires. keep in mind, i've got a contractors rack w ladders ect on top. the rack probably weighs ~150lbs. i welded it myself out of surplus 1.25" sprinkler (fire surpression) pipe. i've also got a tool box in the back with ~150lbs of tools right behind the cab.

the front is stock and rides HARD! the back now rides SMOOTH without hitting the bump stops all the time.

i'm thinking with my full time weight carrying in the truck i should have bought the 14" 125# rate. or maybe even the 150# rate...

i still have to put in the ball joint spacers and the front diff drop kit for the front. i was a little disapointed with the new springs in the rear. i'm already running the trail gear 6" shackles, but if anyone want me to ship them my current springs, i would be interested.

thoughts?