Dave Mooney

OK Guys: Let me start a thread to get everybody thinking. Evan at Northridge Toyota had a deal at 25 percent off. I dedided to go with the factory oem shocks. If I'm not mistaken they are Tokikos. I'll be installing them on a 951/2 Tacoma 4x4 pickup driven mostly on the highway and some gravel roads to fish and hunt. No serious off roading here. Since all of our rigs came new with this product off the car lot and lots of miles have been logged, I thought I'd hear Evan out and he said as far as mono tube shocks go, I won't know the difference. Feedback requested!

marko3xl3

I don't exactly understand the question here?

There has been many discussions about how OEM shocks are your best bet if you want confort in your truck. The only reason one would want to change shocks is to get the stiffer (prevent body roll) which sacrifices ride confort or to get them longer for lifts. The latter is why most people change shocks. Many companies come close to making their shocks OEM quality, but they don't quite succeed, most are a bit stiffer and less butt softening.

Is that what you were asking, differenced between shocks? Sorry if I gave you the wrong answer.

Marko

X-AWDriver

If that's all you want then stick with OEM and since money has been a little tight I couldn't afford anything special but with my suspension having some miles on it and had to be replaced I just went with an OEM shocks and coils which only cost me $360 plus shipping.

Dave Mooney

Thanks guys. I guess my train of thought is best bang for the buck. I use the truck for a daily driver on pavement driving to work 40 miles round trip. The roads are curvey but all on pavement. When I took the vehicle in for tires, the salesman said my oems were shot. I looked through the maintenance records and no sign of shock replacement during the 152,000 mile service record. Everything else is cherry about my 96 Tacorma SR5. There is a lot of hype out there when it comes to shocks and I was having a difficult time wading through the bs. I think the stock Tacoma coil spring front end design was a factory mod over the front leaf spring used previously.
Evan at Northride Toyota said factory shocks are ready to replace at 60,000 miles so the previous owner just hadn't kept up with this part of his maintenance(sp?)

If I hadn't gone with the Toyota Tokiko oems I think the purpose of the thread woulld have been to clarify in order of quality. Pro Comp ES300 series shocks, seem to be in a similar price range. The Edlebrocks at $20 a pop discounted from the retail of $50 each at Summit Racing get a good rec too but didn't seem to be a fit for my truck.
I was leaning toward the Tokiko Trekmaster as a compromise between $300 Bilsteins and my $124 oems after the discount and free shipping.
I'll post a quality report after my install. They might arrive today. Just hoping!
From all I've learned I have a way to go.

Paul H.

Why are you replacing the coils?

Dave Mooney

Paul: sorry for the confusiion here. The coil springs are fine. Just wanted to replace the original factory shocks which hadn't been replaced since the vehicle was new in 1996.I bought it with 134,000 miles and all the other maintenance was primo. I had a hard time sorting through the hype. Truck is completely stock in all other ways. I just was looking for feedback on my decision. Nobody seems to use the oem shock for their replacement option. The Tacoma suspension is new to me so I don't exactly know what I'm looking for.

I was hoping to get a list of other shock options near $120 for all 4. The fronts are inside col springs and list for 47.00 my cost was 35 each and the rears soemthing like 20 ea. Funny thing the one on the fuel tamk side was more expensive,.go figure.
From was I learned, next time I'd spend a little more and get the Tokiko Trekmaster for around $200 set of 4.

CoedNaked

The only other reason guys on here change their shocks to something other than Toyota OEM (which in my opinion are fine shocks by the way for the applications described above - comfort-soft ride-quality absorption of bumps, road imperfections, etc.) is so they can look cool by putting aftermarket shocks in their sig. As already mentioned the only other reasons guys would change their shocks as far as practical applications would be needing longer shocks for some type of lift or wanting a firmer ride to reduce body roll. Bilsteins are an excellent choice if you want a little "sportier" ride out of your truck IE firmness, less body roll, but you feel everything just a bit more, but not overly firm like rancho's and the like. I could be wrong but I thought Toyota offered a lifetime warranty on their OEM shocks, at least on replacements that you choose to buy.

Dave Mooney

Coednaked: Where do you think I could verify the Lifetime Warranty on replacing my oem shocks? Evan of Northridge Toyota said the lifespan on oem Tokikos was around 60,000 miles. He said any other mono tube style shocks couldn't improve on Toyota oem quality. He even felt that the Trekmaster wouldn't be any better since it was amono tube design as well.

CoedNaked

Dave,
Check with your dealership. I'm talking about if you buy replacement shocks, I thought I heard there was a lifetime (like I said could be wrong) warranty on the replacements you buy.

Even having said that, and even if there wasn't some kind of major warranty, I would still take the OEM's if I'm in your position. Either those, or the Bilsteins, but nothing else.

Elton

also could check out les schwabs

trythis

I am sure my OEM shocks are originals and they are fine except that they are starting to rust through the paint on them.