Hello! My first truck!

[silvertaco26]

Hello from Washington State!

got my Tacoma 2 months ago.
Added 18” TRD wheels and bigger tires 270/70
Getting Bilstein 5100 installed at the front this Wednesday. Recommendations on which perch setting? Is getting a rear lift spring necessary? Looking to hit trails this summer.

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[PNWkip]

Hell yea! Great looking rig.

2 things to note: Bilstein says the 5100 are not compatible with the sport suspension. Have seen people do it, but this is what they told me.

Little info on my experience:
https://www.tacoma4g.com/forum/threads/bilstein-5100s-installed-on-a-2025-sr5-tacoma.18654/

The first perch setting gave me 1.5" of lift which made the rig level-ish if you're measuring by the rocker/cab. If you go more than that to get the wheel well openings equal to the center hub, the body of the truck will be slightly nose high because of the variances in wheel well openings from front to rear.

Most people seem to like to roll these things with the wheel wells even, so if that's what you like, go for it, but just something to be aware of! Also take a peek at the side profile of people's trucks who say they are "leveled" and note what they chose for front lift amount.

Whatever setting you choose in the front, you will get 1.5 X that in actual lift due to the suspension geometry.

I ended up at the first perch which gave me 1.5" in the front and added a 1/2 inch spacer in the rear which I will soon switch out to a 1" spacer because I love me some rake.

Let us know how it turns out! Looks absolutely amazing already.

 

[silvertaco26]

Hell yea! Great looking rig.

2 things to note: Bilstein says the 5100 are not compatible with the sport suspension. Have seen people do it, but this is what they told me.

Little info on my experience:
https://www.tacoma4g.com/forum/threads/bilstein-5100s-installed-on-a-2025-sr5-tacoma.18654/

The first perch setting gave me 1.5" of lift which made the rig level-ish if you're measuring by the rocker/cab. If you go more than that to get the wheel well openings equal to the center hub, the body of the truck will be slightly nose high because of the variances in wheel well openings from front to rear.

Most people seem to like to roll these things with the wheel wells even, so if that's what you like, go for it, but just something to be aware of! Also take a peek at the side profile of people's trucks who say they are "leveled" and note what they chose for front lift amount.

Whatever setting you choose in the front, you will get 1.5 X that in actual lift due to the suspension geometry.

I ended up at the first perch which gave me 1.5" in the front and added a 1/2 inch spacer in the rear which I will soon switch out to a 1" spacer because I love me some rake.

Let us know how it turns out! Looks absolutely amazing already.

Just read your Bilstein experience and thank you for much needed information. I’ve measured the front and rear multiple times with some discrepancies probably because of surface level
Front:
21” 3/8 or 21” 9/16
Rear:
22” 3/4 or 22” 7/8

That said and with your info, I think I’m going to tell the shop to install at 1” or the lowest perch. The rear is very close to 23”, Does the rear squatted when you loaded stuff in the bed? I currently have 2 sandbags(50lbs each) on left/right wheel well. The truck have about 950 miles so I wonder if will still settle more?

 

[PNWkip]

I mean I threw that 1/2 inch spacer in the rear pretty quick, so can't say for sure. I also didn't throw anything heavy in the bed. Not sure if you'll squat! 1" setting would be the safest though, it'll give you 1.5".
People seem to be all over the place with the perch settings. I found someone on Facebook who swore it was level at the 2.1 and someone on reddit swore it was level at 1.8. but myself and 1 other member here had similar experiences with the rig being nose high and ended up on the 1" setting. There's some else here with a sport with them on the 1.4" setting I believe ? @TX-MD ? Got any insight ?

If you need to add a little to the rear Apache Off-road makes a .5", .75", and 1" spring spacer. Cheap and easy.

 

[PNWkip]

Here ya go

https://www.tacoma4g.com/forum/thre...-installed-on-2024-tacoma-trd-off-road.17827/

 

[PNWkip]

Also depending on where you are in WA I might be able to hook you up with my 1/2" rear spacers if you need them after I bump up to 1" in a few weeks here

 

[silvertaco26]

That was a lot of reading. And yeah I’ve been on the Facebook page “tacoma 4th gen owner” and most posts I’ve dug up has different perch setup like you said. Even at this I’m thinking of pulling the trigger on 6112/6100 Bilstein front and rear but I don’t know.
My initial plan was just to level it and have a “better” shocks for trails I want to try out, nothing crazy since this truck doesn’t have a locker. But wow trying to find the sweet spot to lift the front seems like a trail itself

in this photo you can see the rake more

 

[silvertaco26]

Also depending on where you are in WA I might be able to hook you up with my 1/2" rear spacers if you need them after I bump up to 1" in a few weeks here

I’m going to do the 1” on the fronts just like you’ve mentioned. With the measurements I’ve gotten from front and rear, going more than 1” on the front will definitely make it nose high.

 

[TX-MD]

I haven’t pulled the trigger on bilsteins, but if you’re wondering about stock heights on a SR5 4x4 long bed, I can prob get those to you later this wk when I get a minute.

 

[PNWkip]

That was a lot of reading. And yeah I’ve been on the Facebook page “tacoma 4th gen owner” and most posts I’ve dug up has different perch setup like you said. Even at this I’m thinking of pulling the trigger on 6112/6100 Bilstein front and rear but I don’t know.
My initial plan was just to level it and have a “better” shocks for trails I want to try out, nothing crazy since this truck doesn’t have a locker. But wow trying to find the sweet spot to lift the front seems like a trail itself

in this photo you can see the rake more

I thought about the same when a member here just did the 6112 combo, but for me I mostly do service roads in the Cascades and Sisikyous, don't really need anything gnarly. I've been really stoked on my 5100s!

 

[395North]

5100s are a great value and last forever.

 

[silvertaco26]

Thank you for reinforcing my 5100 purchase.

I measured again just before I drove home at my work garage. From center of wheel to the gap:
21” 3/8 or 7/16 at the front
22” 7/8 or 15/16 at the rear

Have a hard time getting a definite measure because my tires and wheel setup is poking out slightly.

that said, I’m going with 1” at the front because I do want to maintain a small rake so it won’t squat when accelerating or when I load stuff in the bed and as of now I have 2 50lb sand bags in there for traction.

 

[PNWkip]

Thank you for reinforcing my 5100 purchase.

I measured again just before I drove home at my work garage. From center of wheel to the gap:
21” 3/8 or 7/16 at the front
22” 7/8 or 15/16 at the rear

Have a hard time getting a definite measure because my tires and wheel setup is poking out slightly.

that said, I’m going with 1” at the front because I do want to maintain a small rake so it won’t squat when accelerating or when I load stuff in the bed and as of now I have 2 50lb sand bags in there for traction.

If you happen up some reaaaaaaal flat ground down that way I ended up measuring from the ground to the front of the rocker panel at the cab and the rear of the rocker panel at the cab. Might be worth a look, but I think you'll be happy at the 1st circlip!

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