Rough country M1 mono tube 2inch Leveling struts/New member from southeast Missouri.

Hello all, New member from southeast Missouri. First time tundra owner and first time truck owner. I have a 2019 CM 1794 that I bought in September with 110,000 miles.

Last week I had a local shop install Rough Country's M1 mono tube leveling struts and matching rear shocks. I believe the original shocks on the truck were well past needing replacement and the truck had some unfavorable handling characteristics on and off road. I believe switching to these struts changed the truck's handling in a dramatic way. I was a little concerned about having a squatted appearance in the rear but thankfully the truck now sits with just under 1/4 inch of rake which is acceptable to me for now.

My local shop quoted me about $660 for parts as well as a $100 fee for alignment. After tax and labor I got out the door for about $1060. I will try to attach some pictures. Id be happy to elaborate on my experiences and opinions of the struts if there is any interest in the forums.


Ive found a TON of valuable information in these forums so thanks to all of you who have helped me! Im happy to be a member and hopefully I can add some value here.

(*filtered and adjusted the color of bottom photo due to lighting issues*)

 

Welcome from NC. I have been considering the RC's as well so feedback would most appreciated!

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

Welcome from NY and I as well have been considering these. RC has come a long way i feel and the seem good quality i just have not heard much on them. I like they come pre assembled compared to the 5100s for the price!

 

Update:

i’ve been living with these upgrades for almost too months now and I’ve been able to drive the truck in a lot of different situations.

I have to say that I am currently still satisfied with the rough country suspension. First impressions were pretty dramatic coming from worn out OEM black shocks and springs. The rough country replacements definitely changed the ride of truck. It was most noticeable in terms of nose dive, body roll and off road mannerisms.

Body roll was drastically reduced, the new parts make the driving much more precise around corners and allow for a lot more confidence in a quick maneuver like a lane change or any other kind of evasive swerve. I no longer felt like the truck was going to pick a wheel up off the ground and flip over.

Nose dive on braking was reduced significantly in a similar way. I found myself not having to worry about loose items in the cab flying around if I hit the brakes. It feels like the brakes are able to do their job with less effort now. I didn’t measure stopping distance or temperatures or anything so all of this is subjective.

Off-road performance was changed as well. Now I am no 4wdislife or anything but I enjoy a washed out trail here and there. I found that with the new suspension my head was less likely to fling around when going through rough terrain. It was really noticeable when I would pick up the speed. I hit a deep rut going much faster than I needed to and I braced for a strong impact. I expected loud bangs and my seat belt to lock up but the M1 ate the rut for lunch. It soaked it up very well and I was pleasantly surprised.

Then of course there is the aesthetic improvements. I think the 2 inch setting on the shock did an excellent job of leveling the truck (with the exception of the driver side lean) . I had absolutely no squat which was important to me.

Now for the bad. Small bump compliance was affected in a negative way in my opinion. The truck is very good as soaking up a big bump but it is terrible at soaking up rapid little bumps. I’m taking about concrete highways, little pot holes and washboard on a gravel road. The truck hits those and it feels like you’re riding in a radio flyer. This was something that I was not happy with. I drive a great portion on city streets and this made those miles quite unpleasant. I believe this is a result of at least 2 things. 1: the tundra is already known to have some significant bed bounce on concrete highways and similar road surfaces. I replaced rear shocks (with ones that actually worked) and I believe that just made an existing problem more noticeable. 2: As for the front I believe the spring rate was increased from OEM. I haven’t been able to confirm this with rough country but I am under the impression that this is common practice with aftermarket coilovers. I think the stiffer spring in combination with increased preload from the adjustable spring perch ring have made for this type of ride quality.

So with all that being said, I added new wheels and tires to the equation and that completely resolved the small bump compliance issue.

conclusion: these are great shocks. They’re not “high performance” by any means. I will say they are a performance improvement over the OEM black shocks. At the price point, I would say these are a good buy, especially if your OEM hardware is wearing out. I think most people will be happy with these if their expectations are managed. They’re absolutely going to improve ride quality (even more if you have 18inch wheels) and they’re going to give you a good level.

I will try to post some more pictures. Thanks to anyone who reads this or comments. Have a good day!

 

I posted some more thoughts if you’re interested!

 

I posted some more thoughts if you are interested.

thanks!

 

What size tire did you put on?? I am thinking about the 3.5-inch lift M1 struts as I found out I can adjust the height of the 3.5 lift struts. Did you put a diff drop kit in?

 

Tires: Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT 295/70/18
Wheels: SCS ray10 18x9 +25mm offset

As for the 3.5 inch struts, I would make sure I had upper control arms to compensate for the additional droop with that set up.

the 3.5inch strut is adjustable but the overall shock length is longer than the 2inch strut (which is already longer than OEM).

At full droop, my 2inch struts will hit the coil spring on the driver side. I haven’t worried about it because I don’t believe I’ll ever come close to that much droop while driving.

Also, if I was doing this again I would install a shim from coach builder to compensate for driver side lean. I have about half an inch with this set up and it drives me nuts!

good luck!!


Edit, no I didn’t install a dif drop.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

I am going to get upper control arms eventually, in a few months. Did you do wheel spacers? It is wheel spacers or control arms. Just not sure, Iam going to the same-size tire, however. Thanks for the response much appreaitaed

 

I didn’t do wheel spacers. I think a lot of guys run 295/70r18 on factory wheels without spacers. the 3.5 inch strut might give you some alignment problems with factory UCA. Rough country makes a UCA to run with their 3.5 struts for about 350bucks. It may be worth looking into.

 

Thanks a ton, I am doing the control arms first I am going to get Rough control arms. I live in Canada on the west coast and they are the only option that is not 1200$ for control arms or 400$ USD shipping. I am doing a video answering all my questions about my lift and installation. I'll share it with you after I am done.

 

Installed the M1 coils today, added the coach builder shim on driver side. Sitting 3/4” higher in front. I’m sure it’ll settle over time. I didn’t expect to need extended sway links, but I do. I’ll address that when I put in new brakes next oil change.
Definitely rides better than stock. Just hope they settle a bit over time

 

that’s interesting, I didn’t require extended swaybar links for my set up. I’m running the 2 inch leveling coils. I actually ended up removing the swaybar anyway. I think it really improves the ride on the front end. I believe the swaybar evenly transfers energy from bumps across the front end. When I disconnected it the bumps tended to remain isolated to their respective corner of the truck.

good luck with your build!

 

Tracer, have yours settled at all?

 

Unfortunately I can’t say for sure I don’t have measurements to look back on. Subjectively speaking, I don’t think the ride height settled much if at all. However I do think the stiffness of the front end has settled out a little over time.

If I remember correctly my truck was .25 inch higher in the rear when mine were installed. I didn’t care for that look so I ended up getting a set of coachbuilder +2 shackles and that gave me the rake I was after. I thought I wanted it level but I now believe my truck looks proper with just a little bit of rake.

 

I’m stumped concerning the sway links. Mine def aren’t straight up/down. I did replace the UCAs, but don’t think that would be an issue.

 

Post some pictures of your setup! Maybe someone can see something and come up with some ideas?

 

I think I’ve figured it out. Had the truck in the air, probably why it was such a pain in the ass. Guess I should’ve had it on the ground to take the bind outta the sway links. Maybe I’ll just take the front sway off

 

Welcome from So Cal