Ride Height Variance

I have an '07 Dbl Cab Short Bed, TRD Off-Road package. Several days after getting my new truck home it was sitting in the garage and I got a good look at it from the rear from a distance of about 30 feet. Something didn't look right, the bed look slanted. So I got out my tape measure and measured from the garage floor to the bottom of each wheel well opening. Yep, the drivers side was exactly 1/2 inch lower than the passenger side, front and rear. Not enough to be overly concerned about and difficult to notice but something I wanted to ask about. Soon after that my dealer held a new owners orientation in the Service Dept. and another brand-new Taco was on the floor. Same model, Dbl Cab Short Bed, TRD pkg. I just happened to have a pocket tape measure in my jacket that day and I measured the this truck's ride height also. It was exactly the same as mine, 1/2 inch lower on the drivers side, front and rear. I asked the mechanic participating in the orientation about it and a dumb look came over his face when I told him about it. He didn't have an answer, he's never seen it and nobody ever reported it before. When the truck was in for service I asked them to check into this and the story they gave me was the factory told them a difference of up to one inch can be found due to the location of the gas tank, it's on the drivers side and not in the middle. I accepted that at first but I measured again with a full tank and a near-empty tank. Virtually no difference. Now I want to ask other Taco owners of they too have this same anomaly. Anybody else out there find this on their trucks?

 

Nice Catch! I'm very interested to hear what is going on here. I wondered if this would have any impact on tire wear. Seems like the weight would not come down evenly and at the same point on both sides....

 

Good catch. I have heard of this many times before on many different Tacomas. Just so you know this isn't exclusive to the DoubleCab or even the second generation Tacomas. It has been a charactaristic of most Tacomas for years. I have heard several explanations for it, but none of them seem to be a difinitive answer.

Good luck in your quest for an answer.

 

My new '07 TRD OR ACC has a 1" difference between the front driver's side and passanger's side and only has 1,500 mile on it.

You have to remember that these trucks were designed as right hand drivers so all the weight is on the left side (battery, steering gear, & gas tank) and when you throw in the driver when it becomes a left hand drive, you have even more weight,as a result, it sags on the left first.

 

my 92 toyota pick up did this too and my new one also

 

I should have my new 07 dbl cab, lng bed sport Friday, but right now I'm in a 2001 F350 4 dr short bed 4x4 with the same issue, and Ford didnt have an answer. I guess it isnt a big deal, but when you look at others with the same truck and sit right, it bugs me!!!!!

 

My 4 inch sky jacker suspension lift with 33 inch BF Goodrich all terrains have leveled everything out... lol

 

I figure I will eventually fix my left sag problem when I change to aftermarket threaded coilovers. That way I can set the left side higher on the coilovers to compensate for the additional weight on the left side (had to do the same thing on my '04 turbo'ed Miata due to the additional weight on the left side too).

 

06 trd sport does the same thing, I thought it was just mine.

 

Mine sits a little uneaven too. I've measured it many times but i get different measurments depending on the surface i'm on.

 

It's designed for NASCAR fans....

 

Donahoe coilovers fixed mine. Just set the drivers side a little higher than the passenger side. Now my drivers side actually sits a little higher than the passenger side so that it's perfectly level once I sit in the drivers seat.

Taking off your sway bar will also help even out the difference. My drivers side raised up about .5" after I took off the sway bar for offroading purposes.

 

haha nice nascar comment screamingtaco....

 

Not only did I notice this on my current truck, but the past 4 others did the exact same thing. It caught my eye one day when I noticed the lines on the side of the truck cab did not line up with the ones on the side of the bed.
However, my bed (the one my gf and I sleep on) sags too!
My stomach sags and continues to do so more each year! omg this is a serious sagging problem
And right about now, my eyes are saggin from too much work and not enough sleep.

good nite people!