'12 DCSB 4x4 mid travel planning/questions!

This is a thread I am starting to make some final decisions on the suspension upgrades I want to make within the next few months when the finances are available. Also I want to make this a future reference for people who have 4x4 and want to get the most out of a suspension upgrade without compromising their 4x4 and making sure the CV joints are chill and not in any danger.

BAM 3/9/13


Currently I have new bilstein 5100's in the front at 2.5 and love them! But I am declaring them temporary because I got them for a deal and they will make my truck look decent and ride better until I make my big move. \/ current pic as of 2/2/13

B4-->After Only took ~2 hours even with using autozone coil compressor.



Goal:
I plan on running 33's and actually pushing this truck, safely of course, around the dunes, mountains and snow. This truck will be well taken care of mechanically speaking and no corners will be cut due to insufficient funds. If there is something I need, I am willing to spend the money on good components. This truck's upgrades will be used to its ability unlike some of these weak ass mall-crawling trucks that a mile high lift, massive tires and never see anything but pavement. Essentially, I'll spend good money on good shit and you get what you pay for right?

Plans:
BFG A/T KO 285/70R17s (~33s)

Billet Icon or TC UCAs... Haven't decided yet.

King kit w/ reservoirs


This truck is still a pup with only 9000 on the dash and I need to daily drive it. That means long travel is out of the question for a long time. But mid/extended travel is my goal! Now after all the reaserch I have done, this kit seems like it will accomplish my goals but there are a few things I would like to clarify and get answers too before moving forward.

EDIT:
Long travel... it is on my mind. My friends are a bad influence.

 

I am literally in the exact same place as you.
- No cutting corners.
- Performance in my #1 priority.
- It will be seriously off roaded all over.
- I have a new truck also with 6000 on the dash.

I read through this pissing fight thread and learned a lot. Here is the pieces that I took from it.

- You are right on with choosing a Mid Travel suspension.
- Most agreed that your setup is the best one with "custom mid level setup" (when they say custom I assume they mean mixing and matching parts for what you want)and "33" tires.
- Everyone seems to bash on DB's for actual wheeling.

The other option I was looking at in addition to yours it the Total Chaos +2". I think that is technically long travel but only up front. I would not want to cut my bed for all the desert running I do up in Illinois.

I am sure a lot of people will be commenting on this and I cannot wait to see what setups are suggested.

 

Awesome, glad to see there are other members with 4x4 that have the same concerns as me! I looked through that thread you mentioned and it was pretty informative. I'm hoping some more people will show some interest in this topic.
I just ordered the wheelers superbumps to replace my factory bump stops front and rear, ill post pics when I do the install, just something to consider on the quest for mid-travel.

 

I have a 2012, 4x4 also that I've sank at least $2500 in suspension and another $2k in tires wheels because like you I wanted it right from the get go. Here's my take:

1- I am running BFG All Terrains 285/70/17 and have about a 2.5inch lift (almost 1/2inch more on the driver side due to the famous Taco lean) and clear the tires fine. I did have to trim the inner fender liner and do the cab mount chop because they would rub hard when off roading but be aware that the more negative your rim offset is the more you'll have to trim. I have rims with zero offset and had barely any rubbing but when I put a 1.25 wheel spacer (for better appearance only) I rubbed the shit out of liners. I am also running Icon coil overs but I did install King 650LB springs so I have less preload on my icon shocks.

2- The diff drop debate is on going, some people use them some people say they cause more harm then good. I personally don't have them and I'm not too concerned about my cv angles at this point. If you wanna be picky about it I would say buy an inexpensive angle meter and measure the cv angles prior to your lift and see what they are after. Diff drop has nothing to do with wether your 33 tires will clear or not

3- I don't have 1st hand knowledge about aftermarket fenders but I will tell you that with my current setup I still slightly rub my inner fenders when wheeling hard and the rear tires do rub the fender flares a bit when I stuff the rear hard. My problem with the current aftermarket fenders is typically their fitment sucks and you have to paint them, to me I can't justify spending that much on fenders when I'm not full blown long travel

My setup:
Icon Coil overs with King 650lb springs
Total Chaos upper control arms
Toy tech .5inch spacer on driver side coil over
Icon 2.5 diameter rear shocks with piggyback reservoir
All Pro standard leaf pack
U-bolt flip kit
Walker Evan street beadlock rims with zero offset and 4.5 back spacing
BFG All Terrain 285/70/17

My driving consist of 90% mall crawling and 10% off roading so I have it setup where the ride is as close to factory as possible

 

cjimenRR....Thank you! awesome info man i appreciate it all.

I am just planning on running the stock sport wheels for now which are 17x7.5, +30 mm offset, 5.5" backspacing and I am running the 1.25 spidertraxs right now so I guess time will tell how these all terrains rub when i get them in march, I am hoping going for an A/T over a M/T will somewhat help reduce on rubbing and also increase mpgs and all that good stuff.
I was never really planning on the Diff drop just wanted to get the opinion of a current 4x4 mid travel and I didn't think the CVs would be too stressed. I don't care to take angle measurements haha I was just curious..
As for the fenders and stuff like that, I completely agree with you there. Spending so much money on such a fender set would be more along the lines of a LT kit.

Your set up is very nice and its cool to hear its working for you. Thanks again for the info that is exactly what I was fishing for, good first hand knowledge.

 

cjimenRR are there any pics of your truck on here?

 

Forget about good mileage with 33's, I get at best 15 miles to the gallon. No pictures other than some off road meets I've done with members

 

This is a semi current pic

 

I too was recently in the same boat. I've got a 2012 dcsb sport pre runner but didn't want to skimp on the important stuff. That said, I did a lot of research, read even more reviews and opted to go entirely Icon.. Extended travel rr c/o's with the adjustable compression nobs(which are definitely worth the few extra bucks, turn the dial to soft for road driving and stiffen it up when you hit the dirt), icon tubular uca's(couldn't justify the cost of the billet arms), icon 2.5 rear resi shocks and the icon progressive add a pack.. With all that I am running 285/75 r 17 toyo open country at2's with zero rubbing and only very minor trimming.. I've had this set up for a little over a month and am totally in love with every aspect of it. Rides great on road and can take a beating off road..

As a comparison, I had an 05 dcsb 4x4 with the 5100s and a diff drop. The icon set up BLOWS it out of the water in every aspect. Plus, I went through 4 cv replacements on my 05 which had 120k on odo at the time of trade it...

The Icon vs. King debate I feel will have no true ending, and since I've never owned or riden in a mid travel with kings, I can't really speak to there performance, but I've "heard" that they can be relatively stiff on road..

Anyhow, sorry for the lengthy reply, I hope it was informative.. I'll try to get some pics of my truck up this week... It's white just like yours... Oh, you may want to consider the toyo at2's over the bfg's.. I too was considering the BF's but was sold on the toyon as soon as I saw them.. Plus the price was better I think and tread way deeper... SUPER quiet on road too, literally zero tire noise at any speed..

Best of luck!

 

Subd good info in here. I planned on doing the same but since I bought the Baja I didn't want to touch the suspension. Most say it is already a mid-travel setup. Adding UCA's will net a small amount of travel also. Maybe this thread will sway me

 

I came from a Tahoe with a 4.8l V8 that got 12mpg down hill so I guess 15 is decent for me but I wonder if anny engine mods or re gearing would help with that... maybe I am dreaming haha

Your truck looks very clean, sure looks like it can flex the suspension quite a bit which is perrrrfect! How does it do over fast terrain like sand or flat dirt?

 

WOW such a good bank of good advice haha thanks a lot!
The Icon full kit would definitely be a dream but I have a few friends that are very far into long travel Duramax Diesel trucks and they deal king now so its in my best intrest to buy king, if you catch my drift? And about the Icon Billet UCAs, that is because those things are worth their weight in gold

I was going for BFG's because I've always run them and they seem to handle so much im scared to try something new but I will def go check out the toyos. I actually saw a set of Toyo's on a truck on campus today that looked really good! I'll go look. Again thanks for all the good input!

 

Bought my truck less than a year ago, almost at 20,000 miles now. My truck currently sits, sorta like what you described. Here are some comments on my experience.

Did suspension lift first, went with King and TC UCA's. Didn't go for the billet Icon arms simply because of the price, if that wasn't an issue, that's what I'd be running. I really wanted Icons but went with Kings, still unsure about this decision, have never ridden on Icons so I cant really comment on what I like best. I ran stock tires for a while and had no issues, but since I was going to 285/75/16 I got the cab chop in preparation for them. Definitely necessary, I don't see any other way around this for larger tires. I did some pre trimming before I got my tires (BFG A/T's) but once installed I had some bad rubbing on my UCA's on full turns and rear fender rub when driving over driveway entrances. Bought some spidertrax 1.25 spacers, no more rubbing on UCA's but fender rub got worse, so I decided to crank up the coilovers since I also had a little stink bug effect (don't forget to measure your trucks height from center hub to bottom of fender before and after lift, so you actually know how much you raised your truck, this will help if you adjust your coilovers. I didn't do it on mine so I'll never know, but I think I got like 1" lift in the front out of the box). I raised it 5 turns on each side and gained an inch and a half, truck looked level, took it off road and I still had rubbing on the back fender like crazy and at full compression on the top of the fender as well. Cranked the coilovers two more turns and did more trimming, have yet to test this out but I'm not willing to adjust more than this. Suspension is already very stiff on road...

I'd redo it in this order:
-Suspension, probably Icons with TC uca's
-Cab mount chop with basic trimming
-PROPER OFFSET WHEELS!!!
-Larger tires
-Adjust coilovers - stay below 2.5" total lift, keep truck level, deal with taco lean if necessary (Allow springs to settle - 100 miles with one light trail run) Readjust if necessary.
-Test setup lightly and adjust with trimming and repeat until perfect. I didn't test it lightly and on my first run my tire caught the inner liner and yanked a good chunk off of the passenger side. Had I done it progressively I would have a cleaner looking end product.

I would run fiberglass and eventually might but I consider it a pain to setup, and I'd go with the smallest bulge/raise ratio available since I'm running mid-travel. Don't like the idea of diff drops but I've never had one either.

I've actually been thinking a lot on my mods and "If I would do it again" or "If I knew back then what i know now" scenarios, hence the long reply, so if you have any questions hit me up and I'll try and help.

 

Thank you that is another great post that I will take into heavy consideration!
I am totally down with the cab mount chop, I'm gonna fab all that up with my friends and see if I can DIY.. Should be fun.
As far as the icon vs king debate. I would definitely prefer icon because I believe they specalize their efforts in toyotas and foreign vehicles and I like their valveing over king but I can get a king kit for cheap so to me that is worth it in my eyes.
I was only considering glass front fenders because of what I saw in the DTF Fab build. He blended the stock bumper almost perfectly into the fender flares. It's
The 6th picture down on the first page. His truck on the beach and I love how low key it is http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/223283-dtf-06-brick-shit-house-build.html

I'm curious to see how the stock wheels + 285/70r17 tires will rub, The back back spacing seems chill but I'm not sure. And as for the back rubbing, I ordered the wheelers superbumps which would limit travel a little so I'm hoping those will minimize super heavy rubbing. But again I'm just not sure yet, I need to see for myself when I get the bigger tires put on.

 

Rubbing is different for everyone from what I hear, but either way you're headed for an awesome set up. I see what you're saying about the glass, Socalduckslayer is a TW member and has a fab shop for tacomas, he did the same thing and cut the stock front bumper with the flow of the glass and it looked awesome.

 

Thanks I have really appreciate the comments, The glass that he did was just super clean so if the opportunity presents itself i would probably go for it! Not matter what I want to keep like 50% or more of the stock bumper so I will have to keep looking for ideas. I'm already planing on doing the cab mount chop with a few of my buddies that are pretty good at fabrication.

 

So far all this information is great! I think my biggest concern for me is wheels. I have no Idea what the back spacing is. Nor do I understand backspacing/offset. I have the TRD Beedlock "style" rims and I really like them so I don't want to change them.

When the time comes I think I will go with:
- TC UCA (If I come across a ton of money I will get Icons)
- Icon extended coilovers (Unless I make friends with jjhitchen and his friends )
- 285/75 16 M/T
- All- Pro U bolt flip
- Super Bumps

Rear
- AAL in the back.
- Icon Shocks with Resies
- Super Bumps

Also I really would like after it is all said and done to have more lift than I currently have. Sooo I was snooping around total Chaos's website and came across their 3.5" lift spindles. I have no idea what it takes to install these or what else goes along with it.

Here is where I got the pic from



Edit:

 

You should be good with the stock beadlocks, if you go to the wheel/tire section there's a sticky about wheel offset/backspacing if you're interested, out of curiosity what color are they? And I believe those spindles only work for 2wd vehicles.

 

I like where you're going Peter but us 4x4 cant utilize lift spindles because of our 4x4. I believe the only way to get above a 3-3.5 inch lift is going with some sort of drop bracket lift.


Alex