Narrowed down to two 3" lift kits need help

So my birthday is coming up soon (june 19) and I was wanting to spoil myself with a lift for my 2013 Tacoma (pictured). I've narrowed it down to two lifts that wont break my budget. I would be doing the install myself in the garage

The first one is:

And the second one is:
I understand the first one comes with height adjustable front coilovers but, other then that what is the difference? Both kits come with the differential drop kit and I was going to go with the 1 1/2" TSB AAL as well as the 1/4" driver side spacer for the tacolean. Are the height adjustable front coilovers worth the extra $208? I read in a forum on here that since the coilovers would already be assembled that it would just be a matter of unbolting the old and bolting up the new.

Another thing I noticed is that the second kit has the option to add the 3/4" top plate spacer and the first kit does not, would I need to buy those seperately to get a full 3inch lift? I don't want to set the 5100s at anything other then 0.

I know with both kits whichever I decide on would need new UCAs I was going to go with the Light Racing UCAs from Headstrongoffroad.com. Priced at around $360.

Then eventually get the spidertrax wheel spacers on all 4 wheels.

Open to different lift kits as well as long as they are in my price range and definitely open to websites that sell the same kit cheaper/cheaper alternatvies that are equivalent to the 2 kits above.

Thanks in advance to all who help.

 

Those 2 kits come with the same shocks and coils, the difference is the thicker top plate in the first kit. The shocks in both kits are adjustable 5100 series Bilstein shocks. The height is adjusted by moving the lower spring seat to one of 4 pre set notches. The heights you can choose are 0, .85, 1.75 and 2.5. The coils are Eibach coils and if you set them on 5100's at 0, you'll get about 1.5" of lift. Kick the 5100's up to .85 and you'll get closer to 2.5" of lift. That's as high as you can go with the second kit. The first kit comes with a thicker top plate to get you up to a true 3" lift.

I have the Eibach coils on 5100's set at 0 and I would not preload them any further than that. They are a stiff coil so adding preload will just make them even harder. I would consider something from Old Man Emu, either their full kit or 885 coils on 5100's set at 0 with the Toytec top plate to round it off at 3".

 

I put on the icon coilovers and icon UCA. the price is a little more but you can get them rebuilt later down the road in stead of having to buy new ones. I love them it is a lot nicer to have them come pre assembled. The only thing is if you are looking at prices. Make sure to put the bolts in for UCA. The bolt is very difficult to remove cutting them and putting in new ones are a lot easier. When you put in the news ones in you put them in backwards (it dosent make a difference just a lot more room this way). I know it is kinda 50 50 on the diff drop but I have no problems with mine and I would recommend one.

 

so this kit?
with the top plate spacer will give me 3" of lift?

 

I'm going to purchase the diff drop just to be safe. Where do you buy the new bolts?

 

That kit with 885 coils and the top plates should put you right at 3" of lift.

Toyota, should be around $30 if I remember correctly. You can get the old one out, but you have to bend a piece of the metal fender to get it out. No big deal, you can bend it back.

I'd hold off on the diff drop unless you are chasing vibrations and think you need it. It doesn't really 'drop' the diff, it just rotates it a bit, really doing nothing to help your cv angles. Plus, because it rotates the diff, it raises the rear of the differential, pulling the bearing partially out of oil.

 

I'm talking with a rep from headstrongoffroad.com and he assures me he can beat toytec prices and that they even sell toytec products. He linked me to this http://www.headstrongoffroad.com/complete-lift-kits-tacoma-05-6-lug.html and I asked him what the difference is between that kit he linked and since there's a $350 difference. I'm waiting for his reply.

So the OME shocks are better then the Bilsteins? Or would it be better to get Bilsteins all around then purchase the OME 885s along with the aal for the rear then get the 3/4" top plate spacers (the toytec rep said the top plate spacer that comes in the kit is 3/4" and the same as product #: TOP1-T), and add the 1/4" spacer for taco lean, with the diff drop kit being optional but for as cheap as it is i'd get it anyway. Or is the best option just to go ahead and buy that OME kit? I think i added it up and it was like $670 to buy the parts seperate that i just listed with a 5% discount from toytec.

I guess the only real advantage to having the coil and shock assembled would be for ease of installation. Correct?

 

The difference is an add-a-leaf vs. replacement leaf pack. Add the Dakar leaf pack to the Toytec price and they will be similar.

I wouldn't say OME shocks are necessarily any better than the 5100's, I just think for a 3" lift the OME coils would provide a better ride than preloading the Eibach coils. You can put OME coils on 5100's if you want, plenty of people do it and it still rides nice and performs well.

Yes, the only advantage to having the shock and coil preassembled is ease of installation and you also get a new top plate so you can leave your old coils assembled (might be easier to sell off later or swap back to stock if you sell or trade your truck).

 

So I should just tell the headstrong rep I want that kit but with aal and throw in the LR UCAs at whatever discounted price he can give me for being in the military and call it a day.

 

Any reason you haven't given us a call?

 

Actually just e-mailed you all 5 minutes ago. (I'm in Germany though so time difference is throwing us off.)

Here is what headstrongoffroad.com came up with:

LR UCA’S
2” AAL
7.5” U-Bolts
885 Coils
60091 OME Nitro Rear Shocks
90000 OME Nitro Front Shocks
1/2” Top Plate Spacer Kit
OME Trim Packer
2 Sets of Spidertrax 1.25” Wheel Spacers
With Shipping to Zip 22802



also interested in having the front shocks and coil springs pre-assemebled so if you could qoute your price including that and maybe a military discount if you have one? Do you all ship to APO? that 22802 zip code is to my dad I'd rather just ship straight to Germany APO instead of having to pay to ship to 22802 then to Germany.

 

I'm confused as s$%t on wheel and tire combo, if I want to run 285/70R17 should I get 17x8 or 17x9 wheels? and what does the offset and backspacing need to be? I know the bolt pattern is 6x5.50.

 

-12 offset and 4 1/2" backspacing, is this correct?

 

for the record I purchased my lift from headstrongoffroad.com, if anyone is looking for suspension components for their truck I recommend them.