stiffening rear end?

Need a little input guys....

Getting ready to use my Taco for the main purpose that I bought it for...towing my atv's. All together my trailer weighs somewhere around 2k lbs with both wheelers on it and then I plan to toss some gear in the back of the truck...not a lot...maybe 100lbs or so (brain buckets, extra clothes , some tools, etc). With everything on the back of the truck is sagging a bit...so I need/want to correct this.

I'm trying to figure out what the best corrective action is....air bags or stronger rear suspension parts. The truck has new shocks in it...granted they aren't the best...pretty much a generic bulk shock that the dealership put into it before I bought the truck.

What do you guys suggest? Upgrade shocks, leafs, etc or air bags? I don't ever really load the bed of the truck down with any major weight and I don't have plans to go off roading.

Air right bags are around $224 but they require drilling...which the thought does not make me happy. Firestones are closer to $300. Toytech aal's are around $160....

Right now the truck seems kind of stiff...The back end does bounce around a bit when going over a real bumpy area....doesn't seem to be a lot of give back there now....doing an AAL to stiffen it up back there seems like it would only make it worse...

 

I have the airbags you would need the airline and a compressor or the fill valve to fill them...

 

interesting name

 

New leaf packs. Heard good things about Wheeler's and Alcan. I had Skyjacker's on my 2000 and I would vouch for them.

 

or you can get All poo's they make descent packs. aka i running the all poo expo pack

 

So am I but for hauling heavy loads and NO offroading I would suggest the air bags...

 

NFS - are those the Air Lifts or the Firestones? I assume Air Lift as thats what they look like from the other pics I've seen...those require drilling don't they?

I'm nervous that if I do AAL that the rear end will be too stiff when I'm just riding around with no trailer. The roads up here in Maine are all torn to hell from the winter...our roads up here are terrible and worse every year. I don't want to rear end so stiff that every time I hit a bump I feel like puking my splein up or jarring teeth lol.

 

Firestone Ride-rite air bags. Mounting hardware missing 4 of the required 8 carriage bolts w/ nuts. All other bolts are present.
SPECS:



Firestone double convoluted air spring bellows designed for up to 100 PSI. 268C STYLE 1/4" NPT

• Compressed Height: 2.80"; Extended Height: 7.00"
• Ride Height:4.50" - 5.50"; Max. Diameter: 6.40"

 

It definetly smooths the ride out as long as you dont keep more than 5-8 psi in them when unloaded... I could pull a 14ft enclosed dual axle trailer and not sag any in the rear with these...

 

Ugh sucks to see that both air kits require drilling...I know it's not really a big deal...I just don't really care for the idea of having to do it.