looking for advice to fix ride quality

Good thing you have a 2010 to console you.

 

Yeah, the 10's a nice truck. Smoother and quieter ride with more power and better gas mileage. It's definitely easier to live with day-to-day (especially for highway driving)
But the '99 was more 'fun' to drive.

 

yep, its kinda a play on words because if you need new leafs, in most cases, your truck has sagged about 2" so when they say it will lift the truck 1.5-2" it will, but its lifting it back to the original ride height that the truck used to be so its not a "true" lift in that its not lifting it above the stock ride height as a true lift would.

now if you want a true lift then they do sell the "lift springs" but I haven't seen any listed for our Tacoma so maybe they dont make them for our trucks or maybe they just aren't advertised.

 

I think we are talking about two different products from GS. The page that reads "Restores Original Height" in the description is for the regular leaf springs:
http://generalspringkc.com/product_p/90-201.htm
Features

• OEM Replacement
• 5160 Heat Treated Steel
• Corrects Sag, Leaning, Sway
• Restores Original Height

On the Heavy Duty springs page, there is nothing about "Restores Original height" in the description:
http://generalspringkc.com/product_p/90-203hd.htm
Features

• Heavy Duty Replacement
• 5160 Heat Treated Steel
• Corrects Sag, Leaning, Sway

My experience with the HD springs is that they are very tall. Tall enough to max out stock height struts/dampers. Both some Monroes (that I killed b/c I didn't load down the bed and drove with them maxed out...oops), and a pair of 4600s are maxed with these springs. I loaded the bed enough to prevent the 4600s from maxing out while I drive it, although I did hit a big dip in the road the other day at 55mph and heard a "thunk" as the rear suspension rebounded up. Probably not enough to damage the strut...I hope.

Did you see my picture above? That's with a load in the back, and it still sits quite tall. I don't tow and I don't drive the truck often, so there's probably zero settling in them so far.

The only reasons I can think of that my Heavy Duty springs are so much taller than yours are:

They sent you regular springs by mistake.
You tow enough that they went lower than expected, but still retain stock height
I installed my springs backward (although I made sure the orientation matched the stock springs). I'm not even sure if that is possible, but the thought has crossed my mind.
OR...they sent me the unadvertised lift springs by mistake.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

well my truck is an 04 so I use the 01-04 prerunner hd springs clearly state "Restores Original Height" http://www.generalspringkc.com/product_p/90-237hd.htm

the non prerunner hd springs for 01-04 don't say "Restores Original Height" http://www.generalspringkc.com/product_p/90-267hd.htm

its good we discussed this so others will know they need to double check this detail of, will it, or wont it, lift the truck, and it appears the year and type of truck makes a difference.

 

Ah, now that is interesting. Model year may be the deciding factor. There seem to be some (several?) small differences in the 99-00 model years from the earlier and later years. Maybe shackle height (or something else) is one of those differences.

I like the look of the extra height in the back, and I'm hoping that the "settled" height is about where it sits now with a load. (I don't know how much weight is in there...I just kept putting stuff in until the bed was low enough.)

 

If 2wd non prerunner is what I think it is, those would be 5 lug rear springs which have more arch than prerunner/4x4 springs. We use prerunner packs to lower 01-04 5 lugs.