What you need to know about lifting a 2016 Tacoma - Presented by Toytec Lifts

Thank you sir

 

The more I read this forum about lifting my soon to arrive 2016 DCLB OR, the dumber I feel.

VSC light issue, Taco Lean, 3" lift is stressful on shocks. I've spent so much time here I feel like I'm studying for a PhD and getting nowhere.

Many photos of Gen2 with 3" lift and 285/75/16 look great to me. Is this not a good choice for Gen3? ... with consideration for the VSC issue.

I will have a SnugTop camper shell which adds maybe 200 lbs to the rear and some backpacking gear, and a pair of skis. I don't want to cut anything or have any rubbing. There are so many brands and options I just don't know where to turn to.

Can someone spec out a basic list for me as a starting point? I know I want a kit with UCA (based on what I read).

I guess stock rim won't be the best choice?? Please do not tell me to "search the forum". That is all I've done this entire holiday period.
Just getting a VIN and build-date has been frustrating enough.

I don't have a garage or the tools or know how to do this (at least not yet), so I will need to call Maximum Offroad in Vegas and ask them to install for me (reviews say they are awesome). I want to have some knowledge and a direction before I call them.

I'm not hardcore but have taken my stock xterra to places that shock some people with lifted rigs. The look of WTF on their faces. So this is not for posing and I will push it to some degree and need a reliable setup.

Thanks to the experts who are willing offer some good solid advice to get me going.

 

I totally feel the same way. I've had my 2016 for a month now and have read hundreds of pages and posts in here trying to figure out what the "best" or at least a good lift would be. Everybody has an opinion, and I asked all of the same questions you did...in this forum and several facebook offroading groups. Talk about overwhelming! Take it for what it's worth, but a few products have stood out to me from what everybody has been saying. I was going to go with the Icon Stage 4 setup, but there have been some problems reported with the 2016 build..and some people have had great luck with it. I'm not going to risk it. Overwhelmingly, everybody has stated that the Total Chaos UCA's with the King Suspension is an awesome setup. In the rear, I'm going with the Icon AAL (add a leaf) and King Shocks. As far as wheels go, my understanding is that the stock wheels will rub because of the offset, so I'm going with Method NV wheels and BFG AT KO2 285/70/17 tires. This is all getting installed next Saturday, January 9th. I'll post pics when it's all done. Good luck!

Update! - Icon Build Update: Got a call back from the owner of the install shop that was scheduled to install my Icon Stage 4 kit this Saturday. Icon and the other distributors had been closed for the holidays after I asked him to talk to them to express my concerns about it after reading about it in this forum. I linked him to the group posts about it so he could read first hand so he knew the right questions to ask. He told me that his distributor has had to swap out 3 Icon setups so far because of unhappy customers. He told me to absolutely avoid the Icon stuff for my 2016 right now. This is coming from a person who loves and heavily promotes Icon for all earlier builds, claiming it had the best ride of them all. He suggested I use the King Shocks with the Total Chaos UCA's, which I'm going to do. Unfortunately, now I'm going to have to wait 2 more weeks for the Kings to come in. Well worth the wait though, according to him. I know several people have had good luck with the Icon stuff of their 2016's, and I'm happy for them, but too many people have had bad experiences for me to try it...

 

For you guy that are running 32-33in tires, what do you do about running down the interstate? Sixth gear is pretty much useless with the stock 30in tires.

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like a very nice setup. I will keep this in mind. How much lift will you get from this?

I'm considering the OME Standard or Sport. But I think this will only give me 2" lift, not 3" (what I really want). I want to avoid any chance of rubbing. So maybe new rims too.

All the uniball noise posts are making me paranoid so I'm considering the JBA or Camburg Moog UCA. But if you can get solid 3" with the King setup, I will likely go that route. I'm already dropping mad money on the truck, what's an extra $1000 for a good suspension system. Ok, and another $2000 for rims and tires I guess. Maybe I can recoup some money selling the old gear.

Good thing I'm single, or I would be getting divorce papers by now.

Can't wait to see the photos of your build.

 

Yes, I just read that the auto has super high gearing especially 6th. 2000 rpm is something like 120mph? My stock Xterra with 265 hp (6-sp man) does 65mph at about 2100 rpm with plenty of power to spare. 90 mph passing no problem at all. I guess I'm a little concerned about the question you raise, since I will be getting 33s.

Had a 4-banger Wrangler once with 32" tires - could barely reach 65mph without a tailwind. But the Taco has 278 horses and does not have the shape of a brick wall.

Will find out soon as truck arrives. Can't wait!

p.s. The desert ranges in southern NV and Death Valley have 10-mile gradual downhills. So at least it will help recoup some gas mileage and get some use out of 6th gear.

 

Thinking of doing the same set up! I hope it goes well.

What's the VSC issue?!

 

Reports here at TW and other sites about the Vehicle Stability Control light coming on while cornering after lifting their rig. Reports that computer interferes in some instance and driver nearly crash. Some related posts mention disabling ABS to stop the interference and maybe turns off the light too? Some other posts mention it's caused by too much sway in taller vehicle if springs not stiff enough. Not sure if it can be recalibrated or not. Seems to be more common with taller lifts like 4" or more. I just hope I don't get it with a 3" lift.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/vsc-and-abs-after-lift.404980/

 

Thanks man that sounds horrible. Hoppfuly our 3 inch lifts dont effect them.

 

okay, first off, you will not get 3" of lift with any of the kits. You will get 2", which is the same as a 3" lift on the 2nd gens. If you are going to wheel, do icon, fox, King. They are all basically the same. Just do some research and decide what name you like best. With the weight you'll have in the back, you'll probably be good with an aal, but check out the allpro leaf pack and see if thatll work best for you.

 

Catching up on this thread this morning as it's been a while (on the site everyday but haven't been to this thread for a couple of weeks.)

I wanted to chime in on those with Icon issues and let others know that I've had ZERO issues and am super happy with the ride and lift. My Stage 2 kit came set at 1.25" of "threads" out of the box. I originally cranked them down to 1.5" of thread showing and got 2.75" of lift. They settled about 1/2" after driving for a couple of weeks and flexing it a lot, so I re-adjusted them to the max recommended of 1.75" of thread showing and got back to 2.75" of lift. The ride is awesome, slightly stiffer than stock but in a responsive/tight kind of way and not in a knock your teeth out on every bump kind of way. No rubbing with 285's and I have over an inch of clearance to my cab mount at full lock - this may be a function of the width and offset of my rims though - running the TRD Pro rims.

More details, pre/post measurements and pictures on my build page but I wanted to share my good experience as sometimes people only share the bad ones. I'm super happy with my choice.

(note - both of these pics were BEFORE the settling and with the coil-over adjusted to only 1.5" of thread - I've since adjusted to 1.75" of thread and it measures identical):

 

Nice man! There was really only the one guy who was complaining about icon, I don't think he knew what he was doing. Thanks for sharing!

 

i might reconsider Icon. that guy did freak me out a bit though haha

 

Nothing to be freaked out about man! You have to understand that fox/ King/ icon are virtually the same. So anything that one will do, the others will do as well.

 

Is anyone running 255/75R17 tires instead of 285's?

 

Thanks for the info. These include everything. The 1.25" uniball is larger than most I found which are 1". The add-a-leaf says it will give 1.5" rear while the leaf pack says 3". So I think I may need the leaf pack version with a camper shell.

Only difference between Lola 2.0 and the "Pro" is the shocks - Fox or Bilstein. The Fox verison (Lola 2.0) is considerably more +$530. Is the Fox really that much far superior?

 

Sharp build man. Have you noticed any significant drop in performance or MPG with the larger tires?

 

another question, whats the difference with the king oem and kings oem extended travel coilovers? or are they the same thing just advestised differently? i seem to see some websites that say they require UCAs and some that dont. but they all look the same. I want to eventually purchase the 2" TC long ravel kit so I want king suspension that will pair with that in the future.

 

Performance feels close to the same though I'm sure it took a small hit. Still feels great to me. Definitely different than my 2007 4.0 but not in a bad way, I like it.

MPG definitely took a hit. Haven't calculated it manually yet and I think the computer is off from the larger tires but my last tank averaged 15.5 mpg with a good mix of freeway and city according to the computer.

 

Im getting the same mpg