2016 tacoma aftermarket suspension: remove leafspring or crank up the front?

In a debacle, and wanted to see what some of you guys would do. I am running Kings 2.5 all around and dakar leaf pack with an extra AAL to support the topper, roof rack, and all the camping equipment. It seems that the extra AAL was too much since the truck is still raked like crazy even after fully loading with all camping gear, fridge, icechest, etc. Ive also had it on for two weeks, so I think they should be fully settled in. Picture below of before and after the Dakars and AAL were installed.



Should I remove the AAL or remove one of the overload springs?

Or should I just crank up the front coils a little to match? This is currently how the front coils look, looks like I can crank them up a little more, but am worried about offroad reliability. Below is pic:



Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Nice truck. I'm in the opposite dilemma with an icon stage 1 setup. Trying to decide if I want to crank the coilovers down or do an aal in the rear. Good luck whatever you decide

 

I actually kind of like the rake, it isn't crazy high....these trucks come from the factory with a rake anyhow. Much better than a bro lean (front high).

If you do want to lower it some, remove the overload spring. I just got my lift installed yesterday (5100s, OME 881s and 3 leaf AAL's) and I didn't have them remove the overload spring either, I'm raked in the back about as much as you are. But it doesn't bother me, plus the springs should settle some over time.

 

Have you done any fender lip to rim measurements? I don't think you have much lift in the front over factory. Dakars will definitely lift over stock, a couple of inches typically, but your Kings are adjustable and maybe they are set to stock height or not much lift. The spring collar does seem pretty high up on the body, but I don't know enough about King C/O to know if that's right or what the setting means.

 

rear looks much higher, but front not so much. not too familiar with kings, but looks like they are on about the lowest setting. thats where id start

 

In my opinion if you are planning to keep the coilovers adjusted as they are, then the only real option is to take out that rear AAL and see how it settles from there. If you're worried about the extra weight, I would say to keep that overload spring in.

 

I like it too... the thing is, that picture is with ALL the camping stuff. I havent taken any of it out yet. I cant imagine how much more it will go up, lol

I did not measure it at all. Wish i did, but it does seem lower than stock now (the front). What im worried about is that that is how the coils came set, and someone mentioned you cant go much higher than 3 inches of lift ( not sure where i stand) since the stock CV shafts are not long enough.

 

Ah, good point...mine looks like yours but I have nothing, no weight at all, in or on the bed (yet). Yeah I'd look into removing one AAL or the overload spring to drop it down some. Since it sounds like you carry some weight around regularly, might be better to remove the AAL then the overload spring.

 

If I was a betting man I'd say you have all that 3" max lift still left, maybe more like 3.5", to go. If you're happy with the stance in the back you should be able to get the front to the same level. Probably only take about 2" or 2.5" to get there and your CV joints will be fine. The issue you /may/ run into would be upper control arm angles and alignment.

 

I'd toss the AAL.
Is the AAL the OME

$81 D29XL Leaf Spring

D29XL?

 

I was thinking the same thing too. It just looks too low. I would be happy with just one more inch up front since I still want some rake.

Yes it is the

$81 D29xl Leaf Spring

D29xl.

 

based on what ive seen, you have a ways to go before getting into the danger zone of lifts. even then i thought above 3" the issue was the angle of the axles putting too much strain on front diff carrier bearing? crank the front up a good inch maybe 1.5 and see what that does. curious about how your truck rides right now. i would think that much rake would have the strut at an odd angle(negative caster)

 

Truth. OME specifies their springs in factory rating + extra. The CS047R is spec'd to give 2.75" of lift up to GVWR, which means a payload of something like 1175 lbs in the 4x4 DC. How that translates into cargo depends on the number of passengers but should be a few hundred lbs in the bed easily. The D29XL is supposed to add 15mm (about 0.6") of lift and slightly increase the spring rate.

http://www.arbusa.com/uploads/PDF/accessorizeYourRig/toyotaTacoma.pdf

Just re-reading this. The CS047R is rated in the 2016 to give 2" of lift up to 330 lbs constant load and with the D29XL it's 2" up to 660 lbs constant load.

 

Crank

 

Yes thats what Ive read also, but is that for a long bed or short bed? Also heard the new generation of tacomas dont give out as much of a lift, reason why we went with the AAL.

The truck rides fine, doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. I dont know anything about negative caster and the effect it would have in this case.

 

I edited my post, the original part was valid for 2005 to 2015, they do rate them differently for 2016. Not sure why that might be. Anyway, 660 lbs constant load for 2" means it's probably going to sit at about +0.5" unladen.

 

I have a similar set up, tuned professionally, my truck doubles as a chace vehicle in the SCORE races. If you crank up the coils do not go over 8 threads showing at the top. That would be the maximum you want to be to stay within the optimal performance of the shocks. If you add a fab front bumper or additional accesories you will need to revisit the internal set up of your shocks. Hope that helps.

 

That helps a lot! I already have weight on there thats staying on, such as the topper (200 lb - ish) and prinsu rack (50 lb ish.

That also helps a lot. I might just go that route.

 

What do you think, @Yotamac ?

 

Looks like I can crank it up 2-3 more coils to be safe? And it looks like both sides aren't even even.