This stuff is confusing...

Somebody please go ahead and put the dead horse emoticon up, but I have been reading suspension/lift threads for days and now I have found myself in a fog of TSBs, AALs, 5100s, blocks, spacers, Toytecs......blah, blah, blah.

Just when I have myself convinced that 5100s with stock springs is all I need, I see someone say that you'll get tha crap beat out of you on ride. Same with small spacers in the front. I can't think straight anymore.

What I want is simple. I like the lower, level, stocky look. You know the look with the meats hanging out the fenders. I do off-road, but only for hunting, not as a sport. I don't need a serious off-road machine. I am in the process of adding air springs for the rear because I tow A LOT. I just want to level the front to rear. Will front strut spacers give enough lift to level and not damage anything?

 

do the 5100's with stock springs. I have it, and it rides very nice.

 

OK...

 

I'm glad that's out of the way.

I guess I'm overthinking this, but this is what I don't understand. It's not hard to figure out why ride would change or be harsher with the 5100s. The spring is obviously being compressed more. But why would the spacer on top of the strut worsen the ride? Isn't this just making the upper mounting point of the strut lower to raise the truck? It doesn't actually compress the spring, does it?

 

yes, it does compress the spring, and the difference between that and 5100's is you get the new shock, rather than your old ones

 

I still want to level it. Mine seems to have quite a bit of rake from front to back. I saw an '07 Tacoma at Home Depot last week that was almost perfectly level. I asked the owner how much front lift he had and he said none. He had owned it since new with no mods. It seems like these trucks have different quirks about them. Mine is all stock with the front 2 inches lower than the rear.

 

yeah my truck's stock rake is over 2"....about 2 1/2" higher in the back than the front and it's only got 7k miles on it...the people at toytec were telling me it's supposed to only be 1" from the factory (i noticed a guy at work has a prerunner and his looks alot more level than mine)....i guess my stock springs sagged some???...that's why i'm just gonna replace all of it with the toytec coilovers and start fresh...don't wanna reuse saggy springs...of course you can buy new springs and put them on the 5100s...the coilovers just give you more options as far as setting it where you want it...like i'm gonna set them at 1.5" and if later on i wanna go higher i can or even lower if the rear starts to sag or something....lol....i have heard that the 2.5" setting on the 5100 shocks is not something you wanna go with cuz it will be stiff for on road driving but with the .85 or 1.75 settings i think you would be ok....i'm kinda in the same boat as you...hard to figure all this out....i'm gonna go with the coilovers i think just because i will have more options with them...if the shocks go bad i can just buy another shock to put in them later down the road....not a big problem...since just the 5100s ride stiff at 2.5 from what i heard on here you basically only have 2 choices with them as far as lift goes.... .85 and 1.75....although some say 2.5 is fine..guess it depends on your preference...but with the coilovers you could set it anywhere from 1" to 3" which will be handy if i decided to aal later down the road or something

as far as beating the dead horse i think it's good...this is the lift or lifts most people are considering and in the right price range...we all need to talk about it and get to the bottom of all this mass confusion so everyone knows what's up so they don't have to make a mistake to figure it out and go and spend more money to fix it....lol

 

Just put the 5100s on front and rear and set the front to 1.75" of lift. Should be level. Then get new tires.

 

Take it from me bro, i had a readylift front leveling kit when i first got my truck cause i didnt want to rip off those brand new bilsteins! it was a 2.25 inch top mount spacer, and it rode like crap!! and i couldn't get it to align to specs so it wandered all over the damn road! I hated it! So you will definately need some uca's to get it to drive staight! so ur looking at 8 to 900 bucks for a crappy ridin spacer! Don't go that route! please... u will thank me for it later!

 

fyi, the trd trucks have less rake than non trd trucks!

 

Just to confuse you some more here is a copy / paste of mine from another thread on the Eibachs. My truck is a DC 4x4 TRD and it had quite a bit of rake.
__________________
I installed my Eibachs and 5100s and after I drove a few days the springs seemed to have settled. The lift at the 5100 stock settings, Eibachs only, was Left: 7/8" and Right: 1". I went ahead and increased the 5100s to .85. The total lift now is Left: 1 5/8" and Right 1 3/4". From what I have read it appears the 4x4s need the .85 setting on the 5100s to achieve more than 1" of lift. The PreRunners appear to get more lift at the stock setting.

Suspension mods to date: Eibachs, 5100s on all four corners, NO 1/4 spacer, NO TSB.

Measurements before lift:
LF: 34 1/2"
RF: 34 3/4"
LR: 36 7/8"
RR: 37 1/4"

Measurements with 5100s at stock setting:
LF: 35 3/8" -> 7/8" of lift
RF: 35 3/4" -> 1" of lift
LR: 36 7/8"
RR: 37 1/4"

Measurements with 5100s at .85:
LF: 36 1/8" -> 7/8 + 3/4 = 1 5/8" of lift
RF: 36 1/2" -> 1 + 3/4 = 1 3/4" of lift
LR: 36 7/8"
RR: 37 1/4"

I ended up with 3/4" of forward rake both left and right. I hope this helps some that are trying to decide on what settings to use for the 5100s. I will now need to get a new alignment but I will drive it for a while to make sure it has settled and that I am satisfied.

After Pics, the road here has a slight incline.

 

ok thx...i was not aware of that...the guy at work has a prerunner trd sport..looks like he only has about 1" of rake

just for reference i measured my stock height from the top of my tires to the bottom of the fenders on level ground to be sure with about 1/4th tank of gas in my truck...lol....also measured from the ground up...this is with 265/70/16 tires on 16x8" wheels...very slightly larger than the stock wheels 16x7" with stock tires 245/75/16....stock diameter is 30.5" and my tires are 30.6"

measurements from top of tires to bottom of fenders: LF: 5" RF: 5 1/8" ........ measurements from the ground: LF: 34 1/2" RF: 34 5/8"
......................................................................... LR: 7 3/8" RR: 8" ................................................... LR: 36 7/8" RR: 37 1/2"

so i have roughly 2.5" rake stock...lil less on one side and a lil more on the other
haha this truck is crazy...please note i have a reg cab 4x4 not an ac or dc...the left rear is about 1/2" lower than the right rear (taco lean)

 

But, like I have above, mine is a TRD and I had about 2.5" of rake. Do you think it has more to do with 4x4 vs. PreRunner?

 

usually trd trucks have about 1.75 of rake? but all trucks are different! i know when i first got my truck i bought that 2.25 inch leveling kit before i measured and after i put it on the front was higher then the back! that is when i looked into it further and found out the trd trucks have less rake. but i also found that all the trd trucks should be within an inch of each other from front to back? so probably like between 1.5 inches to 2.5 inches is normal! but in general i was told that the trd trucks have slightly less rake.

 

I can only tell you that I have the Ready-lift leveling kit on the front and 1" spacers on the back. It is very close to level, maybe rear sag under one inch, but I've towed my TT quite a bit. My truck rides like when I bought it. I had 4wheel parts do the install. The alignment was perfect. I don't do rock climbing, but it sits like a truck now.Good luck with your decision.

 

Your truck looks real good! What size tire are you running?

 

that is possible...since you have a trd and you have the 2.5" rake too...or maybe it just varies from truck to truck

i like how your truck sits...that's how i want mine to turn out...about a 1/2" to 3/4" rake

...so 1.75" front lift seems to be the magic number to level out your truck if you have a stock 2.5" rake....that is if you DON'T LIFT THE BACK END AT ALL and you still want a slight rake front to rear so when you haul something your rear isn't sagging too bad...lol...now there are several diff ways to get a 1.75" lift up front....

(this is for '05-'10 tacomas 2nd gen)

1. stock springs on 5100 bilstein shocks set at 1.75" lift
2. Eibach 1.6" springs on 5100 bilstein shocks set at .85" lift
3. OME springs
4. toytec coilovers or other coilovers

note: each of these springs have different spring rates ..the higher the spring rate the stiffer the ride will be

 

Sounds like you have all the options wired. When I decided to go the Eibach route I read all the Eibach threads through and through. I thought I would get more lift with the Eibachs alone and I almost decided not to get the 5100s. I decided to get the 5100s when I read that someone thought they would help dampen the high spring rate. I was hoping I would get somewhere around 1.5" with the Eibachs alone but that did not happen. I then bumped the 5100s up to .85. If you went the Eibach / 5100 route you could install them at the stock setting and drive for a few days to see how they settle out. Just don't get the alignment until after you are satisfied (I wasted $80 bucks). My ride is fine, it is not much different than stock. Best of luck with what you decide.

 

It seems that the 5100s are the way to go without breaking the bank and is most likely the route I'll take. But Black Taco's Ready Lift does seem interesting although it still adds to the confusion. From what I've been reading on TW, two people could have the same setup, one hates it and one loves it.

And please Black Taco, what size tires are you running?

Thanks guys.

 

Those top mount spacers(readylift) work by pushing the coilovers down. From what I've read this limits your up travel and can actually cause ur truck to have too much down travel. And that can cause damage to your suspension! I personally never had any damage occur but I was affraid to drive it hard offroad for that reason!