Handling Upgrades?

Hey y'all

I know it's a silly question, but for those of us addicted to fiddling, I was wondering if anyone knew of particularly good suspension or handling upgrades?

I know the 3rdGen is very similar if not the same as the 2ndGen taco. What do 2ndGen people like to do? I did poly steering rack bushings on my Gen1taco and it helped a good bit. Poly bumpstops too. It was great. Do you guys do strut braces?

 

Got my popcorn ready

 

Popcorn always gets stuck in my teeth. Not my thing.

I've spent the past decade in the 80's BMW and HPDE/Autox scenes, so please excuse the unusual question, but I'm being serious. I know these are trucks, but improvements are improvements. If the answer is nothing, then so-be-it.

 

And that's why I got my popcorn to read any responses...was not a jab at your thread.

 

of course there are handling upgrades... i drive a third gen and my setup is currently tundra racing lowering kit, wheeler's T1 coils and bilstein 5100 adjustables, as well as a thicker sway bar up front, and icon aal in spring under axle configuration with bilstein 5100 shocks and a sway bar in rear. This setup is awesome, can take corners much faster than stock and overall a much nicer ride as well. Ride is overall level at factory ride in the front, and a little lower than factory in the rear

 

Step 1- hang up tacoma keys
Step2- grab my car keys

 

give me a broken ass golf cart with 3 wheels and i'll have a blast. never driven a vehicle that wasn't fun to drive in some way. i'm calling this a valid question. optimize your fun however you can!

but i have a weekend car too lol

 

Honestly my 2016 handles reasonably well, all things considered. Most stuff you'd end up doing would be lowering your ground clearance, be it brackets for sway bars, lowering springs, etc.

Probably a really noticeable one would be lighter wheels and lower profile street-only tires.

I would like to see a hollow front sway bar though. Bushings might make for a crisper "feel" but probably not much actual increase in mechanical grip.

Probably not possible dimension-wise, and not really necessary, either. Front suspension on Tacos are double wishbone, which means the forces acting on them don't lend themselves as well to any noticeable improvement from being braced. Only McPherson style really does...

 

[Just noticed this is an ancient thread, oh well, here's an answer for archival sake.]

If you can get to stiffer springs without adding too much height, that should help quite a bit. Folks that do coilover upgrades (that virtually always have stiffer springs) typically report better handling with less lean on the road. Most of these kits add height, but at least some of them advertise 0-x" lift, so in theory you could keep stock height.

The rear is tricky since most aftermarket spring packs and AAL's are setup to give lift. However, several folks have reported that adding load supporting bump stops (Sumo? and others?) find that body roll is reduced without drastically affecting ride. As the truck rolls and takes out the "slack" it starts to compress the load spring/bumpstop devices which have the effect of a stiffer spring. I wouldn't think this would actually improve grip (just like a stiff rear sway reduces rear grip) but it's been mentioned that it makes the handling feel better.

But before that you could experiment with more road oriented tires. And before that, you could raise your tire pressure to improve turn-in feel (but again, lowering grip). I raised my TP from the recommended 29/30? PSI to 35 and it improved feel quite a bit.

Good luck. You aren't the first to ask, there are likely other threads out there.

 

Strut braces on a ladder frame truck?
Silly question it is....
It's like asking if I can put traction bars on a Honda Accord.
Ridgelines can use a strut bar though!

 

While in practice that's true, I should use "true" in air quotes . It's insanely complex what sway bars do. It's more that a stiff rear bar alters the balance- the grip doesn't necessarily "go away," it moves to the opposite end of the vehicle.

Sway bars are actually a sort of demonic magic from the seventh ring of hell. To ever truly understand them you must sign a blood pact with the dark lord himself, and forevermore speak in eldritch tongues.

 

Pics?

 

Hood skewp

 

damn!!!

Aside fro the front badge, I really like it

 

That is a fucking beautiful Taco.