Lifted '16 Tacomas

I have 1" spacers in the front which lifts the front about 2", after reading the last few pages I'm paranoid now that my truck is gonna get all fuck up ! Lol
No joke .
I don't ever go off roading and I don't want to spend 3k on something that I don't really need .
I like my truck to sit level so 2" it's enough for me .
What's your guys way of accomplishing the 2" the right way ?
What would u guys use ?
Brand?
Parts ?
Thank u !
Ps Yes I don't know shit

 

I follow you on that, i not doing extreme offroading so why the hell im gonna spend 3 to $6,000 for a suspension.. my brother in law its still running hes 2th gen after 5 gears with a 3 inch no brand lift kit and no problems it all, thats why i did the same and honestly i dont have a budget to spend 6k on a suspension setup only.. right know my truck rides really good and performs well for what i do with it ... The setup depends on what are you doing with your truck so why bother..its simple is your truck so you do whatever you like with it

 

A good suspension does not cost $3-$4,000. I do not go off-roading either but I wanted a full suspension kit. I got the Boss 2.0 lift kit with coilovers up front, shocks and add a leaf in the rear installed for under $1600. I did not do the upper control arms at this time because I'm just at 2" lift up front if that and the alignment was well within toyota specs. I may add the in the future just for piece of mind.

My last tacoma with pucks road like a brick and you felt the coilovers slamming over every little bump. As noted in my previous post it was only a matter of time till they were worn out and needed to be replaced.

This time around I saved up and got a pretty decent suspension that fit my needs.

 

2 inches is A LOT on a Tacoma and you don't have to spend $3k. "leveling kits" is an industry buzzword for JUNK that is going to cost your truck FAR more than $3k in the liftetime long-run. I assure you that.

This is exactly the point this thread is trying to make, and I hope everyone understands this: "Your setup and what you are doing with the truck" is irrelevant to whether or not spacer and block lifts are going to damage your truck. See so many people say "For my needs..." or "for what I use the truck for..." Words and phrases like that are mental gymnastics you are using to convince your self that a BAD idea is somehow a GOOD idea. The simple gods honest truth is this: there is no "need" or "use" that would have ever dictated using spcers or blocks on your suspension. What "need" did you have, where you "needed" to jam spacers into your suspension? How could that have possibly been a "need", Like your truck "Needs" oil?
Spacers and blocks are the embodiment of "cut corners" or cheaping out on a massively important part to your truck.

You and everyone else that bought a spacer lift wanted to run 285 tires as quickly and cheaply as possible. And to do that, all logic was thrown out the window. You have to understand, especially with the 3rd gen Tacoma, the impact changing suspension geometry and parts will have on the truck. its a non-negotiable truth. Thread after thread, time after time, someone buys this truck and has a panic attack because they don't immediately have 285/75r/17 wheels on their truck and impulsively buys the quickest, cheapest most available option " that other other people use". You were misinformed by confirmation bias. It might not be comfortable to hear, but the "lots of people" running this made a mistake, and just because a lot of people are doing it, and "you haven't heard of any problems" or "john doe I know does it and he's fine" doesn't change the truth about what these parts are 100% doing to your truck.

And you DONT HAVE TO SPEND $3k to do this correct. The average front & rear Spacer lift set will run about ~$500 with hardware.
This is a full front&rear fox kit, with rear leafs for $1100: http://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p400/FOX_Level_1_Kit_-_16__Tacoma.html

This doesn't even seem like a choice. Its mind boggling that you had the financial capability and competence to buy a brand new truck, yet you cheaped out on a $600 price difference between a block-kit and a full on coilver kit, because you used mental gymnastics to convince your self that you had some sort of "needs" or your own "use" to get 285's on your truck as absolutely fast as you humanly could.

and yes it is "your truck" and "you can do whatever you like", but what you "like" must be a broken truck, because this will 100% happen, whether its today or some other day, spacers and blocks break trucks, 100% o the time. And the cost of doing it correctly is literally only marginally more. Research is easy and free.

 

I'm not saying that my way is right, wrong or other. I'm just saying that I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions to individuals, and vendors that know a heckuva lot more than I do about suspensions.

One thing that I could've done that was a little cheaper and still would've met my needs would have been to go 5100's with new springs and add a leaf but I spent the little extra to go with the beefier Boss kit with the 5/8th shafts.

I also looked at OME kits which would have been similar to the Boss kit price wise... but for a guy like me who didn't know a whole lot about suspensions, I just had to many questions I wasn't sure of because they offer so many different options with springs and leafs and such.

Again, hope this helps.

 

HAHA. That's good... I retract my "for my needs" statement and change it to, I spent the extra money for the Boss lift kit because I knew it wasn't junk compared to a spacer/puck lift. I also knew it wasn't as good as Fox or King's but, for the money and the type of driving I'm doing with my truck, the Boss kit was a good investment for me.

 

Ok, so I will admit that I didn't go through over 200 pages of this thread to find what I'm looking for, partly because of the last few pages having one guy try to outmeasure everyone else. Is there anyone in here running 5100s with the front set at 1.55 and an AAL in the rear? I am trying to decide if I want to do that or if I want to hold off to get some OME coils for the front to go with the AAL. Eventually I will go to a full Icon setup, but in the meantime, I am being a cheapskate. I got the AAL used, and I got a badass deal on the 5100s through jet.com. Standing by for the storm that may head my way.

 

Did some searching but I think my question might be rather specific.

Does anyone have any pics and measurements using single AAL on 16' TRDOR DCLB? I've read that its possible on DCLB Tacoma's that an AAL lift will be lower than on SB trucks. Just trying to get a baseline before pulling the trigger.

Thanks in advance.

 

Ultimately you made all the right choices: Free research online, You got an actual purpose built suspension kit, that had shocks, coils and leafs and you didn't Have to spend $3k. That's how you properly do a suspension job on a brand new $35k truck.

Pure reality of this situation is this: A suspension kit for a 2016+ Tacoma WILL cost about $1k-$1500. Plain and simple. But for that price you not only got quality parts, but peace of mind.

All things considered here, No one has a 3rd gen over 2 years old, and these are virtually all new trucks had by users here. Its silly to see people that obviously had the money or credit to recently buy a brand new truck, come to this board and have a mental breakdown because they need to keep up with the Jones's and get 285's on their truck before they hate it and have to sell it or cant look at it in their driveway anymore.

The corners you cut on suspension cost will 100% cost you in the future. You can either deny that, or accept it as truth.

 

Being that I'm new to lifting trucks I have a question on this kit. What makes this FOX 1 kit better than the 5100/EMU setup? I'm a huge priceerformance guy and from what I've researched so far why would I buy the FOX 1 over the 5100/EMU? Both seem very similar in performance considering the same use of the truck.

 

The Fox is manufactured by a dedicated suspension company valved and sprung as a complete set. Fox would undoubtedly have some kind of manufacturer backing for these parts, and currently Toyota and FOX work together at a Factory level, to produce suspensions for Tacoma's.

The 5100+OME is a multi-manufacture shock/spring mix set that many people buy because the OME springs will jack the suspension up as high as humanly possible, for the 285 wheel/tire combo that is ruthlessly pursued by this boards lemming build culture. Your next questions will naturally be "What tires fit?" and "does it rub?".

Logic dictates that a dedicated suspension company selling a full, single-make kit will be of higher "quality" than a mix-matched spring/shock kit. If price is your sole deciding factor than you will get the 5100+OME. But hopefully a few $hundred dollars isn't guiding your decisions in purchasing a massive part for your brand new truck (suspension). Both are infinitely better than blocks.

 

Finally a pic! I thought this was a pic thread for lifted '16's.

 

Here, more lifted Tacoma's... Because lifted Tacoma thread.


Edit: No spacers.. Not a single one

 

You make great points @BadKitty. I suppose FOX and Toyota working together is similar to Toytec and Bilstiens relationship. For me, I'm not interested in the 285 get the truck jacked up thing. I'm coming from a 98 Ram 2500 I did that to and the last remaining years I drove it was not enjoyable. A simple 2-2.5" lift running 265 on 16's or 17's is a-okay with me on my 16' TRDOR DCLB. My only problem with FOX and Toytec is I can't find any information on spring rates and shock specs on their kits. Admittingly, I haven't picked up the phone either. I'm just a little leery of spending the extra money on some of these name brand kits when I think there is a chance specs and parts are rebranded. Example: Bilstein and Toytec. Wish I knew that for sure. It just seems that the 5100/EMU really is a quality intro lift but just doesn't have the relationships with other manufacturers. Maybe I'm wrong on that. Thanks for your input, it's hard to argue your points.

 

Ok
I'm down with this set up !
So there are 3 options for the leaf pack ?
Which one I need?
Do I need to get anything else to make it right ?
How much does a shop is gonna charge me to install this ?
@JerryTaco your thoughs too please
Thank you

 

On the bottom It does say 1" lift over stock though , I want 2"
But on the top it says around 2"
Am I missing anything here ?

 

Let me look into the kit and get back to you but on the surface, what I see is that this is a solid platform. If it were me, I'd do the progressive AAL, as it'll be a softer ride and provide some strength to the stock leaf pack. Other add ons I'd personally opt for would be the carrier bearing drop, just to alleviate some of the stress put on the carrier bearing with the added rear lift.. Essentially, this is what the TRD Pro comes with, just at a fraction of the cost.

As for labor, I could put this all on in about 2 and a half hours, in my garage with hand tools. SO, a shop should charge you no more than 500$ or 600$ on the high side OTD with alignment.

 

Thanks man !
I know how to build homes very good !
But not much about trucks

 

I think with that model, the pre-load can be adjusted or the Coil-over can be threaded up the body for more lift, at the expense of performance as you move up the threads. I don't know the height spec limits for certain, but I think they can be backed up the threads to near 3". but at that height, performance would be significantly reduced and wear to the shock would increase in speed also.

Lol it sure is a bitch to fit them 285 tires right, ain't it?!? Gotta be a suspension en-jun-ear for em'.