Yet another 'Are my rear springs supposed to look like that' thread - difficulty: Dakars soon?

Long story short - I know the Tacoma springs, even the newer ones, typically have a negative recurve to them, but I'm on the verge of doing a lift anyways and I'm under the truck today to look at how the slider hardware is holding up (another story) - and I see just how little gap there is to the overload spring - and how bright and shiny the metal under the bump stop is. I bet I hit that thing at least twice a week or more.

I'm planning to lift 2-2.5" in front (885x springs) on this DCSB 4wd, I rarely put much weight in the back, even a full load of camping gear is probably at most 150-200 if I take everything short of the kitchen sink. I am however putting a standard plate bumper on later in the summer (~30-40lbs over stock + hitch I think?). Original plan was for a Headstrong 3-leaf AAL pack, but thinking if Dakars might be a better solution for mild outlay of cash once I pawn off the stock springs to someone with an even worse situation in back. Anyone running a set of Dakars minus the 3rd from the top leaf w/o a shell to give me an idea of what the lift height would be?

 

@ChadsPride sorry i beat you here! Stock leafs suck. AAL's only make the suck increase your ride height. I got AllPro standard leafs after having an AAL for a year. I got tired of the bump stops, you know its bad when the girl riding shotgun says how shitty the ride is. Anyway, go aftermarket & dont look back. Its been about 3 months & just today I hit an intersection with a couple foot crown down into a widened drain ditch, hit it at 45 & could have sipped champaign doing it (in the rear anyway, my fronts are only 5100's). After feeling how smooth the rear went thru it I literally laughed out loud to myself. OK Chad, your turn to sell him on Dakars

 

Yep, stock leafs are crap and AAL's don't do anything. If you plan on actually using your bed, get new packs. The Allpro packs are awesome. When I went from stock+AAL to the Standard leaf packs, I barely noticed a difference in ride quality. The Allpro packs are very smooth.

 

I just installed OME / Dakar / ARB springs on mine. Not for "lift", but because one of the leaves broke and mine was unfortunately, just outside of the "recall". After a big struggle with Toyota and involvement of the federal safety regulators, it was determined that a manufacturing change happened in October 2010 that added some extra clamps to the springs to keep them lined up when they break.

Anyhow, in researching the springs, OME indicated that the "default" configuration (5+2) would raise the truck by 55 mm (which is 2.165 inches), and that with the 3rd leaf removed, this would be reduced by 15 mm down to 40 mm total (1.57 inches). There was no indication about what configuration this number is relative to (2+1 or 3+1, etc.)

So got them installed, and it is obviously sitting a bit higher in the back. And while I wasn't looking for "lift", a modest increase in the back end of a pickup is OK in my books.

I think in your case, OP, that since you're looking to raise the front by 2-2.5, you probably want to leave that 3rd leaf in place.


One thing to make note of with regards to these springs; they ship with only the front bushings. For the back ones, you will need to either replace them or salvage the ones from the original springs. I was quoted a price of $6 each (need 4) from a Toyota dealer, but they didn't have any, so I took the "salvage" route. THEY ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SALVAGE! With a *big* air chisel (3 3/4" stroke -- not a crappy CH with 1 5/8"), and well soaked in penetrating fluid, I was *barely* able to knock them out.

 

Your springs actual look to be in pretty decent shape. You could certainly do an AAL set and probably get good results.

If you want a new pack though the Dakars are a great way to go, as well as our Wheeler's 8 Leaf Progressive Set.

 

That's odd because most Dakar info I've seen says 2.75-3" lift.

"These OME Dakar Springs part # CS047R provide approximately 2.75″ lift. Leafs can be added or removed to custom tune them to your application if desired. Other parts that are recommended with these are our bushing set, longer u-bolt set, FK29 driveline carrier drop (for 05-15 models) kit and rear shocks. Sold as a pair." - from Wheeler's Off-Road site @YotaDan (also thanks for the verification on the leaf condition Dan, I'd hope with 28k on the truck it wouldn't be too bad, but damn it's obvious I hit those bumps quite often).

OME's site itself doesn't state a lift height that I could see, but the 2.75" number seems to be confirmed by most of the info I've read in the Dakar thread that @OZ-T manages.

A Dakar set can be in the cards if it provides a better ride than a progressive AAL, $200 on top of that for some of the other options is where I start having a hard time convincing even myself that it'd be worth it over a progressive AAL setup unless I can convince someone to buy a bunch of my photography work or a workshop very soon. (link in sig!!)

 

Says 55mm here:
http://www.oldmanemu.com.au/site/wp-content/themes/ome/pdfs/KitRecommendations_1490204385_INT.pdf

Edit...
Also looked up the thread that I think you were referring to about the OME spring ride heights. Looks like people are saying that with the 3rd leaf removed and no extra weight added, they will sit at about 23 3/8" center of hub to fender. While I didn't measure mine after the new springs, I did measure it before, and found it at about 22 1/4", so presumably went up by about 1 1/8", which is a bit less than the 1.57" claimed. I was figuring on doing a measure after letting it settle for a few weeks, but I just installed them last week.

 

Wonder of ya'll get a different version of the spring or what, ARB catalog on the American site verifies 2.75"

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

 

Who the heck knows?
But like I said, I have no idea which "original" configuration they are referring to. Might be that the american site is quoting lift height relative to the typical american 2+1 configuration, and the AU site is going relative to the Canadian 3+1?

 

After doing a bit more research and a reply back from Marie at Headstrong I think I'm going to step up to a set of Dakars with the 3rd leaf pulled. Doing a bit more shopping around to make sure I get everything I need the first time around. So much for this "budget"

 

https://jfischerphotography.smugmug.com


(sample of my work, just for some eye candy and to entice you to go look at more)

Everyone go to the link above and buy a big huge print (or twelve), preferably on metal or canvas. Travel&Truck fund is taking a beating this month.

 

Ha, well at least you get to choose when to do it. I was forced into it because my original springs actually broke.