Stiff Suspension

I recently had most of my suspension completely replaced, including the shocks, struts and leaf springs. Truck is a 1999 Tacoma Single Cab. 4x4.

My back shocks were completely blown, not sure what the conditions of the struts were, but when I hit a bump the back end of my truck would bounce around, which was a bit unnerving when driving a highway speeds!

The truck now feels 10x safer to drive but the suspension is incredibly stiff, even small bumps are really harsh on my neck and back. Will this dissipate as the suspension settles in?

Will it help if I put some weight in the bed of the truck, if so what do you guys use, sand bags?

 

It would help if you mentioned what kind of parts you used - Toyota OEM? Aftermarket stifferoos? What about your tires - how much tread is left on them and are the sidewalls full of cracks? We really need more info to help you.

 

The leaf springs will definitely settle in, as will most of the suspension. Did you lift the truck at all? Or was everything just a stock replacement?

 

More info needed...

 

Thanks guys, wasn't sure what all information is needed.

Parts - All OEM
Tires - 5/32" Tread remaining
Sidewall - Looks good, no cracks
Lift - The truck was not lifted, all stock replacement

Here is a picture of the truck

 

Give it time. All coils, leaf packs lift or not will have to settle in (break in period) when I replaced mine I put sandbags in the back. About 200 lbs worth. Made a world of difference and my teeth felt better. lol The front will feel jarring for a while but will settle in a couple of months if you commute in it.

BTW - Good looking clean pickup!

 

Thank you for the reply, I was hoping this was the case. I'm definitely going to load up on some sand bags for the back!

Just got finished with all the body work and a fresh coat of paint (bad rust above the wheel wells). I'm really happy with the outcome.

 

Thought that looked to nice to be a stock paint job! Looks great! If you don't mind me asking how much did it run to get it re-painted? OEM color I assume? Looks like the same color as mine. That's on my list of things to do to my pickup. I lucked out and got my Tacoma with little to no rust. Not sure how that happened as it spent it's life in Wyoming and South Dakota.

 

Are you sure no lift? Looks a bit lifted. Did you do the replacement yourself? Just checking...

 

agreed, that really does look lifted to me, at least an inch. Not so used to single cabs though so maybe that's just how they look

 

You were right! The original was black, exactly the same color, perfect match. The paint was in OK shape, hood had some rust, bed had a ton of rust, we had to pull a used truck bed from the junkyard. That alone was $700. Then all the body work to fix various dents, the rust on the hood and also some repairs to the replacement bed. Ended up being $3,000+ in total. But the truck has been in the family for at least 10-12 years so it was basically "paid off" so the investment made sense.

 

It's very possible there is some lift, but it has always been like this since we've owned the truck. Our local frame and wheel shop replaced the parts. Is the lift just a matter of the length of shocks/struts being used or is there a different way of tell (forgive my ignorance)? I'm guessing for major lifts there would obviously be extensions of some sort, but this lift wouldn't be much if any.

 

If the shocks were replaced with the OEM Bilsteins (4600s I believe) and OEM coils then it wouldn't be a suspension lift, is there a spacer under there? Maybe snap a couple pics of the suspension and we can tell for sure

 

That looks stock to me. I think the single cabs just look like that.

 

Tire pressure?

 

I didn't know that the single cabs came in the TRD Offroad package, was the sticker on the bed added later on? Or did they come with that option too? Pretty cool if so

 

Good call! I will check this evening. That could be part of the issue.

Nah I wish, we added the sticker. Not actually TRD Offroad

 

LOL! Love it!

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/then-this-happened-on-my-drive-home.505412/