Taco Lean Fix: Bilsteins & Spacer

All,

This is my first post on this forum. About five months ago I bought a stock 2006 double cab short bed Tacoma TRD Off Road w/ 12K miles. I have loved it so far. I haven't done any super crazy wheeling with it, but it was awesome in the snow of SW CO and the muddy roads of Southern Utah.

Recently I noticed a nice gangta lean to the drivers side of about one inch front and back. I took the truck to my Toyota dealership because I thought it was still under warranty. Low and behold the suspension warranty is only three years or 35K so I passed that awhile back. Anyways he told me my front drivers side coil spring needed to be replaced for about $300. I decided to hold off. From my research, I haven't seen anyone fix the lean by replacing the coil spring. Has anyone heard of that? Most recommend a 1/4" spacer. Do you all agree?

Also, while I was going to do the work myself to put in the spacer I figured I'd install the Bilstein 5100s. Am I correct in assuming that this will only level my truck by bringing up the front and nothing else? Also, is it worth it to replace the rears too since my truck only has 20K miles on it and already has Bilstein shocks? Thanks in advance for all your advice.

Cheers,
Paul

 

Ahh the notorious taco lean. Its got nothing to do with the springs. I had it on my brand new tacoma and even after i had the toytec coilovers put on the front. I just adjusted one coilover higher to compensate. Its even now and looks great. I have seen some taco's with some serious lean though.

 

Pretty much all of your statements are true. Don't pay the dealership $300 for a coil!

 

Sounds like you have done the proper research.
Get the 5100s and the 1/4" spacer for the left front.
The preload on the 5100s is up to you. Stock,.85,1.75, and 2.5"



Keep in mind the higher you go with the stock springs the more you compress it and the stiffer it will ride.

The 5100s are well worth the money, ride is much better with the stiffer compressed springs.

Best of luck.

 

I heard that you're better off using an adjustable co and adjusting that to cover the difference instead of using a spacer

 

Thanks a lot for the responses guys. I'll go ahead and get that 1/4" toytec spacer and the bilstein 5100s. I'm still not sure whether I should do shocks in just the front or all around. Any thoughts?

 

I had TRD Off Road shocks with only 7,000 miles on them. They were great at stock height and TSB height. When I added the AAL, it became a little too much for them. Installing 5100's made a quite noticeable improvement in feel.