(SOLD OUT) Discounted Price on TRD Pro Suspension Kit

But with preload aren't you essentially "disrupting" the tuning of the shock? Ie. they no longer work as intended. Not a huge deal. But ride quality and response to "bumps" will suffer. That's been my understanding.

 

Agreed. These kits were designed and tuned for our trucks without adding spacers/etc. I would think you’d be sacrificing ride quality and performance for a tiny bit more lift. This kit is not designed to give 3” of lift.

 

Here's some info from HS Off-Road that I pulled from another thread. Here's a bunch of info about full leaf pack replacement options. More than I realized...

(Quote)
here are quite a few options for full leaf pack replacements. I find it helpful to provide my customers with a comparison that I created of the different ones we offer. This way they can see which one may suit their specific needs. We can also have a custom Deaver pack made as well.

There are two different OME leaf packs: the EL095R which they consider their light/medium duty leaf pack and the EL096R which they consider to be heavy duty. Either of the OME Dakar full leaf pack replacements will provide quite a bit more hauling, towing, and off-road capability over the stock pack. However both will be stiffer since you are adding more steel out back. The EL095R will affect this less since it has one less leaf spring in the pack. ARB spec's out their light/medium duty EL095R pack to provide around 2.75” of lift over stock on an 05-15 running 0lbs to GVW and around 2" on a 2016+ running the same amount of weight. The heavy duty pack has one extra leaf in it and will increase the load capacity by around 15%. ARB slates this pack to provide around 2.75” of lift over stock on an 05-15 running around 660lbs of constant weight and around 2" on a 2016+ running the same amount of weight. With either pack the amount of weight you add to the rear end will directly affect the amount of lift you see from the packs (meaning, if you add 1000lb to the bed of your Tacoma and are running the heavy duty pack you will no longer see that 2.75" of lift) For me, I find it hard to equate things to heavy or light/medium duty. Because it really depends on how much weight is being added, if the weight is consistent or not, and where the weight is being added to. Now ARB does have theEL046XL add-a-leaf which directly converts the light/medium duty pack into the heavy duty one or it can be addedinto the heavy duty into an even heavier duty pack. It will add around 15mm of lift and a 15% higher spring rate. The add-a-leaf is not something that weusually recommend if you are just looking to gain lift height. There are other ways to gain more lift withoutaffecting the ride quality like the add-a-leaf does. After the redesign I created this write up on TW in case you wanted to check it out. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-ome-dakar-leaf-pack-review.489540/

The Skyjacker leaf pack acts more like a stock replacement and provides a a similar ride quality but a little bit more capabilities in terms of supporting asmall amount of weight in the back ofthe truck. They are spec'd out a 2"-2.25" lift increase but from the feedback I have from my customers most only seearound a 1" increase.

The Deaver J66 leaf spring pack will provide a nicer on-road ride then most of the other after-market leaf packs and is known to perform very well off-road. It is spec'd out to provide around 1.5" of lift over stock. If you do have consistent weight in the bed of the truck, tow or haul this pack wasn't really designed with that in mind so it can be lacking in that area.

The Deaver U402 picks up where the J66 leaves off. This pack features 7 main leaves and 2 overloads and is designed in a way to help support weight andprovide lift. It can have additional leafs added to support additional amounts of weight as well. The basic U402 pack will provide around 3" of lift on a Tacoma running around 300-400lbs of additional weight in the bed. If the weight is lessthan that then the lift will be more and the ride will in-turn be stiffer. The U402 II will provide around 3" of lift on a Tacoma running around 500-700lbs ofadditional weight and the U402 III pack will provide around the same amount of lift with an additional 700lb+ weight. Again the less weight the more lift and potentially a stiffer ride quality.

 

Preload on the coils isn't going to change the valving in the shocks but it does affect ride quality and change some handling characteristics. Keep in mind, problems should only occur in extreme cases, of which this doesn't seem to be one with just 1" of preload.

 

Okay, as much as it pains me to type this I feel I have a problem after the lift and new tire as stated below. the new tires are quieter thus revealing a new noise which I'm thinking might be the needle bearing.... It seems to be a a cyclical noise that I can also feel the vibration. It doesn't seem to be effected when I steer to either side, and goes away when I put it in 4wd, however I've driven it without it making the noise and then eventually it comes back. it seems to be the most noticeable between 30-60mph give or take. please note an alignment has not been done yet due to me adding the 1/4" spacers soon (once I receive). also new tires were put on after the lift. any suggestions or things to try? I have 52k miles so it should technically be under warranty being a 2014. Any help would be appreciated. I have done a little reading about the ECGS bushing, but haven't started getting too deep in the subject yet as I wasn't sure if the needle bearing was the culprit or not. I wanted to keep the forum up to date through this process in hopes it will provide information to any others in the same situation.

 

It probably is the needle bearing.. As soon as I put my kit on I had the noise (sounded/felt like I was rolling on mud tires) and I only had 10k miles on it, but dealer changed the needle bearing under warranty and sound/vib is gone... If you get it done at the dealer you should be fine under warranty (5years/60K miles)

 

Just curious .... how long can you drive with the bearing noise before it fails? I'm installing myself and won't be doing the bearing. If it starts to growl I would rather leave it for a while before I tear everything apart again.

Has anyone ever had the bearing actually fail? Would heavy 140 weight synth oil help mitigate it?

 

I read somewhere on here a guy drove over 10K miles on his with no issues before changing it out.. I would just replace it or have it replaced vs. running that weight of gear oil in my opinion.

 

Is the noise or vibes from the needle bearing issue super noticeable? I feel like I want to hear/feel it but I can't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary road noise. I'm watching for anything between 20-40mph and don't notice anything, but the general consensus here is that I should have almost immediately noticed it after installing this kit (especially with the additional 1/4" spacers).

 

You'll definitely notice it when it's bad at speeds around 35mph, but some like you didn't have an issue after the install

 

From what I have read so far it could happen at anytime, even on stock suspension although I'm sure is more rare compared to those who lift. I'm kind of bummed out about it, but at least it's under warranty. otherwise I would be doing the ecgs bearing myself. It is most noticeable around 40mph on mine, and it's like a growning sound but it isn't constant, it's very similar to what a bad wheel bearing sounds like. wrrooom...... wroooom.... every 1.5-2.5 seconds and it doesn't match the speed of what you would imagine the tires are rotating at. mine is fairly quite right now (assuming it would get worse as time goes on, but now that I know it's there I feel it and listen for it because my mind doesn't stop about things like this..... If I kept my music up around 20+ I wouldn't hear it at all, only the little vibration though.

 

Covered by the power train warranty??

Bought my truck used, so I think the power train goes through 100,000. If not, ECGS it will be.

 

FYI the TSB that would apply to the 2nd gen taco's is 0026-15; for the 3rd gen it's 0011-18. there are ongoing threads about this when you search the TSB's

ECGS resolution:
https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-8...bushing-eliminates-needle-bearing.html#videos

Good how-to I found from another thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=897&v=m9W31KGy6k0

 

IMO- it's not only the bearing that suffers, it is the housing/race/bearing cup. This is due to the added vibration coming from said failed bearing. So, as it is vibrating, it is rattling the seat in which it sits, thus causing excess wear. Just my input from 30 years experience with mechanical stuff that moves around and depends on us to keep it running smooth. Good luck and keep us updated! Im about to pull the trigger on a suspension kit and feedback is appreciated! Thank you!

 

to my knowledge standard warranty is 5 years 60k miles. The TSB's show to be covered by this schema as well.

 

It doesn't "change" the valving, per se... but it kinda does. It's like you're now driving on a coiliver tuned for an entirely different front end. When you hit a bump, for example, the pressure of that shock at impact isn't going to be what it's supposed to be, as designed/tuned by TRD.

In my mind, it negates in large part the advantage/benefit of purchasing a "TRD tuned and valved suspension". With pre-load, it's no longer "tuned and valved" for our trucks.

I think we're on the same page. Just a little different perspective. If you're willing to give up performance for some lift, and lift is important to you, no harm in installing the spacers. Just know there is a compromise.

 

My thought as well, I don't want to push my luck or cause more damage than necessary since it is a daily driver. I plan to install my spacers first, then alert the stealership and then the alignment? who knows, by then I may have my leaf pack or whatever I end up going with for the rear.

 

I would do exactly that. One little problem has a tendency to create several more, then a big problem. Hope that fixes it for You!

 

Agreed. There's no way to know how crapped out the bearing is without getting in there. One truck might be fine for 10k miles, another might have bearing fragments floating around at 300 miles. "How long can I drive on it?" isn't the best way to approach it. I'd simply recommend a person get it fixed asap.

 

I read a lot of threads about the bearing failure before I lifted my truck. There is too much play in the cv axle going into the front drivers side diff. All that slop makes the needle bearing fail. Not all trucks experience this though. I didn’t want to take a chance with it so I installed the east coast gear supply bushing that eliminates the needle bearing. I have no vibs and don’t have to worry about it down the road. For those that have not installed the kit yet I highly recommend it. Install isn’t too bad when you already have the front suspension apart. I have never done any needle bearing work, but with the right tools it wasn’t bad. I’m glad I spent the extra time and money to do the job right.