REVIEW 3rd gen suspension on 2nd gen

Baseline data: 2009 Tacoma short box 4 door. Miles 246000, last shocks installed Bilstien 4600 @ 160000, recently installed 265-60-18 from 2009 4Runner. Truck is driven mostly on paved roads.

First of all, thanks to both of you for sharing the information, I knew exactly what to expect!!

I Found a set for sale locally, seller turned out to be a Technician from a local Toyota Dealership. Removed from a new 2018 Tacoma that t he dealership was putting a lift on and salvage from the scrap heap! Incidentally, the tech had marked them left and right. The red and green dots were on the right side strut. Not sure what this means, but this guy was a Taco fanatic, so I followed his advice on this one!

My resulting measuments where not appreciably different than yours.
However, I took the following measurements at the top of the running boards.

Before: After:
RF 17.5 18.0
RR 18.0. 18.0
LF 17.0. 17.5
LR 17.25. 17.5

Since the running boards are oriented to the cab, at least to me this proves the truck is level. I’m very please with the stance.

Ride quality is much improved, even with the 60 series tires. Handling is awesome with this combination.

One final note: with 246000 miles this proved a bit more challenging due to rusty bolts. Allow 4 hours to get this done if you have a higher mile vehicle. Presoak everything in penetrating oil a day ahead( I didn’t) would help as well.
After

Before

 

I have a set of take offs from a 2nd Gen TRD Off Road that also have dots on them. I figured the dots had something to do with which side they were for. I'm gonna have to dig them out of the parts closet to see what colors the dots are,hopefully they are like you describe. I'm probably gonna replace mine this summer.

 

I just acquired take-off UCAs, leafs, front coilovers and rear shocks from a 2017 TRD OR 4x4 (<4K miles).
I intend to use these on my 2015 SR5 4x4 (<30K miles).

My questions:
1.) Do I need to use the take-off 2017 UCAs, or are they identical to the UCAs on my 2015?

2.) I can’t imagine that using the take-off 2017 leafs would hurt (despite the leafs on my 2015 not showing any sag)...fair assessment, or no?
Are the leafs identical?

3.) I’d love to do the swap myself, but I have limited tools - anyone in the SoCal IE (I’m in Yucaipa) know of reputable shop, or willing to teach/help?

Thanks!

 

I just picked up the full setup from a 2017 offroad yesterday. I can wait to get it put on. It damn sure wont ride any worse than my base model suspension.

 

I believe the UCA's are the exact same part numbers, but no you do not "need" to use them.

The 4 pack leafs are suppose to be the same as well.

IMO I would not pay someone to swap out the UCA's and definitely not the leafs since you will get very little benefit. Sheet metal has to be bent to replace the UCA's so I'd say not to do it until you have to. I'd recommend only installing the front strut assembly and rear shocks.

 

My leafs look alot different (appear thinner) than the Offroad. I havent taken any measurements. Would you happen to know if they are different from 2nd gen base prerunner to 3rd gen offroad?

 

I could be wrong, but I've always been under the assumption that the leaf packs were the same across all of the models. That means the 3rd gen leaf pack would be the same as the 4 leaf TSB packs the older 2nd gens received, and what you should've came with. Do you have 4 leafs and do you know if they're stock?

 

Thanks for the reply!
Yeah, I knew about the tight clearance issue with the UCAs...glad I can avoid having to swap them.

 

I just took a look, and yeah - my 2015 SR5 4x4 leafs look different (thin/whimpy) compared to the take-off 2017 TRD OR 4x4 leafs (beefy)...

 

Definitely different. Currently on truck is top pic. Bottom is the '17 3G offroad.

 

You guys should be measuring from the center of hub to the edge of the fender flare to get a true measurement. Measuring from other points (i.e. ground to fender) has way too many variables

Matt

 

I'm probably one of the people with the bad review. I've had 3rd-gen TRD OR shocks on my truck for a while now. So far so good. Nice write-up though. I drive a lot, so doing any significant lift just isn't in the cards for how much I drive highway etc. But I do take the truck offroad, so I am happy. Obviously not doing anything hardcore but for up on our property at the cabin, the truck does great and it also looks better and rides nice on the highway. For the price and what I needed, Win-win.

 

#METOO. I bought a 2016 sport suspension ($100)added a .5 spacer up front and an aal in the rear. Kinda hard to tell since I went to a 265/70/17. The ride is little rougher than the 2015 sport suspension but I think its the aal more than anything else. I will say i like it more on the road because it doesn't "float" as much.

Before


Front Only w/ spacer. When I accelerated I got some bro-lean can't have that. Plus I think the trucks lines look better with some rake.



After

 

What did you not like about it? From what you said it looks like a good review??

 

I may have worded that wrong. In his original post he said a few people have done this and didn't really give much input other than 'raised it an inch and rides better'. I was just saying that I was likely 1 of those people, as I posted up after doing it but didn't really give much detail. I figured most people wouldn't get 3rd-gen shocks and go straight to 5100s or something.

 

Oh I got ya! I was like “how is this bad all these points sound great” lol.

 

Yep. I think for the right person/circumstance this is a great idea. It was the right choice for me. Kudos to the OP for the detailed write-up, as maybe there are more ppl out there who would like to do something like this.

 

Yep definitely a helpful OP. I remember when I bought my set I only had 2 threads to go off of and asked another member there opinion and that was it.

I really love the 3rd gen Taco suspension is an option.

The 3rd gen 4Runner group has a similar offering upgrading to OEM 4Runner Highlander edition suspension that adds an inch. Or I believe also adding 1st gen Tundra suspension too.

 

I'd be interested in seeing your guys' post lift measurements after driving around for 2-3 months. My 6112's settled almost 1/2" after about 3 months.

I'm also surprised you guys mention the dampening appears to be better with the 3rd Gen suspension. Isn't it using the exact same Bilstein 4600 shock that the 2nd Gens use? Different valving due to the stiffer springs maybe?

 

i too had sport shocks off a 2015 dcsb. i just went with 5100s to worry less about levelling. ride is so much better now too. only issue is clicking and clanking, even after torquing everything down.