REVIEW 3rd gen suspension on 2nd gen

Meaning after the full swap and you adding in the 1/4 top space your truck was lifted about 2" in the back and 1.5" in the front?

Cheers! Love the look/color of yours! the suspension is offered on my local CL for $650 anyone with insight on price?

 

WAY too much money. I paid under $350 for mine, including 3rd gen leafs, shocks, and coils.

I added the AAL before putting the new leafs in and popped the top plate spacers in during the install. Nothing was done after the swap.

 

You can find them cheaper that that if you keep an eye out. For $650 you could grab some nice aftermarket stuff. 5100's and an AAL.

 

That's what I meant, thanks. Ill probably look to do the same thing. Once I acquire the 17 suspension, Ill install the AAL and potentially a spacer before I install onto my truck. I have not worked with suspension before, was it easy to do yourself or with a friend?

This posting says they had only a few thousand miles on it. Im figuring a way to negotiate for a lower price.

 

Just know $650 is too much. Maybe like half that price yeah.

 

Can only do that if you buy the 3 leaf progressive.

 

Got mine for 100. Coils shocks and leafs with aal already installed. Sometimes you get lucky. I even tried putting the 2gen shocks on the 3rd gen coils but that didn't work.

 

Left overload in. I did also add a 1/4” spacer up front on both driver and pass side for an extra ~0.5” lift up front to basically raise the front 1.5 and rear 1.5 ish

 

Thanks! This is exactly what I did in the front of mine, haven't installed the Icon AAL yet and was trying to decide about the overload. Until I get the AAL installed, the Firestone airbags are keeping the back up for the perfect rake with about 12 or 13 pounds in them. I have a canopy on mine so I leaning toward keeping the overload in.

 

Yup, I now have the vibes from 35 - 50mph.

 

Just coil overs up front or anything in the rear?

 

If anyone in the DFW wants to do this swap, I've got a set of take offs from a 2017 trd off-road. $150 for front shocks/spring set and rear shocks.
33 thousand miles I think on them. A lot less than some of you guys changing 100k plus like parts. Lol .

 

I immediately started feeling this vibration between 35 and 40 mph. It's not a bad vibration, but it feels like I have heavy lug knobby tires on the front. Guess it's time to order up an ECGS bushing.

 

I did an AAL with the overload left in. Full details and pics of my swap/setup are a few pages back.

 

So if the front springs are rated for 700 lbs, does that mean I can throw on a aftermarket bumper/winch and not have to make any additional mods?

 

The ecgs bushing doesn't fix this. You've raised the truck which results in the front and rear diff being at different angles.
You need to fix axle and drive shaft angles.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-how-to-install-a-toytec-diff-drop-pics.53991/

 

I have zero vibes. 3rd gen leafs with Wheelers progressive AAL. All leafs retained.

 

Pretty confident my vibes are coming from the needle bearing on the front drivers side of the differential.... I only gained an inch and a half up front, about the same in back.

 

Getting my front 3rd gen suspension installed today at the local shop.

All around costs:
$60 for 3rd gen struts/coils front and rear struts. The parts had about 30k miles on it.
$500 installation and alignment. (3 hours labor or so)
$50 for new hardware for both sides (front)
$610 total.

I did the rear struts myself. Not that bad except some frustrations with the bar turning whenever I tried to tighten or loosen the top main nut. This was resolved with multiple wrenches holding as tight as possible on the bar of the strut as I worked to loosen/tighten the top nut.

The fronts were just too much for me to try to do on my own. I knew without the right power tools, it would take me a long time, and also cost me several bloody knuckles trying to loosen stuck bolts. I didn't even want to think about messing with those coils on my own either. I just took the hit and let the shop do it.

Waiting to get it back now. Once I do, I will remeasure the height on all 4 corners and see what difference it made from stock.

Edit:

Old Measurements:
FL 35
FR 35.75
RL 36
RR 37

New Measurements:
FL 36
FR 36.75
RL 35.75
RR 37

As before, it seemed like there was more lean in the rear than in the front. Not sure what to do about that. I didn't add a spacer so the lean is still there. I honestly wasn't sure if I should have or not and wanted to just see how it went without it.

In 30-50k miles, when these struts have 75k or so on them, I will probably add a 1 or 2 inch lift all the way around and do all brand new suspension and then I will try to even it out some with a spacer. It isn't too insane of a different for me to care about. It's just weird that you can see a lean from the back but not the front where it is supposed to be.

With the 1 inch lift now to the front from before, it sits about as level as it can, minus the lean of course.

Also, a slight drop in the RL but that could just be air pressure change from the first measurement which I did weeks ago.

 

On another note: Are these coils worth anything to sell? Obviously those struts are trash!