I'm overloaded without bumpers or underbody protection, recommendations?

I never thought I'd get here so soon, but princess (wife's nickname for my truck) was wallowing a bit on the last camping trip and bottoming out on cattle crossings. I looked underneath and had only 1-1.25" of clearance to the rear bump stops. I put Princess Pig on a scale and it weighed 6000lb with a full tank of gas, 10 gallons water, and the full camping kit and a family of 4.

I was hoping I'd be fine without adding bumpers or skid plates, etc. Guess not.

Now I'm thinking of going for an OME light kit in the front, heavy kit in the rear, and might just spring for the 235/85r16 K02's since I'll have the wheels off and will be getting an alignment anyway.

What do you guys think?

 

I vote for long travel

 

Yeah you need a better suspension system...

 

Time to beef it up.

 

I don't have the money for remote reservoir type shocks. The ultimate OME setup is 3500 in parts. No thanks. I also don't want to bust my CV joints.

 

Part out

 

Sounds like a total loss to me

 

Get the OME kit with heavy springs

 

I think your plan is fine. That’s pretty much the route I went, adding firestone ride rite airbags later as the springs settled. The bags also helped a ton with body roll.

I was considering something higher end, specifically, ADS, which would no doubt be sweet and sexy, but I couldn’t justify the expense for my purposes. In short, overkill for me.

I’m satisfied with this setup.

Edit: I did JBA control arms as well. I’d consider this a must.

 

Would stronger leaf springs do the trick?

 

Contact @Dobinsons Mike , he’ll get you set up. Ome is an old favorite for a lot of people but there are other options worth looking into.

 

My plan is OME heavy in the rear, maybe running without the AAL for now, but I can put that on if I find I need it. Think I'll need it?
Hoping to keep the front light for a bit softer ride on at least one end. Was thinking OME Light in the front, but I could go up to medium. What do you think for the front?

 

sounds like you need a Tundra

 

Loose some weight. Weight Watchers?
Sounds like your on the right track. Awesome looking ride.

 

I went heavy all around, iirc. Stock bumper and skids still. I like the positive feedback with this setup. I’ll check my part numbers...

 

Never. The Tundra is too wide. (So is the Tacoma) I miss my old Hilux. It was so much easier to drive offroad than a Tacoma with the sloping hood. Tacoma looks nice, but is really hard to drive offroad compared to a truck that is designed for that.

 

whut

 

That's because it has a car engine.

 

I totally get that. Anyone who owned a 1st gen Taco will agree.

Anyway it doesn't sound like you need armor, just more height in the rear. Which is just leaf springs. Especially if you plan on keeping the weight back there most of the time. You could try a 3-leaf AAL setup but you'll eventually end up with a full heavy spring pack. No alignment necessary for rear leafs.

THEN if you're doing a lot of crawling over gnarly stuff / want to spend more money, you can look at extended travel shocks, taller tires, sliders, maybe skids.
If you add a heavy front bumper and/or winch, you'll need duty coils + an alignment.

 

Drive a Hilux offroad and you'll get where I am coming from. Visibility from the driver's perspective is so much better. The cab of a Hilux seems narrower and the driving view forward is more 'cab forward' like they used to say about cars. It feels like you know much better where each wheel is and where the bumpers are in a Hilux. I feel like I need a spotter more often in the Tacoma. Maybe just me, but I was far more confident driving my old Hilux than I am with the Tacoma. The Tacoma does look better though, no comparison there. I just think Toyota designed the Tacoma more for curbside looks and less for offroad driver visibility. I love the Taco, but the difference was pretty apparent to me after thrashing both offroad and around town as a daily driver. I wouldn't want the Taco in Africa where I lived and worked. I wouldn't want the Hilux on my twice weekly commute through the city at 80 mph. The Africa-spec Hilux was geared pretty low, too low for a US market. It also came with vinyl seats, flooring, and manual locks and windows only.