What if any, suspension upgrades needed for topper?

I have a 2019 double cab shortbed, will be used for light off roading, mainly fishing excursions in the mountains. Looking to go with a topper, are, snugtop, or an alu cab. Will I need any type of suspension upgrades? I will upgrade my tires, but do not want to go larger, do not want to mess with cutting truck to accommodate.

 

Might need to add a leaf, i lost an inch in the rear from from my ARE shell

 

This....

 

Required/needed? Nothing.

Now if you want to retain a certain rake or maintain the exact same rear bed height to 1/4" then you may want to consider a change. The change could be as simple as $50 or as involved as $2,000+.

 

I didn't think anything the toppers would be heavy enough to really affect the truck, but I have never put a topper on my tacomas before. Would you recommend bed stiffeners?

 

Do you do any towing/hauling with the truck?

 

Kind of depends on the topper, they can weigh up to 150 lbs. Adding windows, windoors, etc increase the weight.

 

A cap for a Tacoma weighs slightly more than a tank of gas. I've had a cap on every truck I've owned going back to the 1970's. Never noticed any difference.

 

I will not pull a trailer, and inside the topper will be coolers, luggage, and fishing gear. I am looking into windoors, and adding frontrunner roof rack to the topper, along with fly rod holder on top.

 

The bed will be empty 90% of the time. It will only be full of gear for trips.

 

I have an ARE CXHD with internal support structure. It's pretty heavy, and I carry heavy stuff on the roof rack. It bounced like a trampoline until I put on Ride Rite airbags. I also added bed bars and stiffeners.

 

I have an Alu-Cab and it’s only 125lbs. I barely notice it’s there.

 

I installed @At The Helm bedside stiffeners, which are made with bottle openers (FTW), then a edRug with Snugtop Sport Hiliner. With my bag of recovery gear and Hilift, I installed a pair of Firestone airbags and set them at 5psi each. I feel that the stock rear Bilstein HD OEM shocks need more rebound and compression damping and leaf springs are slightly overloaded.
A few months later I installed @Mobtown Offroad sliders and front recovery bar. Now, I know the HDs and stock springs are not happy with the added total weight. In the future, I will be installing heavier rear leaf spring pack, heavier front coils with new damper. I have my eyes on 81xx Bilstein, ADS, or BP51 with SPC upc.
Feel free to up to the 75 sidewall height, with the same width on our new tires with no problems whatsoever.

 

ARE cap here. Bed stiffeners for peace of mind. I went with Firestone airbags. SO NICE to be able to load it up and with a couple of quick puffs of air you can set the ride height at any rake you want. Those two things are all that 95% of the people on here with bed caps will ever really need. I aired it up ten months ago to level it out. No discernable change in height/rake since then. Install. Forget. Enjoy.

 

Hey @tonykarter, do you have a link to those Firestone airbags? And were you able to install yourself? Lookign to do a camper build myself on my 2014 DCLB Taco, and interested in getting the bags eventually.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Firestone-W217602407-Ride-Rite-Toyota-Tacoma/dp/B001FEOSJY

 

Don't need anything, Both my 2017 and 2005 went for maybe a week before I had canopies on them; no suspension mods on either and they ride great.





If you are looking at getting tires 265/70R17 fit stock and give it a chewy look..

 

Installation is not that bad. Have a solid plan for cutting the bump stop off, sawzAll with a new blade. And take 2 of every size wrench required under the truck with you...... The kit gives you prevailing torque nuts for EVERYTHING so it's a lot of knuckle busting in confined spaces.

 

AAL...camping gear and kayak

 

Thanks for all the input guys! I will post some pictures when she is all put together.