Suggestions for 2nd Gen Tacoma Lift Kits?

Hey folks! Am looking for suggestions/recommendations (links would be appreciated) for good quality lift kits for my 2011 Toyota Tacoma, Base, 4WD. Admittedly, this is my first truck, and ergo, first time searching for lift kits, and am staggered at how many options there are available and what to go with for what I'm looking for.

Essentially, I'm wanting to lift my truck 3"-4" in the front and rear, where they are both level. I've seen many kits where the rear is 1" shorter than the front, and I'm assuming that's because of the weight of the hood, and all would end up level after lifting the front 1" higher - but I'm not sure.

Looking for advice/recommendations on everything I would need to lift the front and back, level, at 3"-4". Don't do much offroading, but could get into it at some point. Most of my driving is highway. I've seen a lot about Toytech and bilstein, but even then, there are so many to choose from. Budget is around $1-$2k, ideally staying more towards the middle ground. Thanks team!

 

I got a ~3” lift by swapping out all suspension components for the trd sport 3rd gen ones, leaves included ($280CAD all in for myself so about as cheap as you can get). I felt huge improvements from this as my factory suspension was clapped out at 90xxxkms (old leaves were sagging too) and the new complete set only had 7000km. I would’ve preferred the yellow and blue billies from the off-road model but the blue hitachis were what was available in my area in CL.

To reach 3” all around its coupled with an inch spacer for the front and Firestone ride-rite airbags w/daystar cradles in the rear which have restored the slightest rake as well.

Overall very happy with the setup for now as I’m more of a camper than off-roader looking to tackle gnarly obstacles. I’ve incurred enough damage to learn beating my truck isn’t for me haha.

If I were to add one thing to this it’d be archive garages hammer hangers to replace the flimsy factory rear leaf brackets.

Note: The airbags felt bouncy until I added a 33” spare to the original spare location and a bed mat to add weight to my empty bed (I have a steal rear bumper this probably makes a difference too). Anyways it’s a non issue for me because doing the above helped a lot with bounciness and I’m only going to be adding more weight in future mods (bedrack, RTT, etc). Could also air down a bit more the bags are sitting at 15psi currently.

Keeping my suspension cheap has let me focus my funds on other mods until the day comes that I fully dive into off-roading, at that point I may look for upgrades.

 

Jesus. What?

use the search bar at the top right. There are thousands of pages answering all of your questions. There are a plethora of great options. Just google Tacoma lift and you’ll find endless options.

bilstein toytec dobinsons are a few

 

Problem?

 

Thanks for this!

 

No problem! I’m more than happy with it so far. Not sure who pissed in this other fellas cornflakes..

 

I think you quoted the wrong guy, either that or you just are a retard with a short temper.

 

Lol don’t do that. Using airbags to gain a lift in the rear is going to ruin your ride. You’ll hate how stiff it is. Bags should be used for counter acting the weight added with a load or a camper. Using bags to lift your truck and then countering the shitty ride by adding weight to the rear is ridiculous.

lifting a Tacoma any higher than 2” will require new UCA’s and a new leaf pack in the rear.

you also can’t lift a Tacoma 3-4” with a spacer lift. The kits you’ve seen that lift the front an inch more than rear are because trucks have a rake and doing so will level it.

if your budget is 1-2k it’s definitely do able but keep in mind tires are expensive too and you’ll definitely need UCA’s to maintain proper alignment.

 

I was quoting him because his response was ridiculous and horrible advice.

 

So break it down like a regular person numb nuts. “Jesus what” = passive aggression right out the gates lmao.
He’s right though I forgot to mention I got SPC light racing UCAs too. Just waking up I forgot to mention a part haha.

Please tell me oh omniscient and omnipotent one! Why is it silly to level out with bags when I am in fact building my truck to have weight in the back?? It’s only a matter of a few months that I will wait before I cop RTT with tonneau and rack or a cap and roofrack. Undecided on that yet.

 

Got it. Thanks for your response here! I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a lift that made the front higher than the back, because I am personally not a fan of that look. I've also seen some lifts that come with replacement UCA's. I'm assuming if I were to get a kit with those included, that would essentially be the whole package that I would need. Now it's just a matter of finding a quality one, for both the front and rear, within that price range. That's sort of why I was looking for recommendations based on 3" lifts that people on the forum have put on their trucks, and what they've used.

 

Air bags are meant to support added weight on your truck. They’re not meant to be the primary suspension component. Using them to lift your truck 3 inches is completely negating the factory leaf springs. Hence your shitty stiff ride. The proper route you should have gone is replacing the leaf pack with a bigger set that will lift the truck and support whatever weight you’re planning on adding to the truck full time. Then if you have a tent or camper or 50 cal turret that you carry around sometimes, the air bags would be there to air up to support that weight.

 

That’s where you’re wrong. All my parts together bring it to 3” all around.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/review-3rd-gen-suspension-on-2nd-gen.542843/

anyways I’m perfectly aware I could have a more cushioned ride throwing several grand at it but funds aren’t unlimited and I’m choosing to make it more capable as an overland vehicle so I’m spending in that direction. I’ll be sitting pretty with a big ol smile on my “stiff ride” over looking the beautiful mountain landscapes BC has to offer

 

The guy saying you can't lift a Tacoma over 2" without UCAs is patently false.

I've been running a 3" above-the-strut spacer lift for 5 years with zero problems and my Tacoma only sees the highway very rarely. It is offroad more than on. Failing that you can run Bilstien 5100s at max lift, but, that harshes the shit out of your ride due to preloading the spring. It works, though.

And yes, my alignment is well within specs. I just put new LCAs on after the bushings shit the bed at 227k miles, and it lined right up again.

In the rear I have whatever old man emu springs it took to give me 3" lift with 600lb constant load in the rear - which I am over, and still get 2.5" lift. For many people an add-a-leaf will be sufficient.

 

OP look up ECGS bushing replacement if you’re going through with the lift. It’ll delete some vibes you’re gonna get and it’ll be cheaper to do at the same time as the suspension install if you’re going to a shop

 

Lol the leaf springs are the same for 2nd and 3rd gens but you keep doing you.
OP if you want to maintain a quality ride then don’t listen to this guy. There are a lot of quality, cost friendly kits available for your truck.

 

This I agree with lol

 

This sounds interesting - the set up you have. Would you be able to post the links to what you used? Do you have a picture of your truck? And just to confirm, you didn't need to replace the UCA's?

 

This guys says this but will never admit that his truck rides horribly and wanders all over the road.
A 3” spacer lift? Why even have a front coil at all?

lol OP I don’t know what kind of guy you are, but there are two ways of going about things. You can do it correctly with kits that were engineered to lift your truck and maintain quality performance, or you can cheap out and wonder why your truck rides extremely worse than stock. Your call.

 

I'm honestly completely new at this, so I'm just open to suggestions. I would prefer to have an actual kit that was meant for my truck, and will accomplish a 3" all-around lift while maintaining the way the truck rides. However, I know there are other components that go into it (i.e. UCA's), but admittedly am not 100% up on that knowledge. Any recommendation links to kits that would work for the truck, front and rear, within the budget, would be handy!