ADS 1st Gen

First off, I know about the general ADS shock thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...shocks-information-pictures-bs-thread.341630/

- I've looked through quite a bit, but I don't have time to go through 225 pages, I'm sorry.

Looking for more specifics to 1st gens if anyone has any experience anyway.

I see a lot of the newer tacomas running this suspension. Lot of praise for ADS overall.

Think I'm finally going to redo the suspension on my rear and go with the shock relocation and a longer shock (most likely 10", clicker, reservoir). On the front 2.5, clicker, reservoir. I think having the clickers is especially critical up here where the oil is so cold that the truck rides even stiffer in the beginning.

I did see this https://adventuretaco.com/tacoma-rear-shock-relocation-scrapping-the-first-attempt-and-trying-again/
- which hey, if you're on here, great job, looks awesome.

I recently moved to Alaska and thought I heard of people having their shocks leaking? (currently have not noticed on my Kings so far, but haven't gone beating in the snow yet).

Did I hear that someone was having problems with reservoirs on the front rubbing with tires?

If anyone is in the Anchorage area, have you had any work done by GTF? (thinking of having them do my shock relocation)

 

AdventureTaco is @turbodb on here.
Just giving credit where it’s due.

 

I have ads all around with a relocation in the rear and triple bypasses. With the 2.5 cans I didn’t like where they were located and I was struggling with finding spots for them. Had them out up by my shock towers and had my uca make contact so now they’re tucked up under my skid plate.

 

Bypasses wow, I think 2.5's with resi should be fine for me, but did you do 10" shock or 12" in rear? Which leafs are your running? So sounds like you have 2.5 coilover with resi in front then but then no clickers? Sounds difficult to mount them. I have to have them somewhere accessible though so I can adjust with clickers.

How long have you had the shocks and what kind of climate? Overall impression?

 

Yeah the bypasses are overkill. It wasn’t that much more so I went with them and they’re 12”. I have deavers in the rear as well. The front were a pain from start to finish just because we don’t have a lot of room upfront to Mount shit. Where they’re at now would make clickers useless because I can’t get to them easily haha. I’ve had them for a little over a a year out in Las Vegas and I love them. I’ve had some “oh shit” moments and came out of them perfectly fine. I’ve had them worked on and tuned a bit so they’re dialed in.

 

This was my original setup but the van got moved up front.

 

Sub'd, im in the market for some ADS w/clickers also.

Would it be possible to get longer hoses made for the resi for a better mounting location?

 

Still looks awesome with those beefy bypasses in the back. Can you still mount your spare tire like that? (what I still want to be able to do as well)

Was that a bracket they provided for mounting the resi can in the front? I called Tyler yesterday at ADS he said they use to rub up front but they changed something so it isn't supposed to happen now... I think people were having it rub when mounted on frame forward of the shock tower too if I remember correctly.

With your Deavers (J59 right?), did you ever have them come up and hit the frame? (Happened with mine on drivers side, the bracket holding the leafs together furthest forward, dinged my frame when getting close to bottoming. Had to bend'em down so they wouldn't touch the frame)

What do you mean van moved up front?

I'm planning on going down there next month, gonna buy 4 all around. Good news is the 2.5 resi listed for $1500 is for a pair... thought it was each.

 

Yeah the spare had to come out. I have a tire gate so it wasn’t a big deal haha

yeah they were mounted forward and that’s where I was getting contact. Also, they give you shitty sheet metal screws to attach the brackets and my resi came off so make sure you nutsert it on or something.

my j59 did come up and the bolt from the springs hit the frame a bit. I put some new bump stops and stuff on so it hasn’t happened since. And “can was a typo haha I meant my resis got tucked up under my skid plate

 

Gotcha thanks. I'll see what they say as far mounting that can (I know what you mean) up front. Still undecided as far as 10" or 12" in the back, but guess it also depends on where and how the shock is located.

If shock is mounted outboard of frame, sounds like wheel spacers are required and I don't wanna do that. Inboard what I'm thinking, long as I can keep the spare in there, and don't have to put anything in the bed (like turbodb did)

 

I think if you keep them inboard and just hug the frame and Mount the resi out of the way then you should be able to fit that in there with the spare. I’d do the longer shock because you’re gonna be relocating them either way, just as long as you can keep it out of the bed with however you do it

 

Right on, I'll see what the shop says.

 

Debatable, you will never have position sensitive , in a non bypass shock. Meaning no matter how slow or fast the small bumps may be , you will never just “float over them” while still not worrying about bottoming out. Drive on a washboard dirt road with little tinny bumps over and over with and without bypass shocks ...

In other words bypass shocks don’t necessarily mean you can hit big jumps. It means you can hit big jumps AND still not ride like a cement truck.

 

To avoid rubbing, consider locating the reservoirs on top of the frame. Refer to the 2nd and 4th image in this post:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/winkle99-build-thread.511998/#post-16666179

 

Just checked your thread from the link. Any pics of how the rear passenger is mounted? Did you remove the spare from under because the resi didn’t fit?

 

Hmm interesting, still not ideal if trying to adjust clickers on the fly. Good idea protected though like that.

Those rear shocks, still long enough with those springs (do you know extended length eye-eye?). I miss pismo...

 

I have ADS with clickers on all 4 corners and love them. Here's how I mounted the coilovers using the provided hose length and resi mount with zero rubbing:

 

That looks better, i.e. adjustable. Were there holes in the frame that you mounted the bracket there to hold the can? - I just don't get why others didn't mount them there...

Do you have any base settings on the clickers for on the street vs the dirt that you have found to work? (even though you have 4dr)

 

I just drilled a few small holes for the bracket and ran the self tappers that come with the bracket into the frame.

There are actually a handful of other guys running their resi's like this on this forum. I can't remember their usernames at the moment though.

EDIT: @cynicalrider runs his resis like I do.

I usually run my coilovers at 10 clicks, and my shocks at 7 clicks, out of the 20 clicks they have. This works good for daily driving and most of the off-roading I do. If I go out to the desert I'll crank em up to 15-20 clicks, or if I have my RTT and canopy / bed rack on, the added clicks greatly help to maintain good handling with the added load.

 

Glad you found my write-up. By all means, shout if you have any questions about the setup. I did also put together this writeup that explains how to do it, so you can follow the steps to get a similar situation on your truck. Also has links to all the parts you need, etc.:

How-To: Toyota Tacoma Rear Shock Relocation – Determining Leaf Spring Cycle and Mount Positioning

Just so you know, I don't have my spare under the bed anymore - if you do any relocation that moves the shocks to the rear axle and a new crossmember, you will no longer be able to store the spare under the bed. Everyone who's done the relocation that way has the spare on a tire carrier or in the bed.

Lastly - there are other folks running similarly relocated rear setups on the forum:

• @drr - running 12" shocks (but is running chevy 63" leafs and a 1" body lift to get that amount of travel).
• @Digiratus (10" shocks with bypasses in the rear)
• @Speedytech7 (I don't know if he was the very first, but I based my relo on the good work he'd done before me, with his help)

And in the front, there are two basic configurations - putting the resis in the wheel well with the bracket from Matt over at MCM, or somewhere along the frame

I put mine on the top of the frame - works pretty well, though a bit more of a pain when you have to take everything out for service. I originally had them on the outside of the frame rails which worked great (no rubbing) with wheels that had 3.5" backspace. However, when I went back to OEM backspacing (4.5")my tires rubbed the resis, so I moved them to the top of the frame, basically inside the engine bay (behind the mud guards).

Folks who have them in the well:

• @Blackdawg
• @Digiratus