Noobie building a 2021 trd off road

Yes that is exactly how an IFS lift works. You are just changing the ride height at rest. Every 1" of increased up travel comes at the expense of 1" of decreased down travel. I think the most common problem from lack of down travel is decreased ride quality. For example, with too little down travel, your suspension can have a hard time keeping contact with the ground when driving over dips. Adding extended length shocks can help with this. From the factory, the OR has about 3" of down travel. Lifting it 2" would normally decrease its down travel to 1", but adding extended length shocks gets you back to about 2" of down travel.

I suppose lack of down travel could also be a limiting factor when going over certain obstacles that require a lot of suspension flex to keep the tires on the ground. Luckily, the OR has a locker and ATRAC to help mitigate that limitation. Increased coil spring preload can help with this too, by pushing the tire down harder at full droop.

 

How did i miss this post. This was a thought i truly over looked.
I have never built up a truck so this is all new. What you say makes a lot of sense to me. Especially since i'm not planning on tackling difficult trails my first time around. I love the way you put it that the tacoma will go much farther than my courage haha! So true.
It would be a good way to appreciate the difference too once i do upgrade. Sounds like good learning hiPSI thank you my man!

 

What he said ^^^

NOT trying to "rain on your parade" but this seems like very solid advice since you said yourself earlier that "you are 100% NEW to off roading". Quick calculations (in my head guesses) are $15,000+/- AMERICAN $$ without any installation of your parts. That seems like a lot of $$ up front without knowing what you may really need??

Your truck, you build it for yourself - I understand the quote "buy once, cry once" BUT if you DON'T need it, that is $$$ to be used elsewhere.

Just my thoughts! I had bought 2 1/2" Kings with reservoirs, front and rear and add-a-leafs + UCAs to use on logging jobs before I knew what my STOCK SR5 could do with better tires......NEVER installed a single upgrade and sold all parts for a loss (slight to moderate).

 

Awesome, thanks for the explanation.
so i suppose since your ride height at rest is higher, that would give you more clearance as you are approaching an obstacle? not sure if that makes sense.
I wonder if less lift would give you better off road performance since you'd have better balance of upward and downward movement. I guess it depends, is upward movement much more important that downward when going off road?

 

I completely agree with the others that recommend driving it stock for a while and figuring out what you really need based on personal experiences.

 

You are not raining on the parade my friend, on the contrary i think i will be taking this advice with almost a sigh of relief.
honestly man, after re-reading his post a lightbulb went off in my head and i think i'll end up just upgrading my tires, getting winch, armour, so i wont hurt to much for making some nooby mistakes on the trails, and spending most on the tent, canopy, and those things

That said, this discussion has been invaluable for me.

 

I was primarily looking for ground clearance and tall tires so I could drive over shit. I talked myself into expensive shocks after I found this site. I'm not sure I really needed them, but I would have never known if I had never owned them (Welp, maybe I could have driven someone's truck that had them). They do make a noticeable difference in comfort and ability to go fast off road. My truck rides really nice over rough terrain at speed compared to a lot of other trucks and jeeps I've been in. I can confidently hit some pretty gnarly stuff at speed without worrying too much about breaking my spine. At the same time, my truck is no side-by-side or desert racer, nor can it touch the ability of a dirt bike to go fast off road.

 

haha seems easy to talk oneself into nice suspension lol i think i'm leaning now to the 255's as you suggested with stock suspension and assess after riding that what I want my upgrades to do for me. At that point i'll feel like i'll have some good knowledge to on how to achieve the target build. Good plan team!

 

The stock wranglers are not too shabby. I drove them for 5000 miles. They will get you many places and save you $$$ spent on gas. They are much better than the all-seasons I had on my 2016. I traded in my SR5 for an OR because I realized that what I really wanted was the off-road capable truck with a manual transmission that I had denied myself in 2016. I already had a plan to modify it, but I still drove it stock for 5000 miles (1/2 year).

 

I should say though that before coming to this site I had visions of 6" lifts and 40" tires and this site gave me a rude awakening to the amount of time and money that vision would require.

 

Figure out what u will need rather than what u want . Start small and work up to a build that suits your needs .

 

haha one day!

This seems to be a strong consensus opinion and will likely be the direction i go.

 

start small..

and watch out for kings... lots of reports of needing rebuilds every 30-50k miles. I went with Dobinson MRA's way more adjustability, and the extended travel are available in a 3" lift, also recommended with a 3" lift is the ECGS bushing. to fit a 33" tire you will need to do a BMC even with a 3" lift. 0 to +15 rim offset can help reduce this but also increases risk of contacting the UCA.. I went with a Method racing MR305NV 17x8.5 0offset & 265/70/17 duratrac's it fit the stock suspension.. only had to remove the front mud flaps, and cut a 1" piece out of the fender liner.. with my lift, I may be able to fit 285/70/17 with CMC/BMC and pinch weld...

wheel it stock for a little bit so you can test out what works, then you can appreciate what the add-ons and upgrades do for your capabilities. there will be thousands more in mods you will want to add.. see what others are running and you can see what they like/dont like. and see what works for you.. everyone's tastes & goals are different.

 

Bed stiffeners are another strong consideration if you get the bed cap/cover and a RTT.

 

yea will def do the bed stiffeners

 

Looks like a fairly well thought out build right off the bat.
My only recommendation would be to reconsider the KO2’s if your going to be building such an awesome camping rig and will be going into the backcountry of Alberta. Why limit yourself to an all terrain with a fairly tight tread pattern? Maybe you’d want to jump to an MT like Yokohama Geolander MT, Toyo MT’s, KM3’s etc
And welcome to TW!

 

thanks for your input man. My thinking with the AT was that i would likely drive this truck in the winter. From what i was reading the MT wouldnt be as good in the snow.
As you posted this i was just checking out the goodyear wrangler duratrac. Seems like a lot of people like this tire.

 

So i have duratracs and theyre awesome in the snow. In my opinion theyre the most aggressive all terrain, so they have decent road manners and are great off road. No complaints with the duratracs, and if you get c load theyre pretty light too

 

Word of warning...
Do not think that all ideas are good ideas! Listen to reason and be practical. AT tires are good for a lot of things. MT tires are good for one thing.

 

Where do you plan to go off-roading on trails in Alberta? Maybe others that have been where you plan to go could give you some insight as to what mods you would really require for the vehicle you purchased.