Lifting that Long Bed (increase my payload by lightening my wallet)

Well I basically did everything backwards. I bought wheels before tires, and tires before suspension. Going to 33's, on 17's, and looking to add a nice suspension lift that will perform well off road with a rig penciled out to be near GVWR with two people.

Committed to a 2"-2.5" lift and replacing UCAs, front shock/coil, rear shock, and doing something with the leaf pack. Any suggestions on WHAT to get, and tell me more about WHY you chose your setup.

Here's a picture of the before:

Spoiler

 

King/elka/fox along with Deaver leaf springs. Camburg ucas.

 

As a wise man told me once, Just buy kings since that’s where you will end up anyway.

 

it all really depends on your budget.

Bilstein 5100 and add a leaf- $1000ish
Bilstein 6112/5160 with a add a leaf - $1600ish
icon stage 2 - $2200ish
kings with a rear leaf pack - $4000


or you can piece together a kit like me. i bought my kit used and here is a price break down. got it all from craigslist and on here
Bilstein 6112/5160 - $500
OME medium leaf pack - $400
JBA high caster heavy duty UCA - $300

mind you all these parts were used and the sellers were telling me that they all had under 10k miles on them.....but do they really?

do i love the setup that i have? the bilsteins are little firm on the roads and they were very firm off road with the 650lbs springs. once i installed the 600lbs springs, it was much better.
the OME leaf pack? much better then stock with 2" blocks that i had. and also better then my icon add a leaf that i did later on.
the UCA i think was the only one that i question. my truck is lifter 2.75 inches and i noticed no diffrence between stock and JBA uca.

 

Go balls deep and throw a full JD Fab setup on.
Deaver 62" HD70s on JD Fab mounts
King shocks on JD Fab +2 kit with LCA Pivots, Slide Rack, Howe Pump and Inner fenders. 35s.

 

Whats the benefit of going to longer leafs and changing the mounting?

 

Travel, payload. Say Chevy 63" leaf spring swap you can go big on payload. The 62 swap gives you lots of flexy up and down, 17" on my truck with a 14" travel shock due to geometry.
but really this setup is big money, toy stuff rather than practical. I still daily mine with the 62s though, but I offroad and plan to do a little speed fun too.

 

https://jdfabrication.com/collections/gen-3-tacoma-16-6-lug here's the 3rd gen section.
Here's the post with the info on the rear kit: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...s-now-with-polls.536799/page-46#post-25469677
and here's my write up on the install on my long bed:

 

Looking at your build thread looks like you went for a spring under axle setup vs the stock spring over axle. And cut and welded on new shock towers in the rear. Compared with a bolt on kit, what are the advantages of going through that hassle (ie. how much travel do you gain, and what are the trade-offs?)

@Slashaar lol I was literally just looking at that post

 

More droop i believe

 

SUA gives you more UP travel vs SOA. I'm building my truck as a jack of all trades since I daily it, rock crawl, and want to get into some jumping. SUA gave me the best of both worlds with tons of flex and plenty of uptravel while it also let me get away with a shorter stroke shock and still manage 17" of travel at the wheel. Overall, 63 swap is cheaper, easier to replace, but it requires more measuring work whereas the 62 swap was a chop and bolt in solution. If I get a daily later on, I also have the option to notch the frame and gain another 2-3" of up travel out of the 62 swap.

SUA is good for flex, and with an HD pack from deaver you can still run heavy loads/tow, but if you're looking at increasing payload capacity and towing capability, 63 swap SOA would be the path for you.

 

SOA gives more droop, SUA gives more up travel.

 

With the same springs, how would the axle location make any difference to up/dn travel from ride height?

 

63" and 62" springs are longer than OEM

 

What's that have to do with SOA vs SUA?

 

@81Trekker can explain better than I can.

 

Eibach pro
Deaver U402 leaf pack
285/75/16
Stock UCA
Bora .75 spacer

 

I have the short bed but have a Voodoo Blue TRD OR as well. Fox 2.5 w/ reservoirs front and rear, Dirtking UCAs, and Icon 1.5” AAL

 

Here's how I did it after much research