Front End Too High w/Leveling Kit After Shocks/Struts Replaced

Last year I decided to have a 2 inch Rough Country leveling kit installed with my new Continental 265/70R16 Terrain Contact tires. When all was said and done... the truck was level.

At the annual inspection one one of the front shocks was leaking. Both the shocks and springs were replaced with KYB parts. The front end now sits noticeably higher than the rear end. I trust the shop, the part #'s were double checked. The rear leaf springs were replaced as part of the recall on them a few years ago.

So, I am looking at a block lift kit for the rear. Question is... how much to go with? I'm not well versed in these matters at all. Is this easy enough to do in your garage or do I really need the shop and their lift? I'm not sure the attached picture does it justice but the difference is pretty pronounced. TIA.

 

unless you LIKE riding in a chuck wagon, stay away from blocks...get a decent set of rear springs. and if you raised your front end 2 inches with new front springs, this was bound to happen as stock tacoma rear springs sag pretty quick and with a block, will flatten out even more, leaving your ass sagging again...and if youre going to tackle the rear springs, but didnt do your fronts, which are fairly easy, Im not sure you could do the rears as they tend to be more of a pain than the front most of the time. Not sure of your mechanical aptitude ( no offense meant) but having a shop do the fronts...you may want them to tackle the rear also. and if youre hell bent on blocks, measure from the middle of your front hub to the bottom of the fender in the front and then do the same for the rear and it will tell you how much to lift. so ifs its 22 in front, and 20 in the rear, you would think a 2 inch block would suffice, and it will until your rear springs sag more...hence why you should just get better rear springs!

 

Thanks for the input. My aptitude is pretty good, I just haven't ever done anything with shocks/springs. I will heed your advice and likely bypass the blocks.

 

then yep, get a good set of springs, and youll be golden. the rears arent super hard. Do you know WHAT they used for your front spring/shock combo?

 

I believe it was KYB.

Can I go with an add-a-leaf or do I need to replace the entire spring? As I mentioned, they were replaced under recall a few years ago.

 

You can go with an add a leaf, but if you haul anything, your springs WILL sag again, even the recall ones...and im not finding any KYB "lifted" springs??? I see replacement ones...did they use the rough country springs and just new KYB shocks?

 

Hopefully they didn’t put the spring perch upsidedown? That’s the only thing I can think of if it’s all of a sudden higher. But it sounds like you just had a spacer lift installed(leveling kit), not coil overs right?

 

I would not think so. Again, this is not my forte at all. I usually stick to under the hood items, although I did replace most of the suspension on an BMW I had a few years back. I took a photo, not sure it shows anything useful.

 

The leveling kit looks like it's just a spacer for the top of the shock assembly. I assume you added this because you had a pronounced back-to-front rake in the truck with the factory coil springs and leaf packs? With old front springs and new TSB leaf packs, you could end up with a bit of a rake. If you kept the spacers with the new KYBs (I assume you did) then putting on new leaf packs would be the best way to go IMO. I've got the same KYBs as you and I just put on a new set of Alcan leafs. In my case I was doing it for ride comfort, my TSB springs were already slightly inverted with nothing in the bed. Put anything significant back there and I was on bump stops.

A little rake is a good thing if you carry loads. The leaf pack has to respond to the weight, so you can go from slight rake to level, or level to squat with stuff in the bed.

There are quite a few threads talking about success with add-a-leaf tho, so check those out if you're thinking to save some coin. Doing the leaf swap is pretty easy all things considered, I took it slow and did it in an afternoon.

Regarding your picture, get a shot of the top of the shock/coil where it mounts to the body, that'll let us verify it's installed correctly.

 

Photo attached, thank you.

 

I don't see anything wrong with that. And yes, a leveling kit is spacers in front, blocks in back. I've read a lot of posts about suspension mods (reading TW is a morning ritual with my coffee) and it's been often said that blocks are no bueno, axle wrap being a common side-effect.

An add-a-leaf is an inexpensive thing to try but it looks like 1.5" is the minimum addition. Would that bee too much correction?

 

No sir, I think 1.5" would be just fine. Any brand/product recommendations? Thank you. And thank everyone who responded.

 

I did a Google search on the site for "add a leaf" and found at least three threads with folks recommending from Wheeler's Offroad. Also some votes for Toytec, not sure if it was for the or leafs. Definitely recommend that you read up on some threads to get the pros/cons from folks who've actually installed 'em rather than just read about 'em.

With stock rear shocks, an extra 1.5" of height could limit your travel during full excursion. Doing much of that kind of offroading?