Truck Came in and I Actually Like the Stock Suspension

Love the ride of the stock suspension on my 22 dcsb sport. No changes for me, but I don't off road, rough unmaintained forest service roads during hunting season is about it. My plan is to hopefully keep this truck long term, and when tires wear out, add something like a 255/75 or 80, and slight lift if needed to clear them. I will cross that bridge when i get to it, and in the meanwhile, I will keep reading up on the great info found on TW, and enjoy the heck out of driving my new truck!

 

I have experienced this with the stock offroad suspension. I blew out the rear passenger shock on my first camping trip to Colorado. Drive for hours on end with a full camping load out on rough, washboard roads in July will overheat the stock shocks very quickly, especially if you don't air down. When the shocks get too hot to touch, the damping is gone, and you will bottom out on every little pothole/rut, and the sway will give you whiplash.

If you want to drive faster than 10 mph on rough roads, you will need better suspension. If you want to add more load capacity, you will need new leafs and coilovers. If you want to be able to control the sway in the back for a large variation in bed load, the rear shocks need clickers. If you want to minimize dragging the belly and rear bumper on rocks/ledges, a 2" lift can make a big difference.

That all said, a suspension swap that performs the way you want it to is no easy thing to accomplish, and aggravation and frustration are baked into the cake, you can't avoid it. Lots of time and research need to be put into it. If you let someone else do it for you, you are asking for trouble.

 

Yep can’t change the payload on the door tag. A lot of people on here trying to make the Tacoma something it is not, easier to buy a different platform.

 

if you want stiff, truck-like suspension, get an SR...lol

 

I do enjoy my stock OR.

I haven't blown the rear shocks; good point to air down and let the tires help out on the washboard.

If I did washboard year-round, Fox 2.5 with dual valving would be ideal. Ouch, $4000.

For my use, I'd be better spending the money on 5.29s

I'm still tempted, for payload, to get an 8' bed Tundra. Sigh, only SR5, but you can order the package with the neat features. 2022 4x4 double cab, 8' bed has an 1800-pound payload. 8' bed sucks for trails, but lots of room back there, and nice to have the payload. The 8' bed is for my weird bike habit. I typically ride more than I drive, 15000 miles on the truck in 18 months, majority of my miles are in Colorado, but I live in Texas (1600 mile round trip x 3). The dealer in Trinidad is always confused by Texas plates, purchased new from them!

 

What is that? It almost looks like a side car for a motorcycle.

 

I have a SR, it isn’t stiff…or truck like. Rides perfect to me. Now, my old truck with heavy duty suspension rides like a brick.

 

I only replaced my hitachi shocks with Bilstein 5500s all around. leaving my truck at stock height.
I swapped out the wheels and tires too.

 

Au contraire, I was under payload when my rear shock started leaking. It was a hot day though, and there were a lot of miles off pavement.

Even with 2.5" shocks w/ resi's that I have on my rig now, and driving well under payload and aired down, if one is driving unmaintained roads along say the border of northern Utah/Colorado in late July with temps above 100F, the shocks will get very warm. On stock suspension, one would have to stop every 30 mins and wait 30 mins to give the shock fluid time to cool down.

As for payload, anything larger won't fit on trails. My only other options are a Gladiator, ZR2 or Ranger, and the payload on the 4WD models isn't much better. Furthermore, if you load up the bed beyond 500 lbs on the stock leafs, well under payload, you will have negative rake. Toyota could give us a real truck stock (the Hilux has double the payload of a Tacoma), but they don't, so one has to make due with mods.

 

To answer og poster. You will take a loss. To tempt someone local it will have to be a deal since there are less buyers and they will likely be compromising on their wants.
Put a good price on it and will sell. Shipping the items will "hurt" $80-$150+usd. Good luck

 

They are low end shocks, won’t last long on washboards.

I was referring to your comment of adding load capacity you’ll need to redo the suspension, sure physically you can, but legally you can’t.

Me personally I am over wheeling with the truck, can fit a bike in tighter spaces than a Tacoma can only dream about. So no real reason to throw money at it, cause it will never be capable as a moto.

Shoot…almost bought a Subaru to yank the dirt bike trailer around, have a couple buddies who do that, but decided I really needed a bed, and a bit more tow capacity.

This guy sold his Tacoma to get an Outback, seems fairly happy with it too. So it isn’t always about running trails…a lot of us do, but with different machines. The vehicle is simply a means of getting the gear to the trailhead.

 

Streamlined recumbent bicycle, known as a Velomobile.

Open roads are easy to maintain about 25 to 30 mph, so toss my camping gear behind the seat and cover 100 miles in under four hours.

 

Stock tires, stock suspension 3 years still going strong. I prefer to wear out my equipment before I spend money upgrading it. Then again I’m not driving my truck around hoping someone will like it on my Facebook page….

 

I bought a 1st gen when they first came out. The truck was a TRD. After I drove it for years and a 100K miles... and sold it... I had the opportunity to drive one that wasn't a TRD and I liked it better. I'm not surprised you're having this dilemma. Do what you think best.

 

All fair points,but a midsize pickup is useful for far more mundane duties than that of a SUV or bike, if the rear suspension isn't crap.

To be honest, once I figured out the rear suspension was insufficient to support the rated payload, even as low as it was, and what I would need to do to fix it, I did consider selling the Tacoma. However, an honest assessment of midsize trucks on the market still led me back to a Tacoma, thanks in part to better aftermarket support. Stock ute options in the US is really pisspoor. I shouldn't need to buy a bloated Tundra/F150 to get a functional pickup.

If I can ever get away from the need of an open bed, I would give a 4Runner, GX or Bronco (once the bugs are ironed out) some serious consideration.

 

Oh I agree the payload on the Tacoma could be much better, my 1st Gen has the suspension done on it OME Dakar Heavies in the rear, with coil overs up front. Handled the Wildernest with all the gear quite nice. Rides like a brick though, was going to cut out the leafs and go linked, long travel up front…but then got to thinking, why toss that kind of money at it when the dirt bike is waaay more fun and I live for single track.

Kinda of the same looked at everything to fit the wants/needs, from Subarus to 1 Ton trucks, settled on the Tacoma because it seemed like a good do-it-all compromise vehicle. Have owned Toyota small trucks for over 30 years, so why change now? Originally was going to do the suspension on this new truck, because I wanted to get a pop up camper for it, but decided to go the camp trailer route instead. Tow rating is much better than the payload, really hard to stay legal with bed campers. Plus easier to hook up a trailer than messing around with a slide-in Four Wheel Camper. Looked wedge campers, but in reality the tuck spends more time commuting than it does camping. Don’t want that stuff on there full time, like all the Brolanders you see running around.

Tempted by the 8’ bed Tundra too, my 5X8 utility trailer solves that problem. So it is like having the bed of a full-size truck, without having to own a full-size truck. Heck of a lot easier to load too. Either going build an enclosure for it this winter, or buy an enclosed trailer.