Spacers vs Suspension Lift

First time posting on here and looking for some help. I have a 2014 Toyota Tacoma. I want to do a two inch lift and I am stuck between spacers/aal and suspension. I do light off roading(drive through fields on the farm mostly), but it is my daily driver. I am not sure which would be right for my truck. I would love if anyone could offer me a suggestion before I purchase something that I will regret later.

 

I put spacers on my 4Runner. They gave me a "look" that I liked, but 6 mos. later I had a lift. If you do a lift 1st, you will only have to the job once.

 

A lot of people talk trash about spacer lifts, I’ve had them on a couple of trucks while I saved up for a real suspension lift and I never had any issues.

I did plenty of light trails/off roading, similar to what you described and I never regretted having the spacers. I would say if you just need a little more clearance, or you’re doing it for looks, a spacer lift is fine unless you plan on doing real off roading or wheeling.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/spacer-lifts-how-bad-are-they-really.543584/

@Rock Lobster this further proves my previous suggestion

 

You get what you pay for.

Will a spacer destroy your truck? Probably not. Will it ride like crap on a 9 year old suspension? Probably.

It's due. Change the shocks out.

 

Also, any brands you would recommend? I’ve seen bilstien, Eibach, and OME mentioned a bit. Rough country any good?

 

I think they're all decent options for what you want to achieve.

 

Spacers really aren't as bad as people make them out to be - unless you think they're going to turn your truck into a rock crawling, desert running beast. It'll accomplish the look of a lift and ride pretty close to stock most of the time. On normal streets and highway driving you probably won't even feel the difference. But, like the others pointed out, you may be on old, worn out suspension that could use a refresh anyway.

A great compromise is to just get 3rd gen suspension with a small spacer. If you do 3rd gen Offroad coilovers + a 3/8" spacer you'll end up with 1.75" of lift and lower mileage shocks for cheap - assuming you can find a good deal. I got stock TRD Offroad coilovers, UCA's, rear shocks and leaf springs for $150. Combine that with a 3 leaf AAL and you'll have a great, entry level setup.

I swapped out a 3/1 "leveling" kit that was on my truck when I bought it with the above mentioned TRD Offroad setup and it was great. But I quickly upgraded when I found some Bilstein TRD Pro suspension for a good deal. And that was a BIG improvement.

All kinda depends on what you want to get out of your truck and how much you want to spend. There's definitely something to be said for "buy once, cry once" but if you're a noob (like me) then there may be some benefit to stepping up as you learn what you like/want rather than just running out and dumping $5k on some gnarly King setup.

 

All depends on what you want to spend. And what you are looking to achieve but I will say as another has said its a 2014 its probably time to replace shocks anyways so you might as well go with the lift option. Just do your research as to what you want. Can't go wrong with Bilstein and honestly that is probably the lowest I would go. You can check out donut tv on YouTube where they did a high $ low $ series with a Tacoma which was interesting.
There are many vendors on here that are good I personally chose Headstrong Offroad when I did mine 3 years ago and they were extremely helpful. Just do your research and educate yourself as to what you are wanting use the search function in the forum as there are a million threads on this exact thing. Google is even good at linking to threads if you search google for a topic. Good luck and have fun.