Rough Commute

Literally - I drive 4x week ~25 miles through a heavily winding and in places poor condition mountainous road, subject to many heavy bumps, etc. at 35 mph or so. ‘16 TRD sport DCSB. Stock suspension.

What should I should be considering as a minimum from a maintenance and/or suspension upgrade perspective to preserve the vehicle as best I can? SOL and just stay on top of tire changes/rotations/alignment?

Appreciative of any tips or experience.

Cheers.

 

How many miles on the truck? I wouldn't stress about it. Sound like what a truck is made for.

 

105k. Yes aware the the truck can handle it, just interested if there’s anything that can be done from a proactive perspective.

 

You could get some better shocks for that drive. 2016, I don't know how many miles, but probably about time anyway. The TRD Sport came with some fairly stiff riding shocks so a set of the Bilstein 4600, like the Off Road has, would probably be more comfortable for you. The truck is gonna be fine either way.

 

yeah, truck would be fine as is, but a boatload of options to make that ride more comfortable!

 

The Sport comes with the stiffest stock shocks of any Tacoma model. The Off-Road comes with the softest. I'd throw on a set of Off-Road take-off's from a newer truck and see how you like it. The install is relatively simple, they're cheap, and ride leaps and bounds better than the Sport Hitachi's.

 

Seems like a good direction to head. Thanks for the feedback.

 

It's a very common upgrade around here, and still all OEM so there are no surprises when installing. Usually a low mileage take-off set runs $3-400 fully assembled (~1k miles) to make it a quick coilover swap up front and a shock replacement in the rear.

I sold my take-offs to my boss to put on her SR5 and it made a world of difference in comfort.

 

this is where one might actually need shocks geared towards offroad.
Another couple thoughts;
a dedicated off road tire or A/T and air them down will help a lot.
Look at your bump stops and see if your truck is bottoming out, especially if you have any weight in the rear,,, those leaf packs are weak.

 

Test drive an OR at the dealer. If you like the difference, throw a set of Bilsteins on yours. Yours is probably due for a new set anyway.

 

Only been doing this drive for a year, but yes I agree they’re probably smoked by now..