Lifting Reg Cab 4-banger 5 lug

After searching for a few hours I'm unable to find a cohesive thread that discusses lifting a 4-cylinder regular cab. And by cohesive, I mean a discussion of the types of lifts, where to get parts, results, etc. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. If not...

I'm considering lifting my 2010 Regular Cab largely for appearance purposes. I do almost no off-roading and only haul a few hundred pounds occasionally, at most. I'm not picky about ride stiffness or handling and will likely mod the truck further in the future (to include larger tires, eventually).

So far I'm planning on Bilstein 5100s in the front and AAL in the rear. Haven't purchased anything yet. Questions are:

Can I use the 5100s?
Do I need the adjustable Bilsteins?
Do I need Bilsteins for the rear as well?
Best vendor shipping to AZ?
Do I need AAL if doing Bilsteins?
Which AAL is best / does it matter?
Best vendor for AAL?
What tire size / wheel combination can I fit?
What can I expect out of these mods?
How much lift will this gain in the front and rear?
Any other concerns I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance for all the help guys.

Devin

 

your a 5 lug so the 5100 wont work for you. Look into fatbobsgarage for a full lift kit

 

http://store.fatbobsgarage.com/toyota-tacoma-sst-275-lift-kit-2wd-2005-2009-5-lug-p4235.aspx

 

there are pretty much 3 options for 5 lugger: Spacer(Fatbob's, readylift), UCA's with coilovers or Long Travel

They are in order from cheapest to most expensive, fat bobs is the cheapest.

With the spacer and UCA's you can run up to a 31x10.5, but with aftermarket bumper you can run a 33x10.50

now if you only want it for looks i recommend the fatbobs with an AAL, only because you wont offroad and wont need the new coilovers which are very expensive, there are a few people on here running the spacer lifts, look up nesselerah (sp?), and stupid hurts and 08whitetaco they are just a few that are running the spacers up front

hope i could help out! good luck with your search

 

So 5100s are out, but is sticking with stock shocks in the rear the best option? A cursory search on Fat Bob's website shows they don't offer kits for this model with shocks, just spacers and AAL.

I've heard 33x10.5s will fit with a spacer lift but will rub at full extension. Assuming I stick with 31s, the stock wheels will do just fine?

Little / no off-roading means no coilovers / long travel and that's fine with me, but will I need upper control arms with spacers for 31 inch tires?

So far it's looking like one of the spacer lift kits with AAL; just narrowing down which one. If I want at truck with actual balls I should just trade up to a TRD model or PreRunner at the very least. Until then, I'll relegate myself to a modest lift and exciting MPG mods.

Thanks.

 

you dont need uca's with the spacer lift, here is everything you need ( http://store.fatbobsgarage.com/toyota-tacoma-2wd-5-lug-suspension-lift-kit--2005-2009-p7611.aspx ) in order to lift it. its cheaper than the readylift and comes with rear shocks. also if you dont want those shocks, you can get the stock trd REAR shocks from a 4x4/prerunner and they will fit.

some people run 31x10.5 on the stock wheels but most tire manufacturers recommend like an 8" wide wheel

 

Will the front trd shocks work too?

 

the front will not