Shock Relocation and General Ride Quality Questions

Hey guys! Earlier this year I picked up a 2014 TRD Off Road DCSB. 70k miles, bone stock, generally in great shape. I’m planning out next steps now and trying to get a grip on things and curious about suspension options.

I am coming from a lifted 3rd gen (02) 4Runner on 33s running Bilstein 5100s. Generally speaking no matter the spring or tire setup I hated how it rode both on and off-road, so my biggest concerns lie in ride quality followed by capability. The stock suspension on the Tacoma has already been a massive improvement in my eyes (on road only, haven’t made it out on the trails yet).

After looking through some very well thought out build threads and other discussions on here I have come to the following conclusions on setup and curious what you alls thoughts are, going for no more than around a 2” lift. Truck will be a daily, likely on 35s, so tire clearance is a priority. Trails are 75% unmaintained Utah backroads which I would like to carry speed on comfortably and 25% technical routes, nothing crazy but I would love to crawl more and articulation couldn’t hurt. On the road the bed will likely mostly be empty save wintertime sandbags, offroad trips are almost always weighed down by backpacking/canyoneering/mountain biking gear and friends, so considerable weight in the bed then.

Front:
I have all but decided on King 2.5 EXT Travel with remote reservoirs + SPC/Light Racing UCAs. Durobumps bump stops.
I don’t really see a need for adjusters in the front, and have heard good things about Kings in terms of ride quality. Not dead set on Kings but a 2.5 extended travel coilover seems to be accepted as the way to go. SPCs chosen as the adjustability will help to fit tires. I am curious what everyone’s experiences are with this or similar setups in terms of ride quality.


Rear:
The rear I have much less solid ideas on, as I am less familiar with leaf sprung trucks in general. I am fairly confident I will be going with Archive Garage Hammer Hangers as well as some sort of U bolt flip, likely durobumps in the rear as well. am much less sure on shock setup and leaf options. Looking into archive or OME Dakar leaf kits, but not sure where to start. Split between an archive garage shock relocation kit vs extended travel shocks in the stock location vs standard travel shocks in the stock location. Either way a remote res with adjuster seems like a good idea considering the intermittent weight that will likely be in the bed. Flex has never been an issue in my past and I’m not sure how much benefit a shock relocation (whether that be a 2.0 or 2.5) would get me. Seems like quite a hassle and big financial commitment, but I have yet to read a bad word about the relocation. As much as I would love to save some money I couldn’t stand how the 4Runner drove and am absolutely in a buy once cry once mindset. What are everyone’s thoughts/experiences?

thanks!

 

Welcome to Tacoma World. You have a good start to your plan, but I'd suggest reading and then reading some more of threads on these forums about what it takes to fit 35" tires. Short story: it may require more work than you think. Add re-gearing, a cab mount chop/relocation, and lots of other massaging and trimming to your list. Personally I'd do the rear shock relocation as you'll get more out of it for the long run. Ain't exactly cheap to go from stock to 35s. Good luck.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:tacomaworld.com+fitting+35s

 

Thanks for the resources! I’ll have to look into it a bit further. I’m pretty aware of the front end cutting/bashing/alignment tricks that go into 35s, that was my plan on the 4Runner before selling it, and it seems like a pretty similar process.

 

The best place to start is with all the info. provided by JDFab. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...x9HBVdHcJ&cshid=1706025380691129&opi=89978449 You don't need to read the whole thread but at least the first few pages. www.jdfabrication.com not only shows you what they have available, but they give good explanations as to why they do it the way they do it.

 

A 35 inch spare will not fit underneath in the spare tire spot.

 

Great resource!! I really like the look of those UCAs, especially at a similar price to SPC.

Well aware of that, more concerned with suspension at this time.

 

Would you consider 33” with lower load rating? It will fit in spare tire area. Front suspension looks good, just make sure spring rated for any mods you do (bumper, winch, extra battery). For the rear, I lucked out with the custom deaver leaf packs. Years ago I reached out head strong off-road and they made a recommendation which fit my weight needs (a topper, armor and bed slider). I wanted a little more lift so I added the archive hammer hangers.

Things I tried but didn’t like:
—Cooper st maxx (heavy, jarring ride), went with wildpeaks and never looked back
— add a leaf
— Firestone air bags


Edit: meant to click post over an hour ago.

 

same boat.

I’ve got:
-6112/5160
-Icon RXT
-ext SS brake lines
Couple more things
-Archive U Bolt flip with yellow bumps
-hammer hangers with crossbar waiting for install

I don’t really have complaints about the ride and the shocks seem to be maintenance free. Straight install without customization.

I don’t know what benefit if any there would be with better shocks. Like Fox with reservoirs and Accutuned.
And rear relocate such as 2.5 Archive and figuring out what spacers are needed to clear that.

Or a different better Bilstein. Both may need tuning and rebuilding more often.

for the high cost I don’t know if it’s worth it. Probably depends on if you can afford it or not. I don’t have spare thousands burning a hole in my pocket now so I’m not doing it.

and, truck needs other things more than that.

the roads I drive cars on, my truck rides better on. Friends notice the same thing comparing their cars on the same road.
If it was good enough for Toyota to put on TRD Pro 4runner I can’t really complain.

could a pricier setup ride more? Sure. There’s long travel, wider track, longer CV axles with stronger joints, etc
More work and costs more.

also OP, don’t just look at the shocks. Look at what they mount to. The cam tabs are weak. If yours are not messed up now is a good time to look into things like TC tabs, Marlin reinforcement, checking the hardware isn’t siezed, refreshing LCA’s, etc

common mod is better UCA’s
spindle and steering work such as gusset, etc
front bearings and mod or upgrade CV boot if needed, ECGS bearing for lift, etc

if you’re gonna have lift and bigger tires may as well do DRT CMR first.

don’t know what made you pick King. From what I’ve heard, they don’t ride as well as people expect
and are only better at slamming into huge things, with Fox otherwise being better.
That’s kind of what they’re made for
but the Tacoma use depends on the owner
Is it trailered to dunes
Or is it daily driven and does off road trails. Those seem like two different things.
Ones a 4x4 that goes up mountains and carries gear. The other is 2WD going fast in the desert.

JD Pivots are stronger and shift caster forward. Raises clearance. It’s one of if not the only solution that does that. If you consider that, then why not match other parts to that such as their UCAs.

you say your 4runner didn’t ride well on 5100s. Yeah that’s why. Because it was on 5100s.

if you say your location or post in regional I’m sure you can find someone with x setup to go for a ride and see how it feels, if not finding a TRD Pro at a dealer yourself. 4runner is different rear suspension coils instead of leafs but in my experience the ride and result of 6112/5160 is the same.
That’s probably one of it not the most budget decent shock kit there is now.

I’ve heard it can if you let the air out and squeeze it with a ratchet strap but yeah I don’t plan to try that because
1. No room if you put Archice HH with crosstube anyway
2. Kind of defeats the point since it’s aired down and TPMS light on
3. Swingout or something

 

2-3" will be your lift range. I honestly like the adjustments. The kings will come right in the middle and are pretty solid but the adjustment was nice but to your point its not required. 2" lift w/ 35's you will be cutting a bunch of stuff to fit so the SPC's will only get you so far.

Plan to do all of the fenders, pinch, body mounts etc. I ran mine with king OEM ext front and reg rear this way then moved to a relocate i the rear. Ride quality was good no issue there. Any quality will come down to the valving and what you add to your truck to affect its use.

King, SPC, Archive rear will be a nice setup. If you do not want to deal with the work on the relocate the OEM king setup will run really nice. Ran that for a long time.

The Kings will vary much on the valving you get and may seem stiff at first as they like to get moving. You can always go with OEM and see how it rides and performs. I am in the mindset of buy once cry once but I also do not get to see if what I chose was really needed or not. The mid travel King setup for me was great.

 

Thanks for the info. Great to hear such good things about the Bilstein setup. Reinforcements are definitely on my radar, especially considering the unmolested shape of the truck as it sits. I've read some threads on here where guys swear by King's with a similar usecase to mine, so that's why I have leaned towards them. That and they seem to be a bit more common in the used space around here (SLC). The JD pivots are definitely on my list, didnt see that as an option earlier. And yeah, just using this as an opportunity to complain about the 4runner, haha.

 

it’s baffling to see Kings on a stock tab setup known to have issues that didn’t even get $100 of reinforcement meanwhile it’s got $3k shocks slamming into things

5100 is known for relatively poor ride quality so it has more to do with 5100 than the 4runner.

I had 5100’s. Didn’t ride well. Got 6112. Rides better. The shock changed, not the vehicle. It’s thicker with more fluid.

just saw a video of some fancy OME setup with reservoirs that looks better. But it also costs more.

If you catch your tabs in time before any damage is done, then they can be reinforced ahead of time which is cheaper than replacing them. But will not change the caster geometry and wheel position.

knew a Toyota tech. Said the tabs are so fragile that the dealer alignment procedure is to jack up the front of the truck when doing alignment changes to take the load off of them. Making alignment more of a PITA.
Which is insane considering a regular sedan gets adjusted at ride height with no issue.

plenty of reports of folks having theirs damaged just from a random shop trying to align it at ride height. Or bending from off roading.

 

Yeah I am. Not dead set of 35's as is, just preliminary plan. Definitley more concerned with suspension setup. I loved the wildpeak 285s I had. Great tires.

Great to hear! How did you feel the relocated changed the ride and flex of the truck? I can only imagine that the flex was much better, a guy local to me has stock location kings (remote res, adjusters, accutuned) for sale that I might grab for cheap. What length ext brake lines did/do you run? Would certainly save some cash but not sure I want to forego the relocation. Any further thoughts?

 

Yeah I've already deemed the TC reinforcement as mandatory. Good to know that is such a crazy weak point!

 

TC replaces the tabs
Marlin is an entire reinforcement and may be better but costs more than just tabs
Both require welding

I’ve heard the TC tabs and Marlin reinforcements can stack/work together

don’t know if they should be
Marlin likely requires the stock tabs be unbent to fit along them
Vs the TC tabs (may or may not be stronger) simply look like replacements
In the event of bent tabs, to grind them off and weld on new ones

as Toyota likely does not sell replacements

in stock form, the tabs themselves as well as the mounting from the frame are both weak

unless maybe they don’t work together (at least not without grinding) and the more material and cost of Marlin makes it look like the better choice (assuming stock geometry) due to larger reinforcement.

 

The relocation was great it will come down to the shocks and tunning. My tunning was off with the weight of my truck but only had issues once I replaced my leaf pack with a heavier one. Rode pretty solid with the old EMU Dakar setup. I have Deaver on there now. I wanted to try Archives but at the time they did not have a pack that fit what I needed.

If you do go relocate I would go with the archive setup. It's some work, but it's not as heavy as a custom relocate, and shops that do it have it down and can do it without being super expensive. I have a one off setup and it was easily 3x the cost of the archive setup. In retro I would have done the archive setup for this OR the JD fab setup.

Your brake lines will depend on what setup you do in the rear. I have either 4 or 6" in the rear I went a tad longer for future plans.

 

https://warfabarmor.com/products/2-3g-dcsb-tacoma-rear-3-link-kit

 

All in! I have def looked into that setup.

 

looks like JD has a kit too
and possibly a beefier rear axle
I know ECGS offers a beefier rear axle

not sure if that’s worth changing at that point away from stock 8”/“8.4”

 

Def. JD does a ford 9. Good for desert fun.

I have a Diamond 10.5 Tundra that's going in so def not worried about the rear anymore. Blew my rear every couple of years and the last one after we noticed the housing was bent so forced something I knew had to be done. Would have been ideal to do it all at once but if I go with link kit that is way down the road. For now just trying to get it back on the trails.