Lifting My 3rd Gen Tacoma

Yeah all the videos I watched, they just had to bend the pinch weld, but none showed anyone having to beat the inside of the fender wall in from inside the engine compartment. (Just below the power-steering reservoir.) great idea to grind the bolt flanges down!

 

Did you buy your vehicle used? I ask because the nut, not the head of the bolt, on mine was located just below the PS reservoir. Thus, I took the bolt out in the opposite direction not needing to bend that area. I had always though Toyota assembled the frame upside down and then turned it and put the cab on and that is why the nuts were at the front of the vehicle.

 

Yes, I did buy it used. But yours seems to be the anomaly. In all the videos I seen, they pulled the bolt forward, and the nut was to the back of the vehicle. Mine had the original UCA’s.

 

For sure I’ll definitely check with that before. I had a few shops quoted and I had one I was going to go with on a vehicle I no longer own (sold before I got the chance to do a lift) so I’ll probably try them again.

 

Well, my memory could be wrong, or our vehicles could be manufactured in different plants with different processes. My truck, a 2021, was manufactured in Guanajuato. Where was your 2017 made? A vin decoder will assist in this.

I do not recall the actual disassembly of the UCA, like you I recall it being miserable. I don't remember which side, but on one side I cut the bolt 4-5 times, could not believe how easy they were to cut, if I had thought about it it would be less cuts. If I had to guess it was the driver's side. I had heard here on this site that cutting was often easier, so I purchased and used the new bolts. In those TW thread discussions, I recall that the bolts were put in upside down. I will be on the lookout at other Guanajuato trucks now to see how they are assembled. I don't recall viewing any videos prior to my work, but the ones I just viewed did indeed have the bolt head up and the nut down.

 

idk why everyone goes through so much trouble with removing that bolt. i simply took some channel locks. went in through the wheel well. rolled the sheet metal back towards me and slid the bolt out. took literally under 10 seconds.

 

Not all of our trucks are the same it seems. You would not of done that with mine. The passenger side bolt was dead in line with the inside wall of the fender. I had to cut the pinch weld and beat that wall back a good half inch. But the driver side was easy, like you experienced. However, now that I think about it, there were two accident reported on Carfax on my Tacoma. So maybe something got shifted I.e the fender wall.

 

yes it was dead in line on mine aswell. its thin sheet metal and bent out of the way with some force using large channel locks. just had to clear head of bolt not the washers.

 

You are not understanding. I am not talking about the metal that you bent back with channel locks. The metal that I am talking about is the fender wall. It’s the body of the truck. You can’t even get channel locks on it it’s smooth metal. And only can be access from the inside of the engine bay.

 

10/10 do not lift pre larger tires. It's the goofiest looking thing. My 265/70's barely made it a week or 2 before the 285's went on.
Second if you just want to lift add a front clamshell bushing to the list and be ready to re place your cv axle boots on a semi regular occurrence. The Pros vs cons on a lift for simply looks isn't worth it especially on a daily in my opinion. Next do you think you really need top tier race shocks that tend to take a fair bit of extra maintenance? 6112/5160 maybe better suited to a primarily on road build with the style of valving and the lower shock eyelets being a rubber bushing.

Personally I would roll those dollars into a 0 offset wheel with a 265/70r17 AT and maybe a set of skid plates. That upgrade will get you substantially better performance return on your dollar. These trucks are more capable than what 90% of us are willing to actually try.

 

Bilstein 5100's or 6112/5160. Keep it under 2" of lift, keep the factory control arms and add a leaf or block for the rear.

17x8.5 zero offset wheels. 275 or 285 70 17 tires.

 

I have been thinking about how much I really need a lift like that (I don’t and I know it’s just cause I like the looks). I think I’ll probably take a step back and reevaluate. I still do want a lift but either a lower end Fox lift or the 6112/5160 might be a better option in my position right now. I do have a daily car to drive most of the time, however, that doesn’t mean I drive the Tacoma more off-road. Thank you for all the insight.

 

Would doing ucas be beneficial even on a smaller lift? I see a lot of people saying to do them regardless.

 

From what I've read, the only lift that isn't going to potentially affect your warranty as far as Toyota corporate is concerned is their lift, installed by a dealer before you take delivery of a new truck. Anything else you're rolling the dice as far as them denying warranty claims. I didn't read all three pages but it sounds like you're not doing any serious off roading that'd really justify the expense of higher end shocks like King or Fox. I was on the fence about getting Fox shocks for mine boy knowing our roads are salted and aluminum doesn't do well with salt I didn't do it. I put 5100's on and even though they're not great with salt it's a lot less painful when the salt makes a mess of cheaper shocks.

 

I hadn't thought about the salt I havnt driven my truck much this winter yet as I want a chance to clean it up and woolwax it but that is something to consider for sure. I think as of now I’m going to compare the price of a bilstein lift vs a lower end fox lift.

 

I purchased the carrier bearing drop when ordering the suspension in hopes that I didn't need shims. However, it didn't get the angles back into spec. without the shims.
My Tacoma is set up for touring/off highway driving. It is always laden with gear because I have daily drivers. After weighing the rig fully laden, I went with 700ld Elka coils and Deaver stage 3 springs controlled by Elka 2.5 (non-resi.) shocks. The two inch lift is level front to back and the ride is excellent at high and low speeds.

With a one inch lift, you may not need any compensation for the drive line. I'd recommend taking measurements of drive line angles at stock height before doing any work as a base line.

Cheers

 

the comment about the clamshell bushing is super important. after my lift and bigger tires i had a vibration around 45-55 mph and took a long time to figure out, only ever did because of this site, and seems a common problem for the needle bearing on driver side to fail and need to be replaced. ECGS sells it and fixed my issue, several threads on here about it

 

I think I’ll do that regardless of if I do the lift as I’ve noticed a very slight vibration around that speed and have seen that, that is usually the fix for it. It could be my all terrain tires but regardless i might as well get it done when it’s torn apart.

 

See post #28

 

JBA high castor uca's with either of those setups. You shouldn't need uca's with 2" of lift or less, but they'll help with alignments and better driving characteristics.