Can it be done ??

Im a new tacoma owner and new here on the forum. i have been doing quite a bit of reading on here and have gotten a ton of useful info.Its great having this much info in one spot. Im interested in doing a lift on my truck. But it seems that pretty much everyone has issues with vibrations. Its making me second guess if i want to take a chance on causing myself a ton of problems. This is the first new truck that I have ever owned! And it is my daily driver that i put about 100 miles on a day.I dont want to ruin it, but it doesnt keep me from wanting to make it look tough either !!!! So... I guess my question is if a lift can be done without causing these problems. Or how "mild" of a lift can be done without these issues and still get the stance i would like to have???? Any advise would be much appreciated. thanks

 

I have no vibrations and I have the typical 3 inch lift

 

X2. Most of the trucks are different. You'll hear a ton of people saying they have had no vibs while some others say they have them. I personally didnt have any vibe issues after installing a 3" suspension lift on my 2006.

 

I would like to believe that at least 75% of vibes on this site are due to bad tire balancing, and its due to the nature that our tires must be balanced. Traditional spin balance does not work. You need a road force balancer, and every BFG tire i've ever owned has been difficult to balance.

I have my front coilovers cranked for a little over 2.5" now, and a 1.5" rear leaf pack.... I finally got my tires balanced properly and I'm pretty damn smooth all the way up to 80, then I finally get a little bit of tire vibe.

The only other problem/vibe I have occasionally is the left front diff needle bearing. Seems like that has very little to do with lift and is more of a defect in our trucks.


Do your lift right, get the proper items needed to correct your geometry and you'll be just fine.

 

If you're worried, keep it stock. By lifting you're changing the geometry of the driveline and, in doing so, run the risk of causing vibrations. As you can see above, some have successfully lifted their trucks without any vibrations, others have not been so lucky. I've got a mild lift (under 2") and do not have vibrations.

 

i have had lifted trucks and i know that i take a chance.... It is hard for me to have a stock truck. And having such a nice truck i want it to look good ! Im sure ill end up taking the chance and deal with what comes. Im not totally up on all the abbreviations used on here so some of the stuff i read leaves me with some questions.But lets say im interested in 2" what is a good setup for that ? And im not gonna be wheeling this thing hard so.......

 

I'll tell you the set-up I have for 2" of lift. Might not be the best but I'm happy with it
Bilstein 5100 series shocks in all 4 corners
Eibach coils up front
Icon 1.5" 3-leaf progressive AAL for the rear (Keep the overload leaf in for 2" of lift)
It handles great on the road and I'm sure would do fine off road. Not the only option but not a bad one in my opinion. You could look into Old Man Emu also for a comparably priced 2 - 3" lift.

 

So with the 5100s can I use stock springs?

 

Right now, sitting at 3" of lift, I have vibrations too. I had vibrations when it was stock tho. All my other trucks were big POS's and had vibrations. I have leaned not to care anymore. If you're used to driving shit like me, then anything you do to your brand new truck will still make it seam like a Caddy!

 

Yes you can. Thats the beauty of using the 5100's.
If you are not offroading and are using it predominantly for street use, even spacers will be fine. People here hate them, but they also offroad.

Everyone here rants and raves about the 5100s and they are a great shock. I have them all round on my truck. Beware though that they are STIFF. As a daily commuter this might not be your best option. I would want to do something a little softer if I wasn't driving offroad. Don't mod your truck offroad style if you plan on taking it out only a couple times a year. Even so, if you are offroading just trails and not doing anything crazy, a softer suspension setup will be just fine.

 

Mine is a daily driver as well. I lifted mine 2" with aal and 5100s with stock coils before tires and wheels and had no vibes. Then I added DC2s and 265/75/16 Duratracs and had to balance and rebalance to get rid of vibes. Also alignment after lift. I'm very happy now with a nice aggressive stance and still get 18 to 21mpgs.

If you go higher with bigger tires IMO, thats when economy is gonna take a hit and chances for vibes will increase.

 

Or you live on the west coast!

 

Yeah I think ill go with wheels and stock height on tires maybe a bit wider my canyon dropped from 20 mpg to 13 when I went from 265 to a 32 11.5 but it was a gutless pos too lol

 

Most people will tell you to save your money but RE-GEAR RE-GEAR RE-GEAR! It will pay for itself from saving gas!