How to lift 1.5"

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/142677-suspension-lift-info-includes-pics-2.html



Very interesting post. I particularly paid attention to the part about sticking to 1.5" lift to keep the "natural" geometry of the suspension. I don't care much for larger tires, with 1.5" lift I could easily go from 31 to 32 and it's more than enough for me.

What I need is a stronger/better suspension for the 225 lbs that I'm gonna add to the front with a winch and a Warn Trans4Mer and, the 150 lbs that I'm carrying full time with my RTT and its rack.

On top of that, whenever I go overlanding, I carry over 600 lbs in the bed including the RTT.

So it looks to me like a 1.5" lift would be perfect for me. But how do you do this ? I'm totally against cheap suspension lifts like spacers. If I do this I want to change the suspension but the smallest lift I can find is the 2" OME ?

So how do you get a quality 1.5" lift ?

 

Eibach coils will give you 1.6" lift. Thats as close as you'll get to 1.5"

 

Are they strong enough to take the extra weight ?

 

They are, but will sag to less than 1.6" of lift. Perhaps OME 884s would be better for you? Not sure how much lift those give when paired with a winch and plate bumper.

 

You might want to look into something with an adjustable collar because of the extra weight. You can get an adjustable collar for the 5100's and you can pair them with the Eibach coils. That way, when you add a plate bumper and a winch, you can crank them up a bit more to keep your 1.5" of lift. The Eibach coils have a spring rate 80#/in higher than the stock coils.

As far as the rear, you're going to have to make a compromise. 225# all the time vs. 600# sometimes, you need to choose which load you want the 1.5" of lift at. With that kind of load, you might want to consider a replacement leaf pack. The stock coils with an AAL won't hold up terribly long when flexed off road with a heavy load. A place like Alcan can custom make you a set of springs to your specifications or you can use the OME Dakars with one of the leafs removed.

 

I have a M8000 Warn on their Trans4mer guard/mount and my Eibach's sagged about 3/4 inch with that much weight. I was running my 5100's at .85 at that time and this was before I installed the DB lift. Eibach's/5100's set at .85 are supposed to give 2.45 inches combined so you should end up with about 1.75 inches of front lift after it settles.
This shock and spring combo does a good job controlling the 200 or so lbs on the front of my truck. I think you would be happy with this setup for your intended use. As for the rear I think you might need a custom made spring pack set up for 600lbs while maintaining 2 inches of lift.

One other thing I'll suggest is not to get the Trans4mer and look into a plate bumper instead. I've been chasing rust on mine since I got it. A couple months after I installed everything I took everything apart and had it Line-x'd. It looked good for a while but now rust is bleeding out from the two cross tubes and the nuts and bolts are totally rusted. I got a small brush and a can of Rustoleum and painted all the hardware and the bleed through. I think I'll be constantly toughing up this thing. For what I paid for the Trans4mer and Line-x I could have got an ARB which I might still do before too long.

 

Than you all for the replies. I finally decided to go all the way and get a complete OME suspension.

 

New at this stuff but this is exactly what I want to do to mine. Just found that I broke a leaf in the back and want to upgrade.

Eric: Can you give me specifics of what you used for our suspension mods?

Model numbers, bill of materials used/needed, where did you order, what did it cost you, etc...

Do you have pictures?

Thanks