Time To Get A Taco - How Is My Mods List?

Hi All,

I've been lurking this forum for what seems like FOREVER! It will be soon time to get a truck and a friend of mine has a dealership so I should get a decent deal and I will be financing my mods - want to get them all done in one shot. I will list my uses for the truck and planned mods, let me know if there is anything I'm missing or haven't considered.

I apologize in advance for the long post, bare with me here.

Truck
'09+ Double Cab Short Bed
TRD Off Road 4x4
White of Metallic Grey

The truck will be a "daily driver" though I typically take public transportation to work, so really a weekend car. I fish a lot (salt water), so the truck will carry fishing rods, coolers, boating gear.

I also have a 22' Boston Whaler. For the most part it's a short tow from the storage yard to the ramp with occasional longer trips. I've towed the boat on several occasions with a friends Taco and it has had no problems.

I frequently go Mountain biking and would prefer to not have to use a bike rack.

I (for the past few years) infrequently go camping and shooting. But that's not to say I might not pick it up again when I have more free time.

I want my truck to drive nice on the road as well as off road. When I do go off road, I'm not a desert/speed type of guy. My last two cars were an M3 and an S2000 so while I know my truck will never be a sports car I'd rather it not drive like my old top heavy Isuzu Trooper (on the road anyway).

I'd also like reliability and not having to worry about cv boots, vibrations, etc.

Planned Mods

TRD Supercharger
TRD Exhaust
Eibach/Toytec Springs
5100 all the way around and set to 0 up front (Hoping for 1.75in of lift)
Firestone Ride Rite airbags in the back
Drivers side spacer
Diff Drop
Carrier Bearing Drop
KMC Addict Rims 17x9, 4.5 backspace, -12mm offset, 6x5.5 bolt pattern
Goodyear Duratracs 265/70/17
Leer 100XR Shell

This seems to fit the bill...Truck will be "fast", wheels and tires should be light to keep the mpg as high as possible (along with controlling my foot), the lift is very moderate, though I'm worried about the springs being too tough. I don't mind a tight ride, I unlike some don't want my truck to feel like a Cadillac, but at the same time I want the suspension to give on potholes, ruts, rocks, etc. Really like the look of 285's but after doing a ton of reading it just doesn't seem like it's worth it.

I'm still torn on the shell, but with my boating/fishing gear and guns and whatnot, it seems like a better idea.

So, am I in going in the right direction? Any thoughts at all would be appreciated.

 

MOST IMPORTANT THING: buy the truck you WANT first, not try to make it something else later. If you want a v6, get the v6, if you want 4x4, get the 4x4. etc.. If there is one life lesson I can pass on to anyone, it's that you can't cheap out on something you want. If it makes you happy, there is no $$ value to assign to your happiness and satisfaction with a vehicle. I had countless 2wd vehicles before and tried to use them like a 4wd vehicle. It maybe only happened once or twice a year, but I always wished I'd just bought the darn vehicle I wanted in the first place. Take that to heart and get everything you want possible up front. Mods can be done later. People try to save money by buying something cheaper at first.. but if they need or want it enough, they will take a loss on the lesser vehicle and buy what they should have eventually anyway. It's cheaper to buy what you will be happy with from the get-go.

personally, I would skip the mods until you have had the truck for a while. A lot of those seem like you may not need/want them later and I think you may need to just own the truck first before deciding what mods to do. To each their own and all..

I'm very similar to you in my usages for the truck and I think stock it meets your needs. Mine has what seems to be unusually strong vibrations in park with the engine running. Not sure what that's all about, but no driveline issues.

Also, I got the short bed and while I enjoy the slightly shorter length in daily driving/parking, If I was buying my truck again tomorrow I think I would go with the longer bed so I could sleep in it fully enclosed if I wanted to. I also want the same leer cap and think that would be nice, but I just can't see myself camping in the 4' bed unless the tailgate is down.

The stock 4x4 with the 4 leaf and bilstein shocks looks pretty slick without any lift. I don't know what others sit at height wise, but the wheel well gaps and clearance are respectable stock and despite scare stories I read on here, *MY* truck doesn't sag when loaded. Whew!

 

I think if you're going to spend the bucks on a cat back exhaust and supercharger, you may as well throw a set of headers on there. Aside from that it sounds like you know what you want out of your Taco and you're on the way to getting it set up how you want it. I'm sure some of the more experienced members here can chime in on the suspension mods as I'm not too familiar with those.

 

Yes, I will not waver on the major things here. WHITE, METALLIC GREY, TRD OFF ROAD DBL Cab SHORT BED. lol

Funny, the Trooper I mention in the thread. I was a freshman in highschool when my dad bought it as the family car. I was pushing to get the rear diff lock but he just went with keyless entry. Well, later on the cars was "mine" and I got in a few situations where I could have really used it. So since many years ago, I decided that my next truck would have a rear locker of some sort, no and's, if's, or buts about it. lol

I thought about the bed length a LOT as well, just can't deal with a truck that long. The looks, the wheeling, etc, just doesn't work for me.

 

I hear you.. on the bed length, if you have any use for the longer bed, please trust me and at least do this:

When getting your short bed, park it next to a "long bed". Match the front end, windshield, mirrors and whatnot. Then look at the added length on the back. It's truly negligible as far as overall length, but if you NEED or WANT the longer bed, it's absolutely no question. it's like a foot and a half, you'll never notice driving it. otherwise, it looks like you have a nice truck picked out.

 

No other thoughts on the suspension?

Do the 5100 rears extend the travel at all? Don't want the bags to rip.

 

The bilstein 5100's with stock coils up front will give you up to 2.5" of lift. I'm running them on 1.75" right now and it's sitting a hair above in the front, not noticeable to the untrained eye. I love them, highly recommend, best bang for the buck IMO.
If you want a nicer ride, or more lift, look into coil overs, Icon or Fox seem to be the go to for the best. If you run Coilover's it's highly recommended to get new UCA's as well. This will allow full articulation and travel room for the spindles and stop them from banging into the springs.

No, the 5100 rear shocks are to compensate for a lifted rear. They are matched with a rear lift to keep the travel range. If you add a 1"-2" lift (AAL, Full leaf pack, blocks, etc.) It would be wise to add longer shocks (ie 5100's) to maintain an equal up/down travel, other wise you'll max out your stock rear struts and they'll fail quickly.

 

So the bags should add about 1-2 inches of lift depending on how much are is in them. As long as the shocks won't lead them to be over extended than it should be fine.

Regarding ride...I guess my question what constitutes a good ride? People always say "it rides better", but what exactly does that mean.

The characteristics that I was looking for were a nice ride on the street, which means I would like to have a flatter ride without a ton of body roll or dive when breaking. At the same time, when I hit a pot hole or when I'm off roading, I wan't to feel the suspension working and absorbing the hits.

I've ridden in trucks on washboard type roads where the suspension couldn't keep up with the washes which also made for a terrible ride.

I don't even know if what I'm looking for exists...I guess I'm looking for something that is good all around and not built for one specific purpose or the other.

 

It's all a matter of personal opinion. What I think is soft, might be stiff to someone else. I think a generic trend or the average "good ride" would be either Bilsteins with OME 883 or 885s. OR the average Coil over. Icon/Fox CO's are great but really only necessary if you're spending just as much time on-road as off-road. You don't 'need' that much dampening ability unless your average DD consists of dirt roads? lol

Bilstein struts with stock Springs are good, but for a short time. The OEM springs tend to sag after a while, since the lift is provided by compressing the spring on a shorter setting. the OME 883/885 springs are longer than the stock springs and can be used to lift naturally, rather than preloading.

The Bilsteins on my pre runner do an awesome job, set at 1.75" at reducing body roll and front end dip when braking. I like my truck to handle like a truck. I'd rather have tougher suspension and more road feel, than steering a marshmallow.


Again this is just my opinion, take what you like. et me know if you need any more!

 

Thanks. Seems we're on the same page. I don't mind feeling the road, just want to avoid that feeling that the suspension isn't even there.

I didn't know there was an 883, thought it was just 884, 885, etc. So now it sounds like I have to decide between 883 and eibach.

Anyone know how their spring rates differ?

 

My apologies, I was still thinking of my 1st gen I had, I ran the 883's on it. For the 2nd Gen, I know people run the 884/885's on their 2nd Gen and they are very satisfied.

Sorry bout that.

 

Reference this thread, someone else asked about spring rates between 884/885/886.

The 886 are SUPER stiff, and meant for maintaining 2.5-3" lift WITH an armor bumper.

If you plan on running the stock bumper with a Double Cab 4x4, the 885's will work great.

Make sure if you run the 885's on the Bilstein 5100, you keep the strut at the 'stock' level. You might be able to bump it up to the '.85' lift notch but its not recommended. you'll be preloading that coil and giving yourself a stiffer ride.

 

Just a point on the bed length: I have the long bed and regret it nearly every day right now. I am waiting on getting a new job and I may just trade it in on a new short bed. The thing looks good but I want to wheel and the short bed looks WAY better armored.

 

Say I went with the Icon Stage I kit and air bags...do the air bags limit the rear shocks in anyway? Would that then just be a waste of money?

 

Honestly I'd skip the airbags and get a good leaf pack. Dakars, AP expos, or get a custom pack from alcan