Need help

Does anyone have a good recommendation for rest shock replacement on a 2008 Tacoma the truck has always bottomed out since we bought it new, thanks

 

More info needed. Bottoming front, rear or both? When is it bottoming? How many leafs do you have in the rear? How many miles on the truck?

New shocks won't help your bottoming out problem.

 

Its the rear end, the truck has about 100,000 miles on it, and it has always bottomed out on dips in the road especially with 4 passengers. Still have the stock shocks on it, someone recommended bilstein 5100's would those help out, or do I have to lift the truck THX

 

Not necessarily that you have to lift the truck but the leaf springs are your problem, these trucks have notoriously weak leaf springs. Shocks help how the truck rides, not in supporting the weight of the vehicle and any load in it.
The solutions are as follows:

Replace the leaf springs altogether. Not Cheap but it does solve the problem. Companies such as AllPro, Dakar and Alcan make excellent springs for these trucks. Chances are your springs have a negative arch now, (think frowny face as opposed to a happy face), and these company's products can restore the ride height back to stock or higher if you wish.

Install helper springs onto the stock ones. These are commonly called Add-A-Leafs or AAL's for short. Company's such as Wheeler's Off-Road sell springs that vary from single AAL's (one additional leaf spring on each side), to multi spring packs that bolt underneath you existing ones.

Cost is a factor as well as ride height, i do recommend 5100's as they do really help the ride in these trucks a lot.
Good Luck

 

I have a first gen--the AAL(and Bilsteins) was a good investment-solved my problem.

 

5100 series are a good upgrade from the stock shocks. At 100k your originals are ready for a swap anyways. Your case is very similar to mine, I have 120k miles on my truck and the rear stock springs would bottom out all the time even with a minimal load. What eventually happened is a leaf broke in one of the packs essentially rendering the truck useless other than limping it around town.

I did a lot of research here on TW along with speaking to other members about my problem and came up with this: (Based on not having a broken spring obviously)

1. Any sort of an add a leaf be it a single or progressive from Wheelers, Icon, Toytec etc is simply a bandaid. If your leafs are already flat or have a negative arch there is no point putting one in. I see it as a waste of money because a few years down the road the suspension will need to be looked at again. BUT, this does have it's advantages for the budget minded. Single AAL's can be had for under 100 dollars and 3 leaf progressives for 150.

2. A new leaf pack all together will totally correct your problem. As mentioned above there are many companies that offer full replacement packs. What you plan on doing with your truck will dictate which pack to go with. I opted for the Wheeler's heavy duty full replacement pack and bilstein 5100's. It gave me a 2 inch lift in the rear so I got the front 5100's and set them at 1.75 to even the truck out. This option is 3x the price but worth every penny.

Here is a link to some AAL's with pictures.
This is what I bought

 

Thank you very much for all the information!