I put air shocks on my 2012

^not that i have anything against air bags or springs, just brainstorming

 

10 months later and nearly 9,000 miles of trailering my boats, small loader and hauling loads of equipment down to NC. The shocks are doing great,no leakage or other problems.

The only changes to the truck I made since installing the shocks is replacing the stock 205/70/15 Grantek tires with 225/75/15 Firestone LE2 (speedometer reads correct now) Much smoother riding tire and it seems I may have picked up a mile or two in fuel mileage.

 

wow, this is cool. I used to have a 97 4runner that I installed air shocks in. They were absolutely awesome. The adjustability was excellent. Only issue I had was they leaked after less than 2 years. And then the replacements also leaked. So I got air bags and they were awesome too, and then those leaked.

Anyway, I'd LOVE to have these on my tacoma.

 

Monroe air shocks still taking care of business here. Put these things through a pretty good test on my regular cab. Moved my whole house many fully loaded beds and several motorcycles

 

So do air bags which I would be slightly more inclined to use.

 

Any up dates

 

Finally went with Monroe ma793 (thanks Alpman and Mudfly) for my prerunner with tundra racing drop kit. Not much options for lowered prerunner .The air shocks working great. Spring was sagging and with recommended min 20 psi back up to perfect height and not slamming on overloads on bumps and shit with the roads we have here.
Latter might try to do Dougs spring refurbishing mod .Need to see if 5lug rear hanger brackets fit on prerunner because it will have a pretty good arc to it compared to flat prerunner springs. Seems like 5 lug brackets not as low ? (shorter)
But for now shocks working great Will see when put some weight in back how well.

 

Update:

A recent 800 mile trip to NC. Gas generator, air compressor, planer, 2 tool boxes and assorted hand tools in bed of truck. 1200# loader and a couple hundred pounds of rebar in trailer. 110 psi in air shocks.

 

Thanks for up date .Working good for you, Mine being lowered this was the easiest and cheapest solution. Like it so far. Wont load that much weight but good to see shocks does the job. Might not even replace springs cause it rides good now and know can handle weight better. Glad ran into this post Great job
Also talked to Alpman . He likes his one too.

 

Air shocks, man I had those things on the first car I owned.

 

This may be a dumb question, but I'll ask. When having a higher air pressure in them while hauling, then you unload, I assume ride is pretty stiff then, and sitting higher? If you where gonna unload then get another load of something, would you air them down then back up? Or leave it till you're all done? I guess airbags you would have the same issue. Unless you had on board air.

 

Sometimes I leave the shocks pumped up. It rides pretty harsh with 100psi in the shocks but it is still drive-able.

 

Pumped with no load it'll sit higher and ride harder. The air volume needed is very little so even a cheapo cigarette lighter plug-in compressor will air them up quickly. You could even use a manual bicycle pump but make sure you get one designed to generate the pressure you intend to use. Air bags are usually more compliant because of the larger volume they usually have, but you'll still ride higher and harder to some degree.

 

Cool, thanks.

makes sense. Thanks.

 

I realize this is an old post but I'm new to this site. I was looking into adding air shocks to my 2012 Tacoma for hauling firewood and the occasional trailer. It's an access cab with 4wd and a 4cyl engine. I believe it has 6 lug wheels? The specs for the rear shocks from Toyota show compressed 13.760" extended 22.4" and travel of 8.64" I can't seem to find any that would fit. I downloaded the Monroe specs and the only air shocks that look like the right mounting specs are MA811 or maybe MA793, and neither of the seem to be available. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and how were you able to resolve this problem. Thanks for any help.

 

Air shocks are a bad idea !!!

These shocks when aired up to max pressure can / will cause the shock mounts and or brackets to fail . Plus they give a very harsh ride

 

I had airshocks in my 97 4runner. They were super awesome until they leaked. I loved them cause they were so easy to use!
But they soon leaked. They when I replaced them, they soon leaked again. went with airbags.

US MARINE: go with air bags.

 

I went qith the shocks in the original post on my 5 lug. I have had them installed for so many years and constantly pull motorcycles and all kinds of other stuff with my little truck. Never had a leak never had an issue. I have over 80k miles on them now. Still going. Those shocks had to be shaved on the bottom mount on each side with a grinder to fit. They qere made for those big ford vans i believe. So if anyone has had issue may be from incorrect installation or maybe shitty weather? Im in hawaii and mine are amazing.

 

jmar, awesome that it's worked out for you. When I had the 4runner I really did like them. With my tacoma I just went with airbags. I really like those too.

 

Another satisfied customer for Firestone airbags