Slight Lift, Handling, and Ride

So.. I got it installed... the setup has a really nice ride but I have a few complaints. First I bent my frame offroading the first time. Nothing catastrophic or mangled but my bed gap is a little off and now I have a front rattle somewhere from when I hit the front really hard but I feel like this was made worse by the fact that the 885 coils only lifted the front about 1"-1.5" and I am really close to the wheelers super bumps. I also scrapped the bottom a bit because the 885's provided a disappointing amount of lift so that all has to be painted up. I will get the frame straitened in a few weeks, I already got an estimate.

Anyways... I think I am going to get either some 887 or 888 coils and the 13mm spacers (same spring rate as 885 but 5mm and 10mm longer). The longer coils will reduce my front down travel from 3" to only 2.5" but right now the truck looks dumb with so much rake (the back got the full 3" from the dakars). The 888 coils and spacer should bring my front up to about 2.5-3 in so their will only be about a 1.5" rake instead the 3" difference its at now.

Now the interesting part... I emailed ARB to see if they make a nitrocharger sport shock with the same valving as the one that they offer in their kit for the Tacoma but with a compressed length of 15-16"... I look forward to see what they have to say. I'm sure as many of you know the OME shock really limits rear drop which is kind of a disappointment.

 

What's your front hub to fender

 

Idk what my front hub to fender in but I know that the front of the truck would have to be raised 3" to make the bottom of the frame level to the ground. i just did some measuring and I think that if I add a 1-1.125" spacer that I will both raise the front about the 2" I want and also maximize the range of travel to about 9.5" while not losing any down travel.

 

So i just went outside to get that measurement specially for you!
Hub to fender directly above
front ~22.25
rear ~25.50
This confirms that it's about a 3" difference at the moment.
For the record I have no bumper, skids, or anything on truck to weight the front down.

 

That's about 2" over stock for the front , no ?

Post pics of your front coil / shocks

Something seems weird on the rear as far as height too , you're over an inch higher than average for an unloaded truck with the Dakars and you have a cap

 

Yea... its all plastic though and weighs nothing. I think they advertised for weighing 55lbs. As for the frame being bent its only a little twisted so one side in the back is a half inch higher but its not bent any up or down so it shouldn't really affect things dramatically/ more left to right than front to back. Idk what the actual lift is over stock, i didn't measure before, but all i know is that I want the front 2 inches higher to match the back. Hold on and I'll upload some pictures.

 

Are you talking about a tonneau ?

Is your truck 4x4 ?

 

Yea... the tonneau... 4x4 dclb sport (so automatic too)

anyways pictures!!!
How it sits now:

Before offroading incident and very few miles:

Front well:

Rear well:

Here is the front jacked up about 2":

and 3"

I would be really happy if it sat in that 2-3" range! Actually 2" would be perfect so then I would have a one inch rake.
I'll even take new photos with the world of trance cd again if you all think it might help?
By the way the tires are 265/75/16's

 

Just visually it looks like you got more than 2" of front lift

I actually meant pics of the actual coils and shocks

also are you measuring with the truck on a level surface ?

 

When I actually measured it it was on the most level I could find... I know none of those pictures show it on very level ground... especially the ones outside the garage. Maybe I did get over 2 in the front but why is my bed still 3 goddamn inches higher? Also What exactly did you want a picture of, like the coils with the wheel turned over, or did you want more like from underneath so you can see the lower control arm angle and stuff?
Anyways, I still think I'm gonna go with the 1.125" poly spacer from wheels unless someone can recommend me a good metal one? I'm guessing metal is better? I did some measuring and even calculating for bump stops at going to about 60-70% compression It still looks like I'm not able to use over a whole inch of upward shock travel at the moment. Everyone says avoid spacers like the plague but I feel like if i got the spacer i would be able to level a bit more while also getting more travel. Does this seem like a false conclusion?

 

Is your truck 4x4

 

... so yea... 4x4. If I added the spacer then a diff drop would probably be a good idea? When I jacked it up in the pictures above to the 2" position the cv angles still weren't horrible... not great... but not horrible. I figure if I have to replace them down the road then thats just the price of being cool

 

Well adding 1.25 spacers on top of your 885's is not a great plan , yeah

 

Maybe I should just be reasonable and go with something a little more moderate ~.75" instead. How do you tell when the cv angle is too much? Is it just when the boot starts to rub? Are there any other ways to get away with this/ does the dif drop really even help at all? I was just looking at your build page and I saw the picture with your front wheelers bump stops and I swear your way further off them and have a far more severe CV angle than my truck??? Nice truck btw. i really like the toolbox you built and all. The mirror mod is now on my list.. it's always bothered me... is that a bracket or???

 

Also, why did you opt for the sway bar relocation?

 

Oh... And lastly... how do I ask this politely...
I guess I'm just gonna put all my cards on the metaphorical table here...
Peter North is a... ehm.. adult... ehm.. film star... known for his.. ehm... highly generous discharge.
Do understand I mean absolutely no disrespect of course but I was just curious if that's intentional or...?

 

You heard of me ?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_North
Apparently also a Canadian politician... and some academic...
Anyways.. the more you know I guess.

 

I mean good for him! You know I don't see why someone would be offended if you accused them of liberal discharge however you always have to be careful not to offend... hence the funny wording.

 

Took a look at the cv boots again and noticed that it is infact already touching a little on the inner more boot (the one further away from the wheel)