Help With Front Suspension!

Does anyone know the life expectancy of the front springs on a 2010 Double Cab TRD Offroad? I'm replacing the shocks and wondering if I should just toss in new springs while I'm in there. But if not needed, I would rather not waste the money.

I drove my buddy's 2013 TRD Sport a few weeks ago and noticed that his handled much better than mine. I guess driving it everyday, you don't notice the gradual breakdown over time.

Mine is at 70K miles and it really likes to roll over in turns. I'm also planning to make a loaded-down cross country trip, towing a trailer, this summer. Figured it's time to make some changes.

I just ordered the 5100 shocks for the front and rear, along with an air spring support to keep the ass end up when it's loaded. I have the TSB 4-leaf setup in the rear. I'm happy with the rear height and DON'T want to lift it higher. 1/2" or so incidental height change is OK, but I'm not looking to purposely lift it. As a daily driver, the rear springs are fine for me, so I figured the air system was the way to go. As for the front, would I benefit from new springs??

I also need new tires. I currently have the C load Duratracs (265/75/16). I loved the performance of the tires, but the desert shredded them quicker than I would've hoped (2 1/2 years). Discount tire is pushing the BFG KO2 tires in an E load. Is that too much weight to be turning with the Tacoma axles? Or are others doing this without issue? In that tire size, the Duratracs seem to be the only real option in a C load.

Thank you!

 

Ok, Hopefully someone can help me out:

Other than worn shocks and springs, there was nothing wrong with my truck before making these replacements.

I put the Bilstein 5100 shocks on my truck. I put the OME 883 coils on the front (set to 0) because I read that they can be used with the 5100s without lifting the truck. The truck was basically undrivable on the highway. It has serious darting issues, and the front end is just way too soft. New tires and an alignment didn't help. I removed the sway bar, which helped some of the darting, but still isn't really drivable.

I talked to a guy at a local shop who said the 883s are too soft for the double cab. He recommended putting stock TRD coils on, claiming they are far superior and the truck would handle much better with them. Apparently my new coils (from Toyota) are on backorder, so I decided to try putting my original TRD coils on the 5100s just to see if they would change anything. I put the TRD coils on with the 5100s set to .85. There was no change in the handling… Still sucks.

Sounds to me like the 5100s are the problem. The truck handled fine with the 4600s and stock coils, but it is undriveable with the 5100s and stock coils. Which makes me wonder why Bilstein and everyone on here says you can use the 5100s with stock coils? The 5100s are longer than the stock 4600s, which makes me think they would require a longer spring. The 885s are longer, but my understanding is that they lift the truck 3" (which I don't want). Would a coil the same height as the 883s, but with a higher spring rate work? Is there something like that out there?

Does anyone have any suggestions based on what they have actually done?

The only idea I can come up with is to buy a set of 4600s and return the truck to stock (which means I've wasted a bunch of money)!

 

5100s are an improvement over stock and I will argue that with anyone. Doesn't matter if the stock coils are used or not. A "darting" issue is gonna be caused by an alignment issue (including loose parts) or tires. Post up the alignment numbers and we can go from there. How would removing the sway bar help the issue?

 

X2 I'd be willing to bet it's some type of installation or alignment issue... 5100s and OME coils seems to be a pretty tried and true setup around here...

 

I tried the sway bar because a friend recommended it. It seems many people prefer not to run a sway bar at all, and it only takes 15 minutes to pop it off.

The guy from the off road shop said that's a sure sign that the suspension is too soft. The way he explained it is that when one wheel dives down and to the side, the sway bar pulls the other side along with it. Correcting causes the other side to compress and the original side to lift. Since that's exactly what was/is happening, I bought off on it. He also says I could benefit from more caster, but that alone wouldn't fix my problem. Here's my alignment numbers:

Front
Left/Right
Camber: .4/.3
Caster: 1.5/1.6
Toe: .03/.03

Total Toe: .05
Steer Ahead: 0

Rear
Left/Right
Camber: -.2/-.3
Toe: .37/-.23

Total Toe: .13
Thrust Angle: .3

I went with the OME springs because as you said, everyone seems to like them. The only problem is that everyone else seems to be lifting their trucks. How to I run OME without a lift? Is that possible?

 

With those alignment numbers and stock springs on brand new 5100s I just dont see how the truck could be "undrivable". Especially with the 5100s set at .85. There are guys with lifts that take the sway bar off for off road purposes only. A sway bar is a big difference maker when it comes to on road manners and I wouldn't remove mine unless I needed too (extensive off road use). I suggest putting it back on and making sure all your suspension components are tight with good bushings. Poking around with a pry bar and torque wrench while the truck is in the air should do the trick. The sway bar advice was a little misleading.. yes it ties your front suspension together but a stock sway bar will flex A LOT and does not necessarily cause both spindles to move in unison, it just keeps them from moving completely independent from one another.