looking for advice to fix ride quality

ok let me start by saying the more threads I read on advice about this subject, the more confused I get by all this mismatched jumbled advice that is all over the place as far as the end result of what it does to change the truck.

most comments on replacement leafs are only in reference of just how high do you want to go? 3", 6", how about 12" lift? even if the poster doesn't want a lift all, the advice is always geared towards products designed for lifting the truck.

so lets just "try" to shut that thread hijack down from the start by saying this thread is ONLY intended to be advice on retaining the stock ride height and payload capacity, while completely transforming the ride quality into something that is safe and comfortable.

so how bout it boys and girls? what are the best options out there to achieve this?

this thread is intended to formulate options for what I can do to my 2wd prerunner 04 truck to resolve the dangerous wash boarding and breaking loose that I sometimes get when in turns at hwy speeds on rough roads.

 

Good shocks with poly bushings and a rear sway bar, maybe.

 

Can't have both ride quality and load capacity, it's a truck. And a small lightweight truck at that. It's the nature of small lightweight trucks to ride sketchy in the rear when not loaded down. I suppose a soft ride could be achieved with a light duty suspension and then use airbags or something like that to increase load capacity. Or maybe slow down on the rough roads when cornering at highway speeds.

On a side note, you might try the frame plate mod to stiffen up the rear frame and allow the suspension to actually work the load instead of trying to control the frame flex.
It did help mine with both axle wrap and I have noticed more rear end control in the washboards. But nothing I would ever call a cushy ride. It is however smoother than the stock suspension was.

 

Just put a set of these on last weekend. So far I'm pretty impressed. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hellwig-installed.375304/

 

hmm, I was wondering about those rear sway bars and if they work, I hadn't considered if poly bushing would do any good?

thanks for the report, I was wondering if helpers might be enough to resolve washboarding issues, do you notice if it resolves the body roll any?

 

Very much so. Big improvement in handling,ride and reduced axle wrap. I do have more room to crank them down still also. Haven't loaded them yet so I can't report on that.

 

These are a stock ride height spring option. Though I have no experience with these and can't comment on the ride quality with them... I imagine your ride quality would be greatly improved with a new set of bushings and shocks in the rear as well... what setup do u have now? Stock springs and shocks? how many miles on the truck?

 

yep its all original factory everything oem from 04

how common is it to not be able to take the stuff apart on the leafs? I see some comments in threads saying everything is always seized up with rust so just cut them off rather then fight it but I saw no signs of anything anywhere being rusty on my truck and it spent its whole life in texas so should things come off ok without issues.

im assuming its the rust belt guys with all the seized up rust problems but whats the real skinny on taking this stuff apart? does it come apart ok most times?

the strange thing is, I thought my leafs looked fine, and unloaded they did and they appeared to have the right amount of arch to them and looked normal but with it now hooked up to the boat with just 100 lbs tongue weight added to my back bumper and the leafs are completely flat and slightly inverted even so I thing that's clearly saying they are shot and need replacing so just AAL wont fix my issues?

also the passenger back shock bushings are dry rot and coming apart so im sure that's a big part of the problem but the leafs going completely flat with only adding 100 lbs is a sign of bad leafs isn't it?

my 3 leaf 5 lugger leafs held the same weight load and were flattened but didn't look as completely flattened out and certainly didn't look to be slightly inverted by it

 

Bingo on the rust belt thoughts although frequent beach trips will do the same thing. Only one way to tell, put a wrench on the bolts.

 

ah ok, wow, that's so simple an idea yet I never thought about doing it.

it makes perfect sense, if they spin they will come out and if they don't they won't.

anyway, its always best to know what you need to order "before" you tear things apart.

I never gave it a lot of thought but since my truck sits level already, im sure installing stock height leafs will give me a 1" - 1.5" lift just to return it to the stock stance with a little rake to it, so even stock height leafs will add some lift to it.

 

other then wheelers, what are some good quality stock height leaf packs?

I see generalspringkc.com has stock height leaf springs at $260 plus $70 shipping vs wheelers $450 plus $70 shipping but the measurements and descriptions for both seam to be no difference. you never really know how different one set of leafs can be then the other such as quality of steel and weather heat formed or cold rolled and what not? http://www.generalspringkc.com/Leaf_Springs_Toyota_Tacoma_2001_2002_2003_2004_s/1932.htm

 

I put a set of the general HD on the rear of my 04. It raised it about an inch BUT the stockers were worn out. They ride good but to get the roll under control I put a set of 99 runner springs in front.

It's common sense, most of the weight of the truck is in the front with the motor. Fix those springs and the roll is minimized. At the rear , I didn't want to add "one " spring to do the work of the pack. When parts wear out just replace them.
For shocks , doing it all over, I would have got 99 4runner or 2000 tundra in the front. The tacoma bilstein's are just not up to snuff.

General regular rears should work good with minimal lift


Good luck

 

thanks, so there was no issue about lean with them not being side specific and using the same part for both sides?

that's why I was hesitant on getting the HD ones, im worried about issues with the taco lean thing.

also are the bushings that come with it poly bushings?

I was mistaken about shipping, general wants $70 shipping so that brings them very close to wheelers price before shipping and almost the same if I go with the HD version so I don't want to give up quality for savings, this is something you want to get high quality parts. I just don't know if general is high quality or a budget part discounter?

 

No lean. 70 for shipping is not a bad price. The springs are heavy.
I don't think the general springs would fall under the discount bin. The stocker were made in Mexico . I think the generals are made in the USA. They make springs for a ton of rigs.
The hole reason I went with generals is because they use the same number of springs , just thicker(for HD's). Other than hunting I don't get my truck off road so I didn't need the articulation of 5 smaller springs.

The hd's can hall a lot of weight. I had a ton (2175lb) of fire logs in the bed and had space on the bump stops. Not recommended! But I wanted to see how hd they were

 

What made you decide to go with the HD General springs over the regulars? I'm currently trying to decide between the two of them myself. I do off road but also occasionally tow a car dolly / transport engines in the bed of my truck.

 

I have the Gen 2 ones on my 2011. I got more like 1.5" after it settled and the ride is dramatically better. Handles a load better too.

They have started creaking, though--badly--and I haven't had any luck quieting them with an inner tube like I did with the stock ones. I can probably pull them off and apart and clean them really well and that would solve it since pressure washing quiets them for a while. Just takes time.

 

You don't tell us how many miles are on your truck, but I'm guessing your springs and shocks are shot.

Sounds like you're going down the path of replacing the rear leafs - but make sure you replace at least the shocks at all four corners.

 

it was mentioned above in another post, its got 115k miles

rear shocks are getting replaced, the front seam to be fine.

unless you go off roading with it, there isn't much to wear out the front shocks if used as a DD in my opinion especially with the strut spring to carry all the load.

thanks, I like the HD springs but they are "lift" springs and I want stock height, hell to be honest the stock height is 2" higher then I would like it even but there is no 2" lowering kit unless you drop it 3" by flipping the axle and then add a 1" lift block which is more then I want to get into even though the HD springs with an axle flip would lower it about 2".

the trouble im having with looking and comparing leaf springs is no one lists the load capacity of them, that's the biggest difference factor in springs, they all look the same but they can vary a lot in load capacity. any trailer leaf spring you buy has big giant bold notice of load capacity as the main description but not when buying them for trucks.

im not so much into the numbers of springs a leaf has but whats more important is about the load they carry

 

Shocks aren't load carrying, they control the oscillation of the coil to prevent bouncing. So they don't wear out because of heavy loads, but many miles of controlling coil oscillation. 115k is a lot of miles for stock shocks, so if you're doing a suspension refresh, might as well replace the front shocks too, they're not expensive. And 5100s can be set to stock height with your original coils.

 

ok so if I need to replace the front too then its a complete strut assembly since that spring has been in use for 115k miles and has to be weaker then designed by now.

im not looking buy premium high dollar stuff like bilsteins because I never leave the highway so a good quality "standard" strut assembly is all I need.

I was looking at the

$73 Monroe 171352R Suspension Strut and Coil Spring Assembly for Toyota Tacoma

Monroe 171352R 1713523L Quick-Strut Complete Strut Assembly from rock auto so I think i'll go with those.

I find it very odd that rockauto doesn't offer leaf springs, it seams like a part most people need for all these trucks