2-3in lift

What is the best way to get about 3in of ground clearance, while maintaining the longevity of the stock parts and gas mileage?

 

Suspension lift > blocks and spacers

 

Any amount of lift is going to put extra stress on other parts of your suspension. That being said as I understand if you stay at 2 in. or less it's much less likely to cause problems. And as far as gas mileage goes lifting your truck won't affect it much but adding bigger heavier tires and wheels will.

 

I have also been trying to decide on what to do with my truck. I already know I won't be going with spacers and blocks.

 

Well you already have around 8.1" of ground clearance. So if you want to drop 5" youre gonna have a long road ahead of you.

Joking aside, you're going to have to get a suspension lift consisting of coilovers for the front, and leaf springs and shocks for the rear. There are many brands to choose from. A lot of members use the Bilstein 5100. Some other options are OME, ICON, Fox, and King. Look over at some of the vendor pages to get an idea of what's available and the prices.

Headstrongoffroad.com is one of my favorites, and wheelersoffroad.com is another popular site.

As @geekhouse23 said, blocks and spacers are not the way to go if you're looking for a performance gain. Spacers are a cheap way to lift, and generally just cause problems.

No lift will be as reliable as stock, its just the way it is. As you lift, you increase wear on many parts. Having said that, many, many members including myself have been lifted for years without issue.

 

Well said.

 

Hey that's me ^^

 

Judging from your "goals" OP, good MPG and preservation of existing parts and ride characteristics, I am assuming you want a lift purely for looks and not fro any enhanced off-road capabilities or to upgrade to a better suspension. Correct?

If so I wholeheartedly recommend a body lift. They are low cost and super easy to install DIY. They look good and allow putting on larger tires and without any changes to stock shocks/struts, leafs, etc. The ride characteristics and MPG will not be affected as the lift parts added weight is negligible (of course larger tires will affect you MPG for sure).

PM me and I'll send you the info on the guy I got my body lift from and he custom makes them for the Tacoma and they are great.

For full disclosure, I also have a 3" OME suspension lift and added the 1" body lift on top of that. But I've had body lift only on a pre-runner and a Jeep and was very satisfied.

 

Thank you guys very much! I just upgraded from a 1977 Corolla so I'm pretty rookie with this stuff

 

No I don't care much about looks. Purely for performance and long road trips on off road trails in Northern California

 

Oh. OK, then you need a suspension lift. I've been very happy with the cost/performance of an OME setup. They are in the 2-3" range and provide a much improved suspension for the truck both on and off road.

 

OP, there are a few things you have to ask yourself before purchasing a lift.

-How much money do you want to spend on lift components? (Front Coilovers, Rear Leafs, Rear Shocks) Don't forget, that once you get to around 3" of lift, upper control arms are needed, which will add 375+ dollars to your cost of lift.

-How much money do you want to spend on install? (Installing all the above components PLUS alignment)

-Are you going to want bigger tires once lifted? (A larger tire set is going to run around $1000 bucks give or take, and with larger tires you will either need to add wheel spacers to your stock wheels, or get new wheels entirely with the proper spacing)

For example, my entire set up once I was satisfied cost me $3600 for the lift, wheels and tires. Lifts can be had for much cheaper than I paid, but after having a so-so procomp lift, I wanted something awesome and went ICON.

Ask yourself what is the top dollar you're willing to pay for a lift and work from there.

Also, I see you're in the Coast Guard. You can use the 'hobby shop' on any military installation. They will advise and provide tools so you can install your lift. I installed both lifts on my truck at the base hobby shop. I think they charged me something like 14 bucks for using the vehicle lift all day.

 

Are all the OME lift kits 2-3in?

 

Yes

 

Except 883's

 

If say about $1500 for the lift, and don't want to go over 3in so I can try and avoid all the extra costs. And as far as tires go I'm not to worried about putting anything over 32in on.

 

OZ and I are OME fanboys. Very happy with our setups.

 

Has anybody put in a bullydog chip or any type of thing like that and seen results?

 

Performance chips are straying pretty far off topic from vehicle lifts OP.

There are tons of great threads on TW already covering both topics...