Lift mistakes and victories

It seems there is a lot of posts on here about lifting of a Tacoma. I have read most of them, and figured I would post some of my experiences so other Tacoma owners could learn from my mistakes, and victories.

First I bought a 2000 Tacoma SR5 extra cab 5 spd with 130000 miles a year ago. The shocks were shot, so Bilstien 5100 all around and a 1.5 inch block in the rear. The front Bilstiens were set at the medium setting. 1.75 inches I believe.

Results: Looked just like I wanted. Nice little lift. Problem, when those Bilstens in the front are used, they achieve lift by compressing the stock springs, which in my opinion produced a horrible ride, were every bump felt like hitting a rock.

After riding around like this for half a year, I had the front shocks brought back down to stock settings, or zero on the shock and used a 1.5 inch day star spacer on top.

Results.....I know just about every post says that a spacer on top produces a bad ride, but by setting the shock spring back to 0, it produced a much better ride with the spacer over the compressed shock spring.

This however produced a slightly higher front compared to the rear of the vehicle.

I drove like this for another 6 months and found the back end was very loose. An inspection found the rear leafs were pretty bad.

Replaced the rear leaf springs with Sky Jacker 2.5 inch lift leafs, and left in the 1.5 inch block. This increased the rear lift very nicely, and I could probably fit bigger tires on now.

The ride of the vehicle after the new lift softride springs is great, very impressed so far.

Next step is to probably get longer coil over springs for the front to lift it a touch.

Just a little info for all those guys like me who are trying to figure out what to do with there yota.

PS. When guys post that you should just get the coilovers in the front and a new leaf pack in the rear and be done with it.....they are probably right.

 

A timely thread for me. My 2014 TRD OR access cab has been very badly overloaded on trips. I have a cap and carry heavy dive gear into the mountains.

I have just installed air bags and they seem great. They are yet to be tested under full load. I am hoping to get some more time out of the rear springs before upgrading. The back end is kind of floaty at this point. I think that the stock shocks are not quite up to the job.

Which brings me to the front end. It needs to be picked up and firmed up. My front skid plate was smashed badly last week. Lol! Also I suspect I would much prefer a stiffer front end with no sway bar.

I am thinking that a reasonable upgrade could be 5100 all around. New springs on the front. Longer brake lines on the rear.

I am a little confused by the spring options for the front. 885's seem like they might do me? Most of my load is in the bed, but I am now considering some under armour.

Peter

 

883, 884, 885 and 887 all have the same spring rate (firmness) but are different lengths resulting in more or less lift. Pick the spring once you have determined how much lift you want. If you are leaving the rear leafs then you aren't lifting it. I don't recommend 885's. If you do lift the rear with an AAL, blocks, or a new leaf pack, take whatever that will give you in height advantage, then shoot for that or close on the front. I have 884's (2") and Dakars (2.75") so I have a bit of a back-end-up proper old school truck look when not loaded, and pretty much dead level with 1000 lbs loaded up.