Airbags?

I often carry a lot of weight into the backcountry, gas, water, gear, and a bed kit with drawers (that's not a full load on it in the photo) I'm looking for a way to beef up the rear suspension with something that will handle moderate rock crawling, thinking of airbags or air shocks. Anybody have experience with them?

 

Currently building a set of brackets for airbags now. No experience with bags on a Tacoma. But lots of experience with other vehicles. Riderite makes a nice airbag kit
If you dont do alot of 4wheeling were droop articulation is a concern.. Then airbags will work great for you. The bags can limit droop at times.

 

Look into Firestone Ride Rites combined with Daystar Cradles. I'm fairly certain that's my next mod. The Cradles replace Firestone's mount on the leaf spring and allow the bag to lift off without tearing in high articulation situations. There are many who have done that in the pop up camper world.

 

This.

After you've installed the proper spring pack for your everyday needs, if you find you still need more upon occasion.

 

Absolutely.
I should mention, I've got Dakar's + aal they will run with. I carry about 1200lbs all the time.

 

Forgot to mention the daystar cradles. They will only work with the 5inch bag. This type.

 

Good to know. I knew the cradles are 6" in diameter, but didn't know what sizes the bags came in. Do you have part #s or dimensions? Would be interesting to get maybe a bit longer of a bag with the same diameter for some extended travel.

 

I should add, Firestone has issued a warning against this match-up of products. Likely because their lawyers made them & they haven't thoroughly tested their product with another companys.

That said, plenty on wanderthewest have done reports on them and their experiences all seem good enough to me to trust the combination.

LINK

 

You would have to call Riderite and quiz them about bag lengths. I have a application catalog on my pc at home that list all the bag measurements. But application wise you'd need to ask them.

 

This is the 1st gen kit.

 

Found the app catalog with phone. Its an old catalog. couldn't find a newer one.
edit found a newer one.

 

Wow thanks for all the info! I'll be looking into it. I do moderate to hard crawling, so need a set up that will handle articulation...

 

Good info. I'm looking into lift bags also for infrequent towing. It's a street truck so articulation isn't a concern. I've had Airlifts before, on a different vehicle, but recently saw offerings from Timken. Any experience with these?

 

No but if it's the Timken bearing company, they're pretty reputable.

 

I don't have experience with the timken, but I do with air bags. i'm never off road, just for camping several times per year. I found them to work for my situation perfectly.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-on-2002-4x4-trd-anyone.429818/#post-12416956

 

Finalized all the measurements today.